By Jeff McDonald, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2024-07-06 15:19:28
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
2024年3月7日，在加州萨克拉门托举行的一场NBA篮球比赛中，萨克拉门托国王队后卫凯文·许尔特(Kevin Huerter)（9号）在圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫特雷·琼斯（33号）面前投篮。(美联社照片/杰德·雅各布森)
周六，马刺队将替补后卫德文特·格雷厄姆(Devonte’ Graham)和一个未来的二轮选秀权交易至夏洛特黄蜂队，这笔交易可能为接下来更大规模的运作奠定基础。
预计黄蜂队将裁掉格雷厄姆，让这位29岁的球员成为一名不受限制的自由球员。
格雷厄姆下赛季1200万美元的薪水中，只有285万美元是受保障的。马刺队必须在周一之前裁掉格雷厄姆，否则将继续承担他合同的剩余部分。
格雷厄姆在2023年2月与新奥尔良鹈鹕队达成交易后，在两个赛季中为马刺队出场43次。马刺队送给黄蜂队的选秀权是2025年的二轮签，该签位最初属于鹈鹕队，在去年夏天与菲尼克斯太阳队的交易中来到了马刺队，那笔交易曾短暂地将卡梅隆·佩恩(Cam Payne)带到了圣安东尼奥。
格雷厄姆很少被马刺队使用，场均出场13.6分钟，得到5分。从这个意义上说，周六的交易在NBA掀不起什么波澜。
然而，这笔交易可能成为多米诺骨牌效应的开端，帮助马刺完成几笔更大的交易，并可能为他们在休赛期带来梦寐以求的射手。
据信，马刺队是萨克拉门托国王队和芝加哥公牛队谈判中的第三方球队，这笔交易将把全明星后卫德玛尔·德罗赞(DeMar DeRozan)从公牛队送到国王队。
国王队需要释放薪资空间才能与公牛队达成协议。
通过甩掉格雷厄姆的合同，马刺队将腾出高达2600万美元的薪资空间，可以吸收哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)或凯文·许尔特(Kevin Huerter)其中之一，同时帮助国王队完成德罗赞的潜在交易。
32岁的巴恩斯还剩两年3700万美元的合同。25岁的许尔特还剩两年3480万美元的合同。
无论是巴恩斯还是许尔特的加入，都将立即提升马刺队的投射能力。马刺队上赛季的三分球命中率排名联盟倒数第三。为球星维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)“文班”身边配备射手是马刺队进入休赛期的首要任务之一。
尽管围绕这位全明星大个子的交易谈判似乎在最近几天有所放缓，但巴恩斯或许尔特的交易并不一定会让马刺队退出对犹他爵士队劳里·马尔卡宁(Lauri Markkanen)的争夺。
与此同时，格雷厄姆在圣安东尼奥短暂逗留后将寻找新的球队。
他在马刺队的效力生涯将因两大亮点而被铭记。
在被交易到马刺队的首场比赛中，格雷厄姆在对阵底特律活塞队的双加时赛中砍下31分。这创造了马刺队球员首秀得分纪录。
去年4月，格雷厄姆在比赛还剩0.9秒时命中制胜的抛投，帮助马刺队以121-120战胜卫冕冠军丹佛掘金队，为他在马刺队的生涯画上了圆满的句号。
尽管格雷厄姆在马刺队的职业生涯大部分时间里都被雪藏，但他仍然是球队中最受欢迎的球员之一。
“我们不得不几次称赞他，因为他肯定非常沮丧自己没有上场时间，”主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)上赛季说道。“但他训练刻苦。他在场下与队友们打成一片。他非常受人尊敬。”
现在，格雷厄姆将去寻找一个新的环境，希望在那里他能为球队做出贡献。
如果他的离开能让马刺队有资金为文班亚马增加另一块拼图，那就把这当作格雷厄姆的临别礼物吧。
点击查看原文：As Spurs deal Graham, what comes next?
As Spurs deal Graham, what comes next?
Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Huerter (9) shoots against San Antonio Spurs guard Tre Jones (33) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif, Thursday, March 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
In a trade that could set the stage for an even a bigger move to come, the Spurs dealt reserve guard Devonte’ Graham plus a future second-round to Charlotte on Saturday.
The Hornets are expected to waive Graham, allowing the 29-year-old to becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Only $2.85 million of Graham’s $12 million next season is guaranteed. The Spurs had until Monday to waive Graham or else remain on the hook for the balance of his deal.
Graham appeared in 43 games over part of two seasons after arriving in a February 2023 trade with New Orleans. The draft pick Spurs sent Charlotte was a 2025 second-rounder that originally belonged to the Pelicans and came to the Spurs via last summer’s trade with Phoenix that briefly brought Cam Payne to San Antonio.
Graham was seldom used by the Spurs, averaging five points in 13.6 minutes per appearance. In that sense, Saturday’s trade made nary a ripple across the NBA landscape.
However, that transaction could serve as a domino that could help bring a couple of bigger trades to fruition – and could help bring the Spurs the shooting they are coveting this offseason.
The Spurs are believed to be a third team in talks with Sacramento and Chicago that would send All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan from the Bulls to the Kings.
Sacramento would need to shed salary to make a deal with Chicago happen.
By dumping Graham’s contract, the Spurs could be poised to carve as much as $26 million in salary cap space to absorb one of either Harrison Barnes or Kevin Huerter from the Kings, while in turn helping facilitate Sacramento’s potential trade for DeRozan.
Barnes, 32, has two years and $37 million remaining on his contract. Huerter, 25, has two years and $34.8 million left on his deal.
The addition of either Barnes or Huerter would mark an immediate shooting upgrade to a Spurs team that ranked third-to-last in the NBA in 3-point percentage last season. Adding shooters around star Victor Wembanyama was one of the Spurs’ stated priorities heading into the summer.
A deal for Barnes or Huerter would not necessarily remove the Spurs from the running for Utah’s Lauri Markkanen, though trade talks around the All-Star big man seem to have slowed in recent days.
In the meantime, Graham is off to find a new team after his brief stay in San Antonio.
His Spurs tenure will be remembered for a pair of highlights.
In his first game with the Spurs after being traded from New Orleans, Graham poured in 31 points in a double-overtime loss at Detroit. That set a franchise record for most points in a debut with the team.
Last April, Graham punctuated his time with the Spurs by hitting a game-winning floater with 0.9 seconds remaining to beat the defending champion Denver Nuggets 121-120.
Even as he spent most of his Spurs career mothballed, the good-natured Graham remained one of the most beloved players on the team.
“We’ve had to compliment him a couple of times, just because understand he’s got to be extremely frustrated not playing,” coach Gregg Popovich said last season. “But he practices hard. He’s up off the bench with his teammates. He’s very respected.”
Now Graham is off to find a situation where, hopefully, he can contribute on the floor.
If his departure affords the Spurs wherewithal to add another building block around Wembanyama, consider it Graham’s parting gift.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News