The NBA’s Summer of Mellow Drama

Getty Images/Ringer illustration Few frothy rumors. No impending superstar trades. The league's transformation into a 12-month, transaction-fueled affair hit pause in 2024. A year ago next week, a long-running NBA saga finally concluded. The Trail Blazers traded Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, ending a monthslong process to get the franchise's scoring leader out of Portland. In return for a new partner for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks sent the Blazers a giant package of picks and players—most notably Jrue Holiday, who immediately kick-started a bidding war of his own. Meanwhile, drama surrounding another point guard on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team continued to swirl, as James Harden waited for his ride out of Philadelphia. Lillard and Harden dominated the 2023 offseason, as only the latest examples of the NBA's transformation into a 12-month, transaction-fueled league. But this summer hasn't followed that pattern. While the Olympics provided a pleasant set of stakes and story lines midway between the Celtics' championship clincher and the upcoming start of training camp, the biggest NBA news since the U.S. won gold is a media story—Adrian Wojnarowski's retirement from reporting—rather than anything to do with a player or team. That's a far cry from the recent trend and from expectations after a relatively lackluster 2023-24 trade deadline. "There will be a lot of parts moved this offseason," one Eastern Conference executive told our Howard Beck at the time. "There's going to be some options, some high-level guys that ask to get moved." But not that many parts ended up moving, and no high-level players asked for a trade. To be fair, some high-quality players were dealt this June, before the start of free agency: Mikal Bridges, Dejounte Murray, Alex Caruso, and Deni Avdija. But none of them is a no. 1 option with the ability to dominate an NBA news cycle; that quartet has combined for just one career All-Star appearance, courtesy of Murray in 2021-22. The list of players included in trades since the start of July, meanwhile, is largely a collection of inconspicuous role players and post-prime former stars: Klay Thompson (as sign-and-trade) Josh Green Kyle Anderson (as sign-and-trade) Buddy Hield Devonte' Graham DeMar DeRozan (as sign-and-trade) Harrison Barnes Chris Duarte Russell Westbrook (after buyout) Kris Dunn Ziaire Williams Mamadi Diakite E.J. Liddell David Roddy DeRozan, who went from Chicago to Sacramento as part of a three-team sign-and-trade, is the only one of those players who ranks in The Ringer's list of the top 100 players in the NBA. Not a single future first-round pick changed hands in any of those moves. (The Kings sent a future swap to the Spurs as part of the DeRozan deal.) That level of activity falls far short of that in recent offseasons. In 2023, between the Finals and draft, the Suns traded for Bradley Beal, the Warriors traded for Chris Paul, and the Celtics executed the daring swap of Marcus Smart for Kristaps Porzingis. The summer then continued with regular rumors about Lillard and Harden. A year earlier, in the summer of 2022, blockbusters came in a flurry. The Hawks kicked off the action by acquiring Dejounte Murray in exchange for three future first-rounders plus a future swap (much more than they received when re-trading Murray this summer). Then Brian Windhorst foreshadowed his way to meme infamy, as the Jazz dealt Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell for a double dose of draft delights. At the same time, Kevin Durant had a standing trade request to leave the Nets, and Kyrie Irving's extension talks weren't proceeding as planned. Those story lines paved the way for further constant speculation and, eventually, a pair of midseason trades that shook up the league's competitive landscape. But which star is producing that level of transactional drama at this point in 2024? Based on our top 100 player rankings, not a single top-30 player is currently in any rumors—so, by definition in a 30-team league, there isn't a no. 1 option on the market. The closest is Brandon Ingram (no. 35 on our end-of-season list), who appears to be the odd man out in New Orleans as the Pelicans build around Zion Williamson, integrate Murray, and look to give Trey Murphy III a larger role. But Ingram—whose 2023-24 season was tarnished by a knee injury and brutal postseason performance—isn't the same caliber of player as Lillard, Harden, Durant, Mitchell, and so on. He's an excellent scorer but has just one All-Star appearance to his name; he's never made an All-NBA team and isn't beloved by advanced stats. Other teams aren't clamoring to trade for Ingram for a reason. As a fairly one-dimensional player—albeit a very important dimension—he makes for a tricky roster fit. And because he's up for a new contract after the 2024-25 season, any team that might target him now would need to feel comfortable offering him a max or near-max extension—a difficult ask for a B-level star in the league's modern cap environment. Extension concerns also figure into any potential trade for Julius Randle, who—at no. 45—is the only other player in the top 70 of our rankings who seems remotely available at this juncture. Randle, however, isn't generating outside speculation so much as inspiring uncertainty about his fit next to the Knicks' Villanova crew. But players with more oomph and a better pedigree than Ingram and Randle simply aren't on the market or asking out. All the other potential dramas resolved peaceably over the summer. Mitchell signed an extension with Cleveland. Lauri Markkanen did the same with Utah, after a fair amount of Warriors-centric trade speculation—and he specifically timed his agreement so he can't be dealt during the 2024-25 season. Jimmy Butler didn't sign an extension, but he did reach a détente with the Heat, who reportedly have "no interest in trading" their veteran star. The Timberwolves are content to keep both Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns for now, after a run to the conference finals. Arguably the three most volatile situations involving stars are in Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Cleveland, but all three teams have—at least temporarily—assuaged internal concerns by hiring new coaches: Doc Rivers, Mike Budenholzer, and Kenny Atkinson, respectively. (Rivers coached the Bucks for about half of the 2023-24 season, but Giannis was injured for the playoffs, and now Rivers will have his first full training camp with the team.) Joel Embiid might have been frustrated in Philadelphia, but the 76ers made the offseason's biggest splash by signing Paul George. The best players now who aren't on inner-circle championship contenders are probably Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James, but the Warriors and Lakers surely aren't dealing their superstars. A hypothetical "Get me out of Golden State; I want a better situation to win a fifth title" demand from Curry would make the Lillard saga look minor by comparison, but it's exceedingly difficult to imagine the lifelong Warrior ever issuing such a plea. Both Curry and LeBron signed extensions this summer. It's possible that this summer represents the start of a new reality and the end of the most frenzied era of star player movement. More likely, though, it's just an odd blip, the product of relative parity among the league's top teams (behind the defending champion Celtics, perhaps) and an unusual level of harmony among the league's top players. This calm state of affairs might not last for long; recent history suggests a top-tier star is almost always generating burbles, if only as a theoretical trade candidate. If Phoenix starts slow under Budenholzer, possible Durant destinations could swirl once more. Or if Milwaukee can't figure out the Giannis-Dame partnership in year two, every big-market team will salivate anew about the possibility of adding a two-time MVP. Then the trade machine–industrial complex will lurch into gear again, returning rumors—though no more Woj bombs—to the forefront of the NBA's daily discourse.

The NBA’s Summer of Mellow Drama

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