Kris Dunn, a former Providence College guard who has played for the Timberwolves, Bulls and Hawks in his five NBA seasons, is being traded to the Boston Celtics. Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press
The Celtics continued their offseason revamp on Friday night with their second and third trades of the offseason.
Boston is trading center Tristan Thompson and acquiring guard Kris Dunn, center Bruno Fernando and a 2023 second-round pick from the Atlanta Hawks, a league source confirmed to MassLive.com. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com was first to report the trade, which will be a three-team deal, with the Hawks sending Thompson to the Sacramento Kings for guard Delon Wright.
The Celtics then struck a deal with the Mavericks for wing player Josh Richardson, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Richardson averaged 12.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game for Dallas last season and is also regarded as an outstanding defender, but saw his role diminish in the playoffs as Tim Hardaway Jr. emerged.
Richardson recently exercised his $11.6 million player option but should fit within the leftover space of the Gordon Hayward trade exception from last offseason.
Boston’s trade with Atlanta clears up some of the front-court logjam after Al Horford and Moses Brown were acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder last month. It also saves about $3 million in salary. Dunn, who played only four games last season because of an ankle injury, could be a low-cost replacement for Kemba Walker at point guard. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2016 draft, Dunn averaged 6.0 assists per game in two seasons as a starter for the Bulls from 2017-19.
According to a league source, the Celtics will be creating a new trade exception in the deal, which can’t be made official until next week. Dunn fits into the $4.7 million trade exception created last year when the Celtics dealt Enes Kanter to the Trail Blazers, and Fernando fits into one of Boston’s smaller exceptions, which gives the Celtics a $9.2 million exception for Thompson’s outgoing salary.
BUCKS: General Manager Jon Horst says Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t need any type of offseason procedure for the left knee that the two-time MVP hyperextended during the team’s NBA title run.
“He’s fine,” Horst said. “I can’t explain it, but he’s fine.”
Antetokounmpo hurt his knee in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals when he landed awkwardly after attempting to block a dunk attempt by Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela. Antetokounmpo later said he worried that he’d be out for a year.
He sat out the last two games of the Eastern Conference finals – the Bucks won both contests to take the series 4-2 – but returned for the NBA finals and ended up earning Finals MVP honors. Antetokounmpo averaged 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds and 5 assists to help the Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 4-2 and earn their first championship in 50 years.
THUNDER: Oklahoma City acquired forward Derrick Favors and a future first-round draft pick from the Utah Jazz in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and cash considerations.
The 6-foot-10 Favors has appeared in 751 games with the Jazz, Nets and Pelicans. Over his 12-year NBA career, he has averaged 10.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.23 blocks in 24.7 minutes per game. He averaged about 15 minutes per game and 5.4 points for the Jazz last season.
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