Warriors and Curry agree to record deal
J.J. Redick is trusting the process. Gordon Hayward got his sales pitch from Miami. And David West, finally a champion, is coming back for one last season.
Rosters around the league started to take shape as NBA free agency got underway Saturday, though there are still dozens of moves to come in the next few days.
After an opening flurry in which Stephen Curry received a $201 million deal from the Golden State Warriors — the team he helped lead to a championship two of the past three seasons — and Blake Griffin took about $175 million to stay with the Los Angeles Clippers, most franchises started to look at names more within their price range.
Redick agreed to a $23 million, one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. West is going back to the Warriors on a veteran’s minimum, which is now worth $2.3 million. And Detroit got some solid insurance at point guard, agreeing with Langston Galloway on a three-year deal.
But all that, of course, was overshadowed by Curry’s deal — the biggest contract in NBA history.
“Steph should be getting 400M this summer,” Cleveland star LeBron James tweeted.
The rules, for now, only allow for Curry to get half of that.
With nearly $1 billion in contracts agreed to by Saturday afternoon, there is still obviously no shortage of money out there for teams to hand out. And while Curry got the most, other point guards got plenty — or will when contracts can start being signed Thursday.
Jrue Holiday agreed to return to New Orleans for $126 million over five years, with incentives potentially pushing that to $150 million. Patty Mills is returning to San Antonio for the next four years at $50 million, and Jeff Teague agreed with Minnesota on a three-year, $57 million deal.
Still out there is another massive offer: John Wall has a chance to sign a four-year extension worth $168 million with Washington, another deal under the so-called supermax structure that allowed Curry to get his record payday.
Redick made his intentions for next season clear with three simple words: “Trust the process,” he tweeted, his way of saying he was heading to the 76ers, who have made that phrase their mantra during their long rebuilding process.
Redick averaged 15.0 points and made 43 percent of his 3-point attempts last season for the Clippers, who need two new starting guards next season after point guard Chris Paul was traded to Houston.
Hayward was greeted by Heat players for his free-agent visit, along with a banner strategically placed outside American-Airlines Arena showing him in a Miami uniform. The All-Star forward, coming off the best season of his career, spent several hours with franchise officials such as team president Pat Riley. Hayward is expected to visit with Boston and Utah — where he has spent the first seven years of his NBA career — before making a decision in the coming days.
Cleveland offered Kyle Korver a new contract. The 36-year-old shooting guard, traded to the Cavaliers by the Atlanta Hawks in January, has expressed a desire to stay put after making it to the NBA Finals for the first time.
Even before free agency opened at midnight Eastern, Oklahoma City made a splash Friday evening when news broke that it had agreed to a trade with the Indiana Pacers for forward Paul George.