It is hard to believe that three weeks of NBA Free Agency have come and gone, and yet big news keeps coming from the association, like Kyrie Irving's bombshell trade demand yesterday. Day twenty-one saw Pau Gasol go back to the Spurs, John Wall become the latest star to get paid, and the Cleveland Cavaliers finally hire a general manager.
Pau Gasol is coming back to the Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs and six-time All-Star Pau Gasol have agreed to a three-year deal, with financial details not yet disclosed. His deal does contain a partially guaranteed amount for its third year.
This upcoming season is the 17th in the NBA for the 37-year-old, who spent his first season with the Spurs last year. Last season, Gasol played in 64 games and started in 39 of them. He averaged 12.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 blocks. He shot 50.2% from the field and 53.8% on three pointers.
John Wall gets paid by the Wizards
The Washington Wizards and star point guard John Wall have agreed to a four-year, $170 million option. Wall's deal, which was first reported by TNT's David Aldridge, also includes a fourth-year player option and has a 15% trade kicker. The 26-year-old is coming off of the best season in his career in which he averaged 23.1 points, 10.7 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 2 steals and 0.6 blocks.
He also shot 45.1% from the field and 32.7% on three-pointers. For Wall, this represented a career high in points, assists, steals, and field goal percentage in a single season.
He finished the season second in the NBA in assists and steals per game, while leading the Wizards to a 49-33 record and the four seed in the Eastern Conference.
In terms of personal achievement, he also made his fourth consecutive All-Star game and his first All-NBA team. Wall was also historic in the playoffs, averaging 27.2 points and 10.3 assists in 13 games. He was only the second player in NBA history to average at least 25 and 10 playing in at least ten playoff games, with the other being Russell Westbrook in the 2016 postseason.
Cavaliers finally decide on a GM
The Cleveland Cavaliers have finally decided on a new general manager after parting ways with David Griffin a month ago. They have decided to promote assist general manager Koby Altman to the position of GM, with the formal announcement of the move expected to take place in the coming days. Apparently, Dan Gilbert has been working on promoting Altman to GM since Chauncey Billups declined to take the job.
