Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Heat Central: Donovan Mitchell believes this Heat team adding Giannis and Klay Thompson will be a dangerous team: “All he (Klay) gotta do is stand right there because Giannis has so much gravity. If you help on Giannis, who you gonna help off of? That’s what makes them dangerous. They also got Davion, Wiggins, Bam, Larsson. And they got Spo. He’s a great coach. — Klay is a top 5 shooter ever!”

x.com

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Shams Charania: New Orleans Pelicans forward Saddiq Bey has agreed on a three-year, $55.5 million contract extension with the franchise, plus a trade kicker, agents James Dunleavy and Jordan Gertler of Excel Sports Management tell ESPN. Saddiq Bey missed the entire 2024-25 season after suffering a torn ACL in Atlanta and then had a resurgent comeback season last year in New Orleans, averaging a career-high 17.7 points. He now locks in a fully guaranteed deal through 2029-30 with the Pelicans. The Saddiq Bey contract comes in with a declining structure: Year 1: $ 20.1 M; Year 2: $ 18.5 M; Year 3: $ 16.9M. The trade kicker is the lesser of $1M or 15%

x.com

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Jake Fischer: The Toronto Raptors and Kawhi Leonard have held advanced discussions and are nearing an agreement on a contract extension, according to league sources. Leonard is eligible to sign for upwards of two years, $126 million. More NBA from @TheSteinLine: tinyurl.com/bar76a28

x.com

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Montrezl Harrell: I don’t know what the hell Washington is doing, to be honest with you. It doesn’t make sense. They got the young kid AJ Dybantsa, but he’s at the three. You bring over Deandre Ayton, but you already drafted the young kid Alex Sarr. Then you have Anthony Davis, but you have another center on the bench in Tristan Vukčević. Now you have four centers because you also have Jonas Valanciunas. Your only backup to Anthony Davis right now is Anthony Gill, and then you have Trae Young with no legitimate two-guard playing. It looks like a disaster. Their starting five is Trae Young, Khris Middleton, AJ Dybantsa, Anthony Davis and Deandre Ayton. But when you look at that bench, you can beat them with that every night. It’s going to be something where the coach is going to have to coach that team. There is a lot of uncertainty down there. I don’t see them being in any serious conversation in the East. Maybe they can get into a play-in situation, but I don’t see them being a crazy East contender. I just don’t know what their team identity is.

ScoopB.com

[Chicagojk]

[Charania] Just in: Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George has agreed on a five-year, $157.5 million rookie-scale contract extension with the franchise, sources tell me and @BannedMacMahon.

*************
He impressed me last year, but of course the Utah games were glorified scrimmages. It will be interesting to see if his play carries over for winning basketball.

The Jazz are a real interesting team. Unfortunately, their tanking finally worked and seems primed to make a jump. How high is tbd.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

[Charania] Just in: Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George has agreed on a five-year, $157.5 million rookie-scale contract extension with the franchise, sources tell me and @BannedMacMahon.

*************
He impressed me last year, but of course the Utah games were glorified scrimmages.  It will be interesting to see if his play carries over for winning basketball.

The Jazz are a real interesting team.  Unfortunately, their tanking finally worked and seems primed to make a jump.  How high is tbd.

They're locking up their young core. I expect them to make a jump and possibly fight for a playoff spot, to be honest.

[michaeltex]

Montrezl Harrell: I don’t know what the hell Washington is doing, to be honest with you. It doesn’t make sense. They got the young kid AJ Dybantsa, but he’s at the three. You bring over Deandre Ayton, but you already drafted the young kid Alex Sarr. Then you have Anthony Davis, but you have another center on the bench in Tristan Vukčević. Now you have four centers because you also have Jonas Valanciunas. Your only backup to Anthony Davis right now is Anthony Gill, and then you have Trae Young with no legitimate two-guard playing. It looks like a disaster. Their starting five is Trae Young, Khris Middleton, AJ Dybantsa, Anthony Davis and Deandre Ayton. But when you look at that bench, you can beat them with that every night. It’s going to be something where the coach is going to have to coach that team. There is a lot of uncertainty down there. I don’t see them being in any serious conversation in the East. Maybe they can get into a play-in situation, but I don’t see them being a crazy East contender. I just don’t know what their team identity is.

ScoopB.com

TBH, this criticism is what I hear about a lot of teams, including DAL. I even heard Scalabrine on NBA Radio talking about how he's not sure how Jalen Brown fits in Philly with Emiid, Maxey and LBJ in the mix. He may be moved to a 4th option and how will he respond?

[DallasMaverick]

They're locking up their young core. I expect them to make a jump and possibly fight for a playoff spot, to be honest.

So they chose to not pay Kessler, but to pay George a significant chunk of their cap.

I thought he played well, also.  But $30m well??  Perhaps it was a leap of faith, based on trajectory and availability.

[KillerLeft]

So they chose to not pay Kessler, but to pay George a significant chunk of their cap.

I thought he played well, also.  But $30m well??  Perhaps it was a leap of faith, based on trajectory and availability.

I think it's about the guys who handle the ball being objectively most important and a non-negotiable component of attempting to find success. No idea if the specific investment in George at that level pays off, but I definitely understand prioritizing that part of the team over someone like Kessler. I wouldn't have paid Kessler what the Lakers did if I had an All Star locked down at every other position already.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

So they chose to not pay Kessler, but to pay George a significant chunk of their cap.

I thought he played well, also.  But $30m well??  Perhaps it was a leap of faith, based on trajectory and availability.

Basically, they chose Triple J and Markkanen over Kessler. Triple J is probably equal to Kessler defensively and is a better scorer. The fact that Triple J and Markkanen can switch, playing the 4 or 5, should also be considered, and they still have Nurkic and Filipowski. They have versatility up front.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

One note on Keyonte George's five-year, $157.5 million contract extension with the Jazz: There's $500K each season, a combined $2.5 million, of bonuses in that total, per sources.

[SkenfromLMF]

Good to see one of our local guys doing good and being rewarded!

[Chicagojk]

Just in: Detroit Pistons All-Defensive forward Ausar Thompson has reached agreement on a five-year, $155 million rookie-scale contract extension, sources tell ESPN.
*****************************

Ausar Thompson gets paid. The Thompson kids are having a nice offseason. Both are good to really good, but a fatal flaw will need to be corrected for either to be truly elite players.

For Detroit (with the assumption Duren signs eventually), they are a team that should win plenty. Another guy to pair with Cade is the clear thing that is missing. How they find that player will eventually decide how good they can become. Duren and Thompson as your 3rd and 4h is good. I less like them if one needs to be their #2.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

The Heat plan to keep the 15th roster spot open for a while, in case a needle-moving player becomes available in free agency.

Miami Herald

[HoosierDaddyKid]

“Shams is going to get like 90 percent of the scoops, including injury reports and trades when they happen, signings, coach hirings and firings. Fine,” Beck said. “The beat writers, once upon a time, in a more democratized environment … would probably be the first ones to tell you, ‘This knee is actually going to require season-ending surgery,’ or, ‘This coach is getting fired tomorrow.’ That used to be the domain of beat writers. And now it is pretty much all going to one person.”

Awful Announcing

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Bobby Marks: The Thompson brothers (Amen and Ausar) now have a combined $439m in on-court earnings. The salary ranks first among all twins. Ausar and Amen Thompson are now the first pair of brothers in NBA history to each receive a $100 million deal. They have signed for a total of $363 million this offseason.

Twitter

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Shams Charania: Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson has agreed to a new four-year, $60 million contract extension, with a mutual option for the 2030-31 season, Austin Brown and Steven Heumann of CAA Sports tell ESPN. Pelle Larsson's deal will start at $13.5 million in Year 1, ticking upward, with a combination team/player option for the final season, per a source. A great deal for him, a team-friendly deal for Miami.

Twitter

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Shams Charania: The Denver Nuggets are signing 2023 first-round pick Cam Whitmore on a two-way NBA deal, sources tell ESPN. Whitmore enters his fourth NBA season after averaging 10.5 points and 3.3 rebounds over 119 career games -- and has already joined the Nuggets for workouts in Denver.

x.com

[Mavs2021]

Shams Charania: Rich Paul and LeBron James are said to be unhappy with league partner Amazon after they prominently featured a password "LeBron is no Jordan" in their Chicago based Original series Neagley.

x.com

[omahen]

Shams Charania: The Denver Nuggets are signing 2023 first-round pick Cam Whitmore on a two-way NBA deal, sources tell ESPN. Whitmore enters his fourth NBA season after averaging 10.5 points and 3.3 rebounds over 119 career games -- and has already joined the Nuggets for workouts in Denver.

x.com

That is imho a huge steal for Nuggets. Virtually a no cost tryout for a player that once had huge potential.