Davis Bertans (Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports)
NBA Trade Rumors: How teams can move five of the worst contracts in the league to teams with cap space.
Indiana and San Antonio…the dumping grounds of the 2022 NBA. With well over $20 million in cap space each, they are prime candidates to absorb some of the worst, most bloated contracts in the league, and it would be a safe bet that each of them does exactly that before the trade deadline.
In recent years, teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder have demonstrated the value of preserving cap space to take on unwanted contracts for significant draft assets, as this SI article details.
But they’re now paying a few players real money, so they’ve got to pass the baton.
With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love entering the final year of their albatross contracts (and John Wall being bought out), the league’s truly atrocious contracts all extend through 2024 or later. Let’s find them a new home.
Bertans and Mavericks 2025 pick to the Pacers
Because the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers have so much cap space, they can actually take on Bertans’ salary without having to send a player back. But let’s find actual trades that involve players going both ways. He makes sense on either team, but San Antonio has enough forward-sized players as it is.