NBA Rumors: Buzz Around Buyout Candidates Post-Trade Deadline
The NBA trade deadline came and went Thursday.
Teams still have an opportunity to upgrade their roster.
The buyout market is here, offering teams another chance for an external boost. Let's dig into the latest rumblings about the players who could provide that lift.
Kyle Lowry Is a Sixers Priority
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Late last month, Kyle Lowry was traded from the Miami Heat to the Charlotte Hornets. His stay in Buzz City never figured to be a long one.
The 37-year-old, who's on an expiring $29.7 million salary, per Spotrac, hasn't negotiated a buyout with the Hornets yet, but it feels like that could come at any moment. If it does, at least one win-now shopper is ready to pounce.
The 76ers plan to make Lowry their "priority in the buyout market," per NBA insider Marc Stein. They opened multiple roster spots at the deadline, and one has presumably already been earmarked for Lowry.
The Philadelphia native opened his 18th NBA season as the starting point guard of a Heat team hoping to make another deep playoff run. He posted one of the quieter stat lines of his career (8.2 points and 4.0 assists in 28 minutes per night) and eventually lost his spot, but he remains a plucky perimeter defender who can organize an offense.
Crowded List of Suitors for Spencer Dinwiddie
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Most buyout-market additions don't wind up making much of a difference for their new employers. Spencer Dinwiddie could be one of the exceptions.
He was traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Toronto Raptors on Thursday and immediately waived. That had less to do with his play, though, than it did the $1.5 million bonus he was close to collecting for games played. On the court, the 30-year-old remains a steady (if sometimes inefficient) source of scoring and playmaking. This is his third consecutive season averaging at least 12 points and five assists, and he's posting the second-lowest turnover percentage of his career (9.8, per Basketball-Reference).
He is a decent player, and you can't always find those on the buyout market. Teams have taken note of his arrival, as Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers are all "expected to have interest" in Dinwiddie.
Dinwiddie spent parts of the past two seasons with the Mavericks and played some of the best basketball of his career during his Dallas stint. He averaged better than 15 points per night while shooting above 46 percent from the field and 40 percent from three.
Joe Harris a Possibility in Chicago
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For the third consecutive season, the Chicago Bulls did nothing at the deadline.
They reportedly discussed "selling off pieces and beginning to reshape the next roster" internally, per NBC Sports Chicago's K.C. Johnson, but when talking to other teams they "emphasized the desire to remain competitive."
Could veteran marksman Joe Harris help them do that? They may want to find out. Sources told Johnson that Harris could be on the Bulls' radar.
Harris hardly played this season (170 minutes over 16 games) and didn't look good when he did (35.9 percent shooting overall, 33.3 percent from three), but he'd previously been one of the top shooters of the past half-decade. Between the 2017-18 and 2022-23 seasons, he averaged 2.4 three-pointers per game on 44.6 percent shooting.
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