Jordan Stephenson
South Bureau Chief
The NBA Free Agency period officially started June 30. During mid-June, before Free Agency, teams can facilitate trades. Also, players can decide whether to pick up or decline their
player options, in their specific contracts. This NBA offseason provided many surprising moves and signings, especially because of the new adjusted salary cap; in the previous signed CBA agreement, also because of the new TV Rights deal with Amazon for 11 years with around $76 billion.
This biggest and most surprising trade of the offseason took place before free agency, when Knicks acquired Mikal Bridges from the Nets for Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected 1st round picks, a Bucks protected 1st-round pick, an unprotected pick swap and a 2nd-rounder. The Nets executed this trade to accelerate their rebuild, since they weren’t able to lure anymore stars to pair with Bridges; the Knicks completed the Villanova teammates dream and officially became legitimate championship contenders. The Nets made another trade and traded the Suns 2027 1st-round pick for their own 2026 1st-round pick from the Rockets, also the Rockets received swap rights for multiple future 1st round picks.
Some other trades that took place before free agency were the Alex Caruso and Malcom Brogdon trades. The Thunder acquired 2x All-Defensive guard Caruso from the Bulls in exchange
for talented guard Josh Giddey. The Thunder became legitimate championship contenders, and the Bulls finally entered their rebuild with this one for one trade. The Trailblazers acquired
talented forward Deni Avdija from the Wizards for the 14th pick in this past draft and a 2029 pick. The Pelicans decided to trade for All-Star guard Dejounte Murray from the Hawks for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., and two 1st-round picks. The Mavericks traded Tim Hardaway Jr. and three 2nd round picks to the Pistons for Quentin Grimes.
The two most notable players with a player option deadline were LeBron James and Paul George, with both deciding to decline their $51.4 and $48.7 million player options respectively.
Some other notable players were D’Angelo Russell exercising his $18.7 million player option, P.J. Tucker exercising his $11.5 million player option, Russell Westbrook exercising his $4 million player option, the Raptors exercised the $23 million team option of Bruce Brown, etc. After James declined his option, he made it clear that he would take a pay cut for specific impact players, but unfortunately the Lakers weren’t able to get it done, even though they were in the running for a few of those free agents like Klay Thompson.
Immediately when free agency started, James Harden signed a two-year $70 million deal; the Warriors waived Chris Paul and his $30 million contract, then he signed a one-year $11 million deal with the Spurs to expedite Wemby’s growth. Royce O’Neale signed a four-year $44 million deal with the Suns, Naji Marshall signed a three-year $27 million deal with the Mavs; and Malik Monk signed a four-year $78 million deal with the Kings. Restricted free agents started signing contracts: Max Christe signed a four-year $32 million deal to return to the Lakers, Obi Toppin signed a four-year $60 million deal with the Pacers and Patrick Williams signed a five-year $90 million deal with the Bulls. Then backup centers started signing contracts: Kevin signed a two-year $8 million deal to return to the Heat, Mason Plumlee signed a one-year deal with the Suns, and Andre Drummond signed a two-year $10 million deal with the 76ers.
Speaking of the 76ers, the most impactful and surprising move was Paul George leaving
Kawhi Leonard and his hometown the Clippers to sign a massive four-year $212 million deal with the 76ers, which included a player option. Contract negotiations during the year were stalling consistently. Also, it would’ve been smart to execute a sign-and-trade so that they wouldn’t lose PG for nothing, but they didn’t want to bolster a western conference team, and the 76ers had no trade player assets. Some other surprising moves were Kentavious Caldwell Pope (KCP) signed a three-year $66 million deal with the young Magic after leaving the Nuggets, Isaiah Hartenstein signed a three-year $87 million deal with the young Thunder, Jonas Valanciunas signed a three-year $30 million deal with the rebuilding Wizards, and lastly underwhelming Tobias Harris signed a two-year $52 million deal with the lowly Pistons.
After the PG deal, both the 76ers and Clippers were busy respectively: Tyrese Maxey signed a five-year $204 million extension, Kelly Oubre signed a two-year $16.3 million deal with a player option, Caleb Martin signed a four-year $32 million, KJ Martin signed a two-year $16 million deal, Eric Gordon signed a one-year deal, France’s Olympic big man Guerschon Yabusele signed a one-year $2.1 million deal, Derrick Jones Jr. signed a three-year $30 million deal, Kevin Porter Jr. signed a two-year deal including a player option, Nicolas Batum signed a two-year $9.6 million deal, Mo Bamba signed a one-year deal, and Ivica Zubac signed a three-year $58.6 million deal. The Clippers also acquired Kris Dunn in sign-and-trade agreement from the Jazz for Westbrook, 2nd-round pick swap and cash.
Westbrook agreed on a contract buyout with them for the 2nd time, and then signed with the Nuggets for two-years $6.8 million deal. They also signed Dario Saric to a two-year $10.6 million deal. Some other minimum and one-year deals were Delon Wright signing a one year $3.3 million deal with the Bucks, DeAnthony Melton to the Warriors for a one-year $12.8 million deal, Alec Burks signing a one-year deal with the Heat, Lonnie Walker’s one-year deal with the Celtics, Haywood Highsmith signing a two-year $11 million deal with the Heat, Gary Trent’s one-year deal with the Bucks, Spencer Dinwiddie’s one-year deal with the Mavericks, Tyus Jones signing a one-year deal with the Suns, Bol Bol signing a one-year deal with the Suns and Luke Kennard’s one-year $11 million deal.
The most unceremonious move of free agency was the Warriors allowing Klay Thompson to depart Steph Curry, and Klay chose to sign with the Mavs for three-year $50 million deal instead of the Lakers and Josh Green was traded to the Hornets, which made him involved in the 1st ever six-team trade. Kyle Anderson signed a three-year $27 million deal with the Warriors, in a sign-and-trade with the Timberwolves for a future 2nd-round pick swap and cash. Buddy Hield then signed a two-year $21 million deal with the Warriors, in a sign-and-trade with the 76ers for 2031 2nd-round pick. Another sign-and-trade deal was DeMar DeRozan signing a three-year $74 million deal with the Kings that sent Harrison Barnes to the Spurs; also Chris Duarte, two 2nd-round picks and cash to the Bulls.
After winning his 1st championship with the Celtics, Jayson Tatum signed the largest contract in NBA history, which was a five-year $314 million contract extension that included a player option and trade kicker. Some other notable huge contract extensions and free agency deals that were signed are OG Anunoby signing a five-year $212.5 million deal with the Knicks, Immanuel Quickly signing a five-year $175 million deal with the Raptors, Derrick White signing a four-year $125.9 million deal with the Celtics, Donovan Mitchell finally signing a three-year $150.3 million deal including a player option with the Cavs, King James signing a two-year $104 million deal that includes a player option and no-trade clause with the Lakers. Evan Mobley signed a five-year $224 million rookie contract extension with the Cavs, Franz Wagner then signed a five-year $224 million rookie contract extension with the Magic, Scottie Barnes signed a five-year $270 million rookie contract extension with the Raptors, and Cade Cunningham signed a five-year $224 million rookie contract extension with the Pistons.
Also, Pascal Siakam signed a four-year $189.5 million deal with the Pacers, and Bam Adebayo signed a three-year $166 million contract extension with the Heat. Jalen Brunson took a huge pay cut for his Villanova teammates and Knicks roster flexibility and signed a four-year $156.6 million extension deal. Jarret Allen signed a three-year $91 million extension with Cavs, with all together $131 million guaranteed over the next five years; then Nic Claxton signed a four-year $100 million deal with the Nets, also Miles Bridges signed a three-year $75 million deal with the Hornets.
After plausible trade rumors, especially with the Warriors, Lauri Markkanen finally signed a five-year $238 million contract renegotiation and extension with the Jazz, which includes $220 in new money. Lastly, the greatest shooter of all time in Stephen Curry, who put on a virtuoso performance vs Serbia and in the 4th quarter of the gold medal game in the Olympics, signed a one-year $62.6 million extension with the Warriors, and is now guaranteed $178 million through the 2026-27 season. Curry, James, and KD (4th gold medal most in men’s basketball history), the trio that carried team USA to a gold medal win over Wemby and France, will be the only three players in NBA history to surpass $500 million in career earnings.
stepj39@mail.broward.edu
Caption: The Olympic trio winning gold medals together. Photo courtesy of ESPN.com