Numbers to know from 3 major offseason trades
Kristaps Porzingis is now with the Celtics after an offseason trade with the Wizards.
Free agency doesn’t begin until Friday at 6 p.m. ET, but a handful of veteran players, including a few big names, are already on the move. The trades that sent Bradley Beal to Phoenix and Kristaps Porzingis to Boston are official, while the deal that sent Chris Paul to Golden State will have to wait until July 6, when Jordan Poole is getting paid a lot more and the free agency moratorium is over.
Here are some numbers to know about the teams that made trades so far and the players involved.
1. Boston Celtics
In: Kristaps Porzingis
Out: Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala, Marcus Smart
Quick take: Smart was the heart and soul of a team that’s won 12 playoff series over the last seven years and was two wins from a championship 12 months ago. But, unable to break through, the Celtics decided to break up their core. And after an initial trade for Porzingis fell through, Smart was the guard that was sent packing. Porzingis is a good fit for a team that ranked second in 3-point rate and probably needed to cut veteran Al Horford’s minutes.
- Porzingis is the only player in the 44 seasons of the 3-point line to average at least two 3-pointers and at least 1.5 blocks in multiple seasons, doing it in 2019-20 and again last season. Only four other qualified players have done it once.
- Porzingis shot 38.5% from 3-point range this season, up from 31.0% in 2021-22. That was the fourth-biggest jump among 124 players with at least 200 3-point attempts each season. Horford had the biggest jump (from 33.6% to 44.6%), while Malcolm Brogdon had the biggest jump (from 31.2% to 44.4%) among 219 players with at least 100 attempts each season.
- Porzingis shot 86-for-141 (61%) on post-ups, the second-best mark among 17 players with at least 100 field goal attempts out of the post, according to Second Spectrum tracking.
2. Golden State Warriors
NBA TV weighs in on the reported deal Chris Paul-for-Jordan Poole swap.
In: Chris Paul
Out: Jordan Poole
Quick take: Wow. It’s not a surprise that the Warriors are trading Poole, who has a four-year, $128-million contract extension kicking in on July 1. It is a surprise that Paul is the guy coming back in return. He’s one of the best point guards in NBA history, third all-time in both assists and steals. But he’s not exactly a great fit with the Warriors (who led the league in ball movement) in regard to style of play.
- Paul’s usage rate last season (19.5%) was the lowest of his career, though he still ranked ninth in time of possession (6.9 minutes per game, 1.1 more than anybody on the Warriors).
- Paul’s assist/turnover ratio of 4.60 was (basically) tied for the highest mark of his 18-year career. He led the league with five games of zero turnovers and at least 10 assists.
- Only 4% (26/667) of Paul’s field goal attempts came in the restricted area. That was the lowest rate among 292 players with least 250 total field goal attempts in 2022-23.
- Paul shot 46-for-88 (52.3%) on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, the second-best mark among 282 players with at least 75 catch-and-shoot attempts. He was just 51-for-169 (30.2%) on pull-up 3s and that was the biggest differential among 130 players with at least 75 catch-and-shoot attempts and 75 pull-up attempts.
- According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Suns set 2,420 ball-screens for Paul, fifth most for any player in the league, 46.1 per 36 minutes, and 883 more than the Warriors set for Stephen Curry (1,537, 28.5 per 36).
3. Memphis Grizzlies
Marcus Smart and Ja Morant could form a potent guard combo in Memphis.
In: Smart
Out: Tyus Jones
Quick take: Smart is an upgrade over Dillon Brooks, can play point guard when Ja Morant is (suspended or) off the floor, and will provide some much-needed veteran leadership. But this team is still missing some size on the wings with its three best perimeter players in Morant, Smart and Desmond Bane being 6-foot-2, 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5, respectively. Smart also lacks the consistent shooting that the Grizzlies (who were below the league average in both 3-point percentage and 3-point rate) could use alongside Morant.
- Smart is one of two players (Jimmy Butler is the other) that have averaged at least 1.5 steals in 40 games or more in each of the last five seasons.
- Smart is the only player who’s shot less than 35% on at least 250 3-point attempts in each of the last four seasons.
- Smart has seen jumps in assists per game and assists per 36 minutes in each of the last four seasons, averaging a career-high 6.3 (7.0 per 36) in 2022-23.
4. Phoenix Suns
Bradley Beal and the Phoenix Suns hope to form a dominant trio in the Western Conference.
In: Bradley Beal, Jordan Goodwin, Isaiah Todd
Out: Chris Paul, Landry Shamet
Quick take: At the time of the trade agreement, there were seven players in the league set to make more than $50 million in both 2024-25 and ’25-26. The Suns now have three of those seven players, adding Beal (owed $208 million over the next four years) to Devin Booker ($260 million over the next five) and Kevin Durant ($154 million over the next three). All three of those guys can create their own shot, but the Suns lost a lot of playmaking by trading Paul for Beal, who will need to defend much better than he has in recent years.
- Beal (27.0 and 5.5), Booker (26.6 and 5.6) and Durant (27.8 and 5.8) are three of the 11 players who’ve averaged at least 25 points and five assists over the last five seasons. The Mavs (Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving) are the only team with more than one.
- This season, Beal had an effective field goal percentage of 55.1%, the second-best mark of his career and up from 49.2% in 2021-22. That was the 13th-biggest jump among 136 players with at least 500 field goal attempts in each of the last two seasons.
- Beal has taken 26% of his shots from 3-point range over the last three seasons, down from 36% over his first eight. Among the 212 players with at least 200 total field goal attempts from outside the paint this season, Deandre Ayton (7.33), Durant (1.42), Booker (0.98) and Beal (0.98) ranked first, ninth, 13th and 14th, respectively, in their ratio of mid-range attempts to 3-point attempts. The Suns ranked last in the playoffs with just 9.4 3-pointers per game.
5. Washington Wizards
Jordan Poole seems primed for a bigger offensive role with the Wizards next season.
In: Jones, Poole
Out: Beal, Goodwin, Porzingis, Todd
Quick take: Beal was one of only five players who have been with the same team for the last 11 seasons, but the Wizards have been no better than four games under .500 in each of the last five seasons. And new team president Michael Winger wasted no time in setting the franchise in a new direction. The Wizards can sell off more pieces, but the assets they got in return for Beal and Porzingis weren’t great. And, it will be all about their own first-round picks over the next few years.
- Jones has led the league in assist/turnover ratio in each of the last five seasons. He has a career assist/turnover ratio of 5.27, the highest mark among the 2,012 players with at least 100 career assists over the 46 years for which turnovers have been tracked. New teammate Monte Morris has the second-highest mark, while Jones’ younger brother, Tre, has the fifth-highest mark.
Highest career assist/turnover ratio since turnovers have been counted
| Player | GP | AST | TO | AST/TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyus Jones | 535 | 2,108 | 400 | 5.27 |
| Monte Morris | 342 | 1,368 | 278 | 4.92 |
| Muggsy Bogues | 889 | 6,726 | 1,433 | 4.69 |
| Travis Diener | 179 | 432 | 99 | 4.36 |
| Tre Jones | 174 | 720 | 169 | 4.26 |
1977-78 through 2022-23
Minimum 100 total career assists
- Jones had 51 more steals (83) than personal fouls (32), tied for the biggest difference for any player in the last 20 seasons. He’s one of 10 players in the 50 years that steals have been tracked with at least five seasons in which they played at least 500 minutes and had more steals than personal fouls. Jimmy Butler (nine seasons) is the only other active player of the 10.
- Poole committed 12.2 turnovers per 100 possessions used, the third highest rate among 54 players with a usage rate of 25% or higher.
- Poole had an effective field goal percentage of just 40% in the playoffs, down from 51.4% in the regular season the worst mark among 48 players with at least 100 postseason field goal attempts.
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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