Marc Stein: More on how the Lakers’ roster shapes up for their forthcoming title defense: League sources say they have interest in trying to sign Wesley Matthews away from Milwaukee to replace Green.
More on Danny Green Trade
Ahead of the lifting of the transaction window on Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Lakers are expected to complete a deal to acquire Oklahoma City guard Dennis Schroder, sources tell ESPN. The Lakers are preparing to send the 28th overall pick in Wednesday night's NBA draft and guard Danny Green to the Thunder, sources said.
Bobby Marks: Lakers will gain some valuable flexibility when it comes to their $9.3M midlevel exception: Out: Green $15,365,853 Pick 28- $1.964,780. In: Schroder - $15,500,000.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Lakers guard Danny Green and the No. 28 overall pick have been a focus of the trade discussions for Schroder, sources tell ESPN.
Something to keep an eye on: per sources, the Lakers will discuss Danny Green trades with teams that have interest. It’s unclear if the Knicks would consider taking on Green’s deal, but they would have the cap space to absorb it f they decline the options they have on some of their veteran players.
They’re also looking to unload LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan; I’ve heard the Lakers have interest in acquiring DeRozan (for Kyle Kuzma and Danny Green), and as mentioned, the Warriors may want Aldridge.
Green signed a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers last offseason. The team won the NBA championship in his first season and is facing possibly several changes for next season. 10 of their players are free agents and could leave. Then there is Green, who could be a trade target. He doesn’t seem to mind the rumors. “It’s been almost 10 years now me hearing about trade rumors,” Green said on his Inside the Green Room podcast. “You ignore the noise. If it happens, it happens. (Rob Pelinka) is a respectful guy. I’m sure he’ll give me a call. I understand the nature of the business. Everybody is going to get better. Everybody’s looking to make moves and get better, so we need to do that as well.
“Hopefully, part of that process is still keeping me here. I think we bring everybody back and we do what we did this year and hopefully not in a bubble. I think the group that we have is special.”
If the Lakers are still determined to use the NT-MLE, they will need to reduce salary. Lakers could get off the salaries of Danny Green ($15.4 million) and/or McGee to help increase their space below the apron. They need to clear a little over $6 million in this scenario to be able to use the NT-MLE and fill out the rest of the roster with minimum players. One route the Lakers can go to get there is getting off McGee’s salary and trading Green for a player who earns at least $2 million less than him. Getting off Green’s salary completely would give them a ton of space below the apron, but at a minimum, this works.
Brad Townsend: Lakers-Knicks deal for Morris would have sent Kuzma/Green to Knicks to make the numbers work, but Knicks didn't want to take on Green's salary -- which is where Dallas would have come in, taking Green off Knicks' hands for Courtney Lee's expiring and Golden State 2nd round pick.
Brad Townsend: Source: Had Marcus Morris gone to Lakers, not Clippers, at 11th hour before trade deadline, Mavericks believed they had a deal in place for Danny Green, one of their summer free agency targets.
Brad Townsend: To make the Danny Green acquisition happen, source says, Mavericks would have given up the 2020 Golden State second-round pick that it covets. Mavs wanted Green's defense, championship pedigree, locker room presence, for the playoffs.
Brad Turner: Lakers/Clippers in trade conversations about Knicks' Marcus Morris, sources. NY interested in Kyle Kuzma; would need Danny Green's contract to make work. NY would want to move Green to another team. Clippers willing to part with Mo Harkless, but like Landry Shamet, who NY wants.
Long story short, they have to play the buyout market, and even then, they currently don't have a roster spot to sign anyone. Their two biggest trade assets, league executives believe, are Kuzma and Danny Green, but both play important roles.
Danny Green: "It's part of the business. I'm not mad at [the situation with being included in the Kawhi Leonard trade] at all. They could have sent me to worse places. To go from a great team in the West to another good team in the East, you can't complain about it. Obviously, the fans aren't happy but we haven't heard from Kawhi. A lot of these things are just media sources. They think he was a distraction this past year, that he broke the team up, which is not true. Nothing is gonna last forever, regardless if it happened now or later. The team was gonna break up. Eventually, he was gonna go where he wanted to go."
Toronto retains its two most interesting prospects in OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam, plus both Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet. Danny Green is more than a throw-in, even if the Spurs dangled him for very little in return over the past year, sources say. With Leonard, Anunoby, and Green, the Raptors can play lineups featuring three switchable wings who shoot 3s.
Danny Green, the longest-tenured Spur next to this side of Manu Ginobili at eight seasons, was part of the collateral damage. He also was shipped to the Raptors as part of the deal. “Shocked” was the one-word description Green shared via text message after the bombshell hit San Antonio in the hours before sunrise.
Jeff McDonald: Quick text exchange with Danny Green, who said he was enjoying his first day off from camps and workouts in a while when he got the trade news. His reaction in one word: "Shocked."
Danny Green: SAN ANTONIO....Can't express the LOVE I have for you, the city, the fans & the organization. I want to thank you all for allowing me to be a part of something AMAZING for so many years. I have many great memories that I will take with me. Through the ups and downs you’ve always made me feel SPECIAL. I want to personally thank Pop and RC for being the first to believe in me and give me the opportunity. Thank you to my TEAMMATES for always encouraging me and being there for me (going to miss you guys the most)..so many battles. Thank you to the COMMUNITY for accepting me and allowing me to feel at HOME...all of you will ALWAYS be a big part of me and will ALWAYS be FAMILY! LOVE YOU ALL! Looking forward to my next chapter in TORONTO!
The San Antonio Spurs have agreed to trade Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick, league sources tell ESPN. Toronto's first-round pick to San Antonio is a protected 1-20 selection. After one year, it becomes two second-round picks.
Shams Charania: Kawhi Leonard has been informed he has been traded to the Raptors, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. Spurs receive package centered on DeMar DeRozan from Toronto.
Bobby Marks, ESPN: Here are the financial implications for Toronto by acquiring Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green: The Raptors now have a payroll of $139.1M and a current tax bill of $29.8M. Danny Green is in the last year of his contract with a cap hit of $10M. Leonard will have a cap hit of $23.1M (including the trade bonus) and has a $21.3M player option for 2019-20. If Leonard elects to leave as a free agent in 2019, Toronto will have $101.6M in guaranteed salary and will be over the salary cap based on the team options of Pascal Siakam ($2.4M), Malachi Richardson ($2.6M), OG Anunoby ($2.3M) and $7.6M free agent hold of Delon Wright. The Raptors could create some flexibility if Jonas Valanciunas ($17.6M) and CJ Miles ($8.7M) opt-out of their contract. If Leonard returns, the first year cap hit projects to be $32.7M. In 2020-21, Toronto only has the $10.9M Norman Powell salary and $3.9M OG Anunoby team option counting against the cap.
Jabari Young: League sources tell @ExpressNews that Danny Green is involved in the trade with #Spurs and #Raptors
Melissa Rohlin: Danny Green heard he was 2nd team all-D from Pop. When he saw Pop calling, he feared it was gonna be bc of a trade, answered half asleep
ESPN's Marc Stein first reported that the Spurs are attempting to create salary-cap flexibility to pursue Chris Paul this summer, and a combo acquisition of the Clippers' All-Star point guard and Iguodala has been discussed internally, sources say. The Spurs have made LaMarcus Aldridge and Danny Green available for trades, according to sources.
Brian Windhorst: The Cavs and Spurs have been in trade talks involving Danny Green, sources say. Spurs' asking price has been high, though.
RJ Marquez: ESPN @Ramona Shelburne just said #Spurs having 'conversations' about possible Aldridge/Danny Green deals, SA/Chris Paul interest remains high pic.twitter.com/SJ8PZBo6n3
Jabari Young: League sources tell the @ExpressNews that #Spurs are open to trading guard Danny Green. No deal is close as of yet, though #NBA pic.twitter.com/lo4k57Tswd
Paul Garcia: As mentioned yesterday, Green's contract would have to be moved to get into the max free agent ball park (CP3 range). twitter.com/JabariJYoung/s…
