On Jan. 19, the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, and San Antonio Spurs completed a three-way deal.
The Celtics traded big forward Juan Hernangomez to the Spurs; the Spurs traded guard Brin Forbes to the Nuggets; and the Nuggets traded forwards Pol Ball and P.J. Dozier to the Celtics. In addition, the Spurs also received the Nuggets' 2028 second-round draft pick in this deal.
The four players transferred this time are not starters, among which the Nuggets' Pol Ball and Dozil are currently out of the game due to injury, and have basically been reimbursed for the season. Of course, the Celtics' reason for making this deal is still money. The Celtics will save about $4.3 million in salary in the deal by getting two low-cost contract players, which will help them avoid paying luxury taxes this season.
The party that benefited the most from the deal was the Nuggets, and a number of American media also rated the Nuggets A in the deal.
On Jan. 11, the Nuggets announced that they had traded Ball to the Pistons. Three days later, the result backfired, and Pol failed the Pistons' physical exam. As a result, Bohr underwent surgery on his right foot and was sidelined indefinitely. It also made him the fifth player in the Nuggets to be absent for a long time, after the Nuggets had Dozier (torn CRU), Jamal Murray (who is recovering), Michael Potter Jr. (back surgery) and Flatko Chanchar (fractured fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot) out of the game due to injury. Even if the Nuggets are strong, and MVP Nikola Jokic is in the position, it is helpless to deal with this series of injuries.
The Nuggets could have slipped through the barrier and added some difficult exceptions to get through the season, but Forbes was undoubtedly a better choice than any free agent right now, so it was better to take this opportunity to improve the lineup.
Forbes played for the Spurs for the first four seasons of his career, winning the championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020-21. In August 2021, Forbes returned to the Spurs. His playing time with the Spurs has declined this season compared to last season, and his three-point shooting percentage has also declined slightly, but with his career 41.3 percent three-point shooting rate, he can definitely provide the Nuggets with the shooting space they lack.
Forbes has ranked third in three-point shooting percentage over the past four seasons among players who have made more than 1,000 three-point shots, behind only Brooklyn Nets' Joe Harris and Philadelphia's 76ers' Seth Curry.
According to Second Spectrum, In the past two seasons, Forbes has shot 45.1 percent from three-point range, ranking fifth in the league (in the past two seasons, there have been more than 300 three-point shots, for a total of 102 players). Over the past two seasons, the top five players in the league who have shot three-point shots are:
1. Joe Harris (50.7%)
2. Seth Curry (48.4%)
3. Marcus Morris (47.6%)
4. Luke Kennard (45.1%)
5. Brin Forbes (45.1%)
Jokic is one of the best centers in the league and can even be removed most of the time. With the Nuggets suffering so many injuries, the Nuggets can still rank in the top six in the West, and Jokic's ability to lead the team is evident. Currently, rookie Nashon Hyland and veteran Austin Rivers are the Nuggets' main bench flanks, shooting around 50 percent from the field. By comparison, Forbes' true shooting percentage is 57.2 percent, well above the league average. It can be believed that an efficient shooter like Forbes will feel very comfortable playing next to Jokic.
Assuming the Nuggets can maintain their top-six seeding positions or advance in the playoffs, it's time for Forbes to be a key player in the rotation as a diminutive (1.88m) no-ball guard. After all, in the Bucks' championship journey, he played less and less time, and after the first game of the Finals, Forbes played only 10 minutes.
After Forbes returned to the Spurs, his chemistry with the team was not as good as expected. Forbes' 16.9 minute playing time per game is his lowest since his rookie season. Derek White has been playing almost all of the points guard this season, and the young Lonnie Walker is also playing in this position, and Forbes doesn't have much room to play.
The deal was a win-win deal, trading Forbes to a team that has always been competitive, and in return, the Nuggets appropriately gave the Spurs a draft pick. After the Spurs trade for Forbes, Joshua Primo will get more playing time. And because spurs' overall salaries are below the luxury tax line, they only have to bear the wage difference of More than $1 million for Forbes and Hernangomez for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately, Brad Stevens' first mid-season deal in the president's position was an unspiring financial proposal. Hernangomez has been on a salary of $6.9 million this season, but he has never been in the rotation, and he has only played 96 minutes so far, and his salary has forced the Celtics to pay a luxury tax. Therefore, boston will definitely make this deal involving Hernangomex before the trade deadline arrives.
Despite the savings, the Celtics' team salary still exceeds the luxury tax line by $2.8 million. That includes a $1.9 million incentive prize that Jaylen Brown may not get. In the contract, Brown had to play 65 games and be named an All-Star to receive the prize money, meaning he couldn't miss more than 3 games for the rest of the schedule.
Barring Brown hadn't been named an All-Star, the Celtics could have ditched a low-paid player before the trade deadline to easily get rid of the luxury tax burden. Ball, Dozier or substitute centre-forward Bruno Fernando all have contracts for similar amounts, either one.
In this deal, all three teams will take what they need, and more may have just begun.