Hornets trade Nick Richards to Suns

6:43 p.m.: The trade is now official, according to a Suns press release.

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3:47 p.m.: THE Suns And Hornets have agreed to a trade that will send the center Nick Richards and a second-round pick to Phoenix in exchange for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

The Suns have just three tradeable second-round picks on hand: Denver’s 2026 and 2031 selections and Phoenix’s own pick in 2031. Those are the three picks destined for Charlotte in the deal.

According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), the pick sent from the Hornets to the Suns is a 2025 selection. It will be the least favorable pick of Denver and Philadelphia, according to Bobby Marks and Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Barring an unexpected development in the second half of this season, this appears to be round two for the Nuggets.

Richards, 27, has enjoyed a steady rotation in Charlotte since the start of the 2022/23 campaign and has been the team’s primary starting center in 2023/24 with Marc Williams sidelined. So far this season, he has played in 21 games, averaging 8.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.2 blocks in 21.0 minutes per night.

Richards has a team-friendly contract that pays him $5 million this season, with a non-guaranteed salary of $5 million for next season. Okogie’s deal is also guaranteed in 2024/25 and non-guaranteed in 2025/26, but he makes $8.25 million this season, so the trade will reduce Phoenix’s expected end-of-season luxury tax bill of approximately 20 million dollars, per expert. Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link), while giving the team an athletic option in the frontcourt.

Richards is expected to take over as the Suns’ starting center once acclimated. tweets Gambadoro.

Reports over the weekend indicated that the Suns and Hornets were in talks over a possible Richards trade that would send second-round capital to Charlotte.

Phoenix Center Jusuf Nurkic He was thought to be part of those discussions, but the Hornets likely weren’t willing to take on Nurkic’s contract, which has a significantly higher cap hit ($18.13 million) than Okogie’s and is also fully guaranteed for next season ($19.38 million). An Okogie/Richards trade is simpler from a cap perspective and doesn’t require Charlotte to include a second player.

Because they operate in the second tax zone, the Suns have limited options on the trade market this season. They are not able to consolidate contracts or collect more salary than they send. This deal meets those requirements while taking advantage of an Okogie contract that was seen as a likely trade asset since he was first signed in July. It’s no coincidence that Okogie became trade eligible on Wednesday.

Besides its newly acquired 2025 second-round pick, Phoenix’s only remaining tradeable draft asset is its 2031 first-round pick. The front office plans to make this first-round selection available as the club continues to evaluate its options on the market before the February 6 deadline.

As Marks tweets, Phoenix will generate a $3.25 million trade exception as a result of this transaction. The Suns could use this exception during the season, but not during the 2025 offseason as long as they continue to operate on the second apron.

As for the Hornets, after taking advantage of their significant wiggle room below the luxury tax threshold to sign contracts and acquire three second-round picks from the Knicks in Cities of Karl-Anthony blockbuster in the fall, they’re taking a similar path here, absorbing additional salary in a deal for their backup center and securing several future second-rounders in the process.

Charlotte will still operate more than $7 million below the tax threshold once this move becomes official, leaving the team with some flexibility to potentially facilitate another deal or two with a cap-strapped trade partner. here on February 6.

While the Hornets are making this trade for draft assets rather than Okogie, the veteran swingman has been solid in limited minutes this season, averaging 6.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game over 25 outings, with career-high shooting percentages of 49.1% from the floor and 38.1% from three-point range. He is considered a versatile and above average wing defender.

If Okogie is not part of Charlotte’s plans for the future, the club could look to move on from him in the coming weeks, although he won’t be able to have his salary stacked with that of another player.