2018 NBA Free Agency

[Myles]

Gonna try to keep this post updated with all the FA deals and my thoughts:

Atlanta

Boston
Aron Baynes - 2 years, 11M - Great contract for both sides here. Boston needs a guy like Baynes for the regular season and to spell Horford in the playoffs, and Baynes gets some stability.

Brooklyn
Joe Harris - 2 years, 16M - 3&D player who doesn't hurt you too badly on either end. Brooklyn isn't doing anything better with their cap space.

Ed Davis -1 year, 4.4M - He's a good guy to have in a big man rotation, he won't supplant Jarrett Allen as the starter but Davis will be a fine backup.

Charlotte

Chicago

Cleveland

Dallas
DeAndre Jordan - 1 year, 24.1M - Can't wait till he goes back to LAC in a few days. In all seriousness though, Dallas gets their man here, someone who can create vertical spacing with his rim running and above the rim game, who can defend behind Dirk/Doncic. He will be a great complement to Dirk and an excellent PnR partner with Smith and Doncic.

Salah Mejri - 1 year, 1.6M - Backup center gets minimum contract and will play sparingly behind DeAndre.

Denver
Nikola Jokic - 5 years, 148M - Smart of Denver to lock up their stud center to a long term deal. Jokic is special.

Will Barton - 4 years, 50M - This one surprised me, because I don't think there was a team out there that would have offered Barton anything competitive to this offer. But Denver wants to reward their guys and buy their loyalty. He's a good player and will continue to produce off the bench for them.

Detroit
Glenn Robinson - 2 years, 8.3M - I really like this signing, I know he's had injury concerns and hasn't had a ton of playing time, but he's the kind of player teams need to gamble on. He's shown that he can shoot the 3 ball, and if he can consistently guard SFs, he's going to be very valuable.

Jose Calderon - 1 year, 2.4M - Glorified assistant coach. I'll set his over/under on minutes played this season at 400 minutes.

Golden State
Kevin Durant - 1+1, 61.5M - We all expected KD to resign, this is nothing new. Next summer he will opt out and sign the full 5-year max as a player with 10 years experience.

DeMarcus Cousins - 1 year, 5.3M - I just... I don't... fuck this.

Houston
Chris Paul - 4 years, 160M - Houston better win a title in the next year or two because this deal is going to get very ugly, very fast. They will hardly be able to field a team in years 3 and 4 as both this contract and Harden's deal will be over 40M in salary. Flags fly forever!

Gerald Green - 1 year, 2.4M - He loves Houston, Houston loves him, and they need guys who can take open jumpers (and sometimes make them) on the perimeter.

Indiana
Doug McDermott - 3 years, 22M - Not gonna lie, I'm scratching my head a bit. But with Thad Young coming back, they just needed a backup 3/4 and they clearly wanted someone who could shoot and stretch the floor. I'm really more curious about the length of this contract. Does McDermott really deserve 3 guaranteed years? This could get into Kyle Singler levels of ugly very very quickly.

LA Clippers

LA Lakers
LeBron James - 3+1, 154M - I honestly can't believe he signed for as long as he did. I think he needed to do it though in order to convince other stars to want to come to the Lakers, there's security in knowing that LBJ trusts the FO and won't be leaving soon and leaving them hanging. I have no idea what's going to happen from here, but at least the Lakers will be in the playoffs. As of right now, they are at best 3rd in the West (even that's tenuous as LeBron will certainly coast in the regular season), but they'll be in the mix finally.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - 1 year, 12M - Glad to have him back, he played his heart out last season. He's a relentless defender, even if he can't guard bigger wings, and he's shown a willingness to shoot. He's much better as a catch and shoot guy than trying to shoot off the dribble, so that bodes well for his fit next to LBJ.

Lance Stephenson - 1 year, 4.5M - This signing actually shocked me more than the LeBron signing. I love it personally, I get the sense that LeBron just didn't want to deal with this guy anymore so just brought him on to the team. His fit next to LeBron is weird, but he's a good enough playmaker that he could play in lineups with someone like Lonzo or Kuzma and they can make it work, and he plays hard defense. Could fit next to LBJ defensively by taking whichever forward is better and letting LeBron rest on the crappier player.

Javale McGee - 1 year, minimum - Hell yeah. He's a good player when his head is on straight, which as we saw in Golden State is actually more than half the time now. He's a perfect regular season center to play 15-20 mpg and just soak up minutes back there.

Rajon Rondo - 1 year, 9M - I don't even know what to say. Similar strengths/weaknesses as Lonzo, we renounced Randle for him. Oh boy.

Memphis
Omri Casspi - 1 year, 2.4M - Filling out their wing rotation as they think they will be a playoff team again this year. Casspi couldn't get PT for the Warriors so I wonder if he can still contribute at an NBA level.

Miami
Derrick Jones - 1 year, 1.6M - Athletic forward who could be great in their dribble drive and high pressure defense system.

MIlwaukee
Ersan Ilyasova - 3 years, 21M - Good stretch big to play with Giannis and whatever shitty center they'll put on the court. This says more about their thoughts of Jabari than anything else.

Minnesota
Derrick Rose - 1 year, 2.1M - He's a capable backup PG now, which is tragic considering he's not even 30.

Anthony Tolliver - 1 year, 5.5M - Great deal for Minnesota in terms of fit, Tolliver is the perfect fit next to KAT. Switchable defender too.

New Orleans
Elfrid Payton - 1 year, 2.7M - I love this. If they don't retain Rondo, they can feel secure knowing they have the homeless man's Rondo. If they do retain him, this means they get 48 minutes of total lack of shooting at the point guard spot with overrated defense. Love it.

Julius Randle - 1+1, 18M - Great deal for him, he gets the opportunity to be on the market again next year, but if things don't work out then he has 9M in insurance money for 2019-20. Cheap deal for the Pelicans to take a shot on his talent and see if a big man rotation of Mirotic/Randle/Davis works out.

New York
Luke Kornet - 1 year, 1.6M - Is there anything to say?

Mario Hezonja - 1 year, 6.5M - At that price he's definitely going to get decent playing time right? I'm excited to see what he can do with consistent time. I don't think he's all that great, but he may show he can be a solid offensive spark plug off the bench.

Oklahoma City
Paul George - 4 years, 137M - This definitely surprised me. Not that he's going back to OKC, I think the Lakers had at best a 20% chance this whole time, but that he signed a max 4-year deal w/ a player option. All the noise was that he'd be taking a shorter deal.

Jerami Grant - 2+1, 27M - This could be one of the best deals in FA if Grant can even learn to shoot as well as say, Moe Harkless or KCP. But as of right now, he doesn't need to be guarded at all. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Nerlens Noel - 1 year, 1.6M - Surprised he picked OKC as the place to rehab his value as he won't supplant Adams and they can't play them both. He's capping himself at around 20 mpg. I'm sure playing with WB/PG/Melo is cool but he could've done better.

Orlando
Aaron Gordon - 4 years, 84M - Orlando reminds me of what Philly did except at least they aren't all centers. Gordon/Isaac/Bamba can't all play together unless Gordon manages to develop an offensive game worthy of being on the perimeter, but even so, I think he's more interesting as a small ball 4 like Tobias Harris, Shawn Marion, etc, cause he has a similar body type and athleticism to those guys. Good on Orlando for retaining their only talented player.

Philadelphia
JJ Redick - 1 year, 12.5M - He fit great there last year and will be the perfect starting SG again for them this year. He likes it there and brings a great veteran presence. Makes perfect sense.

Phoenix
Trevor Ariza - 1 year, 15M - I'm amazed that he didn't get a better offer than this. Ariza is one of the most valuable role players on the market, as someone who can legitimately guard small forwards and hit 3s. I was expecting him to get something in the neighborhood of a 3 year, 40M deal or even a 4/50M. Little less per year but much more guaranteed money. This is shocking to me.

Portland
Nik Stauskas - 1 year, minimum - GOAT.

Seth Curry - 2 years, 5.6M - I really don't see how Curry makes sense for them in terms of helping them take the next step. He can back up both Lillard and McCollum, and so obviously he has value there, but I don't know, he feels very redundant to me.

Sacramento

San Antonio
Rudy Gay - 1 year, 10M - He seemed to like it in SAS last year and had a clear role. He'll continue to have that role this season as SAS is sure to trade Kawhi.

Marco Belinelli - 2 years, 12M - How many stints is this now in San Antonio?

Toronto
Fred VanVleet - 2 years, 18M - Huge win for Toronto here. Shame they couldn't get him for longer, but VanVleet is betting on himself as he will be an FA again at 26. Surprised he didn't get like a 3 year, 36M offer sheet somewhere like Phoenix, but teams were probably concerned they would have to seriously overpay to steal him away.

Utah
Derrick Favors - 1+1 years, 36M - This is similar to me to the Will Barton deal, where I don't think anyone else was going to offer him close to this amount, but Utah is showing their loyalty here. He's a good player with an awkward fit next to Gobert but they have a couple more years to figure it out now.

Washington

[Myles]

Curious to hear all your thoughts!

[andrei]

I see contracts are much more reasonable - is the Mozgov/Deng craziness over?

[HiGrade]

The 2 biggest head-scratching decisions...the ones that made me erupt with a..."ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" reaction:

Doug Freakin McDermott - How in the balls this man got someone to give him $22 MILLION in guaranteed money is beyond me. Absolutely makes no sense whatsoever lol Indiana wasted their money and got robbed.

Paul George - You're telling me you think you have a chance of getting through both CP3/Harden AND KD/Curry/Klay/Dray AND win a championship? Yeahhh freakin right. What you're really saying is you do not care about championships, just like LeBron said its sad but some players just dont. He could have made more money taking a 1+1...but just reading a report Woj posted saying this deal could end up being 7-years 290M under the new CBA. Still, why not go to LA like you wanted to? Just because you play alongside another All Star for the first time in your career thats the only place to go? No you idiot, you go to LA, team up with LeBron, renew the Celtics rivalry by beating Kyrie 4 years in a row, win 4 championships and go down in the HOF as the team that led the Lakers to an NBA best 20 Championships. Foolish.

[Myles]

I see contracts are much more reasonable - is the Mozgov/Deng craziness over?

That summer was the craziest anomaly, every team had loads of cap space and thought they could spend with little consequences as for some reason everyone thought the cap would just keep going up and up.

This summer the cap only increased about 2M over last year, so there is little to no cap space around anywhere. No one has money to spend

[Cleasby]

LeBron Walker and Kawhi in L.A I think.

[Flaming Homer]

I'm not sure James will end up in LA. He only would go there if he has some veteran help in my opinion. And I hope LA is not doing the mistake and trade too much to San Antonio just to get Kawhi for him. Even the two are probably just the 4th best team in the west. Walker in a trade could be doable though, never really thought about that.

I think PG is really the surprise, having the chance of real free agency the first time and he doesn't meet with anyone ... thought James would convince him in a heartbeat to form a contender in his hometown.

[KW]

^ That didn't age well

[Flaming Homer]

Yepp so much for that lol
Will be interesting to see what else they do. Or strict business deal?

[GreenBear]

^ That didn't age well

lol

[Raidercj]

KCP and lebron signed with LAL.

[KW]

And Lance Stephenson!

[Raidercj]

And Javale mcgee!

[wms02a]

McGee and Stephenson on the same team will be interesting plus add the the media that come with LeBron and the fact Lavar is around the team. This will be fun to watch.

[blackice]

I think the Lance signing is a precursor to Ingram and/or Kuzma on the way out - be it in a Kawhi trade or something similar (even a Cousins deal). Between KCP/Lance/Ingram/Kuzma and Lebron on the perimeter there needs to be a balancing out of the roster. Even if Lebron plays at the 4 exclusively.

[Andrewu91]

Thinking Ingram, Randle(s&t), two first for Kawhi.

Zo
KCP
Kawhi
LeBron
Noel(with remaining cap space 10-12ish m)

Kuzma
Lance
Hart
Magee

[andrei]

Wow, I bet Myles is looking for a way to get those season tickets.

But I checked in 2010 and 2014 he announced around 10th July. But so fast now man. Means he is not convinced about the current team and wants them to get assets?

[Cleasby]

Wow, I bet Myles is looking for a way to get those season tickets.

But I checked in 2010 and 2014 he announced around 10th July. But so fast now man. Means he is not convinced about the current team and wants them to get assets?

Yep means he wants them to target another fa I think.

[andrei]

Also, a longer than usual deal at 3+1 years. Yahoo have an article where they talk about it being a business decision for him to establish a strong presense in Hollywood more than about chasing rings.

Would you trade Kawhi there if you were the Spurs?

In any case, I can't wait to watch the Lakers games this year

[Marcos_Beck]

Thinking Ingram, Randle(s&t), two first for Kawhi.

Zo
KCP
Kawhi
LeBron
Noel(with remaining cap space 10-12ish m)

Kuzma
Lance
Hart
Magee

Solid. Warriors in 5 though.