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The 2020 crop of NBA free agents isn’t the most exciting we’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t mean the off-season activity has to be less wild. Free agency officially kicked off at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, and there have been some wild twists and turns already.
While the biggest names on the board – Anthony Davis, Brandon Ingram, Gordon Hayward, Fred VanVleet – have yet to announce their intentions, many intriguing and confusing decisions were made on Friday night. Here’s a look at some of the first day free agency winners and losers.
Aside from the last Dwightmare, the Lakers became one of the biggest winners of the night. They caused a stir by agreeing to a two-year, $ 19 million deal with the sixth reigning man of the year, Montrezl Harrell, who would turned down more lucrative offers to join the champions.
Prior to that, the Lakers made a wise move by agreeing to sign veteran guard Wesley Matthews to a one-year, $ 3.6 million contract. Matthews will replace Danny Green, who the Lakers sent to Oklahoma City in the Dennis Schroder trade. It looks like a good move for the Lakers, as Matthews had nearly identical averages at Green last season and will make $ 12 million less this year.
OK, so not all centers were winners on Friday night. Shortly after the opening of free agency, Dwight Howard triumphantly announced that he would return to the Lakers’ world champion, with the lyrical line “Purple and gold never get old.” But before Magic Johnson could even tweet about it, Howard quickly deleted his tweet, followed by The Athletic’s Shams Charania reporting that Howard “continues to consider all of his options.” As you can imagine, NBA Twitter has had a day on the court with Dwight’s indecision.
About an hour later, it was reported that Howard had made a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers for $ 2.6 million, which is lower than the low the Lakers could have offered him at $ 3.1 million. It turns out, according to a report from Yahoo Sports, that Howard believed he had struck a deal with the Lakers, which prompted the tweet, only for the team to quickly inform Howard that no formal offer was ever made. made. You can’t make this stuff up, people.
Howard has been one of the most entertaining and polarizing players in the NBA throughout his career, so we should have known that his free agency would contain a flair for drama.
Winner: Centers
Reports of the death of the NBA center are greatly exaggerated. At least financially. Two of the biggest deals made after the free agency opened on Friday went to Meyers Leonard (two-year, $ 20 million from the Miami Heat) and Mason Plumlee (three-year, $ 25 million from the Detroit Pistons, of whom we we’ll talk about later). Later, San Antonio Spurs center Jakob Poeltl agreed to a three-year, $ 27 million contract, surpassing the two. While Poeltl’s deal isn’t unreasonable, Leonard started for the Heat in the regular season, but fell completely out of the rotation in the final, while Plumlee averaged 17.3 minutes per game (10 , 8 in the playoffs) as Nikola Jokic’s replacement with the Nuggets, so it was a little surprising to see so much money thrown their way.
In addition to those two, centers Robin Lopez, Jahlil Okafor, Drew Eubanks and Derrick Favors also made deals on Friday. They set the salary bar quite high, with centers like Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol and Tristan Thompson still without agreements. Council members are paid, indeed.
Loser: Los Angeles Clippers
After an embarrassing loss to the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, the Clippers lost a big chunk of last year’s squad when Harrell agreed to sign with the Lakers. Now their options are limited when it comes to centers to join Ivica Zubac on the list. After Harrell agreed to sign with the Lakers, the Clippers decided to give Marcus Morris a four-year, $ 64 million contract. Morris is a good player, but he had a lot of weight knowing the Clippers didn’t have the flexibility to come out and sign another wing of his caliber. Steve Ballmer may not be afraid to cut the check, but with Harrell’s change teams, the Lakers have taken an advantage in the battle for LA … for now.
Fox became the first player to receive a maximum contract in the 2020 offseason, agreeing to a five-year, $ 163 million extension with the Sacramento Kings. While fellow 2017 rookies Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell are also expected to sign maximum extensions, there has been at least some debate surrounding Fox, all the better for him on the pullout. He will now look to lead the Kings to the playoffs for the first time since 1947 2006.
Loser: Detroit Pistons
Look, maybe the Pistons are playing chess and we’re all stuck here trying to maintain the sanctity of our back row while playing checkers, but what they did on Friday was … weird. They agreed to deals with Mason Plumlee and Jahlil Okafor, adding to their existing core culture of Dewayne Dedmon, Tony Bradley and recently drafted Isaiah Stewart. Yes, that’s five crosses on a team (they’re going to give up and stretch Dedmon, but still). Then they agreed with Jerami Grant on a three-year, $ 60 million contract with the promise of being more of an offensive focal point, when they could instead have retained Christian Wood, who agreed to signing with the Rockets for three years, $ 41 million. They also struck a deal with Josh Jackson, which isn’t a terrible gesture for a rebuilding team, but adds to the weirdness still further.
All in all, it was an odd start to GM Troy Weaver’s first offseason with the team. We will have to wait and see if there is a method to the madness of Detroit.
Re-signing Clarkson seemed like a priority for Jazz, but it was still a bit surprising to see him accept a four-year, $ 52 million contract. He’s one of the best bench-bucket geters in the league, but perhaps the best bench-bucket in the league, Lou Williams, only makes $ 8 million a year. Clarkson is now poised to make $ 13 million a year.
Loser: Denver Nuggets
When Jerami Grant gave up on his $ 9 million option for next season, we knew he was going to be paid – we just thought it would be by the Nuggets. After breaking through the bubble, Grant opted instead to sign a three-year, $ 60 million contract with the Detroit Pistons. To add insult to injury, Grant would have had the same offer on the Denver table, but was wowed by a larger role in the Pistons’ offense. Grant was becoming a third star alongside Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, so it’s a tough loss for the Nuggets, despite securing JaMychal Green on a two-year, $ 15 million contract to help fill. the hole in the front area.
On the plus side, Denver fans will be able to watch the Argentinian feature film Facundo Campazzo for the next two seasons.
Winner: specialists in 3 points
Now is the perfect time to be a 3-point shooter in the NBA. Snipers Danilo Gallinari (three years, $ 61.5 million), Joe Harris (four years, $ 75 million) and Davis Bertans (five years, $ 80 million) on Friday signed contracts totaling more than $ 216 million, with an annual average of $ 18 million. Gallinari actually made history with his contract – it’s the most lucrative multi-year deal for a player over 30 without an All-Star appearance, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
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