Some Takes On Free NBA Free Agency 2025(so Far.)

I Started Writing This A While Ago, But Life Happened For A While, So Some Of The Writing May Feel Dated. Still, Enjoy.

The NBA Draft Didn't So Much As Simmer Down Over a Short Weekend Before Free Agency Took Effect Unofficially. The Scorching July Heat Sweeps Through the Nation, and Before You Could Say ‘Yanic Konan Niederhauser’

Scores Of New Deals Came Shooting Through The NBA ether, Some Rumored Trades, Massive Extensions, and “Surprise” waivers took Impact On The NBA. The NBA League Offices Don't Ratify New Until July 6th.

The Brooklyn Nets are trading Cam Johnson to the Denver Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr. and a first-round draft pick.

The Nets Won This Trade by Not Only Picking Up A Valued Distressed Asset In Michael Porter Jr., And an Unprotected First Round Pick That Conveys Seven Years From Now. Porter Jr. suffered A “Down” Season For The Nuggets, The Team That Drafted Him in 2018, Taking A Flyer On The Number One Player In High School, Who Suffered A Potential career-altering back Injury. Porter Jr. put Together A Standard Regular Season 25.4 Pts, 50.4% FG, 39.5% From Three.

Per 100 Possession And With His Usage Rate Expected To Rise On The Nets' Awful Roster, These Numbers Could Reflect MPJ’s Traditional Stats. A Damaging Playoff Performance Averaged Just 9.1 Pts, Shot 34.3% and 39.2% On Field Goal, But Generally, The Nuggets Have Played Better With Porter Than Without, and He Dealt With Injuries From Late Onward. The Trade also transfers $17 Plus Million In Salary To The Nuggets’ books Over The Next Two Seasons, but Porter’s Skillset More Than Justifies The Added Burden To The Nuggets’ Books. He’s Far More Than A SupercHarged Role Player. MPJ Could Emerge as a star, even All-NBA, With A Larger, Less Periphery Role On A Team With the Ability To Create Offense. Make No Mistake That The Nets got the Better Player, but the Nuggets didn’t exactly downgrade. Cam Johnson shot 39% From Three Last Season and Has Shot As High as 45% At Points In His Career Back In 2022-23 when 98% Of His Pointers Came Off Of Assists. Johnson’s Best Operating Of The Catch When Defenders Need To Recover To Him and Where His One Shot Motion Generates Optimal Opportunities. Johnson, however, is two Years Older Than Porter. Denver Sent Out An unprotected first, and despite Johnson’s Ascribed Title As A “Better Defender,” Registered A- -0.4 Defensive Box Plus/Minus And A 116.7 Defensive Rating for Denver To Remain Close To The Same roster but save $17 million. The Nuggets Also Signed (Re-Signed) Bruce Brown, Who Helped The Team Win The franchise's First Championship Two years ago, Before Getting A Big Contract From Indy and then Bouncing Around the East Before Returning To Denver. The Nuggets Also Signed Tim Hardaway Jr, Still In the league, Who Can Still Pour In From Three At A Young age, Despite A Down Year, at 33 Years Old.

The Houston Rockets: After Securing Kevin Durant In A Whirlwind Trade That Could Reportedly Span Seven Teams, The Rockets Moved To Further Furnish Their Roster, Adding Defense And Depth, and Retaining Key Pieces. Houston signed Dorian Finney-Smith to a four-year, $53 million contract. The Nine-Year Veteran Plays The “Utility Big Man”, A Strong Rebounder, With Defensive Versatility, Who Also Stretches the Floor At A Near 40% Three Point Shooting. The Rockets Bring Back Center Clint Capela, Who Started His Career In Houston, Eventually Blossoming as an Athletic Pick N role threat alongside James Harden and a Rebounding Force In The 2010s Before Departing For Atlanta These Past Five Seasons. Capela Inks a three-year, $21.5 million pact. His playing declined, Only Playing 55 Games, and While His Rebounding determines how Much He’s declined and How Much He’s Got To Give To The Rockets Will Be determined. The Rockets Retained Guard Fred VanVleet On A New Three-Year, $129 Million Deal That Voided The Previous One-Year $44 Million Team Option For Next Season. With Age 30 All In The Rearview of All Of These Guys, Their Ability To Contribute At A High-Level Creeps Closer To An Expiration Date: Though Functional, these players represent Diminished Assets, Indicating The Rockets’ Interest In Maximizing This Short Window To A Championship. Capela Joins An Already Stout Front Court That Pits Him Behind Steven Adams And Alperen Sengun, and Houston Made Their Intentions Clear To Stack Front Court Depth. None Of These Players, I believe, Get This Much Value In Cash elsewhere in Free Agency. The Rockets Retain One Of Their Core Young Pieces In Jabari Smith Jr. to A Rookie Scale Extension As He Continues To Show Promise, Registering The First Positive Plus/Minus And Net Rating As 2.2 Defensive Win Share. Smith Shoots Threes At a High Volume For 6’11, Nearly 50% With Nearly 50% Of His Points Last Season Coming From Beyond The Three Point Line, an Extreme Figure For Someone 6’11, but a Number That Could Prove Crucial Playing Alongside Durant. The Rockets Also Retain Jae'Sean Tate, Aaron Holiday, and Jeff Green(Durant's Former Teammate And Draft Mate One Of Just Four Players From The ‘07 Draft Remaining In The League(Kevin Durant).

THE Lakers Penciled In Some Activity After First Gaining A Commitment From Lebron for Another Season, As He Opted Into His Player

Option for $52 million. Los Angeles Picked Up Commitments From Former Portland Center De’Andre Ayton On Two Years $16 Million After Ayton Secured A Buyout With Portland. If The Lakers Secure A Motivated De’Andre Ayton—Which Is A Hard Thing To Come By—The Team Has A Talent And Mercurial Center For Two Years, Maybe Beyond. In Portland, Ayton put up a Respectable 14 Points and 10 Rebounds In Just 40 Games Last Season (He’s Never Played A Full Season In Seven Years), and Ayton disappeared for Stretches. Despite Some Elite Tools, Like A 7’5 Wingspan, He’s Still A Liability On The Defensive End. He allowed a 58.8% Conversion Rate Of Shots Defended At 6 feet And The Rim, and Just Three Games with a Defensive Rating Below 100. He’s Still Not an Effective Floor spacer from deep, Seven Years Into his Career, And While He Remains Decent From Range, He’s Best When Attacking at the Rim As A lob Threat Or A Dink and Dunk Pick And Roll Man For Luka. Playing Luka and Ayton Simultaneously Could Prove Untenable and Unpalatable For the Lakers As the Two 2018 Lottery Picks Both Struggle Defensively. Ayton, As Mentioned Earlier, and Luka’s Notorious Poor Play Defensively. Added LeBron’s Lackluster Defensive Impact: The Lakers Might Roll Out The Worst Defensive Starting Lineup In The League Next Season. The Lakers Have To Bet That Ayton's Offensive Skillset, That He’s Demonstrated In the Past Season, Can Offset Those Looming Defensive Limitations. The Lakers Also Retained Jaxson Hayes, Another Athletic Big Man Who Played the Past Two Seasons In LA.

The Bucks Made The Move, The Most Daring Move Of The Offseason. First, Not Only Waiving/cutting Dame Lillard But Stretching His Cap Hit( The Money His Salary Counted Against The Books) across five seasons, splitting A Two Year $113 million Pact Into Five, $22 Million Dead Money Hits. Dame Spent Two Seasons In Milwaukee After Forcing A Trade From Portland In 2023, The Bucks Didn’t Stand Atop Of Dame’s Wish List, But He Settled For The Bucks As A Contending But. The Team Worked In A Contending Form. While the Fit Had Flaws, The Team Made The Playoffs Twice, But Could Never Make A Deep Run With Lillard’s Latest Playoff Appearance ended with an Achilles’ Injury, which should Keep Him Out All Of Next Season, Which Expedited His Release. With The Bucks Anxious To Maximize Giannis’ Prime, The Team Had to Get Aggressive. With the Space Acquired, the Bucks signed Myles Turner From The Pacers, Adding His Floor Spacing and Shot Blocking To Their Lineup while also Weakening The Already “Ailing” Conference Champion Pacers. The Bucks Retained Some Of Their Free Agent free agents -- Gary Trent Jr., Kevin Porter Jr., and Bobby Portis But They‘ll Need To Add A Play Making Guard Either Through The Free Agency, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Or attack During an Underperforming(Maybe Chicago, Hornets) During The Trade Deadline Like A Guy Like Terry Rozier From Miami.

The Clippers traded Norman Powell To The Heat In A Three-Team Deal That Netted Los Angeles Jon Collins And Redirected Kevin Love to Utah, along with A second-round pick.

Powell Has His Support After Putting Up A Strong Season As the Offensive Catalyst After Kawhi missed Time. Powell Posted Numbers Of 21.8 Points, 48.8% On Field Goals, and 41.8% On Threes, and 5.9 Plus/Minus. Powell Proved Incredibly Adept At Creating And Converting His Shot Off The Dribble, Often Contested Shots, A Coveted Skill In Today’s NBA. Powell Heads To The Heat, Where Miami May Plug Him To Replace The Loss Of Jimmy Butler. The Clippers Look Like The Early Winners Of This Trade, Securing Forward John Collins, Whom The Hawks Sequestered In Utah For The Past Two Seasons. A High Flying Dunk Artist With Excellent Shooting Range Collins only Played 108 Games In Utah After Missing 42 Games With an Ankle Injury Last Season But He Put Up Strong 19 Points, 52% Field Goal, 62% true Shooting Percentage, and 39.9% From Three with 27.9 Of His Shots From Deep and He’s Best When Catching and Shooting From Deep. He’s Also Reliable on defense, posting a 30.3% Block Percentage, 23.9% Steal Percentage, and 26.5% Rebound Percentage Of His Team’s Production. He's A Fierce Finisher Who Should Complement James Harden’s Playmaking To A Similar Degree As Clint Capela and Collins Comes To Los Angeles, Entering His 9th Season But Still About Six Years Younger Than Powell. The Jazz picked up Kevin Love, an Obvious waiver prospect, Which Opens The Door For Utah to wield a $20 Million Trade Exception, making Utah A Prime Landing Spot For a Team That Needs To Load Talented But Salary Players. The Nets Just Snagged Michael Porter Jr. simply By Having The Cap Space.

The Hawks signed Nickel Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard. Alexander Walker Should Serve As A Solid Backup Option To Trae Young As Off The Bench For Minnesota Nickeil A Plus 4.2 On A plus/Minus, and He’s One Of The Best Shooters Off The Catch On Three Point Shoots and Two Pointers, Contested Or Otherwise. Luke Kennard Represents Maybe The worst iteration, Manifestation Of What The Three-point Shooting Suffusion Has Done To

Basketball. After Entering The League As A Lottery Pick In 2017, Kennard Has Failed To Develop Anything Outside Of His Game Beyond Just Point Shooting. No Skill Beyond Shooting Has Become More Commodified Than Shooting, and Kennard Shoots 44% From Three(With 60% Frequency), and 46.9% On Catch and Shoot, But He’s Not as Strong As A PlayMaker or Even A Defender. Kennard finished the Season With A Positive 3.1 Net Rating, So He’s Not Going To Hurt Your Team, but Atlanta Needs A Playmaking and Scoring Type To Roam Next To Trae Young. They Have the Most Improved Player Of The Year, Dyson Daniels, But Unless He Improves As A Scorer, He’s Not The Legitimate Scoring Option Alongside Trae Young. If Atlanta Could’ve Absorbed CJ McCollum’s Contract Or Nabbed Anfernee Simons From The C’s, This Offseason Haul Could’ve Delivered A More Convincing Argument For The Team’s Improvement.