This feels like as safe a time as any to take a look at how day one of free agency has gone. This day pretty much went like a bag of microwave popcorn: A whole lot was popping early, and now we’re only getting stray kernels.
The headline for us? Boston stayed quiet. They sat back and watched all the stupid money get spent, mostly because they didn’t have any of that money to spend themselves. Their only choice was to stay sane and let the market punch itself out.
There was plenty of activity, with more than a couple of dozen deals reportedly getting done. Jalen Brunson getting his expected four-year, $106 million deal from the Knicks was the biggest move of the day. Here’s what else stood out:
CELTICS BIDING THEIR TIME
I’ve been asked about a lot of players, and today we saw a lot of them take more money than Boston could offer.
Kyle Anderson got two years, $18 million to go to Minnesota. Delon Wright got two years, $16 million. PJ Tucker got three years, $33.2 million.
There were some smaller deals, but some of them were destined to go to Los Angeles (more on that in a moment), some had connections elsewhere (like Danuel House reuniting with Daryl Morey in Philadelphia for two years, $8.5 million), and some just go to situations that suit them better (like Joe Ingles, who is getting a one-year deal with Milwaukee, which comes with no pressure to contribute until much later).
A lot of money has been spent, but now there are some interesting names remaining.
Bruce Brown is still out there, and considering everything going on, I’d be trying like hell to convince him to leave that Brooklyn situation and come home to Boston. He’s moving into my top target range, but the question is whether Brooklyn will try to throw some additional cash his way and offer him up as a trade chip later.
Otto Porter, whom I highlighted as my top target when I thought Brown was going to be retained, is still out there.
TJ Warren is still a free agent. No one was willing to give him that “prove it” contract on day 1, but if he is healthy and has medical proof of to that effect, then he could be worth a swing.
Donte DiVincenzo is an interesting name. I’m wondering why Jalen Smith hasn’t been signed yet, too.
BIRD RIGHTS WON THE DAY
A majority of the day one deals were teams re-signing their own players. There were the big, expected splashes like Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Nikola Jokic agreeing to massive new contracts (Jokic’s deal is the biggest ever: $270 million over five years). But there were also deals like Bobby Portis going back to Milwaukee for four years, $49 million or Tyus Jones staying in Memphis for two years, $30 million. Potential targets like Gary Harris stayed put with a two-year, $26 million deal.
Teams decided that keeping their guys was a priority, but there is one thing to keep in mind with all of these: they are mostly tradeable contracts. I think the Brooklyn Nets smartly locked up Patty Mills to a two-year, $14.5 million deal. That puts his salary squarely in the tradeable range that could get Brooklyn an asset.
My take on this flurry of re-signings is that we might get a pretty active trade deadline. I feel like a lot of teams kept players that could ultimately be moved.
THE LOS ANGELES KLUTCHERS
The Lakers agreed to a few deals today:
Lonnie Walker IV (one year, $6.5 million TPMLE)
Troy Brown Jr. (one-year minimum)
Juan Toscano-Anderson (unknown)
Damian Jones (unknown)
Walker and Brown are Klutch Sports clients. Klutch, famously the agency of LeBron James’ childhood friend Rich Paul, now represents six Lakers (James, Anthony Davis, Talen Horton-Tucker).
It’s pretty obvious who’s running the show over there, so if you have your eyes on a player and he’s repped by Klutch, you know the Lakers are getting the right of first refusal.
WHERE WILL KEVIN DURANT LAND?
He’s reportedly trying to steer his way to Phoenix. If that's where Brooklyn focuses, then Boston should be armed and ready with its TPE because CBA machinations could make that trade tough and likely require three or four teams to pull off.
In a nutshell, a DeAndre Ayton sign-and-trade makes him a Base Year Compensation player. BYC contracts, for salary-matching purposes, count for half their value to the former team but full value to the new one.
So if Ayton is involved, then salaries will have to be dumped somewhere to get the numbers to work. The Celtics and their $17.1 million TPE could be the right team at the right time to swoop in and steal a gem.
I’d expect the Celtics to wait to see if they can hop in on that trade before they burn that TPE.