More on Bismack Biyombo Trade?
Adrian Wojnarowski: Sources: Three-team trade agreed in principle.
Here is the breakdown for the Charlotte, Chicago and Orlando trade: The Bulls acquire the $1.65M non-guaranteed contract of Julyan Stone that has a August 1 guaranteed date. If Stone is waived, the cap space for Chicago will increase to $16M in room (if the Noah Vonleh hold is released). For Charlotte, Bismack Biyombo is under contract for the next two years with a cap hit of $17M per season. The Hornets now have $120.3M in salary and are $3.4M under the tax with 14 guaranteed contracts. Orlando gets much needed guard help with the $2.69M expiring contract of Jerian Grant. Like Biyombo, Timofey Mozgov has two years left with a cap hit of $16M and $16.7M.
Shams Charania: Sources: Chicago is trading guard Jerian Grant to Orlando as part of a 3-team deal.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Deal includes Bulls guard Jerian Grant to Magic, sources tell ESPN.
The prevailing thought around the Magic is that forward Aaron Gordon is going to be retained this summer and that deals involving him would have to return a proven All-Star. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards. The dream scenario would be to offload the contract of Bismack Biyombo, but no one is taking that contract off the Magic’s hands.
Look for Hammond to shuffle the deck now that he’s the new Magic GM. NBA officials said Hammond has been working the phones, trying to move point guard Elfrid Payton and veteran centers Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo. If Hammond is successful in moving Payton, it will likely impact the Magic’s draft plans. The consensus among NBA officials is the Magic will draft Florida State forward Jonathan Isaac with the sixth overall selection. However, if Payton is moved, the Magic may change plans at select North Carolina State point guard Dennis Smith.
It has not taken long for buyers’ remorse to kick in. League sources told Sporting News that the Magic have picked up their attempts to move Ibaka ahead of next month’s trade deadline, eager to ensure that they come away with some return for a player who does not figure to be in Orlando long. Ibaka will be a free agent this summer. There is no chance of a Biyombo trade, not after the Magic paid him $70 million for four years this offseason.
Orlando, according to league sources, remains focused on acquiring a proven scorer on the wing before the Feb. 23 trade deadline if the ever-elusive right deal presents itself. The corresponding expectation in league circles is that the Magic will try to move a big man to make that happen, with Nikola Vucevic continuing to rank as the most likely of Orlando's bigs to depart because Serge Ibaka is headed for free agency in July (which complicates trading him) and with Bismack Biyombo only in the first year of a four-year, $68 million deal bound to put some teams off.
