Free agency thoughts, 2025 edition

Well, well, well, free agency is off and running and there have been a bunch of big moves so let’s dive into what a bunch of teams around the association have done.

Bucks

Well then.  The Milwaukee Bucks have made another bold move.  After acquiring Damian Lillard for Jrue Holiday and picks, which was a huge gamble after trading most of their picks to get Holiday, which led to a title.  This time, the Bucks are waiving and stretching the remaining $113 on Lillard’s contract, who tore his achilles in April, to clear the space to sign Myles Turner to a 4yr/$107 million deal.  Lillard will be on the Bucks books for the next 5 seasons at $22.5 million per season of dead cap.  It is an insanely bold move, Turner is a good Brook Lopez upgrade, who signed a 2yr/$18 million deal with the Clippers.  Lopez looked old last season and Turner will replace his spacing at the 5, while providing some of the interior defense that Lopez did, even if Turner isn’t the defender he used to be.  This is a signal to Giannis that they are serious about competing this season, to eat all of that Lillard money and pair it up with an average annual value of $26.75 million of Turner, because this is an extremely bold move.  Especially considering the rest of their roster is not very good.  Kyle Kuzma was a mess after the deadline, they brought back Taurean Prince, Kevin Porter Jr., Gary Trent Jr. and Bobby Portis while signing Gary Harris.  None of those players move the needle for me, considering 4 of them played for Milwaukee last season.  They have a lot going on in the front court with Antetokounmpo, Turner, Portis and Kuzma and not a lot going on in the back court.  They need another guard, Malcolm Brogdan is a name that has been floated and while he is good, he is hurt a lot and hasn’t been that good on bad teams for the past 2 seasons.  This is the kind of move you make if you can win the championship and I just don’t think the Bucks can do that.

Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets had a disappointing end to what looked like it may turn into a great playoff run when they got smoked in game 7 by the Oklahoma City Thunder.  After that game, Nikola Jokic said that he didn’t think they could win the championship.  As a result, Denver made moves this week.  First they traded Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 unprotected first round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson.  I think Cam Johnson is an awesome player and better than Porter is.  He is a better driver with the basketball and off ball mover than Porter is and, while not a great defender, a better defender than MPJ is.  He also makes $17 million less than Porter does, this allowed the Nuggets to make more moves.  Those moves so far have been bringing back Bruce Brown and signing Tim Hardaway to 1-year deals and acquiring Jonas Valanciunas for Dario Saric.  Let’s start with Brown.  He will likely play that Russell Westbrook role (assuming Russ doesn’t return).  Of course, Brown was on the 2023 title team and will likely fill that role better than Westbrook did because he is a better shooter and is a far more willing screener.  THJ will give Denver more shooting, I am not sure how playable Hardaway is in a late round playoff series but he was good with the Pistons last season so he will help.  It sounds like the Nuggets are going to buyout Valanciunas so he can go and play in Greece.  However, clearing out Saric’s money was smart anyway.  Denver has had an awesome summer thus far and looks like a real contender in the Western Conference again.

Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks have had an awesome summer.  The Porzingis trade made a lot of sense for them as a flier on a player and clearing out long term money.  Then they are on the correct end of one of the most inexplicable trades we have seen when the Pelicans traded the better of their own pick and the Bucks picks, unprotected, to move up from 13 to 23.  I’ll have more on New Orleans later.  The rest of the Hawks’ moves have also been awesome.  Signing Nickeil Alexander-Walker to a 4yr/$62 million deal is a great move for Atlanta.  He is an elite POA (point of attack) one on one defender who, next to Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson with Porzingis or Onyeka Okongwu behind them, can have an elite defense even with Trae Young.  Signing Luke Kennard is also a very good move, you have never have enough elite shooters and Kennard is one of the best in the league.  They’ll miss Caris LeVert, a lot of people expected him to be back and played well for Atlanta at the end of last season after being in the De’Andre Hunter trade at the trade deadline.  They have made the sting of the original Dejounte Murray trade hurt worse by making their own great Murray trade and making their team better so the picks they are sending out probably won’t be that good anyways.  This comes down to Trae Young, he started playing differently last year, moving without the ball and setting more screens.  He’ll never be a good defender but with more effort he can be not horrendously awful.  If Trae Young is really that guy, if he is really a great player, Atlanta has a shot to be really good in a shaky Eastern Conference.

Lakers

The LeBron James situation hangs in the air.  After James opted into his $52.6 million player option, his agent Rich Paul said that they are monitoring the Lakers offseason and implied they may look for a trade if LeBron didn’t like the results.  I don’t think LeBron gets traded and I certainly don’t think the Lakers would ever buyout LeBron.  He opted into the player option to make $52.6 million to play with Luka Doncic.  Is this really what we are doing?  I am not asking LeBron to take a huge pay cut and pass on over $50 million but c’mon man, what are we doing?  The Lakers won 50 games last season and were the 3rd seed, they added a center to the roster too.  Losing Dorian Finney-Smith is a huge blow, he was one of like 6 players JJ Redick trusted last season.  They signed Jake LaRavia to a 2yr/$12 million deal to help replace Finney-Smith but I think LaRavia is a lesser player than DFS is.  They also signed Deandre Ayton to a 2yr/$16.6 million deal after he was bought out from Portland.  The talent is there but the consistency is not.  He is better than any of their other bigs but this move isn’t a needle mover for me.  He isn’t a great lob threat or three point shooter to play with Luka in the pick and roll and the defense comes and goes with his effort.  It makes sense why the Lakers did this, though, I think I would have rathered Clint Capela at 3yrs/$21.5 million. The Lakers have a good team but not one that can compete on a real level to win the championship, in my opinion.

Rockets

We talked about the Durant trade last week but the Rockets have done more.  I like the Jabari Smith extension, 5yrs/$122 million is good value for a player who still has a chance to become a very good one.  The free agents they signed were just depth additions.  I like the Finney-Smith move.  He is a good player who plays a valuable and versatile position.  The money is a bit worrisome but the player will help them.  I don’t fully understand the Clint Capela signing.  Capela is a fine player but is on the downside of his career.  He did once play for the Rockets yet with Alpren Sengun and Steven Adams on the team, where is he going to play?  The Rockets definitely found something with their double big look of Sengun and Adams in the playoffs and Capela lets them run that look more while playing Adams less.  Adams has had a lot of injury problems throughout his career as well so I guess I answered my question.  This team is going to be dominant on the glass, which will bail them out a lot on offense, similarly to how they were a season ago.  The Rockets got deeper and better in free agency while also keeping flexibility to make a huge move down the line.

Pistons

The Pistons had their offseason plans blown up when Malik Beasley got caught up in some off the court drama that is really weird, really bad and nothing that I am going to get into.  Losing his and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s shooting is a huge blow, they also lost Dennis Schroder, who became a key piece for them after the trade deadline.  They signed Caris LeVert to a 2yr/$29 million deal and signed and traded for Duncan Robinson who signed a 3yr/$48 million deal with a partial guarantee in year 2 and nothing guaranteed in year 3, sending Simone Fontecchio to the Heat.  Robinson’s fit is obvious, they needed to replace at least some of the shooting they lost with Beasley and THJ and Robinson does that, it is a low risk signing that they can get off of if they want to after the season.  Detroit also added more ball handling and creation to this team with the LeVert signing and the return of Jaden Ivey.  LeVert averaged 15 points per game in 26 games as a Hawks, he didn’t shoot the three well, just 34%, but was 60% from inside the arc.  Jaden Ivey looked like he was turning a corner last season, averaging 17.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists on shooting splits of .46/.41/.73 before his injury.  The Pistons need him to be a factor for them next season, his ability to play off of the bounce while shooting 45% on catch and shoot threes is important.  Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren are awesome and Cade Cunningham showed that he can be a number 1 option on a really good team.  The Pistons have a chance to be a very good team and I think the moves they have made will help them.

Other Notes

The Nets have had a weird summer.  The Porter Jr. for Johnson trade was fine, I am not the biggest Michael Porter Jr. fan though.  I think they added 2 good players in Terrance Mann and Michael Porter Jr., though Mann had a bad season last year.  I still can’t believe they drafted 5 players and have already blown through most of their cap space.  The Pelicans trading the better of their own and the Bucks unprotected first round pick next year to move up from 23 to 13 is one of the most reckless trades I have seen in a long time.  They won 21 games last year and the 2026 draft is seen by many as an elite.  I would have gone the other way and sold off pieces to rebuild but Joe Dumars thinks New Orleans can be good this season, we shall see.  The Kings continue to do Kings things.  Dennis Schroder at 3yrs/$45 million is a huge price and one I would not have paid.  They also want to sign Jonathan Kuminga away from the Warriors and seem to want off of Malik Monk really badly.  None of what they are doing makes sense to me.  The Suns came into the summer needing a center and a center they have found.  I really like Khaman Maluach, his defense really jumps off the page.  I am not the biggest Mark Williams fan, his lack of rim protection worries me, but the price they paid, the 29th pick and the worst of the Cavs, Jazz and Timberwolves 2029 pick top 5 protected was not too big.  The Grizzlies did nice work after the Bane trade.  People seem to love Cedric Cowherd at 11, the Santi Aldama price seemed fair to me and Ty Jerome is an awesome pick up as a combo guard who can score off the bench.  The big piece is that they got Jaren Jackson Jr. to sign a 4yr/$240 million extension.  He is the foundation of the team and getting him locked in is a big deal for Memphis.

One sentence takes

I really didn’t like the Bulls trading Lonzo Ball for Isaac Okoro, whose contract is one year longer than Ball’s.  The Magic signed Tyus Jones in a move I didn’t understand, he can’t be worse than Cole Anthony though.  The Knicks have a coach and signed 2 players who will help them, I really like the Guerschon Yabusele addition. I liked the Clippers adding Brook Lopez, he will help the non-Zubac minutes a ton.  The Pacers losing Myles Turner is a gut punch after a Finals run.  The Celtics are taking a gap year and might sign Damian Lillard.  The Hornets keep adding point guards in case LaMelo Ball gets hurt again.  Luke Kornet is such an awesome get for the Spurs, he is a really solid player.  Portland buying out Deandre Ayton was very telling what they think of him.  Minnesota got good value on the Naz Reid and Julius Randle extensions.  The Warriors need to sign Al Horford because the west has gotten better and they have not.  The Colin Sexton for Jusuf Nurkic trade was weird from the Jazz but Nurk’s screening and passing will help Utah’s young guards.  The Raptors fired Masai Ujiri with odd timing and still haven’t shed the RJ Barrett contract.  The Wizards are creating a lot of cap space for next year.  Finally, the 76ers are pretty much running it back, hopefully it goes better than last year!

You made it to the end!  If you read all of it, just know it means a lot to me because I wrote a lot of words so thank you.