NBA Free Agency, Trade and Rumours Roundup: 6th July - Melo and OKC to part ways, Tony Parker will no longer be a Spur and more
After a rather quiet Day 5, in which not much of substance unfolded in terms of new free agent signings or trades, Day 6 was quite a lot more eventful. A couple of veterans parted ways with their organizations due to fit issues as well as their free-falling level of play. A couple more teams have made strides towards increasing their roster quality, particularly out in the Eastern Conference.
The Pacers now sport a better look than they did last season. With a couple of shrewd acquisitions in Tyreke Evans and Kyle O'Quinn, they are now about as well-tooled at every roster position as one could expect them to be, given their current cap situation, the owner's aversion to the luxury tax and the Eastern Conference playoff picture post-LeBron.
The following were the biggest deals to go down on July 6th, with an unreported deal from the 4th making the cut here:
#1 Carmelo Anthony will be let go of by Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder have reportedly reached an agreement with Carmelo Anthony to stretch the remaining year of his contract over the next 3 years. Melo was slated to make over $27 million this season, driving Oklahoma City's wage bill to nearly $160 million and their luxury tax bill (with the repeater offense) to around $150 million.
Also read: 5 Trade packages for Carmelo Anthony
Melo has regressed massively over the past 2-3 seasons, shooting below league average for a player at his height and position. A significant loss in bounce and quickness has rendered him as a target for switching offenses on the defensive end and as a below average player inside the paint.
The primary reason for stretching him, however, is the fact that it will save OKC a massive luxury tax bill this season while giving them greater financial flexibility over the next couple of seasons. Doing so, however, means that they are still $8 million above the luxury tax limit and two players short on their roster list, which now contains only 13 players even with the re-signing of Raymond Felton and Jerami Grant and the addition of Nerlens Noel.