‘Insane’ offseason sprint reaches a key stretch
With draft over, camp looming, NBA reaches free agency period
NBA free agency is usually a weeklong frenzy. Deals get struck, then teams and players must wait a few days before they can sign those contracts. And from there, a few more months often pass before the player goes to work with his new club.
Not this year.
Whatpromises to be a chaotic free-agent windowopens in the NBA at 6 p.m. Eastern on Friday, just a couple days after the NBA draft, a mere 42 hours before signings can begin and about a week and a half before training camps around the league open. Asked what the player-movement landscape might look like in such a compressed timeframe, 76ers President Daryl Morey — looking exhausted early Thursday as the draft was winding down — offered a blunt prediction.
“Completely insane,” Morey said.
It’s hard to find anyone who’ll argue that.
Anthony Davis of the NBA champion Lakers is the biggest name on the free agency board; he turned down his option for this season with the Lakers but isn’t expected to go anyplace else. The most likely scenario for Davis is a three-year deal worth as muchas$105 million, the last year at his option. That way, when he completes his 10th year of service in 2021-22, he can cash in again for an even higher percentage of the salary cap than he can command now.
More than 100 other NBA players are unrestricted free agents; another 75 or so can be restricted free agents. That’s a lot of players, who might be doing a lot of moving, with a season coming up very quickly — and only a few teams have plenty of available salary-cap space to sign players easily.
Plus, teams are still figuring out coronavirus protocols for training camp. Nobody has seen the NBAschedule for a regular season that starts Dec. 22. Preseason games start Dec. 11; those haven’t even been announced yet.
It’s already hectic, and now free agency will ramp up the frenzy several more levels.
“With free agency starting as quickly as it does, we have some targets in mind there and we’ve got some other trade conversations going on as well,” said David Griffin, Pelicans executive VP of basketball operations.
Really, things have already started. Plenty of names are already on the move, and the trade market is always an option for the teams that can’t just go sign a player into nonexistent cap space.
The Lakers already have a new point guard in Dennis Schroder, acquired in a trade with the Thunder, who sent point guard Chris Paul in a trade to Suns. And with a brief stopover-on-paper-only with the Thunder, Ricky Rubio wound up leaving the Suns and ending up where his NBA career began with the Timberwolves. Jrue Holiday is heading from the Pelicans to the Bucks, for whom he’ll play with two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo— and the Bucks still may wind up with restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic as well.
“There’s a great many things happening all at one time,” Griffin said.
Al Horford has been traded from the 76ers to the Thunder. The Mavericks got Josh Richardson from the 76ers, in a deal for Seth Curry — he’ll play for father-in-law Doc Rivers, the new 76ers coach.
The Rockets’ star backcourt of scoring champion James Harden and former MVP Russell Westbrook have been mentioned in trade talks, though it would surely take a massive haul for the Rockets to part with either or both of those players. And the Warriors may be very active on the trade market now, with the word Thursday that Klay Thompson — who missed last season with a torn ACL — will miss this season with a torn Achilles.