Talk to know from 3 big offseason trades

Kristaps Porzingis is now with the Celtics after an offseason trade with the Wizards.

Free agency doesn’t begin until Friday at 6 p.m. ET, but a handful of veteran players, including a few big names, are already on the move. The trades that sent Bradley Beal to Phoenix and Kristaps Porzingis to Boston are official, while the deal that sent Chris Paul to Golden State will have to wait until July 6, when Jordan Poole gets a lot more salary and the moratorium on free agency is past. .

Here are some numbers to know about the teams that have made trades so far and the players involved.


1. Boston Celtics

IN: Kristaps Porzingis

Out: Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala, Marcus Smart

Quick take: Smart was the heart and soul of a team that has won 12 playoff series over the last seven years and was two wins away from a championship 12 months ago. But unable to break through, the Celtics decided to break up their core. And after an initial trade for Porzingis fell through, Smart was the guard sent packing. Porzingis is a good fit for a team that ranks second in 3-point rate and likely needed to cut veteran Al Horford’s minutes.

  • Porzingis is the only player in 44 seasons from the 3-point line to average at least two 3-pointers and at least 1.5 blocks in multiple seasons, doing so in 2019-20 and again last season. Only four other eligible players have done it once.
  • Porzingis shot 38.5% from 3-point range this season, up from 31.0% in 2021-22. That was the fourth-largest jump among 124 players with at least 200 3-point attempts each season. Horford had the biggest jump (from 33.6% to 44.6%), while Malcolm Brogdon had the biggest jump (from 31.2% to 44.4%) among 219 players with at least 100 attempts each season.
  • Porzingis shot 86-for-141 (61%) on post-ups, the second-best mark among 17 players with at least 100 field goal attempts out of the post, according to Second Spectrum tracking.

2. Golden State Warriors

NBA TV weighs in on the reported Chris Paul-for-Jordan Poole trade deal.

IN: Chris Paul

Out: Jordan Poole

Quick take: Wow. It’s not a surprise that the Warriors are dealing Poole, who has a four-year, $128 million contract extension that starts July 1. It’s a surprise that Paul is the guy who comes back in return. He is one of the best point guards in NBA history, third all-time in both assists and steals. But he doesn’t exactly fit the Warriors (who led the league in ball movement) in terms of style of play.

  • Only 4% (26/667) of Paul’s field goal attempts came in the restricted area. That was the lowest rate among 292 players with at least 250 total field goal attempts in 2022-23.
  • Paul shot 46-for-88 (52.3%) on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, the second-best mark among 282 players with at least 75 catch-and-shoot attempts. He was just 51-for-169 (30.2%) on pull-up 3s, the biggest difference among 130 players with at least 75 catch-and-shoot attempts and 75 pull-up attempts.
  • According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Suns set 2,420 ball screens for Paul, fifth most of any player in the league, 46.1 per. 36 minutes, and 883 more than the Warriors set by Stephen Curry (1,537, 28.5 per 36).

3. Memphis Grizzlies

Marcus Smart and Ja Morant could form a potent guard combo in Memphis.

IN: Smart

Out: Tyus Jones

Quick take: Smart is an upgrade over Dillon Brooks, can play point guard when Ja Morant is (suspended or) off the floor, and will provide some much needed veteran leadership. But this team still lacks some size on the wings with its top three perimeter players in Morant, Smart and Desmond Bane at 6-foot-2, 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5, respectively. Smart also lacks the consistent shooting that the Grizzlies (who were below league average in both 3-point percentage and 3-point rate) could use with Morant.

  • Smart is one of two players (Jimmy Butler is the other) to average at least 1.5 steals in 40 games or more in each of the last five seasons.

4. Phoenix Suns

Bradley Beal and the Phoenix Suns hope to form a dominant trio in the Western Conference.

IN: Bradley Beal, Jordan Goodwin, Isaiah Todd

Out: Chris Paul, Landry Shamet

Quick take: At the time of the trade deal, there were seven players in the league slated to make more than $50 million in both 2024-25 and ’25-26. The Suns now have three of those seven players, adding Beal ($208 million over the next four years) to Devin Booker ($260 million over the next five) and Kevin Durant ($154 million over the next three). All three of these guys can create their own shot, but the Suns lost a lot of playmaking by trading Paul for Beal, who needs to defend much better than he has in recent years.

  • Beal (27.0 and 5.5), Booker (26.6 and 5.6) and Durant (27.8 and 5.8) are three of the 11 players who have averaged at least 25 points and five assists over the past five seasons. The Mavs (Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving) are the only team with more than one.
  • This season, Beal had an effective field goal percentage of 55.1%, the second-best mark of his career and up from 49.2% in 2021-22. That was the 13th-largest jump among 136 players with at least 500 field goal attempts in each of the last two seasons.
  • Beal has taken 26% of his shots from 3-point range over the last three seasons, down from 36% over his first eight. Among the 212 players with at least 200 total field goal attempts this season, Deandre Ayton (7.33), Durant (1.42), Booker (0.98) and Beal (0.98) rank. first, ninth, 13th and 14th, respectively, in their ratio between intermediate trials and 3-point trials. The Suns ranked last in the playoffs with just 9.4 3-pointers per game. match.

5. Washington Wizards

Jordan Poole seems poised for a bigger offensive role with the Wizards next season.

IN: Jones, Poole

Out: Beal, Goodwin, Porzingis, Todd

Quick take: Beal was one of only five players to be with the same team in the last 11 seasons, but the Wizards have been no better than four games under .500 in each of the last five seasons. And new team president Michael Winger wasted no time setting the franchise in a new direction. The Wizards can trade more pieces, but the assets they got in return for Beal and Porzingis weren’t great. And it will be about their own first-round picks over the next few years.

  • Jones has led the league in assist/turnover ratio in each of the last five seasons. He has a career assist/turnover ratio of 5.27, the highest mark among the 2,012 players with at least 100 career assists over the 46 years the turnover has been tracked. New teammate Monte Morris has the second-highest grade, while Jones’ younger brother, Tre, has the fifth-highest grade.

Highest career assist/turnover ratio since turnovers have been counted

Player GP AST TO AST/TWO
Tyus Jones 535 2.108 400 5.27
Monte Morris 342 1,368 278 4.92
Muggsy Bogues 889 6,726 1,433 4.69
Travis Diener 179 432 99 4.36
Three Jones 174 720 169 4.26

1977-78 to 2022-23
Minimum 100 total career assistants

  • Jones had 51 more steals (83) than personal fouls (32), tied for the most by any player in the last 20 seasons. He is one of 10 players in the 50-year streak with steals tracked with at least five seasons in which they played at least 500 minutes and had more steals than personal fouls. Jimmy Butler (nine seasons) is the only other active player of the 10.
  • Poole committed to 12.2 turnovers per 100 used possessions, the third highest rate among 54 players with a usage rate of 25% or higher.
  • Poole had an effective field goal percentage of just 40% in the playoffs, down from 51.4% in the regular season, the worst mark among 48 players with at least 100 postseason field goal attempts.

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John Schuhmann is a senior statistical analyst for NBA.com. You can email him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

The views expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Warner Bros. Discovery

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