NBA free agency is here!
After months of speculation, teams can finally start making moves. The period will start at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, and The Sporting News’ Stephen Noh will be grading all of the transactions in real time throughout the night and upcoming days.
Which teams struck oil, and which struck out? Who overpaid to nail down their top targets, and who inked valuable contributors on team-friendly deals?
Stay with us throughout the first day of NBA free agency for complete analysis.
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NBA free agency 2023: Grading the latest signings, trades
Tre Jones re-signs with Spurs
Jones put together a great year for the Spurs with nobody watching. I had him rated as the no. 5 point guard in this free agency class.
Jones is a mistake-free player with great court vision and some ability to pressure the rim. His two drawbacks are a lack of size and shooting, but he finds ways to make up for his weaknesses. He’s a low-end starter in the league, and $10 million a year for that type of player is well worth it.
Grade: A-
Georges Niang signs with Cavs
Niang is a good role player off the bench. His lack of athleticism has earned him the nickname “the minivan,” but he plays with emotion and was a fan favorite in Philadelphia. He has good positional size at 6-foot-7, and he’s a career 40 percent 3-point shooter that gets them up quickly and often when he’s on the floor.
With shooting at such a premium, this is a good value deal for one of the best ones on the market. This is a nice fit for Niang too. His defensive shortcomings can be covered up with the Cavs’ fierce interior defenders.
Grade: B+
Kyrie Irving re-signs with the Mavs
The sticking point to any Irving deal was going to be length. Irving made overtures around the league and realized what everyone else already knew — there wasn’t going to be much competition for his services. The Mavs were able to parlay that leverage into a short, three-year deal.
Irving doesn’t get close to his max in this deal, which would have been five years and $272 million, but he does get likely the highest average annual value of any player that gets signed during this offseason, at $42 million per year. This is a good compromise for both sides and given the Mavs’ alternatives, the best they could have hoped for. They had no avenue of getting a player of Irving’s caliber had he walked.
Grade: A
Khris Middleton re-signs with the Bucks
Middleton opted out of his $40 million to get a bigger payday at less average annual value. The Bucks absolutely could not afford to lose him, so this is a great deal for them given their lack of leverage.
Middleton will turn 32 this season and has already started to see his play decline. Getting him back on a three year deal instead of four is a win for the Bucks. He is still capable of playing at a very high level in the short-term, and they badly need his offensive creation.
The Bucks still need to re-sign Brook Lopez, but this was a great start for them.
Grade: A
Keita Bates-Diop signs with the Suns
Bates-Diop low key had a terrific year for the Spurs. The rangy wing is a great defender who needed to develop a shot to stay in the league. He did exactly that, hitting 39 percent of his 3’s last season.
That sterling percentage was only on 142 attempts, and there is a question of how fluky that result was given that Bates-Diop shot 30 percent combined from 3 over his previous four years. But if the shooting improvement is real, then this is a massive steal for the Suns. With little avenues to improve their depth, they got a great young player at a position of high need.
Grade: A
Jakob Poeltl re-signs with Raptors
The Raptors have become notorious for giving their players options, and they continue the tradition here. That does give Poeltl some extra leverage, but he should still be worth it.
Poeltl tied together many disparate elements of the Raptors’ team when he was acquired at last season’s trade deadline. He’s a great defender, an underrated roll man, and has some nice passing chops. His average annual value of $20 million is the same as what Nikola Vucevic received in his extension, and Poeltl is arguably the better player. This is good value for the Raptors.
Grade: A-
Jevon Carter signs with the Bulls
Signing Carter gives the Bulls a tenacious on-ball defender and addresses the Bulls’ biggest weakness — perimeter shooting. The career 40 percent 3-point shooter hit 42 percent of his 3’s for the Bucks last year on decent volume.
Carter’s willingness to let it fly from deep is key — the Bulls had Pat Beverley in a similar role last season, but Beverley’s reticence to shoot clogged the floor for their big offensive creators. This signing should have the added benefit of making DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine even more dangerous offensive players.
This also makes their Central Division rivals weaker. The Bulls still aren’t anywhere close to the Bucks’ level, but it does help them bridge that chasm.
Grade: A
Kristaps Porzingis extends with Celtics
Porzingis was the best free agent center on the market before opting in and getting traded to the Celtics. He was at a fringe All-Star level last season, and I expect him to make the team this year with more eyes focused on his play.
The Celtics gave up a lot to get him, so extending him and making sure he stays on the team makes sense in that regard. The length of this extension seems like a win, too.
Porzingis’ health is always a legitimate concern, so two years at a high annual average value is a nice piece of business for the Celtics.
Grade: B+
Jerami Grant extends with Trail Blazers
Grant was a great addition to the Blazers. His defense and 3-point shooting are essential for a roster built around Damian Lillard. But this is a lot of money to be giving him — he projected at a starting salary of $24 million in my simple salary model.
Grant seemed to have good leverage over the Blazers, who appear to still be trying to keep Lillard happy. This might be a tough contract to get out of down the line, though.
Grade: C
Bruce Brown signs with Pacers
This is an overpay for Brown. But the Pacers had cap space to spend, and they will have Brown’s Early Bird rights when he comes up for a new deal in two years. Their free agent dollars don’t go as far as a team like the Lakers, so they did what they had to do to get their guy.
Brown showed that he is a rock-solid player in his playoff run with the Nuggets. They will surely miss him. He’s a great defender, a capable secondary ball handler and an improved shooter. He’ll fit right in with Indiana.
Grade: B-
Draymond Green re-signs with Warriors
Kudos to the Warriors for paying up. Bringing Green back will cost them well over $100 million in tax payments alone.
Green is still an A+ defender, and re-signing him was their best possible move this offseason. The $25 million average annual salary is right in line with what I predicted, but the length of this deal is a bit of a surprise.
At age 33, I was expecting Green to get a three-year deal to line up with the end of Stephen Curry’s contract. Instead, he got a highly-coveted player option in Year 4 that he will almost certainly exercise.
Grade: B+
Coby White re-signs with Bulls
The $11 million annual value for this deal (which could be a little more with incentives) was in line with my prediction for White. It’s fair value for the sharpshooting guard who, at age 23, still has room to get better.
White has already improved substantially as a defender and playmaker from his first few years in the league. Volume shooting is at a premium, and he fits the Bulls’ needs nicely.
White also gets a chance to go back on the market in three rather than four years when his value should be higher. It’s a good deal for both sides.
Grade: B+
Kyle Kuzma re-signs with Wizards
The Wizards probably weren’t going to find a better use of their cap space than signing Kuzma. With the added penalties under the new collective bargaining agreement for not hitting the salary floor, they needed to make a move like this.
Kuzma has improved in all areas of his game, including as a defender, passer and scorer. With average starters making something around $20 million these days, this is a fine deal for him.
At age 27, it will carry him through his prime, and it is very moveable for the Wizards.
Grade: B
Joe Harris traded to Pistons
Trade details (via The Athletic’s Shams Charania):
- Nets receive: Trade exception
- Pistons receive: Joe Harris, 2027 and 2029 second-round picks
This was a salary dump for the Nets, who needed to clear Harris’ $19.9 million salary in order to avoid the tax if they want to retain free agent Cameron Johnson. The Nets have a plethora of wings, and Harris wasn’t a big-minute player for them.
The Pistons had cap space this summer, and they were rumored to be interested in Johnson. This move takes them out of the running for him or any other big names, but it does set them up to have a ton of cap space next summer with a better free agent class coming up.
Nets grade: B+
Pistons grade: B
Chris Duarte traded to Kings
Trade details (via The Athletic’s Shams Charania):
- Kings receive: Chris Duarte
- Pacers receive: Draft compensation
This is a nice trade for the Kings. Duarte had a promising rookie year as the No. 13 pick in the 2021 draft playing next to Domantas Sabonis thanks to their great chemistry.
After Sabonis was traded, Duarte’s production fell drastically. Duarte gives the Kings some extra shooting and ball handling.
Kings grade: A
Pacers grade: B+
Harrison Barnes extends with the Kings
The Kings opened up over $30 million in cap space during the draft, and there was some thinking that they might make a big move such as going after Draymond Green.
The Barnes extension takes them out of the running for the top guys, but it does bring back a good player at a very reasonable price.
Barnes had seen his role decline in Sacramento — there was some hope that they could find someone better and younger (Kyle Kuzma, perhaps?). Bringing him back isn’t a bad consolation prize. He can still defend at a good level and spread the floor with his shooting.
Grade: B
Nikola Vucevic extends with the Bulls
I had Vucevic’s value pegged at exactly $20 million when I wrote about him several weeks ago, so this seems like a fair deal to me. The Bulls had no way of replacing him given their over-the-cap situation, so it made sense on that level to keep him.
The contract is fully guaranteed, which is a bit of a disappointment. It would be more tradable with partial guarantees on that third year.
Still, this preserves a $20 million salary slot if the Bulls find a trade partner down the road and gives them a starting-caliber center in the meantime.
Grade: B
