Offseason Thread

[tazzmaniac]

The LA Clippers and veteran center Brook Lopez have agreed to a two-year, $18 million contract, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.

[tazzmaniac]

Jordan Clarkson to Knicks on vet minimum deal. 

[snively]

Ty Jerome for less than Kornet.

That's crazy.

[Who]

The Lakers signed Jake LaRavia to a two-year, $12 million deal after they were unable to agree to terms with Dorian Finney-Smith.

Nice signing. More of a PF. Good glue guy.

Gary Trent Jr. and the Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to a two-year, $7.5 million deal.

Taurean Prince and the Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to a two-year, $7.1 million deal. Prince will hold a player option for the 2026-27 season.

Kevin Porter Jr. and the Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to a two-year, $11 million contract with a player option for the 2026-27 season.

Good job by MIL to keep those three guys. Kept Bobby Portis too. The loss of Brook Lopez will hurt them hard though. They only have two legit NBA bigs now in Portis and Giannis.

MIL struggled badly last season whenever they were forced to play small ball. Kuzma at PF has not worked well for them. Portis doesn't do well as a lone big. Needs help. More of a PF than a true C. Giannis hasn't liked being a sole big either.

Trendon Watford and the Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to a two-year, $5.3 million deal.

No idea who that guy is. 4yrs into his career. Almost 4,000 minutes. Never made an impression.

Mason Plumlee and the Charlotte Hornets have agreed to a one-year, $3.6 million deal.

That was the deal BOS should have made. Plumlee was the best replacement option for Kornet.

Good signing by Charlotte. He will start. Kalkbrenner as backup C. Then James Nnaji as 3rd stringer. Or maybe he beats out Kalkbrenner. I don't know. Both are 3rd stringers.

Nigel Hayes-Davis and the Phoenix Suns have agreed to a fully guaranteed one-year deal. Hayes-Davis turns 31 in December.

Hayes-Davis has played for Fenerbahce over the past three seasons where he was Euroleague Final MVP this season.

Hayes-Davis played nine total games during the 2017-18 season with the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors.

Was that the guy BOS was linked to a month or so ago?

Caris LeVert and the Detroit Pistons have agreed to a two-year, $29 million deal.

LeVert averaged 12.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 24.9 minutes across 64 games combined with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks.

Not a fan of his game. Not sure he offers much to DET.

D'Angelo Russell and the Dallas Mavericks have agreed to a two-year, $13 million deal.

Sounds like a replacement for Dinwiddie.

Tre Jones and the Chicago Bulls have agreed to a three-year, $24 million deal. The Bulls acquired Jones at the trade deadline from the San Antonio Spurs in their Zach LaVine deal. Jones was the 31st overall pick in the 2020 draft out of Duke by the Spurs.

Jones had an increased role with the Bulls, averaging 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 25.3 minutes over 18 games.

$8mil a year sounds fair.

Cam Spencer and the Memphis Grizzlies have agreed to a two-year, $4.5 million deal that is fully guaranteed.

I don't know who he is.

Paul Reed and the Detroit Pistons have agreed to a two-year, $11 million contract.

Another guy who I would have loved on the Celtics next season. Solid backup center. He would have strengthened our big man rotation. Him and Plumlee would have taken us to .500. With Horford they would have taken us to 45-49 win territory.

Santi Aldama and the Memphis Grizzlies have agreed to a three-year, $52.5 million deal.

So that is $17.5mil per year for Aldama. Yeah, that seems right after his breakout campaign last year. He could be a starting PF for someone. Or a high end bench player as he is for Memphis.

I would have liked to have seen him leave MEM and go after a starting PF job somewhere. I would have loved to have seen him go to San Antonio.

Svi Mykhailiuk has had his $3.68 million contract for the 2025-26 season guaranteed by the Utah Jazz. The contract was previously non-guaranteed.

The Utah Jazz have waived forward Johnny Juzang.

The Houston Rockets have agreed to re-sign Jeff Green and Aaron Holiday to one-year deals at the veteran's minimum.

I saw the Jeff Green mention earlier in the thread but not Aaron Holiday.

Jae'Sean Tate and the Houston Rockets have agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal.

Another guy I would have liked to have seen join the Celtics as a backup PF / 3rd string PF. A strong defender & rebounder at big forward. A replacement for Oshae Brissett.

Joe Ingles has agreed to re-sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a one-year, $3.6 million deal.

Why? His body is kaput.

I hate these locker room signings. No intention of playing. Just sit in the locker room. Rosters are far too big these days. They need to go back to 12 man teams.

[Who]

* Clint Capela to HOU

I do not understand Houston signing Capela. They already have Sengun and S Adams. Why do they need Capela? Or they planning on playing Sengun at PF full time next time? If so, where will they fit Durant and Jabari Smith Jr? And Tari Eason?

There aren't enough minutes to go around there.

* Jordan Clarkson to NYC

Great value to get him on the minimum. Good backup guard. Not sure he will make much of an impact in NY though. They already have problems keeping everyone happy on offense. Giving everyone enough touches & shot attempts. Clarkson will only exacerbate the problem. Clarkson will likely win the battle for touches / shots though because he is the best ball-handler and individual shot-creator on the team outside of Brunson. So he should do well individually without having much impact on the overall team as a lot of his buckets will come at the expense of other guys.

* Kevon Looney to New Orleans

I don't understand this one. They went all out for a center in the draft in Derik Queen who will play rotation minutes from Day One. They already have another center from last year's draft in Yves Missi. Why do they need Looney? Why play Looney ahead of either of those 2 young guys you are trying to develop? Surely Looney will be a 3rd stringer there.

* Ty Jerome to Memphis

I did not understand this one. I thought Memphis were trying to play fast uptempo basketball. Why do they want a slow guard?

* Tyus Jones to Orlando

Another slow footed guard who can't get dribble penetration. Bad fit for the roster.

[Who]

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are reaching a "moment of truth" in their relationship this offseason, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

"LeBron James understands the Lakers are prioritizing the future...that really centers around Luka Doncic. And, he knows, they're going to go younger at different points. They are really prioritizing two year contracts," said Charania.

There was another news segment saying LAL was trying to keep their cap space for the summer of 2027. Jokic and Giannis are due to FAs that summer if they do not sign contract extensions. LAL is hoping to land a max contract FA that summer to put alongside Luka.

So it sounds like they are avoiding any contracts beyond 2 years in length. That may be why they let DFS leave instead of matching that reasonable offer from Houston. Also it may be why they lost Capela to Houston who signed for 3 years there despite LAL being able to offer him a starting C job and Houston having 2 Cs ahead of Capela in Sengun and S Adams.

LAL did sign Jake LaRavia to a 2yr deal. Again keeping to this two year window.

I thought their GM has wasted seasons in the past with LeBron by making stupid decisions on the supporting cast. It looks like he is at it again this summer. He will write off the remaining two yeras of LeBron's career, 2 years of Luka's prime, for a what-if opportunity in 2027. LAL could put out a title contender next season. He is blowing it. Just like he blew it in past years when he failed to put adequate supporting casts around LeBron & AD following their Bubble Title.

[SparzWizard]

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are reaching a "moment of truth" in their relationship this offseason, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

"LeBron James understands the Lakers are prioritizing the future...that really centers around Luka Doncic. And, he knows, they're going to go younger at different points. They are really prioritizing two year contracts," said Charania.

There was another news segment saying LAL was trying to keep their cap space for the summer of 2027. Jokic and Giannis are due to FAs that summer if they do not sign contract extensions. LAL is hoping to land a max contract FA that summer to put alongside Luka.

So it sounds like they are avoiding any contracts beyond 2 years in length. That may be why they let DFS leave instead of matching that reasonable offer from Houston. Also it may be why they lost Capela to Houston who signed for 3 years there despite LAL being able to offer him a starting C job and Houston having 2 Cs ahead of Capela in Sengun and S Adams.

LAL did sign Jake LaRavia to a 2yr deal. Again keeping to this two year window.

I thought their GM has wasted seasons in the past with LeBron by making stupid decisions on the supporting cast. It looks like he is at it again this summer. He will write off the remaining two yeras of LeBron's career, 2 years of Luka's prime, for a what-if opportunity in 2027. LAL could put out a title contender next season. He is blowing it. Just like he blew it in past years when he failed to put adequate supporting casts around LeBron & AD following their Bubble Title.

Lakers with healthy Luka and LeBron this season are at least a top 4 team in the West, hanging with OKC, Dallas (when healthy), and Houston. Their new rich owner will splurge like the Dodgers. Yuck

[Moranis]

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are reaching a "moment of truth" in their relationship this offseason, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

"LeBron James understands the Lakers are prioritizing the future...that really centers around Luka Doncic. And, he knows, they're going to go younger at different points. They are really prioritizing two year contracts," said Charania.

There was another news segment saying LAL was trying to keep their cap space for the summer of 2027. Jokic and Giannis are due to FAs that summer if they do not sign contract extensions. LAL is hoping to land a max contract FA that summer to put alongside Luka.

So it sounds like they are avoiding any contracts beyond 2 years in length. That may be why they let DFS leave instead of matching that reasonable offer from Houston. Also it may be why they lost Capela to Houston who signed for 3 years there despite LAL being able to offer him a starting C job and Houston having 2 Cs ahead of Capela in Sengun and S Adams.

LAL did sign Jake LaRavia to a 2yr deal. Again keeping to this two year window.

I thought their GM has wasted seasons in the past with LeBron by making stupid decisions on the supporting cast. It looks like he is at it again this summer. He will write off the remaining two yeras of LeBron's career, 2 years of Luka's prime, for a what-if opportunity in 2027. LAL could put out a title contender next season. He is blowing it. Just like he blew it in past years when he failed to put adequate supporting casts around LeBron & AD following their Bubble Title.

Lakers with healthy Luka and LeBron this season are at least a top 4 team in the West, hanging with OKC, Dallas (when healthy), and Houston. Their new rich owner will splurge like the Dodgers. Yuck

right so they shouldn't limit signings to 2 years.  They should be going for it.

[Who]

Memphis are quietly building an interesting bench.

G: Morant, S Pippen Jr
G: KCP, Ty Jerome
F: Jaylen Wells, Cedric Coward
F: Jaren Jackson Jr, S Aldama
C: Z Edey, B Clarke

Third Stringers

Interesting mix of 3rd string talent as well = Cam Spencer, Jon Konchar, Vince Williams, GG Jackson, Jay Huff.

With Cole Anthony to be traded away. Cole Anthony would be a great 3rd string PG if they kept him. I don't think they will get anything good for him in the trade market.

Bench

Interesting backcourt with Scottie Pippen Jr and Ty Jerome. A two PG backcourt. The lotto pick Cedric Coward who looks one of the more NBA ready prospects in the top 20. Santi Aldama who is now one of the best backup PFs in the league. Brandon Clarke a solid backup center. With Jay Huff another alternative as big man.

Starters

If KCP can get his shot working again, he will be a nice cog in that machine as a 3+D SG. The more explosive Cedric Coward as a long term replacement at starting SG. Or a two PG backcourt with Ty Jerome playing alongside Morant in the backcourt. Interesting options.

Coward can also come in for Jaylen Wells (defensive SF, little offense) and expand their offense. Or go bigger with Aldama & JJJ as twin forwards alongside a center (Edey, B Clarke, J Huff).

Reliance on Morant

This looks a nice team but I worry about them if Morant misses any time with injury. They have handled his absences well in most previous seasons. Desmond Bane was a huge reason why. Tyus Jones helped in the past. Scottie Pippen and Ty Jerome will give some cover now.

But ... Morant is their only dynamic athlete & offensive player. The only guy who can consistently drive past his man and create something for either himself or others.

Without Morant, that backcourt starts to look slow. Neither Pippen Jr or Ty Jerome are speedy penetrators. Neither is KCP or Wells. Coward more of a shooter & powerful guard.

Morant the straw that stirs the drink. The piece that makes everything else work. It will be fun when he is around to do that. But he has been injury prone. And this team could get ugly whenever he is out. Overly predictable and easy to defend.

[tazzmaniac]

Interesting that Turner and Indy have not agreed to a deal yet.  I wonder how much it will cost to sign him.  I think if the Celtics completely salary dumped Simons, Niang and Hauser they'd have around 30M to offer.  Dumping that much salary would probably cost a couple 1sts but worth it for Tatum, Brown, Turner and White core.  Of course that would be back to a salary crunch to fill out the rest of the team.  Oh well just a pipe dream to divert from reality. 

[feckless]

Andre Drummond?

[tazzmaniac]

Memphis are quietly building an interesting bench.

G: Morant, S Pippen Jr
G: KCP, Ty Jerome
F: Jaylen Wells, Cedric Coward
F: Jaren Jackson Jr, S Aldama
C: Z Edey, B Clarke

Third Stringers

Interesting mix of 3rd string talent as well = Cam Spencer, Jon Konchar, Vince Williams, GG Jackson, Jay Huff.

With Cole Anthony to be traded away. Cole Anthony would be a great 3rd string PG if they kept him. I don't think they will get anything good for him in the trade market.

Bench

Interesting backcourt with Scottie Pippen Jr and Ty Jerome. A two PG backcourt. The lotto pick Cedric Coward who looks one of the more NBA ready prospects in the top 20. Santi Aldama who is now one of the best backup PFs in the league. Brandon Clarke a solid backup center. With Jay Huff another alternative as big man.

Starters

If KCP can get his shot working again, he will be a nice cog in that machine as a 3+D SG. The more explosive Cedric Coward as a long term replacement at starting SG. Or a two PG backcourt with Ty Jerome playing alongside Morant in the backcourt. Interesting options.

Coward can also come in for Jaylen Wells (defensive SF, little offense) and expand their offense. Or go bigger with Aldama & JJJ as twin forwards alongside a center (Edey, B Clarke, J Huff).

Reliance on Morant

This looks a nice team but I worry about them if Morant misses any time with injury. They have handled his absences well in most previous seasons. Desmond Bane was a huge reason why. Tyus Jones helped in the past. Scottie Pippen and Ty Jerome will give some cover now.

But ... Morant is their only dynamic athlete & offensive player. The only guy who can consistently drive past his man and create something for either himself or others.

Without Morant, that backcourt starts to look slow. Neither Pippen Jr or Ty Jerome are speedy penetrators. Neither is KCP or Wells. Coward more of a shooter & powerful guard.

Morant the straw that stirs the drink. The piece that makes everything else work. It will be fun when he is around to do that. But he has been injury prone. And this team could get ugly whenever he is out. Overly predictable and easy to defend.

They should have traded Morant a few years ago when his hype was so high.  If he's the straw stirring your drink, it is going to be quite sour.  Not only did Banes and Jones let them play well in Morant's absences I thought they played better.  He's going to continue to be injury prone with his playing style. 

I like their bench players better than their starters.  Coward should be a good addition.  Interesting that you barely mentioned JJJ. 

[tazzmaniac]

Andre Drummond?

He's lousy.  The Sixers are trying to dump him on someone.

[smicker16]

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are reaching a "moment of truth" in their relationship this offseason, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

"LeBron James understands the Lakers are prioritizing the future...that really centers around Luka Doncic. And, he knows, they're going to go younger at different points. They are really prioritizing two year contracts," said Charania.

There was another news segment saying LAL was trying to keep their cap space for the summer of 2027. Jokic and Giannis are due to FAs that summer if they do not sign contract extensions. LAL is hoping to land a max contract FA that summer to put alongside Luka.

So it sounds like they are avoiding any contracts beyond 2 years in length. That may be why they let DFS leave instead of matching that reasonable offer from Houston. Also it may be why they lost Capela to Houston who signed for 3 years there despite LAL being able to offer him a starting C job and Houston having 2 Cs ahead of Capela in Sengun and S Adams.

LAL did sign Jake LaRavia to a 2yr deal. Again keeping to this two year window.

I thought their GM has wasted seasons in the past with LeBron by making stupid decisions on the supporting cast. It looks like he is at it again this summer. He will write off the remaining two yeras of LeBron's career, 2 years of Luka's prime, for a what-if opportunity in 2027. LAL could put out a title contender next season. He is blowing it. Just like he blew it in past years when he failed to put adequate supporting casts around LeBron & AD following their Bubble Title.

Lakers with healthy Luka and LeBron this season are at least a top 4 team in the West, hanging with OKC, Dallas (when healthy), and Houston. Their new rich owner will splurge like the Dodgers. Yuck

right so they shouldn't limit signings to 2 years.  They should be going for it.

Unfortunately this feels like the right approach by the Lakers long term. I have a tough time seeing the Lakers truly competing next year unless they trade LeBron to get better players around Luka that will compliment him. I don?t think Luka and Lebron compliment each other that well especially as both are negative on defense. Add in Reaves and it gets worse really. I am now very afraid of them having cap space to pair another great talent with Luka and what that future could mean for them. Not looking forward to that and would prefer them to try and struggle to compete by sacrificing their future.

[celticinorlando]

From Brian robb's article today...doesn't sound like there is much of a market for Simons.

The Celtics continue to explore paths to trimming salary elsewhere per sources but their avenues have not been promising. Anfernee Simons ($27 million) was evidently available for a reason in a Jrue Holiday deal and his market has not been great. Georges Niang ($8.2 million) is probably a little overpaid. The Celtics can move him for nothing but he only makes a small dent in reducing the payroll.

My guess is he is here until the trade deadline when they can offload him for nothing. Worst case is he walks at the end of the year. Same with Niang

But I expect Simons and Niang are rotational players for 2025 in Boston. I can live with Simons...and I am going to have to live with Niang.