NBA free agency: Breaking down the best and worst moves so far this offseason
Blink and you might have missed the Oklahoma City Thunder's coronation as NBA champions last week. Barely 24 hours after the Thunder's title parade capped the 2024-25 season, the 2025-26 offseason got underway with the NBA draft. That was followed Monday with the official opening of free agency. Free agency isn't the league-altering bonanza it was once because, instead of taking meetings with suitors as an unrestricted free agent on the open market, superstars now instead follow the trend of taking long-term, lucrative contract extensions. Yet the offseason is still where championships can be won and lost. Look no further than Oklahoma City, whose title run was aided by the acquisitions of Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein a year earlier. NBC News is here to break down the major stories and signings of free agency so far. Nadkarni:The Denver Nuggets trading Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson was something of a triple whammy. First, it allowed the Nuggets to get off of Porter Jr.'s massive salary, which was complicating how the team could build the roster. Second, Johnson is going to be a great fit in Denver. He's a better defender than Porter Jr., and he's a more versatile offensive player while still being a great shooter. And lastly, the Nuggets immediately took advantage of the newfound flexibility of Johnson's cheaper contract to add more veteran pieces to the rotation. Without making the Porter Jr. trade, Denver may have been stuck all summer. Greif:Though Houston ended last season with the West's second-best record, that seed didn't scare anybody entering the postseason; the Rockets were too inexperienced and untested and lost in the first round. Ever since, they've acquired Kevin Durant for pennies on the dollar, added free agent Dorian Finney-Smith — a signing that weakens his former team, the Lakers — re-signed young talents in Jabari Smith Jr. and Jae'Sean Tate and also Steven Adams, their revitalized big man, and retained guard Fred VanVleet on a team-friendly extension. All of it positions the Rockets to be legitimately the second-best team in the West next season behind Oklahoma City. In many ways, how Houston has approached this offseason reminds me exactly of Oklahoma City did last year at this time. Coming off a promising regular season in which they vaulted to the top of the West, the Thunder lost earlier than expected in the playoffs and used that information about what went wrong to smartly add their missing pieces. No one's saying next season will end with a title as this season did for the Thunder, but this offseason has put Houston legitimately in the conversation. Nadkarni:There is only one correct answer here, and that's the Milwaukee Bucks waiving and stretching Damian Lillard's contract, meaning the Bucks will pay roughly $22.6 million over the next five seasons for Lillardnotto be on the team. We've literally never seen a team stretch a contract this big before, and the ramifications — while ultimately unclear — will be felt for the rest of the decade. As a runner-up, though, I'll add in the entire New Orleans Pelicans offseason. For some reason they traded away C.J. McCollum's expiring deal for an extra year of Jordan Poole while also dealing away a very valuable 2026 first-round pick to move up for Maryland big man Derik Queen. I have no clue what this team thinks it is or what it wants to be. Greif:Milwaukee's decision to waive injured guard Damian Lillard in order to make room for former Pacers center Myles Turner. Reasonable people can conclude that the All-Star pairing of Lillard and big man Giannis Antetokounmpo had not worked as expected. Yet to move on, the Bucks chose a route that makes it very difficult to upgrade their roster in the future — $22 million of their salary cap for the next five years will go to Lillard, a player not even on their roster — all without much of a guarantee it will turn them into title contenders in the present. Turner is younger than Brook Lopez, the outgoing Bucks center who left for the Los Angeles Clippers, but underwhelmed during the NBA Finals with Indiana. The ultimate goal, of course, for Milwaukee is keeping Antetokounmpo happy enough that the franchise cornerstone doesn't demand a trade. We'll see by next season's trade deadline how happy he truly is. Nadkarni:What the Hawks have done under new general manager Onsi Saleh has been remarkable. With Trae Young in the final year of his contract before a playoff option, Saleh has surrounded him with arguably the best talent of his career. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard were brought in to join Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson in the wing rotation, giving Atlanta head coach Quin Snyder a ton of optionality for his lineups this season. Need more defense? Play Johnson, Daniels and NAW together. Need more shooting? Put Kennard on the floor along with center Kristaps Porzingis, who was acquired via trade from Boston. Porzingis could really take this team to another level if he stays healthy. With Onyeka Okongwu still in the mix, Porzingis should not have to carry a major load during the regular season. This is a really well-constructed team. If anyone can go on a Pacers-like run, it's the Hawks. 'It's kind of shocking': Why so many top tennis stars are losing early at Wimbledon Liverpool soccer star Diogo Jota killed in car crash in Spain, police say Cuban women's volleyball team denied U.S. visa to compete in Puerto Rico Greif:The honor of most impressive offseason so far is a tie between Denver and Atlanta. Both teams are under new front-office management and both are going for it. The Nuggets' ownership doesn't have a free-spending reputation, so kudos to allowing their new basketball operations leadership to build around all-world superstar Nikola Jokic in his prime by bringing back Bruce Brown, a critical piece of their 2023 championship roster, and trading Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson. In a depleted Eastern Conference that feels up for grabs after superstar injuries derailed Indiana and Boston's title ambitions next season, Atlanta is quietly positioning itself to become a contender. Nickeil Alexander-Walker adds a dependable ballhandler with playoff experience. Luke Kennard is one of the NBA's best shooters when playing with confidence, and if the Hawks' coaching staff can get him to not pass up shots, his one-year deal is a steal. The high-risk, high-reward wild card is former Boston big man Kristaps Porzingis, who is coming off a mysterious ailment. Less than a year ago, Atlanta felt on the verge of blowing up its roster and giving up on Trae Young as a cornerstone. Now, it's oriented its whole roster around Young. Let's see what happens. Nadkarni:What are the Los Angeles Lakers doing? Sometimes it feels this team has been moderately successful the last few seasons in spite of their front office, which is routinely gifted star players and then makes baffling roster decisions. The Lakers lost Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency, and haven't replaced him on the wing. Finney-Smith played with Luka Doncic in Dallas, and is the exact type of 3-and-D wing who can succeed off Luka and LeBron James. So that's a big hole on the roster. And to address the center position, Los Angeles is rolling the dice on Deandre Ayton, who has been inconsistent at best the last three seasons, and at worst a teammate whom multiple franchises couldn't wait to get rid of. That's the guy who is supposed to get Doncic to stay and inspire confidence in a 40-year-old James? The Lakers have Luka and LeBron, yet it feels they aren't close to the top of the West. Greif:The Los Angeles Lakers. This was a team that, late last season, looked as though it had a puncher's chance in the West. Since getting beaten in the opening round by Minnesota, they've watched Oklahoma City gain confidence and a championship, stood by idly in free agency as contenders Houston and Denver get deeper and more dangerous, all while losing Dorian Finney-Smith, a key rotation piece during the playoffs. Though the Lakers finally added a center, they did so while becoming the latest team to pray that center Deandre Ayton, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, fulfills the potential that went unrealized previously in Phoenix and Portland. Much of the optimism around the Lakers last season came from the pairing of LeBron James, who was still playing at an all-NBA level 22 seasons into his career, with Luka Doncic. But after James opted into the final year of his contract with a statement from his agent that raised speculation about how badly James wants to be a Laker this season, how long will that core duo stay together? Nadkarni:I want to see the Pacers do...something. The last couple weeks have been devastating for Indiana. Star Tyrese Haliburton tears his Achilles in Game 7 of the Finals, and then the team lost center Myles Turner to the rival Bucks — in part because the Pacers didn't want to pay up for their longest tenured player. Taking something of a gap year kind of makes sense for Indiana. But after that magical run in the playoffs, Pacers fans deserve a little something to hang their hat on this summer. Though it's wise for Indiana not to make a big swing, I hope the team finds a way to make its upcoming season a little more interesting in the wake of what's happened with Haliburton and Turner. Greif:Chris Paul landing with a team that has a shot at contention. While it has been nice to see Paul, who turned 40, seemingly embrace mentorship this late in his career — having helped a young Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City in 2020, then Victor Wembanyama last season in San Antonio — it's not because he's become some rotational afterthought. Last season, he played all 82 games and can still hit that elbow jumper automatically. Wouldn't it be fun to see his cutthroat competitiveness in play on a contender again? The question is how far from Los Angeles, where his family lives, he would be willing to go to chase a ring.
NBA free agency: Breaking down the best and worst moves so far this offseason Blink and you might have missed the Oklahoma City Thunder'...
