This summer, Klay Thompson—a franchise legend for the Golden State Warriors—left the team due to his dissatisfaction with his role and the team’s unwillingness to pay him on a long-term basis. He eventually found a three-year, $50 million deal in Dallas.
The Mavs had to give Thompson a better offer than their mid-level exception because they were out of cap space and wanted to retain Thompson. They consequently negotiated a sign-and-trade agreement with the Warriors that, at first, involved three teams and involved Josh Green going to Charlotte and two second-round picks going to Golden State (along with a sizeable trade exception).
The Warriors quickly realized how they wanted to use that exception, but they decided to make the original three-team sign-and-trade for Thompson into a five-team shindig in which three different players were signed and traded in order to maximize their return.
They began by trading for a future second-round pick from Minnesota in exchange for Kyle Anderson, who signed a three-year, $27 million contract. This gave the Wolves a sizable trade exception. Two days later, they acquired Buddy Hield in a sign-and-trade with Philadelphia, sending one of the Dallas second round picks to the Sixers (along with a trade exception), on a somewhat complicated four-year, approximately $37 million contract (with $21 million guaranteed).
They were able to add two players to Thompson’s roster to provide more depth at the two-guard and power forward positions by combining the two of those transactions into the original Klay trade. Though five-team trades in the NBA are uncommon, this illustrates the benefit of conducting business early in the free agency moratorium period since it allows you to add details to a deal before it is formally announced on July 6, which is the start of the league season.
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