Even though the NBA Finals are still going on, the rest of the NBA is preparing for the off-season. The NBA Draft is only a couple of weeks away and free agency is right after, so many teams are getting ready for what could be an eventful summer.
— Have you seen the ‘Lakers Nation’ phone case? —
The Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks were the first teams to make a move agreeing to a trade to send power forward Ersan Ilyasova to Detroit in exchange for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
Milwaukee has traded forward Ersan Ilyasova to Detroit for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 11, 2015
Ilyasova is the top player in this deal and the Pistons grabbing him gives them a replacement for unrestricted free agent Greg Monroe if he chooses to leave. The Lakers have been a rumored landing spot for Monroe as have the New York Knicks.
For the Bucks, this deal gives them more salary cap room as the contracts of both Butler and Williams are non-guaranteed. Khris Middleton is a restricted free agent and he has said he wants to remain in Milwaukee. If they were to waive both Butler and Williams, the Bucks would have around $22 million in salary cap space, more than enough to keep Middleton around without sacrificing flexibility.
The deal could be saying a lot about the future of two upcoming free agents as the Pistons seem to be preparing to lose one, while the Bucks strengthen their ability to keep one around.
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