From a luxury tax perspective, packaging Wiggins and the #2 pick for Hayward makes sense. Not only will Wiggins make around $30M next season, but the #2 pick will make about $9M too. And with hardly any time for training camp, I can’t see how a draft pick will provide any useful impact this season. Hayward is an excellent player that would fit in perfectly with Golden State. I still don’t think Wiggins fits in with that group (I think Golden State was more concerned with retaining the salary slot than the player when they traded for him…I think it went from Durant to D’Angelo Russell).
The major downside for the Celtics is the luxury tax penalty. With Hayward’s last year of his deal being next season, it lined up perfectly for when the team needed to extend Tatum. If this trade happens, that would mean the Celtics would have Kemba ($36M), Brown ($26M), Wiggins ($31.5M), Smart ($14M), #2 pick (around $10M) and Tatum (max – say $34M). That is around $151.5M with just 6 players.
I saw something on ESPN recently about the luxury tax penalty for Golden State this season…it was around $50M but could jump to $150M depending on if they make any moves. Did anyone else see this?