10 Remaining NBA Offseason Questions

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertJuly 02, 2024
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#nba #offseason #nba free agency
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The NBA offseason is fully in swing now. We’ve seen nearly 50 new contracts agreed to for more than $2 billion in new salary. There have also been several trades made, both officially executed and agreed to.

However, there some situations that remain unresolved. Here are some of the big ones we have our eyes on!

Utah Jazz

The Jazz are involved in all kinds of discussions right now. Are they saving a bunch of cap space to renegotiate-and-extend Lauri Markkanen’s contract? Are they going the other way and trading Markkanen away for even more future draft capital? Are they going to use some of their projected $37.7 million in cap space to trade for an All-Star-level player?

There’s a lot of confusion around Utah right now, maybe because they haven’t picked a direction yet themselves. They’ve got the most cap space left in the league, and they’ve got some good veterans to trade. That’s a lot of flexibility. Danny Ainge has control of the market to some extent, which is just how he likes it.

DeMar DeRozan

DeMar DeRozan is easily the best free agent who is actually available, since LeBron James is returning to the Los Angeles Lakers. After operating for months like DeRozan would simply return to the Chicago Bulls, it’s clear now that isn’t happening. The Bulls are heading in a different direction (more on them next), and so is DeRozan.

The challenge is that the teams with cap space left aren’t great fits for DeRozan, and vice versa. There has been some reporting that DeRozan may sign a one-year deal, possibly for the $12.8 million Non-Taxpayer MLE. Then, the veteran wing would hit free agency again next summer.

Chicago Bulls

What are the Bulls doing? They traded for Josh Giddey, which seems to have been a getting-younger domino that set DeMar DeRozan on a course to leave Chicago. They’ve tried to move Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, but found extremely tepid markets for both.

Jalen Smith was a good signing for part of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, because he can fit on a rebuilding team or a team chasing a playoff spot. But Chicago has a lot more work to do with this roster. The LaVine situation is still uncomfortable and won’t get better the longer it drags out. The Bulls have a lot of guards, especially if they’re going to try to play Lonzo Ball. As it stands, it feels like this offseason is half-done, at most.

Los Angeles Lakers

This one has been talked to death, so we’ll keep it simple. LeBron James offered to take less money to open up flexibility under the first apron for the Lakers to add talent. As of now, the Lakers haven’t done anything. Free agent options have dried up considerably, unless DeMar DeRozan is coming home for the Non-Taxpayer MLE.

The bigger option is to make some sort of trade where the Lakers will probably hard-cap themselves at the first apron. Otherwise, James is going to run out of patience, take his full max salary and leave the Lakers to figure out the rest with some restrictions on doing so.

Brandon Ingram and New Orleans Pelicans

Well before free agency opened, it was rumored that Brandon Ingram was on the trade market. He’s going into the final year of his contract, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of momentum towards an extension. Lots of contenders still need a wing. The Pelicans are now overstuffed with perimeter talent, with Dejounte Murray joining the team. Trading Ingram could bring some balance to the roster.

Where is that balance most needed? In the frontcourt. The big man rotation for New Orleans right now is Zion Williamson, rookie center Yves Missi and…that’s it. It may not be as easy as swapping Ingram for a center, but that’s something the Pelicans need to look at. Or maybe C.J. McCollum is the trade piece. Either way, New Orleans has to add a lot more to their frontcourt.

Expanded Trades

Speaking of the Pelicans…they are a good candidate for an expanded trade. An expanded trade is when the deal gets larger than what was previously reported. The Dejounte Murray trade isn’t complete yet, because it had to wait until the league year changed over. (Cap/CBA Nerd Alert! Because Murray has incentives that would have flipped from unlikely to likely, plus his trade bonus, the Pelicans would have ended up in the tax for 2023-24 if they completed the deal in the last league year.) That gives the Pelicans a chance to expand that trade by bringing in an additional team, or by possibly adding an additional player from the Hawks.

The Mikal Bridges deal to the Knicks is in a similar place. New York would like to avoid being hard-capped at the first apron, if at all possible. That will mean expanding this deal to send more salary out to Brooklyn, or to a third team. That’s certainly possible now, as offseason rosters expand to 21 players per team (as opposed to 15 players on standard contacts, plus three two-way players in the regular season). A handful of teams also have cap space or plenty of room under the tax to eat a small salary in a deal. The Knicks may have to pay an additional pick to avoid a first-apron hard-cap, but that’s probably worth it for the additional flexibility it would create.

Miles Bridges

It’s a bit of a surprise that Miles Bridges’ free agency has lingered into the third day. The Hornets publicly said they “made it clear” to Bridges that they wanted to keep him in Charlotte. Bridges doesn’t seem to have bigger offers to leave. So, what’s the holdup?

There are a couple of possibilities here. Maybe Bridges and the Hornets are far apart in contract terms. Charlotte is rebuilding under a new leadership group from ownership to the front office to the coaching staff. They may not want to lock in on big money for Bridges right now. As much as the Hornets have supported Bridges, that reluctance could have something to do with his past history of domestic violence. That’s not something a team can fully look past, even if Charlotte has already welcomed Bridges back.

The other possibility is that Bridges has sign-and-trade opportunities available to him. He may be looking to leave Charlotte for a contender. If so, that’s likely to take a bit to sort out.

Bruce Brown

The Raptors picked up Brown’s $23 million option, presumably to use him as a trade chip. That hasn’t happened yet. Of course, there was never a guarantee it would happening in the opening moments of the offseason. But it should happen sooner, rather than later.

Toronto has a lot of wings and wing-like players on this roster. Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji and rookie Ja’Kobe Walter all overlap on the wing with Brown, at least to some extent. If you consider Brown as an on-ball guard, then he’s overlapping with Immanuel Quickley and Davion Mitchell. That means something has to give, and ideally before the regular season starts. Otherwise, Darko Rajakovic is going to have a hard time getting everyone minutes.

Portland Trail Blazers

The Trail Blazers got under the tax by moving Malcolm Brogdon to the Wizards in exchange for Deni Avdija. That was a good trade for Portland, even if they did have to give up some draft capital. But that’s probably not enough movement for this roster.

The Blazers are only about $3.7 million under the tax line. That’s not a lot of wiggle room. More importantly in the immediate, Portland is out of roster spots. Something has to give with Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III at center, because the Blazers didn’t draft Donovan Clingan to sit. And, no, those guys don’t make a good double-big pairing, no matter which two you pick.

Portland also has Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons and Matisse Thybulle who they could look at moving. Right now, the Tral Blazers have one foot in the rebuilding pool. It’s time to fully jump in by moving another veteran or two…or three.

Veteran Point Guards

There are a lot of veteran point guards still on the market, but spots for their services seem to be drying up rather quickly. Tyus Jones is the best of the bunch. The Wizards acquired Malcolm Brogdon and Bub Carrington, but there’s still room for Jones. Brogdon is a combo guard and Carrington isn’t ready to be an NBA point guard yet. He’s probably going to get the biggest deal of the remaining free agent lead guards.

Beyond Jones, the list is flush with recognizable names for vets who still have lots to offer. Markelle Fultz, Kyle Lowry, Monte Morris, Patrick Beverley, Spencer Dinwiddie, Cameron Payne, Dennis Smith Jr., and Jordan McLaughlin are all guys who could be in NBA rotations. In a flip from previous years, backup centers flew off the market, while several teams are still looking for big man help. This year, it’s the point guards who are hanging out, while available jobs are rapidly thinning out around the league.

 


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