Warriors-Nets trade

The second-rounders in the Warriors-Nets Dennis Schroder-De'Anthony Melton trade:

Brooklyn gets:

• 2026 Hawks
• 2028 Hawks
• 2029 Warriors

Golden State gets:

• 2025 Miami (top-37 protected)

The Warriors also sent two-way player Reece Beekman, to the Nets, who waived Cui Yongxi.

Nate and Danny covered the deal in far greater depth on the pod, but those details emerged after recording.

Brooklyn probably preferred the upside of those further-out picks.

Golden State can add a cheap second-rounder for next season, when the luxury tax and hard caps could still be a concern. Drafted players earning less than the two-years-of-service minimum count less toward the tax and apron levels than even undrafted free agents earning the rookie minimum.

Golden State Warriors

Golden State is still actively seeking another star, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

While Dennis Schroder should help the Warriors, I was concerned they were settling for him as their big acquisition. This news makes me like the trade for Golden State unequivocally.

The Warriors should try to win as much as possible while Stephen Curry remains in his prime. Another star could do wonders. Not totally sure who will be available for what cost, but for a team this good, Golden State has plenty of moveable assets – three first-round picks, four first-round swaps, Jonathan Kuminga and, gasp, even Brandin Podziemski.

Trade rules

The Warriors can aggregate Dennis Schroder's salary (and the Nets can aggregate De'Anthony Melton's salary) before the trade deadline, but whether they were aggregated in this trade is immaterial. The general rule is players traded into cap room can be aggregated immediately, but players acquired via exception (including the traded player exception) cannot be aggregated for two months.

However, the new CBA makes an allowance: If someone was acquired by Dec. 16, the aggregation restriction lifts the day before the trade deadline, even if it's within two months.

So, Schroder (and Melton) will be eligible to be aggregated Feb. 5 and 6.

For the record: They can each be re-traded alone right now, as was previously the case.

Pacers-Heat trade

The second-round swap rights the Heat got for trading Thomas Bryant to the Pacers come in 2031 – the furthest out it could be. Seems best for Miami to chase maximum unpredictability, maximum upside.

Thomas Bryant

Thomas Bryant did the Heat a favor by declining his $2,845,342 minimum-salary player option and re-signing on a new one-year minimum contract last offseason. While Bryant is still earning the minimum for someone with seven years of service, because he's on a one-year contract rather than a multi-year contract, he counts toward the cap, luxury tax and apron levels at just the two-years-of-service minimum ($2,087,519). Miami is also reimbursed from the league for the difference between Bryant's actual salary and the two-years-of-service minimum (though is responsible for 1/30th of that reimbursement).

However, the arrangement was not purely a win-win.

• Bryant's declined option: $2,845,342
• Bryant's new salary: $2,800,834
• Difference: $44,508

The minimum scale is based on 5% annual raises. The salary cap actually increased just about 3% from last season. So, Bryant's salary on a new minimum contract was $44,508 less than his salary would've been if he stayed on the two-year minimum contract he signed in 2023.

Bryant had to decide on his option before this season's salary cap became official, though the increase seemed likely to land below 5%.

He also got to explore free agency. Maybe the upside of a better deal warranted the downside of leaving $44,508 on the table.

Perhaps, Bryant wanted to do the Heat a solid as a show of loyalty. They were saving far more than he's losing. But to the extent that worked for Bryant… He's now in Indiana.

Of course, maybe Bryant prefers to join a team where he'll play more. His financial sacrifice might have swayed Miami to consider his wishes with a trade.

Coincidentally, the Pacers might not have traded for him if he counted toward the tax at $2,845,342 rather than $2,087,519. Indiana is just $126,511 below the luxury-tax line with Bryant.*

*I previously wrote Indiana was slightly over the tax line with Bryant. However, that was counting an Obi Toppin bonus that's unlikely. Without the bonus, the Pacers are just barely out of the tax.

Dec. 15

Dec. 15 trades:

• Yesterday: 2
• Every other Dec. 15 since the 1999 CBA established the date as the first day most free agents signed the prior offseason could be traded: 3 (and only one of those involved a recently signed free agent!)

As much as people call Dec. 15 the unofficial start of trade season, the date has rarely proved significant. Teams generally aren't just waiting for the trade restriction on recently signed free agents to lift.

On Dec. 15, 2010, the Nets traded Terrence Williams to the Rockets for two first-round picks in a deal that involved the Lakers. Los Angeles received Joe Smith, who had just signed with the Nets the prior offseason.

Houston made a second trade that day, sending Jermaine Taylor – who had not just signed – to the Kings to open a roster spot. That trade was obviously connected to the larger three-team trade.

On Dec. 15, 2003, the Cavaliers traded Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm and Michael Stewart to the Celtics for Tony Battie, Kedrick Brown and Eric Williams. However, all of those players were eligible to be traded before Dec. 15. None had just signed the prior summer.

Still, it's at least possible the date was significant, because other teams could make offers using their recently signed free agents. Cleveland and/or Boston might have been waiting to see what firm offers were available once teams could put more chips on the table.

Between the new rule about aggregating players traded by Dec. 16, shorter contracts (meaning players hitting free agency and falling under the Dec. 15 restriction more often) and front offices just generally becoming more active in search of progress… this could be a new era of Dec. 15 trades actually happening more often.

Trade grade

Kevin Pelton of ESPN grades the trades positively for all four teams, though most positively for Miami.

The Warriors get the biggest upside. Dennis Schroder could help them win at the highest levels.

But the Heat were the only team with a no-brainer call to execute their trade. The savings of dumping Thomas Bryant alone are good for ownership, and a 2031 second-round pick swap carries upside.

Bulls-Hornets

The Hornets and Bulls had a game for the ages Friday:

The previous regulation record was 72 in a 2019 Hawks-Bucks game. That was also the only game with more total missed 3s than Chicago-Charlotte, as Atlanta and Milwaukee missed five more in overtime for a total of 77. No other game featured more than even 70 missed 3s.

To put Friday's result further into context:

The 3-point arc has existed for 46 seasons. In the first 35 years, teams didn't have a single game with 75 3-point attempts.

Even this season, when teams are taking more 3s than ever, most games haven't had 75 3-point attempts.

But Charlotte (8-for-46, 17%) and Chicago (14-for-51, 27%) came together to make history. The main culprits:

• Brandon Miller 3-15
• Miles Bridges 0-6
• Vasilije Micic 1-7
• Coby White 2-7
• Patrick Williams 0-5

Warriors-Mavericks

In a change of pace yesterday:

Both Golden State (27-for-54, 50%) and Dallas (21-for-41, 51%) were blistering from deep. The main contributors:

• Klay Thompson 7-11
• Luka Doncic 6-11
• Stephen Curry 7-13
• Draymond Green 5-9
• Andrew Wiggins 5-9

Tiebreakers

NBA Cup results are not a tiebreaker for the final regular-season standings. The league considered that change, but did not implement it.

Making winning the NBA Cup the first tiebreaker for the postseason or maybe next after head-to-head carries some logic. Perhaps, both teams that make the NBA Cup final should get the tiebreaker boost, as it's one team from each conference. Both those teams are playing an additional game.

But it would be a major change for the in-season tournament, which the league has been trying to sell as prestigious for its own sake, not as a step toward the championship.

-Dan Feldman