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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
The Philadelphia 76ers made a pair of trades with fellow contenders atop the Eastern Conference standings in the closing moments before the NBA’s trade deadline Thursday, sending Patrick Beverley to the Milwaukee Bucks and Jaden Springer to the Boston Celtics for second-round picks, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
For Beverley, 35, it means a reunion with the coach Doc Rivers, with whom he spent several seasons as part of the LA Clippers.
Milwaukee, which has been searching for perimeter defensive help in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, gets a player who fortifies a defensive unit that has struggled all season, entering Thursday’s action ranked 18th in defensive rating.
Beverley, 35, averaged 6.3 points across 47 games for Philadelphia this season. The Bucks will be Beverley’s sixth team since the start of the 2020-21 season.
Philadelphia received Cameron Payne and a 2027 second-round pick from the Bucks in exchange for Beverley. Payne, 29, is averaging 6.2 points and shooting 39.7% from 3-point range, giving Philadelphia a second strong 3-point shooter on deadline day after it acquired Buddy Hield earlier Thursday.
The 76ers entered Thursday ranked among the bottom five teams in the league in 3-point shooting.
In another move, the Bucks are trading Robin Lopez to the Sacramento Kings, sources told ESPN. Lopez is expected to be waived by the Kings and become a free agent, sources told ESPN.
Springer, 21, is a strong defensive guard who has struggled with his outside shot, hitting 21.6% of his 3-pointers this season. But for a Celtics team looking to develop cheap contributors down their roster, it’s a bet on developing him as a talent for down the road.
The Celtics also made another minor move just before the deadline, as sources said they moved Dalano Banton to the Portland Trail Blazers for a heavily protected future second-round pick.
Banton, 24, signed as a free agent after playing for his hometown Toronto Raptors last summer, and allows the Celtics to keep a roster spot open to add a potential player on the buyout market — or just help lessen Boston’s healthy luxury tax bill.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, has now opened up multiple roster spots Thursday after moving on from Marcus Morris, Furkan Korkmaz, Danuel House and Springer in these deals, giving them three open roster spots to use in the buyout market — as well as to get under the luxury tax.
One possible buyout option is Philadelphia native and future Hall of Famer Kyle Lowry — if Lowry, who was traded to Charlotte last month by the Miami Heat in exchange for Terry Rozier, is either waived or bought out by the Hornets after the deadline.