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NBA’s 11 best free agents still available on 2024 market, ranked nba,s,best,free,agents,still,available,on,market,ranked,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-free-agency

NBAs 11 best free agents still available on 2024 market
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Almost all of the big names in NBA free agency are off the board, but DeMar DeRozan still lingers. The Chicago Bulls star is the best player left on the open market on the brink of his 35th birthday, and there doesn’t seem to be an obvious fit for him out there. With the Bulls seemingly ready to commit to a rebuild, DeRozan is out there for the taking as a veteran wing who can still perform at a near All-Star level.

There’s already been so much action in free agency. Paul George signed with the 76ers, Isaiah Hartenstein joined the Thunder, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope inked a deal with the Magic at the start of the free agency period. Even second tier free agents like Naji Marshall (Mavericks), Derrick Jones Jr. (Clippers), Tobias Harris (Pistons), and Jonas Valanciunas (Wizards) have found new homes. When Klay Thompson agreed to a three-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks, another big name in free agency came off the board.

While the headline stars of this year’s free agency class are almost all gone, there are still some good values to be had. Who’s still left on the NBA free agent market? Glad you asked. Here are the 11 best players still unsigned in 2024 NBA free agency right now. Also read our instant grades for NBA free agency, and check out our live NBA free agency tracker.

This list has been updated following the Warriors’ sign-and-trade for Buddy Hield.

11. Saddiq Bey

Bey tore his ACL on March 11 and could be sidelined for the entire season. It’s awful luck for a player who could have seen a nice payday on the open market this summer. The 25-year-old wing has always been a good shooter, but his outside shot mostly abandoned him last season with the Hawks, making only 31 percent of his threes. It might make sense for a team to sign him to a cheap multi-year deal so he can rehab his knee and see if he can get back to his pre-injury levels in the 2025-26 season.

10. Kyle Lowry

Lowry can still be effective at 38 years old even if his play is rapidly declining. The veteran point guard somewhere played nearly 30 minutes per game for the Philadelphia 76ers in their first round series against the New York Knicks. He hit 39 percent of his threes on the season between Miami and Philadelphia, and is still an irritant on defense. Lowry will be a nice buy-low veteran addition for a team chasing a ring.

9. Markelle Fultz

The former No. 1 overall pick has still never figured out his broken jump shot, but he’s had some good seasons as a downhill guard who can compete defensively. Unfortunately, Fultz had a terrible year for the Magic just before entering free agency, and now likely won’t have much of a market despite being only 26 years old. Fultz needs to figure out a way to start finishing at the rim again if he’s going to save his NBA career. He can still be a solid playmaker, but his passing doesn’t hit the same without the threat of his own scoring.

8. Spencer Dinwiddie

Dinwiddie’s three-point shot and rim finishing fell off a cliff this past year in stops with Brooklyn and the Lakers, but that might make him a good buy low candidate for a contender. The 31-year-old is a big guard with pull-up shooting ability and some playmaking skill, but he failed to score efficiently from any part of the floor last season that wasn’t the free throw line. Guards who shoot under 40 percent from the field aren’t going to have a big market, but there’s still some value in Dinwiddie’s foul baiting and shooting.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

7. Malik Beasley

Beasley is a knockdown shooter who doesn’t provide much else. Still, there’s also a home for a player who hit 41.3 percent of his three-pointers on 542 attempts on the season. He’d be a welcome addition back for the Bucks, but his lack of defense and playmaking means he’s better in a smaller role.

6. Gary Trent Jr.

Trent can really shoot it from deep. He hit 39.3 percent of his three-pointers on 6.4 attempts per game with the Toronto Raptors last season. He’s decent defensively at generating steals, but has a bad habit of finding himself out of position on that end. Trent is kind of a one-trick pony, but every team needs shooting. Stil only 25 years old, Trent will find a home somewhere eventually even if he doesn’t get the big payday he was looking for.

5. Isaac Okoro

Okoro developed slowly as the former No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but he showed real improvement in his fourth pro season with the Cleveland Cavaliers last year. The 6’5 wing is a tenacious backcourt defender quick enough to stick with speedy guards and strong enough to handle bigger assignments. The gaping hole in Okoro’s game has always been his jump shot, but last season he hit 39 percent of his threes on low volume. Okoro needs to keep upping his volume from three because teams still refuse to guard him from the outside, but his point-of-attack defense is so valuable that he should land a nice deal from Cleveland eventually.

Philadelphia 76ers v Washington Wizards

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

4. Tyus Jones

Jones is a classic point guard who consistently posts a high assist rate and a low turnover rate. He made a major leap as a shooter last season for a terrible Washington Wizards team by knocking down 41.4 percent of the 256 three-pointers he attempted. Jones is a smaller guard without top-end athleticism, and that limits his effectiveness as a driver and defender. Still only 28 years old, Jones is a solid caretaker point guard who can set up teammates but won’t have as much of an impact as his numbers might indicate.

3. Caleb Martin

Martin was one of the breakout stars of the Heat’s shocking 2023 NBA Finals run, but he had trouble sustaining his momentum last season. The 28-year-old forward is still tough defensively and has a 35 percent three-point stroke on low volume. It’s too bad he didn’t hit free agency a year earlier, or he’d be looking at a much bigger deal.

2. Miles Bridges

No team should want Bridges after the horrifying domestic violence allegations he faced in 2022 and beyond. The Hornets brought him back last season, and were smoked in his minutes on the floor despite the 26-year-old putting up career-best scoring numbers. Read our James Dator on how keeping Bridges killed his Hornets fandom.

Chicago Bulls v Memphis Grizzlies

Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images

1. DeMar DeRozan

DeRozan is still incredibly productive as he enters his age-35 season. He’s a hyper-efficient mid-range scorer, he rarely turns the ball over, and he’s consistently amazing in crunch-time. DeRozan just requires a very particular fit due to his weaknesses as a shoot three-point shooter and defender. The Chicago Bulls appear ready to move on from DeRozan after three tremendous seasons so the team can rebuild in a loaded 2025 draft class. That’s a wise move for Chicago, but it leaves DeRozan without a home despite some good years left in his career. It feels like DeRozan could get squeezed in free agency due to the lack of money available. While that’s unfortunate for him, some team is going to end up with a great bargain.

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The first big wave of player movement in the 2024 NBA offseason has come and gone, and a few things are starting to crystalize. The Oklahoma City Thunder look like the class of the West after adding Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso to last year’s No. 1 seed. The Boston Celtics remain a strong favorite in the East, but the New York Knicks with Mikal Bridges and Philadelphia 76ers with Paul George are ready to push them.

Some teams have set themselves up for improvement this offseason even if they aren’t at the top of the championship picture. The Dallas Mavericks did well to add more shooting and defense around Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and it will be fascinating to see how Klay Thompson performs away from the Bay. The Orlando Magic won’t sneak up on anyone this year, and have a chance to be an emerging Eastern Conference powerhouse.

Then there’s the teams who haven’t done enough. While there’s plenty of time left in the offseason to make moves, these six teams should be feeling the heat to do something or they are going to get left behind by their rivals.

Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets could have retained Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency if they wanted to. Instead, Denver was too afraid of looming penalties for entering the ‘second apron’ of the luxury tax, and decided it could replace the veteran two-guard’s production with younger players. Either that, or ownership just cheaped out.

This is the time that Denver should be going all-in around Nikola Jokic. The three-time MVP is in the prime of his career at 29 years old, yet the team around him continues to lose talent over nothing but money. The Nuggets lost Bruce Brown and Jeff Green last year after winning the 2023 championship, and now it’s lost an even bigger contributor in KCP. This decision puts a ton of pressure on Denver’s untested young bench — Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther — to perform at a high level immediately. The Nuggets’ depth was already an issue last year, and it’s an even more glaring need now.

The Nuggets will still be very good. They may even still win the title. But the team got significantly worse by losing Caldwell-Pope for no good reason. The young guys are going to have to take a major leap, or the Nuggets have failed Jokic this summer.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers were a pretty good team last year that only won one playoff game and never had a realistic chance of winning the Western Conference. It would seem to behoove a team like that to make some major moves in the offseason, especially when it has three first round picks to trade at its disposal. Instead, the Lakers have been content to draft Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, and do nothing else.

Knecht can help the Lakers next season as a rookie with his off-ball shooting, but that won’t be enough to make a major push up the standings. LA is betting on internal development of their young players, but if they make a real veteran addition, chances are they will be worse by proxy. LA got very good health out of LeBron James and Anthony Davis last season, and who knows if that will be the case this year. The West keeps improving, and the Lakers are doing nothing as LeBron James sets to enter his age-40 season.

The Lakers are preparing for life after James instead of going all-in while he’s still an elite player. LA doesn’t want to trade its future draft picks and take on penalties from entering the second-apron. The Lakers are kind of just chilling, and that shouldn’t be good enough when they employ the superstar with the longest prime in league history.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks were supposed to be a championship contender after acquiring Damian Lillard last season. Instead, the team looked underwhelming out of the gates, fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin to replace him with Doc Rivers at midseason, and then saw Giannis Antetokounmpo suffer a season-ending injury just before the playoffs.

It feels like it’s now or never for the Lillard-Antetokounmpo pairing entering the 2024-25 season, but the Bucks have done absolutely nothing to improve the team this summer.

It’s true that the Bucks are capped out and light on future assets, but other teams have found a way to get creative in similar situations. Milwaukee’s big plan appears to be praying for good health from their four veteran stars. That doesn’t seem like a wise move when the 76ers and Knicks went all-out to add top-end talent, while the Celtics remain the class of the conference. If Milwaukee disappoints again this season, it’s only a matter of time before Antetokounmpo trade rumors pop up again.

Miami Heat

The Heat missed out on Damian Lillard last summer, and they never had a chance at Donovan Mitchell this summer before he re-signed with Cleveland. Miami is a franchise known for taking big swings, yet they’ve done a whole lot of nothing heading into the 2024-25 season.

Jimmy Butler is entering the final year of his contract without an extension in place. Bam Adebayo is locked up on a long-term deal, and there are some nice young pieces on the roster in Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, Kel’el Ware, and Tyler Herro. For now, the Heat feel like a team stuck in two-timelines: one not good enough to win with Butler as a centerpiece this season, yet without a foundational player if he leaves in the summer of 2025.

Miami would be wise to look at Butler trades and prioritize their future, but this organization typically doesn’t operate that way. Unless the Heat can find a way to make a move for an impact talent, it feels like they’re stuck at the bottom of the East playoff picture.

Los Angeles Clippers

This one is self-explanatory. The Clippers lost Paul George in free agency without getting assets back for him. LA responded by making some bargain signings in Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn, Nic Batum, and Mo Bamba, but those guys aren’t going to make up the loss of an All-NBA caliber player like George.

The Clippers still have Kawhi Leonard and James Harden on the roster, but that isn’t a reliable duo at this point in their careers. The scary thing for LA is it doesn’t control its own first round pick until 2030. Right now, this looks like a low-end Western Conference playoff team at best with the arrow pointing downhill and very few assets to course correct.

Phoenix Suns

At least the Phoenix Suns didn’t cheap out. Despite a massive luxury tax bill looming, the Suns re-signed Royce O’Neale to a $44 million contract. Phoenix also added Mason Plumlee to bolster its front court depth. We’ll applaud those moves on the margins, but it isn’t enough to really make a difference for a team that just got swept out of the first round of the playoffs.

Phoenix was supposed to be competing for championships when it acquired Kevin Durant. The all-in move for Bradley Beal last summer has backfired, and now Phoenix has an enormous payroll, three ill-fitting stars, and zero tradable future draft picks until 2031.

If the Suns don’t look great to start the season, it’s probably only a matter of time before they need to start thinking about trading Kevin Durant. At that point, Devin Booker’s future would become a major point of speculation, too. The Suns don’t have many moves left to make, and their team still isn’t good enough.

NBA trade rumors: The Zach LaVine narrative has gotten out of control nba,trade,rumors,the,zach,lavine,narrative,has,gotten,out,of,control,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-trade-rumors

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I have spent a lot of time on FaceBook Marketplace. From browsing free listings to bartering about five-dollar margins that make up less than 10% of the price of said item, I have done my time in the slop pile. In fact, few things have ever prepared me better to talk about the NBA trade and free agent market than trying to convince someone that a painted plastic table could be considered “redwood” because it was dark orange with a wood grain pattern. I’m the Danny Ainge of the online selling world.

However, once in a blue moon, you find something magical — be it a full-sized dinner table for 30 dollars, a 20-dollar set of professional kitchen knives, or an 11-dollar Ben Simmons jersey — that makes you question how it became so undervalued, so much so that you overthink it on the subway ride down to pick it up.

Some days, you were right to have been suspicious, and you’ve wasted a day on a sewing machine with no thread pickup. Other days, you, the Golden State Warriors, get offered Zach LaVine for nothing but salary filler.

You smile graciously, you mute the call to confer with your front office, and you say…

“No.”

How did we get here? How did a 29-year-old All-Star with the ability to generate shots from distance and at the rim become a negative asset in the face of most of the league? Why would the Warriors rather cut Chris Paul than throw him into a trade and get a possible contributor like they once did to acquire D’Angelo Russell through sign-and-trading Kevin Durant?

The obvious answer is the price tag that comes with LaVine and the five-year, $215 million dollar contract he signed following the 2021-22 season. With this and next season on the books, along with a player option in 2026-27 for a shade under $50 million, LaVine’s contract is widely seen as exactly the type of bad deal that has become an anchor under the new CBA.

Except it hasn’t really.

Ignoring the player, Zach LaVine is tied as the 18th highest-paid player in the NBA (per Spotrac). The Timberwolves, Suns, and Sixers have three of the top 25 contracts on their cap table in per year average. The Pacers, Celtics, and Bucks have two each.

Even in the current NBA, accommodating big deals is not impossible. While the Suns and Bucks were both first round exits, the Wolves and Pacers were both conference finalists. Boston is about to be shelling out the top two contracts in NBA history and are reigning NBA Champions; the Sixers are paying huge sums in order to make it out of the second round for the first time since 2001.

That only leaves the question of health. LaVine played a meager 25 games last year before an ankle injury — and subsequent surgery — ended a season that had Bulls fans begging for release from the middling hell that GM Arturas Karnisovas has led them to.

Except, saying LaVine certainly isn’t worth his contract over that situation doesn’t stand up to a deeper dive, either. Let’s think of the Sixers, who just caught the big fish of this offseason in Paul George. PG signed a four-year $213 million deal. That is more than the total value of Zach LaVine’s contract, which he is two years into, on one less year.

However, they’re not much different in health. Over the past four years, Paul George has played 215 games in the regular season, only eclipsing the 60 games played mark in last year’s campaign. Zach LaVine, on the other hand, has played 227, with this year’s 25 dragging down his average after two straight years of playing in over three-quarters of the Bulls’ games.

Now, Paul George is unquestionably a better player than Zach LaVine. He is far better defensively, even if he is not the same lockdown, two-way superstar he used to be. George is, historically speaking, also a better creator for others than LaVine, although their assist percentages were the same last year. From credentials to reputation to podcasts, Paul George has LaVine beat.

Still, the fact remains that the far older, more injury-prone player is now on a longer-term deal, while the player that had the best year of his career only a year and a half ago is failing to get salary-dumped because his market is so bad.

This all brings us back to the question at hand: why? The two obvious reasons of money and health don’t fully pass any real examination. Was it the Bulls’ fault for doing a publicized character assassination of the player they planned to trade? I’m sure that plays into it. Was it intelligent of them to anonymously accuse LaVine through the media of getting surgery to decrease his own value? Absolutely not, are you kidding me!?

But, while both of those things explain the breakdown of the relationship between Chicago and Zach, they don’t explain the league-wide pessimism. Not even the typical trade-averse “it was too much to give up” logic works here. Again, the Warriors were offered a salary dump of their own in Andrew Wiggins’ deal along with Chris Paul’s expiring and they said no! They were giving up negative value and they still rejected the trade!

Now, it’s worth noting that the whole league doesn’t have to like LaVine. The Bulls only need one team to show interest to get a deal done. The Lakers have reported interest in Jerami Grant, despite having admittedly worse players of his ilk on the roster. Any trade for Grant would include real assets to the rebuilding Trail Blazers. Instead, why don’t the Lakers try to acquire a shot creator — one who they’ve previously tried to trade for — for pennies on the dollar (or for pennies on the DLo).

That, however, leaves us with the obvious truth: sometimes things are unexplainable. Sometimes you dig your heels into the ground, you look around and you say “I’m not wrong, the world is wrong.” There is absolutely no universe in which Zach LaVine is not worth taking a shot on for a team with limited options to improve, especially one trying to keep aging superstars happy.

The perception of LaVine has swung too far in the opposite direction from the reality.

There is no purely basketball-based answer to the question of why no one wants LaVine, none that isn’t without its own obvious contradiction at least. A 29-year-old shooting guard only one year out from averaging career highs in defensive and total win shares, who has shot well above league average from three, both on and off ball, is being treated like a bed bug-infested futon being sold on the internet with low-res photos. It’s simply baffling.

It seems the two sides are headed for a divorce here no matter what. LaVine wants to be elsewhere, and the Bulls will finally acquiesce to fans’ wishes and begin a rebuild behind their two young guards, Coby White and Ayo Dosumnu, and recent draft pick Matas Buzelis.

However, while it seems like the perception of LaVine could not be worse, sometimes, we let dollar amounts dehumanize players. We often lose track of who is standing behind the numbers, we let little boxes on Basketball-Reference tell us everything there is to know and mold it to fit our narratives. Somehow, the numbers have now have ceased to matter in the face of one constant narrative thundercloud above LaVine’s head.

And this is not to say that Zach will instantaneously return to All-Star form or even reach the heights his contract should imply. It also doesn’t mean that he’s capable of being a team’s best player or taking a middling roster to championship expectations. He is, however, not the negative asset he’s been branded as, and he is absolutely the best available option for teams looking for real difference-makers on the market.

We’ve overadjusted. We forgot that good players earn good money, and that good players can have down years. Zach LaVine is a great player. You don’t dump great players. You don’t attach first round picks to them. You certainly don’t say no when they’re given to you for free.

So yeah, NBA GMs are wrong. And there will likely be at least a few of them who will regret passing over Zach LaVine when this saga is over.

Why Bronny James getting a 4-year, $7.9M contract from the Lakers is no big deal why,bronny,james,getting,a,year,m,contract,from,the,lakers,is,no,big,deal,sbnation,com,front-page,nba

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The Lakers wasted no time in doing exactly what we knew they were doing: Signing Bronny James to a contract. It just so happened that he became the first second round pick to sign, a four-year deal, and with the new CBA people saw the announcement and began to lose it.

On the surface this seems beyond ludicrous. To be fair, it is the largest contract of all time given to a second round rookie pick — but it has nothing to do with LeBron or nepotism; it’s just the new normal of the 2023 CBA. The minimum annual salary for a 4-year deal is exactly what Bronny received, which means the total money side of this had nothing to do with who his dad is. The truth is that revenues are rising, the salary cap is expanding — and that’s why we keep seeing new records for contracts, with the trickle down effect being that rookies are getting more money as a result.

Pelle Larsson, the first second-rounder to sign this year got a three-year, $5.4 million deal from the Miami Heat — and had they added a fourth year he would have been on the exact same contract as Bronny James.

Now, we can certainly argue about the nature of this deal. A second round pick with as many questions as Bronny getting a contract before Summer League is definitely a perk of being LeBron’s son — but in the grand scheme of things it’s really a minor issue. He’s the No. 55 pick, who probably won’t contribute much, and earning just under $2M a year is relative chump change, commensurate with what the majority of deep rotation guys will make this season.

In the end this is all no harm, no foul. LeBron is going to ride out his career in Los Angeles, play with his son, continue with business ventures in the city — and sail off into the sunset.

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DeMar DeRozan is still performing at a near NBA All-Star level even after 15 seasons in the league. The veteran wing is coming off three fantastic seasons with the Chicago Bulls where he scored tons of points, produced so many brilliant moments in crunch-time, and rarely turned the ball over. DeRozan is now an unrestricted free agent on the brink of his 35th birthday, and with the Bulls seemingly pivoting to a long overdue rebuild, he’s in search of a new team. There’s only one problem: as almost all of the talent in free agency has already come off the board, there doesn’t seem to be an available fit for DeRozan at a salary slot commensurate with his talent.

There just doesn’t seem to be a market for DeRozan despite being the best unsigned player in the NBA right now. It’s looking like DeRozan may to accept a one-year deal and try to get more money in the summer of 2025, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

“The kind of contract that (DeRozan) might want just is not going to be available,” Woj reported on SportsCenter. “It’s not left out there in the market place. It may not be as appealing to him, but it may look like a one-year deal for him somewhere. Let the market reset next year.”

Woj mentioned the Los Angeles Lakers as a team that could be interested in DeRozan, but only at the right cost. The most the Lakers could offer is the $12.8 million Mid-Level Exception … and even that might require LeBron James to take a discount. That would be a big paycut for a player who clearly outperformed his $27 million average annual salary the last three seasons, but it might be the best offer out there.

For all of his talent, DeRozan remains a difficult player to fit into existing team structures because he needs the ball to be at his best. With the ball in his hands, DeRozan is a master at getting to his spots, knocking down mid-range shots, and drawing a high-volume of free throws. At the same time, a player has be an absolute superstar to demand a very on-ball role and still power team success. DeRozan is very good, but he’s no Luka Doncic or prime James Harden at this point.

In a starring role, DeRozan is good but not quite good enough. In a supporting role, he lacks two essential things that every great role player needs: spot-up shooting and defense.

DeRozan entered the league in 2009 just before the NBA’s three-point boom. It’s remarkable that he’s remained so good in this era despite never really developing a three-point shot. For his career, DeRozan has made 29.6 percent of his threes on only 1.6 attempts per game. He was a little better behind the arc in Chicago, hitting 33.8 percent of his threes on 1.9 attempts per game across his three seasons. At the end of the day, he’s still not a willing enough or good enough shooter to make defenses pay for cheating off him in the halfcourt.

DeRozan just also isn’t very good defensively. He often needs to be hidden on the opposing team’s weakest offensive player. He struggles to get around screens, he’s late on rotations, and he just doesn’t provide much resistance.

Despite his limitations, there’s a world where DeRozan to the Lakers works well on the court for both sides. LeBron James will still get a heavy on-ball diet as he prepares to turn 40 years old, but James has also become an incredible spot-up shooter late in his career. James hit 47.3 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes last season on 2.6 attempts per game, per NBA tracking data. When James gets tired, DeRozan can cook and LeBron can space the floor.

The Lakers need to add talent however they can in an improving Western Conference. This is a 47-win team that still only won one playoff game last year. He may not be a perfect fit, but DeRozan would still be a wise addition at this point in the offseason, especially at a discount.

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Steph Curry shares heartfelt goodbye to Klay Thompson on social
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The “Splash Brothers” Era has come to a close.

With the news that Klay Thompson is headed to the Dallas Mavericks for the upcoming NBA season, a run of over a decade for Steph Curry and Klay Thompson has ended. During that stretch Curry and Thompson combined for six appearances in the NBA Finals, winning four titles.

With their ability to shoot the three, the duo racked up triple after triple, earning the “Splash Brothers” moniker.

But after the news dropped that Thompson was headed to Dallas, Curry took to social media to say goodbye to his fellow Splash Brother. On his Instagram Stories, Curry posted a series of photos featuring himself and Thompson, as well as Draymond Green.

The series of photographs ended with a message from Curry that read in part “[e]ven though we won’t finish the journey together, what we did will never be done again … Changed the whole Bay Area. Changed the way the game is played … Go enjoy playing basketball and doing what you do.”

The NBA has not yet announced the schedule for the 2024-25 season. But that first game for Thompson at Golden State next year might be worth watching.

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Sports reporting has been irrevocably changed by insiders. Our 24-hour, social media-fueled society values being first over being right, and that necessitates a power dynamic in which insiders have agents on speed-dial, willing to share carefully crafted talking points over independent reporting.

It’s part of a job where insiders trade blows over scoops like a prize fight — constantly living in terror that missing a scoop will put them a step behind in the dominance race. The far too cozy relationship insiders have with agents and teams has led to them being classified in their own employment class, far away from the word “journalism.” That is even murkier now there’s significant financial stakes in their scoops, especially when the biggest names in news-breaking also have agreements with sports gambling companies.

NBA insider Shams Charania, who lists FanDuel as an employer on his LinkedIn, has been at the forefront of questions over his scoops — and this time it’s based on a tweet about Paul George ahead of the NBA Draft.

Only 11 days later, the Sixers signed George to a four-year, $212M deal. While it’s certainly possible the team just changed their mind, there’s strong reporting to the contrary. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne wrote a detailed account of Philadelphia’s pursuit of George, and at no point does it contain any of the “waning interest” that Shams tweeted out. In fact, Shelburne’s story indicates that the Sixers were so desperate for George that there was intense anxiety inside the organization that someone might jump them for his services, and their quest to land the All Star was “months” in the making.

“The LA Clippers star had always been Philadelphia’s No. 1 option, but before the Sixers could meet with him, they had to wait for him to actually become a free agent. For weeks they heard rumors that the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors would try to jump ahead of them by trading for George. For months they monitored the Clippers’ ongoing negotiations with George on an extension and wondered if they’d find a way to keep him in his hometown and continue his partnership with Kawhi Leonard.”

So, who are the “sources” that Shams spoke of when he reported that the Sixers were no longer interested? If he were a journalist we’d never ask him to divulge his sources because that’s one of the principles of journalism — but insiders have always been careful to never refer to themselves as “journalists” because of the grey area they operate in by being willing mouthpieces for those in power.

That makes it fair game to question who exactly told Shams the Sixers were cool on George? It speaks to the motivations of insider reporting, especially in light of the vast amount of money being wagered on sports betting, including futures bets on who will win the NBA title.

It’s also especially eyebrow-raising when the top reply to Shams’ tweet about the Sixers not being interested in Paul George is from FanDuel Sportsbook, bemoaning that we’ll never see Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey play together.

This report appears to have had a mammoth effect on gambling markets. As our own Liberty Ballers wrote, the futures odds on the Sixers to win the NBA Championship were impacted very heavily by the prospects of the team signing Paul George:

  • Sixers odds with Paul George rumors: +1000
  • Shams tweets the Sixers are “waning”: +1400
  • George signs with the Sixers: +800

So, in its most simple terms: Shams, who is partnered with a betting company, tweeted out something with no tangible source, it was parroted as fact by that betting company — causing futures odds to plummet, up until the point the team actually signed George.

The worst part is that it’s not the first time this has happened. Every shred of reporting from local and national journalists indicated that the Charlotte Hornets would select Brandon Miller with the No. 2 pick ahead of the 2023 NBA Draft — but hours before Shams had a “scoop” that nobody else did.

This led to massive shifts in betting markets, with so much money moving to Henderson as the No. 2 pick that he became the runaway favorite. After the draft it was apparent that Miller was always the Hornets’ guy, with there being very little debate over whether Henderson should be picked No. 2.

It led to major backlash from the sports betting community, who questioned whether Shams had an ulterior motive in trying to break the news, especially in light of his personal agreement with betting giant FanDuel. The company was also pressured to release a statement, saying FanDuel has no knowledge of Shams’ reports prior to him posting.

It doesn’t necessarily matter what the motivation for the tweet by Shams was when we know the effect. Whether it was manufactured to adjust betting lines or Shams was used by the Sixers to hide their intentions is immaterial, because people took his “reporting” as gospel, just as they did with the Scoot Henderson news last year.

If we look at this in the most positive light imaginable, that Shams was once again being used as a tool by a team, then it’s right to question a “first not best” style that rushes to parrot anything he’s told, whether or not it makes sense or contradicts previous reports. Even the most green reporter out of journalism school would get a tip like this and work to vet the info before sharing it, just to make sure they don’t mislead people.

Insiders continue to be happy to mislead people, however. After all, they’re very careful to ensure they don’t call themselves “journalists,” because that would open them up to annoying things like “standards” and “ethics.”

Tobias Harris is an NBA Hall of Famer at the bank tobias,harris,is,an,nba,hall,of,famer,at,the,bank,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-free-agency

Tobias Harris is an NBA Hall of Famer at the
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Tobias Harris might never be considered a great NBA player, but he’s legendary at one thing: getting to the bag. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Harris is getting two years and $52 million from the Pistons in what Woj calls a fit for the young locker room in Detroit. It’s brings up his career earnings to an astronomical amount.

With this new deal, Harris is now projected to earn over $300 million over the course of his 13-year career, all while being a 16.3 point per game scorer in his career. Even in his last year with the Sixers, Harris was averaging 17 points but not really doing much else for someone making near $40 million annually. His ability be one of the highest paid players in the league last year while not contributing to the team very much is what dreams are made of.

Think about this: over the course of his career, Harris’ $302 million is more over the course of his career than Tim Duncan, one of the greatest NBA players of all time.

On a real note, this is why entering the draft at a young age could be seen as a very good thing. Harris entered the NBA at 19 years old and has gotten now three big money deals out of his entire career, an impressive feat considering the long odds of sticking around the NBA. Earning generational wealth three times over is really cool, and his legendary status at his banker is certified.

He joins other professional bag getters such as Bobby Bonilla (Happy Bobby Bonilla day by the way), Sam Bradford and Timofey Mozgov as professional bag getters who will be remembered at the bank. We salute you all.

NBA free agency live grades 2024, updated for every major player changing teams nba,free,agency,live,grades,updated,for,every,major,player,changing,teams,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-free-agency,draftkings

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NBA free agency didn’t start with a bang this year the way it normally does. Maybe teams were worried about tampering penalties. Maybe Paul George was holding up the entire market. Maybe the new CBA is just too complicated for anyone to fully grasp. Either way, things have officially heated up on Monday, and most of the top names on the market are now off the board.

The Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder are loading up for a run at the championship. The Orlando Magic added a solid piece that addresses their biggest weakness and complements their young core. The Mavericks made arguably the best value signing of free agency, but also lost a major contributor from their 2024 NBA Finals team in the process.

The NBA free agent deals are coming in quickly now, and we’re making note of every signing and trade in our live tracker. Now it’s time to grade the biggest deals of free agency.

Mavericks grade for Klay Thompson signing

Klay Thompson, Mavs agree to three-year, $50 million deal

Grade: B+

It’s going to feel so weird to see Thompson away from the Golden State Warriors. The 34-year-old guard has lost a step defensively, but he’s still an elite three-point shooter when he’s set up for an open look. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving attract so much attention offensively that Thompson should be free to run into open shots around the arc. He hit 38.7 percent of his threes on nine attempts per game last year, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see his percentage rise in Dallas with less pressure on him. I’m more worried about the other end of the floor: Thompson isn’t the defender he used to be, and he’s joining two bad perimeter defenders in Doncic and Irving. Still, Dallas got the extra shooting it needed, and the front office deserves praise for their creativity this offseason. The Mavs dealt Tim Hardaway Jr. to grab a flier on Quentin Grimes and open up more cap space. Dallas then signed one of the best bargain free agents in Naji Marshall before striking again with Thompson. Dallas isn’t settling after a surprising run to the NBA Finals, and that’s awesome. Losing Josh Green in this deal hurts a bit, and it feels like a lock that Thompson will pick up his player option in the final year of the contract. This isn’t a slam dunk, but it’s another solid move in a solid offseason for Dallas.

Chris Haynes reports that the deal will be a sign-and-trade, and is not completed yet.

76ers grade for Paul George signing

Paul George, 76ers agree to four-year, $212 million deal

Grade: A

Getting Paul George for nothing but cap space is an incredible piece of business by the 76ers. He’s an ideal fit between Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey as a wing who can rip three-pointers with volume, play on- or off-the-ball, and take on the toughest defensive assignments. It’s scary giving out a max contract to a 34-year-old with a long injury history, but if George stays healthy, he fits Philly like a glove. This is an immense upgrade over Tobias Harris in the third star department. George will carry bench units when Embiid rests, and he’ll fit seamlessly in the closing unit alongside the other two All-Stars here. The Sixers’ won’t be the favorites in the East, but they are a real threat to win the conference if everything breaks their way.

Thunder grade for Isaiah Hartenstein signing

Isaiah Hartenstein, Thunder agree to three-year, $87 million deal

Grade: A+

Hartenstein has been one of the most underrated players in the NBA the last few years. He’s an elite defensive center who is coming into his prime at 26 years old, and can have a huge impact on games without needing the ball. The Thunder badly needed more beef inside and help on the glass, and Hartenstein expertly fills both areas. He’s not a big-time scorer, but his halfcourt playmaking will be an essential fit alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren. This seems like a lot of money until you realize the final year of this deal is non-guaranteed. While the Thunder still have Holmgren and Williams on rookie deals, Hartenstein will fill in all the cracks to help make Oklahoma City a legit championship contender.

Magic grade for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope signing

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope agrees to three-year, $66 million deal with Orlando Magic, per Chris Haynes

Grade: B+

The Magic were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA last year, ranking No. 25 in three-point rate and No. 24 in three-point percentage. KCP will be an immediate solution to their shooting woes. He made 42 percent of his threes with Denver in 2022-23, and 40.6 percent of his triples last season. Caldwell-Pope is also a very good defender who will team with Jalen Suggs to form one of the league’s most ferocious defensive backcourts. This is a lot of money for a 32-year-old, and the Magic could still use some extra shot creation, but it’s a sensible fit all around.

Clippers grade for Nicolas Batum signing

Nic Batum, Clippers agree to two-year, $9.6 million deal, per Woj

Grade: B+

Batum was a revelation for the 76ers last year to the point where his departure legitimately hurts Philly. Batum hit 40 percent of his threes last year, and contributed versatile defense and connective passing around the Sixers’ stars. Batum has been around so long that he played with Greg Oden as a rookie, but he’s somehow only 35 years old. He gives the Clippers another high-level role player who can complement Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, but at this point he probably shouldn’t be asked to play too many minutes.

Warriors grade for De’Anthony Melton signing

Warriors, Melton agree to one-year, $12.8 million deal

Grade: A-

Melton was one of my favorite under-the-radar free agents. Still only 26 years old, Melton is a ferocious defender who can generate steals and deflections that turn into transition opportunities. He can’t really score inside the arc at all, but he’s a solid three-point shooter at 36 percent on nearly six attempts per game. If anything, the Warriors should have tried to get him on a deal longer than one-year. Melton is just a winning player, and if he’s able to stay in the lineup, I think it’s possible he’ll be an upgrade over Klay Thompson.

Mavericks grade for Naji Marshall signing

Naji Marshall, Mavericks agree to three-year, $27 million deal, per Woj

Grade: A

Marshall is a big forward (6’7 with a 7’1 wingspan) who can defend wing scorers, make connective passes, and hit the glass. He made a major leap as an outside shooter with the Pelicans last season by hitting 38 percent of his threes. He’s not as athletic as Derrick Jones Jr., and he won’t be as good at defending speedy guards, but Marshall is arguably a more well-rounded player who fits nicely around Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Clippers grade for Derrick Jones Jr. signing

Derrick Jones Jr., Clippers agree to three-year, $30 million deal

Grade: B+

The Clippers are signing Jones at the top of his market value after he played a big role in helping the Mavs get to the NBA Finals this past season. He’s one of the best pure athletes in the NBA as a 6’6 wing who can soar to catch lobs and has enough quickness to defend guards. He’s a good defensive playmaker and offensive play-finisher who should be on the receiving end of plenty of set-ups from James Harden. I like the idea of the Clippers adding a player who can make an impact without the ball. This isn’t much of a Paul George replacement, but it’s still a solid move and a tradable contract long-term.

Pistons grade for Tobias Harris signing

Tobias Harris, Pistons agree to two-year, $52 million deal, per Woj

Grade: C-

Harris is one of the greatest bag-getters in NBA history. The dude has made $300 million in career earnings by age-31 without ever making the All-Star team or being on a team that reached the conference finals. Harris is a good positional fit for the Pistons as a jumbo forward who can take some pressure off Cade Cunningham and the rest of Detroit’s young core, but he’s still not a high enough volume shooter to truly space the floor, and he’s an impactful defender, either. I don’t think this does much for Detroit, but it will be a big expiring contract a year from now.

Chicago Bulls grade for Jalen Smith signing

Jalen Smith, Chicago Bulls agree to three-year, $27 million deal, per Woj

Grade: B

The Bulls needed some shooting after cashing in their best trade chip (Alex Caruso) for a non-shooter in Josh Giddey. If Smith can do anything, it’s hit an open three. The 6’10 center had something like a breakout season in the Pacers’ incredibly juiced offensive system by knocking down 42 percent of his three-pointers, mostly on wide open looks created by Tyrese Haliburton. Smith is a poor defender who won’t provide much rim protection, and it’s why he couldn’t really stay on the floor in conference finals against the Celtics. None of that really matters for a rebuilding Bulls team. Smith will provide some badly needed spacing, and still has some upside left at 24 years old. He might not be great, but he fits what the Bulls needed.

Wizards grade for Jonas Valanciunas signing

Jonas Valanciunas agrees to three-year, $30 million deal with Wizards, per Woj.

Grade: B-

The Wizards are nowhere close to competing, which makes signing a veteran center like Valanciunas a head-scratching move. At the same time, Washington badly needed some beef inside, and Valanciunas should help protect No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr from taking a beating in the paint. The 32-year-old center could put up some big numbers for a very bad Washington team and look appealing on the trade market down the road. The fact that he signed for half as much as Nikola Vucevic last year makes this a great value, but it still feels like a strange signing.

Spurs grade for Chris Paul signing

Grade: B+

It’s disappointing that the Spurs seem so content to play the long game when Victor Wembanyama appears ready for a superstar leap entering his second season. Chris Paul isn’t going to help the Spurs win much next year, but he will be someone who can consistently deliver the ball to Wembanyama and get out of the way. San Antonio’s point guard play was so bad last season. Ideally, the Spurs would have added someone who isn’t turning 40 years old this season, but CP3 can still be effective in spurts. I like this move in a vacuum for the Spurs, but their offseason in general has been underwhelming unless a bigger move is still to come.

76ers grade for Andre Drummond signing

Andre Drummond, 76ers agree to two-year, $10 million deal, per Shams

Grade: A

Drummond has quietly become one of the best backup centers in the league the last few years. He’s still an elite offensive rebounder, and his quick hands defensively can help force some turnovers. Drummond was impressive as Joel Embiid’s backup in Philly before being dealt as part of the Ben Simmons-James Harden swap, and this deal returns him to a place where he’s already comfortable. Paying $5 million annually for a quality backup five is a nice piece of business for the Sixers.

Paul George to 76ers rumors heat up after Clippers divorce announcement paul,george,to,ers,rumors,heat,up,after,clippers,divorce,announcement,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-free-agency

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The Philadelphia 76ers opened up more than $61 million in cap space this summer in an effort to lure another star to come play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. As NBA free agency opened on Sunday evening, there’s serious optimism that Philly is on the cusp of landing the top player on the market.

The Sixers are “strong frontrunners” to land Paul George in free agency, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. George and the Los Angeles Clippers have “moved on” from one another in free agency, according to Woj, opening the door for George to join a new team.

The Sixers are the only suitor for George ahead of his Sunday night meeting with Philadelphia, according to Clippers reporter Law Murray.

The Clippers have put out a statement on George’s departure even before he officially signs with a new team:

The Clippers cited the more punitive luxury tax thresholds under the new CBA in their statement on George’s exit. The threat of penalties for crossing the “second apron” also played a role in the Denver Nuggets losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic in free agency.

The Clippers had reportedly offered George a similar deal to Kawhi Leonard’s three-year, $153 million extension, but were unwilling to go to four years. George is seeking a four-year max contract.

The Clippers agreed to a two-year, $70 million extension with James Harden as free agency opened on Sunday.

Maxey is a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning the Sixers have the ability to match any contract he receives. Maxey is expected to re-sign with the Sixers after the franchise takes its big swings in free agency.

George is 34 years old, and is coming off another strong season with the Clippers where he averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game wiht 41.3 percent shooting from three-point range (on 7.9 attempts per game) and 90.7 percent free throw shooting.

We’ve already seen the New York Knicks load up to challenge the Boston Celtics with a bold trade for Mikal Bridges. Now that George is leaving the Clippers, it’s possible Philadelphia will form a third legitimate East contender.