Back in the summer of 2016, the NBA saw its salary cap spike and teams threw out gigantic contracts like the fate of the world depended on it. That summer had a major impact on how a number of franchises proceeded in the years since, and now, three players who cashed in during the 2016 free agency period are on the move.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Atlanta agreed to send recently-acquired forward Solomon Hill and Miles Plumlee to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Chandler Parsons.
Memphis has agreed to trade Chandler Parsons to Atlanta for Solomon Hill and Miles Plumlee, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 3, 2019
All three of the players are in the final year of the deals they signed back in 2016. Parsons got a four-year deal worth a hair above $94 million from the Grizzlies, Plumlee received $50 million from the Hornets, and Hill was handed $48 million from the Pelicans. As Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks of ESPN pointed out, it made sense for both sides to make a deal like this.
I like what Memphis did with breaking up the $25.1M Parsons contract into 2 contracts (@ $12M per each) that could be easier to move in a future trade.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 3, 2019
Memphis and Parsons were unable to agree on a buyout number, so Grizzlies made the trade with Atlanta. As @BobbyMarks42 says, it's easier to move out salaries by breaking Parsons' $25M into two smaller contracts. Hawks free a roster spot. https://t.co/guRiX905mW
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 3, 2019
In a story for ESPN, it was mentioned that while Atlanta is in rebuild mode with a number of young players at the center of the organization, the team is “open” to giving Parsons an opportunity to “earn a role in his final year under contract.” There is no word on any additional compensation going in one direction or another, so while we’ll wait to see if that’s the case, it appears this trade is mostly a reminder that the summer of 2016 was certainly a thing that happened.
