The first night of NBA free agency saw over $1 billion in new contracts get signed. Even under the new, highly restrictive CBA, teams filled their cap space (and then some) with meaningful deals that will help shape the short- and long-term futures of several organizations.
In honor of free agency’s frantic tipoff, here are the biggest takeaways from everything that went down Friday night.
1. Kyrie Irving Got Paid
The Mavericks were desperate enough to trade for Kyrie Irving last season, a move that proved immediately foolish, with potential to do even more damage down the line. On Friday, they did something even more desperate, guaranteeing Irving $126 million over three years. Before I go in, it’s worth saying that this negotiation could’ve gone even worse than it actually did. Irving didn’t get his max, after all, which still allows the Mavs to access their midlevel.
But also, the terms they reached with Irving could’ve been a lot better. How does something like this happen? There were zero other teams around the league that would have come even close to offering that much money over so many years.
Dallas clearly felt like it couldn’t take any chances, though. Losing Irving for nothing would upset Luka Doncic and further destabilize an organization that’s been on its heels ever since it decided not to extend Jalen Brunson. If you’re the Mavs, you have to wonder if Irving would really sign a veteran’s minimum contract with the Suns? Could the Rockets actually be impatient enough to offer him the max on a two-year deal? Was there ever any real chance, however small, that LeBron James could sell him on the Lakers’ midlevel?
Those seeds of doubt were apparently large enough for the Mavs to go above and beyond what they had to. Over the past couple days they probably talked themselves into what was a relatively uneventful and impressive honeymoon period after last year’s trade deadline, when, in 20 games, Irving averaged 27 points, six assists, and five boards per game with damn near 50/40/90 shooting splits. That’s undeniably awesome. But it also does little to absolve all of his past behavior or physical concerns. Irving is 31 years old and has only appeared in 163 games since 2020. Now he has even less incentive to prioritize professional obligations. The Mavs clearly don’t care. They gave him a player option!
One way to read this is as a middle finger to common sense, and if/when making a long-term commitment to one of the least reliable/most eccentric stars of his generation blows up in their face and Doncic decides to leave, nobody who’s paid attention to Irving’s career up until this moment should be surprised.
2. So Did Fred VanVleet!
The Rockets entered free agency with more money to spend than any other team. And, um, that’s exactly what they did. Fred VanVleet, an undersized, undrafted, 29-year-old point guard who is intelligent, resilient, and just a smidge overrated, is now the proud recipient of a three-year, $140 million max contract. Good for him. The NBA is incredible.
Whether you think this is an overpay or not is immaterial. Houston has a clear mandate to win more games and targeted a table-setter who could help organize its growing collection of young talent.
That doesn’t mean the Rockets don’t have more holes to fill, or ways to do so, with $25 million left to spend and several free agents (like Brook Lopez, P.J. Washington, and Grant Williams) still unsigned. But the Rockets’ telegraphed decision to accelerate their rebuild by essentially choosing VanVleet over Harden remains a little startling.
What does it mean for the development of Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore, Jalen Green, and Jabari Smith Jr.? How does Green respond to having the ball removed from his hands? Is Kevin Porter Jr. still on the team in training camp? Are the Rockets going to function like a normal half-court offense now? Does Smith finally get to look like a blue-chip prospect? Will I ever stop drooling while watching VanVleet run pick-and-roll with Alperen Sengun? (Highly unlikely.)
The other side of this coin is how big of a blow this is to Toronto. Poor Raptors. They re-sign Jakob Poeltl to a hefty four-year, $80 million deal, lose their franchise point guard for nothing, then use their midlevel to replace him with Dennis Schröder? Brutal. Teams around the league were already calling about Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby. They will continue to do so, knowing the Raptors have less leverage than they did at last year’s trade deadline. It’s a mess up there unless they undergo a major renovation, with Scottie Barnes as the main pillar.
3. Bruce Brown Is Worth the Money
Congratulations are in order for Brown. No free agent was more undervalued this time last year, when the Nuggets stole him on a two-year, $13 million deal. Now, after opting out of that contract, coming off a championship run that featured a 21-point Game 4 in the NBA Finals and the go-ahead putback in Game 5 that delivered Denver its first title in franchise history, Brown is headed to the Pacers on a massive two-year, $45 million agreement.
There’s a team option in year two, but still: life-changing money! Brown was an intriguing role player before he became an integral bench piece for a champion. The Pacers know that and must also realize that, as good a passer as Tyrese Haliburton is, they don’t employ Nikola Jokic, who elevates his teammates higher than anyone else can.
There shouldn’t be any real concern for either side, though. This isn’t a four-year deal. If Brown doesn’t work as a starter who’s asked to create more offense, or can’t hit 3s, or makes little sense next to Bennedict Mathurin, this deal is not the end of the world. There’s an opportunity cost involved in every deal this big and Indy can always use more size on the wing. But Brown guards up well enough to justify the overpay.
4. The Warriors Live to Fight Another Day
Draymond Green was the first free agent off the board Friday night, signing a four-year, $100 million deal that will keep Golden State’s Hall of Fame trio together for at least one more year. In terms of annual salary, Green probably could’ve gotten more if he had left (the Pistons, Pacers, Kings, and Rockets are four potential suitors that come to mind). Kyle Kuzma got $102 million over four years and Khris Middleton was locked up by the Bucks for $102 million over three years.
But even if he took a few million less than the player option he declined to alleviate some of Golden State’s tax burden, any criticism for Green here is nothing but a nitpick. At 33 years old, the four-time NBA champion stays with the franchise that drafted him, at a number that felt inconceivable 267 days ago. Both sides should be thrilled. Green is still one of the best (if not the best) defenders in the NBA, coming off a year where his presence transformed Golden State on that end.
The two-timeline experiment is in the rearview mirror, and the entire organization’s focus can now revolve around an immediate, realistic title run. There are still some unanswered questions (Chris Paul’s fit? Are Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody staying put?), but the most significant one has been resolved.
5. No Surprise With Max Extensions
Tyrese Haliburton and Desmond Bane got the maximum contract extensions they deserve. Both are incredible success stories (Bane in particular). On the rookie max front, now we wait on Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball. Elsewhere, Jaylen Brown, Anthony Davis, and Domantas Sabonis may all be in line for their own max extensions.
6. The Lakers Just Got Better
Before we get into their offseason, it must be said that the Lakers can only be as good as LeBron James is healthy. Related: LeBron James will turn 39 years old in December and has not been healthy in recent years.
Taking that reality into consideration, what the Lakers have done in free agency matters, but it won’t be relevant if LeBron can’t summon at least one more postseason where he looks like a top-10 player (to say nothing about Anthony Davis, whose health is also a perpetual question mark).
Signing 27-year-old Gabe Vincent to a three-year, $33 million deal is a nice upgrade over D’Angelo Russell (whom they will probably still bring back). Vincent proved he’s more than an itchy 3-point threat through Miami’s Finals run. He can do damage in the paint, with a quick first step and a soft floater. If he’d had the same out-of-body experience against the Nuggets as he did in the conference finals, Miami might’ve won it all. The Lakers will hope he can be who he was in that series more nights than not.
Vincent made just 33 percent of his 3s during the regular season, but the looks he’ll get next to James and AD should bump that up. He’s capable of hitting tough tries off the bounce, too, with a nasty stepback and slick in-between game.
Taurean Prince at the biannual exception was another smart addition. He’s a 3-point shooting wing with size and defensive chops. There isn’t a lot of playoff experience on his résumé, but Prince is a nice option off the bench if/when Jarred Vanderbilt’s lacking jumper makes him unplayable.
Spending $51 million on Rui Hachimura makes sense if you missed the first three and a half years of his career, but the Lakers clearly enjoyed watching him hit basically every shot he took in the first round and establishing himself as a key rotation player during the playoffs. Cam Reddish is still only 23, with upside, silly athleticism, and enough potential on both ends to stick around a league that’s yet to find any consistent minutes for him. He’s also a Klutch client. Take that information for what you will.
7. The Bulls Are Pitiful
When recently asked for his thoughts on the cataclysmic trade that Chicago made for Nikola Vucevic back in 2021, Bulls VP Arturas Karnisovas said: “I thought that deal worked out pretty well for us.”
Yeah. Actually it has not worked out pretty well for them. The Bulls are 1-4 in playoff games since acquiring Vucevic, who turns 33 in October and was just given a three-year, $60 million extension for reasons that defy prudence. The Bulls have no blue-chip prospects. They owe a protected first-round pick to the Spurs in 2025. Zach LaVine is on a contract they can’t move for meaningful assets. DeMar DeRozan is set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer. Lonzo Ball can’t run. And over the past two seasons, they’ve launched just 4,371 3s, which is the lowest number in the league and over 2,000 fewer attempts than the first-place Warriors.
The current iteration of these Bulls is simply unacceptable to any rational person who considers where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going. But sometimes the most certain people are also the most delusional. This brings us back to Karnisovas’s comment, which prefaced a Vucevic extension that is—to use the word I continue to believe is most accurate when describing this franchise—depressing. It’s a gratuitous vow (Who was offering more guaranteed money?) that might already be a negative trade asset.
This isn’t an indictment on Vucevic’s skill set or ability to impact winning. He’s a reliable double-double who appeared in all 82 games last season. But on these Bulls, in his role, everything screams ordinary. When he shared the court with LaVine and DeRozan (or either one, alone), Chicago was never anything above mediocre,
There is no advantageous reason to retain this group. Even if you wanted to give Vucevic a new contract, why agree to a three-year deal? Who are you negotiating against? It’s a sunk-cost fallacy unfolding in real time. And apologies to Chicago’s front office if what’s keeping this burning train on track is a mandate from ownership, but the best front offices either don’t let that happen or find ways to thrive under a challenging order.
On the first day of free agency, the Bulls retained Coby White on a three-year, $40 million deal, which is harmless. Then they gave Jevon Carter half of their midlevel exception. Carter is a walking green light behind the arc who’s also tenacious enough on the ball to fit in great beside Alex Caruso. Both signings are underwhelming in how they signal more status quo, though. If you aren’t going to hit the reset button, Seth Curry could have been a much cleaner fit for a team that badly needs as many outside threats as it can get.
Whether you want the Bulls to make a short-term push and make the playoffs or blow everything up and start all over, Vooch’s contract extension was a disaster in Chicago. Their day-one signings are borderline defeatist. The team is not close to Boston, Philadelphia, or Milwaukee. It is not on an upward trajectory like Cleveland, or able to play with multiple future first-round draft picks like Brooklyn, or possessing elite young talent like Orlando. Standing still makes no sense. And, so far, the Bulls’ offseason moves suggest that’s exactly what they’re satisfied doing.
8. The Suns Are a Paper-Thin Superteam
It’s unclear whether that oxymoron works, but short of dealing Deandre Ayton’s max contract at some point before the trade deadline, Phoenix spent the first few hours of free agency locking itself into the most top-heavy, least flexible roster in basketball. By definition, this is technically a “team,” but that doesn’t really feel like the right label. It’s more like a random collection of disparate parts, taped onto two exceptional MVP candidates (Kevin Durant and Devin Booker), an All-Star-caliber talent who best functions in the same role as one of the MVP candidates (Bradley Beal), the overpaid, underutilized former no. 1 overall pick (Ayton), and … other stuff.
Namely, Damion Lee, Keita Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks, Chimezie Metu, Josh Okogie, Yuta Watanabe, Jordan Goodwin, Ish Wainright, and Isaiah Todd. Bates-Diop, Eubanks, Metu, and Watanabe were signed immediately, even though there’s a good chance no other teams were willing to take them off the board. It’s still unclear who the fifth starter will be. Cam Payne is the only point guard on the roster. Everyone else is either a specialist who can be exposed in the playoffs or someone who has never been good enough to crack a playoff rotation.
It’s somehow hard to be excited about a team that has Durant, Booker, and Beal on it. But here we are.
9. I Feel Bad for Pistons Fans
Cool start to the offseason in Detroit. First, as the worst team in the league last year, it didn’t even get a top-four draft pick. Then, armed with more than $30 million of cap room, it decides to absorb Joe Harris’s expiring $19.9 million contract over spending money on superior options.
Harris’s 3-point percentage was typically terrific last year—he finished at 42.6 percent, including a 6-for-9 performance against Detroit in April—but multiple lower-body surgeries have contributed to a steady deterioration in the rest of his game, so much to the point where, when he isn’t making shots, it stands to wonder how exactly he can impact winning. (He was borderline unplayable during Brooklyn’s first-round series against the Sixers, finishing 1-for-12 behind the arc and scoring seven total points in four games.)
Compared to what it used to be, Harris’s individual defense has also fallen off a cliff. And last year he attempted only 7.4 driving layups per 100 possessions, which was a dramatic drop from his previous six seasons in a Nets jersey. Blow-bys were few and far between.
Maybe Harris bounces back, looks right physically, and becomes a key spacer for Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. But at 32 years old this season, on an expiring contract, it’s hard to see how Harris—even attached to the two second-round picks Detroit received in this trade—was a better use of cap space than some straightforward alternatives.
The Pistons could have extended a humongous offer sheet to Harris’s teammate, Nets forward Cam Johnson, who returned on a four-year, $108 million pact. I’m of the mind that it would’ve been almost impossible for Detroit to overpay here. Why not go $125 million over four years? Cunningham’s presumable max extension won’t kick in for another two years. The tax isn’t a concern. On the court, he’s an ideal fit!
Or, if the Nets were gung ho on matching whatever offers Johnson received, why not give Max Strus a two-year, $40 million deal? Strus isn’t as good a shooter but is threatening enough to create gravity while impacting other areas of the floor. He’s also five years younger than Harris and just started 23 playoff games for a team that made the NBA Finals. Someone like Bruce Brown or Donte DiVincenzo would have worked, too. Good, versatile role players who can enhance everyone who’s in the building. Instead, the Pistons opted to preserve long-term flexibility, at a point in their timeline when some semblance of growth feels necessary.
Are they so concerned with preserving cap space for next offseason, when, um, wait a minute … [Taps earpiece.] who do they plan on spending that money on again? Klay Thompson? Pascal Siakam? Dejounte Murray (assuming he isn’t extended before then by the Hawks)? Or maybe, more logically, they want to keep their options open and be able to take on a more meaningful salary that becomes available, like Karl-Anthony Towns?
Monty Williams is a great coach. But is Pistons owner Tom Gores looking at the $78 million it took to convince him to take the job and letting it affect how much they’re willing to pay actual players?
Detroit should be trending up, with a backcourt that’s talented enough to someday crack several All-Star teams. The future should be bright. But so few of its decisions over the past few years have indicated that it knows how to optimize what it has. Signing Marvin Bagley III? Trading for James Wiseman? Not trading Bojan Bogdanovic? Picking up Alec Burks’s $10 million team option? Moving on from Saddiq Bey? Acquiring Monte Morris (a backup point guard who’s best suited in a win-now situation) for no obvious reason? There doesn’t appear to be any plan or direction guiding the Pistons where they should want to go. It’s a bummer.
10. Naz Reid in, Karl-Anthony Towns out … ?
We’re cheating a little bit here, but I love Naz Reid and found this contract too meaningful not to analyze. Before Reid missed the postseason with a broken wrist, few young big men free agents with so much offensive promise were more intriguing. Then, somewhat surprisingly, the Timberwolves decided to re-sign Reid—who turns 24 in August and was awesome in a difficult spot last year, replacing an injured Karl-Anthony Towns on a roster that otherwise has minimal frontcourt minutes to spare—at a price that’s slightly above the midlevel exception.
The money—$42 million over three years—makes Reid an obvious winner. But his upside and increasingly coveted skill set should have Minnesota feeling great about itself, too. Reid is one of the more fluid and skilled 6’10” reserves in the league. He made 65.3 percent of his twos last year, with fantastic touch around the rim and enough handle to create his own shot. The guy can shake guards with a Eurostep in tight spaces.
He can also lower his shoulder into someone’s body and create just enough space to sink a baby hook. There are spin moves, crossovers, tight in-and-out dribbles zooming full speed into the paint, dribble handoff keepers that yield open layups, slick drop steps, and an ability to finish with both hands.
The only hangup here is what it does to Minnesota’s long-term financial situation. Tim Connelly has now 43.4 percent of his cap allocated to the center position next season (between Rudy Gobert, KAT, and Reid) and, thanks to Towns’s supermax extension, almost 75 percent in 2025. That would be untenable under the old CBA. With much harsher economic restrictions in place, it’s absurd. When KAT’s extension kicks in before the 2024-25 season, his annual earnings will go from $36 million to about $52 million.
Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels are each due paydays that are large enough to push Minnesota into the tax for the foreseeable future, so someone is getting squeezed. Maybe it’s Gobert, but the return on any trade with his outgoing contract doesn’t guarantee a single first-round pick, which would further humiliate the front office that traded for him in the first place. This leaves Towns. Another blockbuster looms.
