Oklahoma City has set the bar and the chase to beat them — or at least the race toward respectability — gets serious on Monday with the official start of NBA free agency and the peak of the NBA trade season.
Not that every team has waited — Kevin Durant is now a Houston Rocket and they are all-in on winning next season. Desmond Bane is in Orlando already, where he is an underrated fit with an up-and-coming Magic team.
As of Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern, teams are officially allowed to start talking to free agents (although, in the tampering world of the NBA, if a team is not already at least two-thirds done with free agency by the time it starts, they are behind). In this tracker, we will give you all the latest signings, trades, rumors, and reports all in one place (all in order of when they happened, with the most recent news on top). This is a brief synopsis with initial thoughts on any deals; follow the links to view a more detailed analysis.
Knicks, Kings, Nuggets interested in Westbrook
Russell Westbrook declined his $3.5 million player option, making him a free agent and giving himself control over where he plays next…
But that could still be Denver. The Nuggets, as well as the Knicks and Kings, are interested in Westbrook, reports Marc Stein and Jake Fischer at The Stein Line. I doubt Westbrook chooses Sacramento (although they can offer the biggest role, and if they overpay he might have to consider it). We know how well Westbrook played alongside Nikola Jokic, but his role and money there would be very similar to what he earned a year ago. How would Westbrook fit in the Knicks’ system? Well, that would assume they had a coach and we knew their system. In New York, Westbrook would come off the bench and play next to Miles “Duece” McBride, and that, plus being on a contending team in the East, could interest Westbrook. It’s all just something to watch.
Warriors linked to Al Horford
A couple of new reports have linked free agent center Al Horford to the Golden State Warriors (Anthony Slater at The Athletic is one). There is a logical fit there, the Warriors are at their best with Draymond Green at the five, but he can’t play there full time, so they then turn to Kevon Looney. Horford, with his ability to defend in the paint and on the perimeter, is a perfect stylistic fit for Golden State, playing off Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.
However, making it work is not easy, as Slater explained well:
If the Warriors use the taxpayer midlevel exception (projected at around $5.7 million) on Horford or another free agent, they’ll be hard-capped at the second apron, currently projected at $207.8 million. The Warriors currently have nine players under contract at $170.5 million. Kuminga’s qualifying offer, extended over the weekend by the Warriors, is $7.9 million, but his cap hold is $22.9 million, further clogging the Warriors’ books if his situation drags deeper into July.
Kuminga is a whole other thing that will be all over this live updated tracker in the coming days.
Clippers, Nicolas Batum agree to new deal
For a player scoring 4 points a game and averaging less than 18 minutes a night, it’s difficult to overstate how much Nicolas Batum means to the Clippers. He steadies their bench units, provides needed leadership, and is a hand-in-glove fit for how the Clippers want to play.
Which is why the Clippers are giving him as large a deal as they can with his non-Bird rights — $11.5 million over two years — to return, a story broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Even with this deal and the team re-signing James Harden, the Clippers are $8.5 million below the luxury tax line, affording them the flexibility to bring in a player at the full mid-level exception ($14.1 million) or make a bold trade. Keep an eye on this team, they are in the middle of a lot of rumors around the league.
Jazz, Jordan Clarkson agree to buyout
Add Jordan Clarkson to the list of free agents.
Clarkson averaged 16.2 points a game last season while shooting 36.2% from 3, and he wanted to be moved to a contender, but there was no trade market because of his $14.3 million contract. So, the Jazz and Clarkson have agreed to a contract buyout, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania. With this buyout — where Clarkson certainly is giving the Jazz a discount, how much we don’t yet know — he becomes a free agent. There will be interest from playoff teams who want to add some bench scoring, just didn’t want to do it at the price he was getting paid. Expect now a taxpayer mid-level sized contract ($5.7 million) or less.
Nets bring back DayRon Sharpe, Ziaire Williams
By keeping all five of their first-round draft picks this year, the Brooklyn Nets are leaning hard into youth and a rebuild. With that, the Nets made a couple of moves before free agency opened Monday.
First, they are bringing back big man DayRon Sharpe. This is a player the Nets didn’t extend a qualifying offer to, making him an unrestricted free agent. However, the sides agreed to a two-year, $12 million contract, a story broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania. Sharpe averaged 7.9 points and, 6.6 rebounds a game for the Nets last season.
Second, the Nets are re-signing wing Ziaire Williams on a two-year, $12 million contract, Charania reports. Last season, Williams started more than half the Nets’ games and averaged 10 points and 4.6 rebounds a night.
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