NBA training camps open in about a month. Yet, we’re still waiting to see when (if?) Damian Lillard or James Harden gets traded. One situation has been curiously quiet, while the other has been contentiously loud. But both Lillard and Harden remain in Portland and Philadelphia, respectively.

While the Trail Blazers and 76ers wait out superstar trades, everyone else is filling out training camp rosters at this point. That means it’s time to reset where each roster stands. We’re going to look at who is returning, who was acquired and who has departed. We’ll also answer a few key questions about each team.

We covered the Atlantic Division, Central Division, Southeast Division, Pacific Division and Southwest Division already. Next up: The Northwest Division!

Denver Nuggets

Players Returning (12)

Christian Braun, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Vlatko Cancar, Collin Gillespie (two-way), Aaron Gordon, Reggie Jackson, Nikola Jokic, DeAndre Jordan, Jaman Murray, Zeke Nnaji, Michael Porter Jr., Peyton Watson

Players Added (6)

 Justin Holiday, Jay Huff (two-way), Braxton Key (two-way), Jalen Picket, Julian Strawther, Hunter Tyson

Players Lost (5)

Bruce Brown, Thomas Bryant, Jeff Green, Ish Smith, Jack White (two-way)

Roster Openings

None.

Cap/Tax Status

Denver is $4.7 million under the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining

The Nuggets only have minimum contracts available to offer free agents.

Biggest Move of the Summer

The champs are mostly running it back. They lost a couple of key rotation players, but are ready to elevate younger players into their positions. There were no major free agent or trade additions. In fact, the Nuggets added only one established NBA player on a standard contract, and Justin Holiday isn’t a lock to play rotation minutes.

That leaves the biggest moves as some draft maneuvering to add three players that Denver hopes will eventually take on rotation roles. Julian Strawther is probably the closest to NBA-ready, but he’s in a bit of a crowded wing mix. Jalen Picket could snag a backup guard spot in a somewhat thin backcourt. Hunter Tyson will probably have a developmental season, including lots of time spent in the G League.

Work To Do

The Nuggets roster is complete for the start of the season. Now, it’s about Michael Malone figuring out his rotation. Christian Braun will presumably pick up some more minutes in place of Bruce Brown. Veteran Justin Holiday will battle with rookie Julian Strawther and Jalen Picket, along with second-year player Peyton Watson, for perimeter minutes.

Up front, the situation is even more interesting. Jeff Green was the primary backup big for Denver when it mattered most. The most likely replacement for Green is Zeke Nnaji, who has come and gone from Malone’s rotation the last few seasons. Vlatko Cancar looked poised for a bigger role, but he tore his ACL over the summer and will likely miss the entire season. DeAndre Jordan is back too, but relying on him at this point is pretty questionable. This is a spot where the Denver could look to upgrade in-season.

Lastly, Jamal Murray is extension-eligible. He’s got two years left on his deal, and he’s showing signs of breaking through as an All-Star. If Murray thinks he can reach All-NBA at any point in the next two seasons, he might hold off and wait to see if he can really cash in on a Designated Veteran Extension. But he’s also had a serious knee injury, so the allure of locking in long-term money will be there too. Keep an eye on this one, as the rest of Denver’s core group is signed through 2025-26.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Players Returning (12)

Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Kyle Anderson, Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Luka Garza (two-way), Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Jordan McLaughlin, Josh Minott, Wendell Moore Jr., Naz Reid, Karl-Anthony Towns

Players Added (4)

Troy Brown Jr., Jaylen Clark (two-way), Leonard Miller, Shake Milton

Players Lost (5)

Nathan Knight (two-way), Jaylen Nowell, Taurean Prince, Austin Rivers, Matt Ryan (two-way)

Roster Openings

1 standard roster spot and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Minnesota is roughly $2.4 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

The Timberwolves have $3.4 million remaining of the Non-Taxpayer MLE left, plus the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Signing Anthony Edwards to a five-year, maximum contract rookie scale extension. Edwards is rapidly becoming the Wolves franchise player. Karl-Anthony Towns probably still holds that title for now, but Edwards is really close to snatching that moniker. And deservedly so. Edwards is an offensive superstar, and has plenty of room to improve as a playmaker for others and as a defender. All the signs are there that he’ll continue to grow into his role as a superstar.

Minnesota also extended Naz Reid, which was an interesting move. On one hand, Minnesota got Reid on a very fair value of almost $14 million AAV for three years. That’s essentially MLE money, which Reid is well worth. On the other hand, the Timberwolves already have Towns and Rudy Gobert signed for a combined AAV of $90M over the next three seasons. That’s a lot of money locked up in three guys who are all best when playing center.

In free agency, the Wolves added Troy Brown Jr. and Shake Milton, and re-signed Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Those are all solid depth moves for the perimeter rotation behind Edwards and 16-year veteran Mike Conley.

Work To Do

Minnesota already has a whopping $151 million committed for 2024-25, with max extensions kicking in for Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns. But that shouldn’t keep Tim Connelly from extending Jaden McDaniels. We predicted a rookie scale extension of $100 million over four years for McDaniels ahead of the offseason. He should have made the All-Defense team last season, and McDaniels is a better-than-you-think offensive player. He’s an ideal running mate for Edwards and Towns long-term. The Wolves have a soaring payroll, but McDaniels should be extended.

Beyond that, Minnesota has a couple of roster spots to fill. They’ll sign at least one more player to a standard deal, which should allow them to squeak in under the luxury tax line for this season. And one more two-way player will be signed too. From there, it’s about trying to keep everyone healthy and getting off to a good start in a very important season for the franchise.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Players Returning (15)

Ousmane Dieng, Luguentz Dort, Josh Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Joe, Tre Mann, Aleksej Pokusevski, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Olivier Sarr (two-way), Lindy Waters III (two-way), Aaron Wiggins, Jalen Williams, Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams

Players Added (6)

Davis Bertans, Keyontae Johnson (two-way), Vasilije Micic, Victor Oladipo, Cason Wallace, Jack White

Players Lost (2)

Jared Butler (two-way), Dario Saric

Roster Openings

None

Cap/Tax Status

Oklahoma City is $15.5 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

The Thunder have only minimum contracts to offer to free agents.

Biggest Move of the Summer

We’re going to cheat a little here and split this section three ways.

At the draft, the Thunder moved up to get Cason Wallace. This continues a trend of Sam Presti moving up in drafts to get a targeted player. The Oklahoma City guard group is pretty flush with talented players, but Wallace brings a defensive bulldog mentality to that group. And NBA teams have often done well when betting on guards out of Kentucky.

The Thunder also finally brought Vasilije Micic over from Europe. Again, the guard group is pretty stacked, so where Micic fits in will be interesting to monitor. But having him on a three-year deal gives OKC some time to figure it out.

The third biggest move isn’t really a move at all, but it involves another high-profile rookie joining the squad for games this season, as Chet Holmgren will debut this season. Yes, Holmgren is still a rookie, as he hasn’t appeared in an NBA game. You can argue that until you are a blue in the face, but the NBA says Holmgren is a rookie, as is anyone who hasn’t played in an NBA game.

Moving past that, Holmgren is obviously a huge addition to a team that doesn’t have nearly the talent up front as it does on the wing and in the backcourt. Holmgren should be a Day 1 starter and a terrific fit alongside all of the Thunder’s playmakers.

Work To Do

Oklahoma City is still plus-three in terms of players on the roster. They could cut ties with another veteran or two, or they might be forced to trade or waive some young players they like. The obvious waivers have already been made, now the decisions get a little harder.

Beyond that, it’s now up to Mark Daigneault to find minutes for the 12 or so players on this roster that need/deserve them. That’s among the best “problems” a coach can have heading into a new season.

Portland Trail Blazers

Players Returning (11)

Ibou Badji (two-way), John Butler Jr. (two-way), Jerami Grant, Keon Johnson, Damian Lillard, Nassir Little, Jusuf Nurkic, Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, Matisse Thybulle, Jabari Walker

Players Added (4)

Moses Brown, Scoot Henderson, Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert

Players Lost (6)

Drew Eubanks, Kevin Knox, Cameron Reddish, Trendon Watford, Justise Winslow

Roster Openings

2 standard spots and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Portland is about $3.3 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

The Trail Blazers have the full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE remaining, as well as the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Take your pick, but know whatever you choose, it’ll get blown off the board when (if?) Damian Lillard is traded.

Drafting Scoot Henderson is our choice, because that sets the franchise up for what’s next after Lillard. Henderson was considered by many to be the second-best player in the 2023 NBA Draft, and Portland got him with the third pick. Henderson has the look of a future star at point guard. The Trail Blazers can’t ask for me, given they are looking to trade the best player in franchise history, who happens to also be a point guard.

The Blazers biggest move in terms of salary was locking into a five-year, $160 million deal with Jerami Grant in free agency. Whether that move was made to entice Lillard to stay in Portland, or made because the team believes in Grant, it was made. In reality, $32 million AAV is well below Grant’s possible max salary. It’s also perfectly fair value for a guy who is very good, but on the outskirts of being an All-Star. Having Grant will also help a roster that skews extremely young, much like the role Grant played for the Detroit Pistons prior to being traded to the Trail Blazers.

Portland also matched an offer sheet that the Dallas Mavericks gave to Matisse Thybulle. That might seem curious for a team that is heading towards rebuilding, but that misses some important context. First, Thybulle’s deal has an AAV over about $11 million. That’s less than the MLE, and more than a fair value. Second, he’s by far the best defensive player the Blazers have. That matters for teaching a young group how to defend and win.

Work To Do

It’s obviously finding a trade for Lillard. We won’t be disingenuous and suggest that much else matters before training camp starts. Once that’s done, Joe Cronin and Chauncey Billups can sort through what the roster has become and start figuring out the path forward. Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, Kris Murray, and re-signed vets Jerami Grant and Matisse Thybulle, is a pretty good start on a rebuild. Add to that group whatever comes back in return for Lillard and the Trail Blazers are on their way to a bright future.

Utah Jazz

Players Returning (12)

Ochai Agbaji, Jordan Clarkson, Kris Dunn, Simone Fontecchio, Talen Horton-Tucker, Johnny Juzang (two-way), Walker Kessler, Lauri Markkanen, Kelly Olynyk, Micah Potter (two-way), Luka Samanic, Collin Sexton

Players Added (6)

John Collins, Keyonte George, Joey Hauser (two-way), Taylor Hendricks, Brice Sensabaugh, Omer Yurtseven

Players Lost (5)

Udoka Azubuike, Vernon Carey Jr., Rudy Gay, Damian Jones, Juan Toscano-Anderson

Roster Openings

None

Cap/Tax Status

The Jazz are $29.3 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

Utah has the full $7.7 million Room Exception remaining.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Acquiring John Collins in a salary-dump from the Atlanta Hawks. The Jazz did great to pick up Collins. He’s a very good player, who landed a big contract and then got caught in the swirl on a too-expensive Hawks roster. Utah had a lot of success playing big lineups with Lauri Markkanen at the three, and adding Collins will allow that to continue. He’ll also be a boon to the team’s rebounding, and Collins can slide over play some small-ball five when the Jazz want to go to a more-conventional lineup.

Renegotiating-and-extending Jordan Clarkson was a nice use of cap space for the Jazz. They were able to bump Clarkson’s salary for this season using some room they didn’t need to spend on an outside addition. That added salary sees Clarkson back for two additional seasons through 2025-26 at about $14 million per season. That’s really good work to retain a popular and productive player.

Utah also had an outstanding draft. Taylor Hendricks has all the physical attributes of being a big-time player. He’s got great size and is a very good athlete at the forward position. Playing time could be a bit hard to come by initially, but we’re betting Hendricks is too good to keep off the floor for very long.

Keyonte George looks like a potential steal as the 16th pick. You don’t want to get too excited about Summer League, but George was one of the best players on the court in both Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He looked comfortable as a scorer and as a playmaker.

Brice Sensabaugh is a project wing. He can score, but needs to round out the rest of his game. He’ll likely log lots of developmental time in the G League this season, which is fine. He’s got good upside and just needs to play to realize it.

Lastly, keep an eye on the Omer Yurtseven addition. Utah has clearly done well developing bigs, and Yurtseven comes with some polish already on him from his time with the Miami Heat. He’s sneakily good on offense, but needs to rebound better and to hold up defensively to play. Well worth the slightly-above the minimum deal that the Jazz gave him.

Work To Do

This roster is finished. That gives Will Hardy and his staff some time to put it all together. The Jazz have a lot of versatility with this group. They can play those three-big lineups with Lauri Markkanen, John Collins and Walker Kessler across the frontline, with Kelly Olynyk and Omer Yurtseven in reserve. They could go smaller and work Ochai Agbaji and Taylor Hendricks in on the wing. Simone Fontecchio had a “meh” rookie season, but has looked good for Italy at the World Cup. He might factor into the rotation in his second NBA season. The backcourt has solid depth with rookie Keyonte George joining holdovers Jordan Clarkson, Talen Horton-Tucker, Collin Sexton and Kris Dunn. Hardy will have to get creative to find enough minutes for everyone, but that’s fine.

On the contract front, Markkanen, Horton-Tucker and Olynyk are all extension-eligible. The Jazz look like they’ll have a decent amount of cap space in 2024, so they might hold off on extending Markkanen. Then next summer, Utah and Markkanen can do a renegotiation-and-extension to get him paid like the All-Star he’s become. Horton-Tucker and Olynyk are probably wait-and-see guys, who will probably reach free agency in July.

Giannis Antetokounmpo made waves recently when he told The New York Times that he wouldn’t consider an extension with the Milwaukee Bucks until 2024, at the soonest. Antetokounmpo made it clear that he is prioritizing winning, as he moves into the second half of his career. The Bucks superstar wants to be sure that Milwaukee is committed to building a roster, and spending to do so, that can contend for titles.

Essentially, Antetokounmpo is exercising the superstar’s right of putting pressure on his team to keep pushing forward. Antetokounmpo even hinted that if Milwaukee starts talking about a rebuild, that he wants no part of that.

That means that we could be looking at a repeat of 2019 and 2020, when every team in the league was lining up to make a run at Antetokounmpo. Ultimately, he chose to stay with the only NBA home he’s known, and Antetokounmpo signed a Designated Veteran Extension.

The 6-foot-11 forward is now two seasons into that five-year extension he inked in the summer of 2020. Because the NBA was operating under an adjusted calendar due to COVID at the time, Antetokounmpo signed his extension in mid-December. That adjusted calendar, and the resulting carry-over impact, means Antetokounmpo isn’t eligible to sign a new extension with Milwaukee until September 22.

In order to understand what Antetokounmpo’s next contract might look like, we need to look at what he has left on his current deal. Here’s the three years remaining on that Designated Veteran Extension:

• • 2023-24: $45,640,084
  • 2024-25: $48,787,676
  • 2025-26: $51,935,268 (player option)

Because he still has either two or three years left on his deal, Antetokounmpo has a lot of options for how he can handle a new deal with the Bucks. That amount of time left and the player option in 2025-26 gives him the ability to approach extension talks in a number of different directions.

It’s also important to note that Giannis Antetokounmpo now has 10 years of service (How did that happen so quickly? Didn’t he just get to the NBA?). He’s eligible for the maximum amount possible, without any sort of Designated Player language being a factor.

Signing a Veteran Extension in 2023

On September 22 when he becomes extension-eligible, Giannis Antetokounmpo has two different options, if he wanted to extend this season. Yes, we know he said he wouldn’t do that, but we want to cover those options to paint a full picture.

Option 1 would see Antetokounmpo exercise his player option for the 2025-26 season and then add two new seasons onto his deal. That would look like this:

• • 2023-24: $45,640,084
  • 2024-25: $48,787,676
  • 2025-26: $51,935,268 (opted in)
  • 2026-27: $60,137,000
  • 2027-28: $64,947,960
  • Total: five years, $271,447,988
  • New salary: two years, $125,084,960

In this option, Antetokounmpo adds two new seasons and roughly $125 million on his deal. The first season of new money would hit in 2026-27 and is projected at a 35% of the cap maximum salary of $60,137,000. Antetokounmpo would add a second season of new salary at an 8% raise to $64,947,960.

Option 2 would see Antetokounmpo decline his player option for the 2025-25 season. He would then add three new seasons onto his deal. That would break down like this:

• • 2023-24: $45,640,084
  • 2024-25: $48,787,676
  • 2025-26: $54,670,000
  • 2026-27: $59,043,600
  • 2027-28: $63,417,000
  • Total: five years, $271,558,560
  • New salary: three years, $177,130,800

In this option, Antetokounmpo adds three new seasons and roughly $177 million, starting at 35% of the cap in 2025-26 at $54.7 million. In total, he would make slightly more money in Option 2 vs Option 1.

Signing a Veteran Extension in 2024

This option is far more likely, if only because Giannis Antetokounmpo told us directly that he wouldn’t consider an extension until 2024. In this case, he again has two different options.

Option 1 sees Antetokounmpo pick up his player for 2025-26. He would then add three years in new salary to his deal. That ends up looking like this:

• • 2024-25: $48,787,676
  • 2025-26: $51,935,268 (opted in)
  • 2026-27: $60,137,000
  • 2027-28: $64,947,960
  • 2028-29: $69,758,920
  • Total: five years, $295,566,824
  • New salary: three years, $194,843,880

In this option, the Bucks star adds three years at almost $195 million. He then bumps his total five-year value to about $295.5 million.

Option 2 would see Antetokounmpo opt out for 2025-26. He would then add four years of new salary to the one year he would have remaining on his deal. That extension looks like this:

• • 2024-25: $48,787,676
  • 2025-26: $54,670,000
  • 2026-27: $59,043,600
  • 2027-28: $63,417,000
  • 2028-29: $67,790,800
  • Total: five years, $293,709,276
  • New salary: four years, $244,921,600

This deal comes in slightly shy of the opt-in version. That’s because the cap is projected to go up 10% vs the 8% a player can get in a raise. So, while Antetokounmpo’s 2025-26 salary would be higher, his 2026-27 salary wouldn’t come in quite as high.

Signing a Veteran Extension in 2025

Giannis Antetokounmpo could take this into the final year of his contract. In that case, we’d see him opt in for the 2025-25. He could then add four years onto his deal. That would look like this:

• • 2025-26: $51,935,268 (opted in)
  • 2026-27: $60,137,000
  • 2027-28: $64,947,960
  • 2028-29: $69,758,920
  • 2029-30: $74,569,880
  • Total: five years, $321,349,028
  • New salary: four years, $269,413,760

This is the most lucrative option for Antetokounmpo in any extension. That’s because of the addition of a fourth year at roughly $74.5 million. That would push his total contract north of $320 million.

Signing with another team as a free agent in 2025

Let’s say the Bucks decide things have gotten too expensive, or that some of their players aren’t worth the big money they can command. In this scenario, Milwaukee starts talking about rebuilding, or at least resetting. And Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t having it. He’s ready to see what it’s like playing somewhere else. The max he could sign for with another team would be:

• • 2025-26: $54,670,000
  • 2026-27: $57,403,500
  • 2027-28: $60,137,000
  • 2028-29: $62,870,500
  • Total: four years, $235,081,000

This is a four-year, maximum salary, starting at the projected 35% of the cap max of $54.7 million with 5% raises. Comparing Year 1 through Year 4 salaries only, this option is about $11.8 million shy of what Antetokounmpo could get by extending with the Bucks outright in 2025 (after opting in).

Re-signing with the Bucks as a free agent in 2025

Let’s say Antetokounmpo plays things out for the next two seasons, opts out, but decides to re-up with Milwaukee in the summer of 2025. He’d be eligible for the largest contract in NBA history. It would look like this:

• • 2025-26: $54,670,000
  • 2026-27: $59,043,600
  • 2027-28: $63,417,200
  • 2028-29: $67,790,800
  • 2029-30: $72,164,400
  • Total: five years, $317,086,000

This contract dwarfs any of the other options. Antetokounmpo would get over $317 million in total money (and that’s off relatively conservative projections right now!). In Year 1 through Year 4 comparisons, Antetokounmpo would make nearly $10 million more by re-signing with the Bucks over leaving Milwaukee. And this is again, slightly less than extending after opting in would be. This is again because cap growth of 10% projects to outpace the maximum 8% raises.

Re-signing with the Bucks as a free agent in 2026

This is the final option we’re going to present, and it’s probably the biggest longshot on the board. Let’s say Giannis Antetokounmpo plays out his full current contract through 2025-26, and then re-signs with Milwaukee on a maximum deal. That contract would look like this:

• • 2026-27: $60,137,000
  • 2027-28: $64,947,960
  • 2028-29: $69,758,000
  • 2029-30: $74,569,880
  • 2030-31: $79,380,840
  • Total: five years, $348,794,600

That’s nearly $350 million in total money for Antetokounmpo on a five-year, max deal. It’s almost an unfathomable amount, but that’s the reality of where we’re headed with these contracts in the new cap environment. This is where we’ll remind everyone that the starting salary of $60,137,000 is still 35% of the cap. That figure doesn’t change. It’s just that the cap is projected to go up somewhere between 4% and 10% every season for the foreseeable future.

Summary

Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to land one of the richest contracts in NBA history, no matter when and where he signs. But there are some important things to note.

First, we covered seasons ranging from 2023-24 (this season) through 2030-31 (eights seasons from now). Here are Antetokounmpo’s ages and years of service in each of those seasons:

• • 2023-24: Age 29, Year 11
  • 2024-25: Age 30, Year 12
  • 2025-26: Age 31, Year 13
  • 2026-27: Age 32, Year 14
  • 2027-28: Age 33, Year 15
  • 2028-29: Age 34, Year 16
  • 2029-30: Age 35, Year 17
  • 2030-31: Age 36, Year 18

Second, Antetokounmpo has already played more than 26,000 minutes in his career. He’s had some relatively serious injuries in the first 10 years of his career too.

When we add those things together, combined with Antetokounmpo’s direct comments on extending, as well as looking at the money at stake, it starts to make a much clearer picture.

We can rule out Antetokounmpo extending when he’s eligible near the end of September. He’s already told us he won’t be doing that.

We probably safely rule out Antetokounmpo playing out the three remaining seasons on his contract and signing a new five-year deal in 2026 too. Given his age, career mileage and injury history, Antetokounmpo won’t leave that much to chance.

We also probably rule out simply playing out his deal with the Bucks, opting out in 2025 and then re-signing with Milwaukee as a free agent. That’s almost as risky as playing out the entire remainder of his deal, and the financial upside really isn’t all that great.

That leaves two real options. Antetokounmpo extends with Milwaukee in 2024. Or he plays out the two final guaranteed seasons on his contract and leaves the Bucks as a free agent in the summer of 2025.

The guess here is Milwaukee will do whatever is necessary over the next two seasons to convince their franchise player that he should stay in the only NBA home he’s ever known. The Bucks can still offer him the most possible money, either via extension or a re-signing. It’s up to them to make him want to stay in Milwaukee.

That leaves only a few real questions:

1. Will Antetokounmpo opt in for 2025-26 and add three new years? Or will he opt out and add four new years? Bet on the first option, as he’ll likely make more money, and it gets hm back on the market for one more possibly big contract in 2029 heading into his age-35 and Year 17 season.
2. Will Antetokounmpo take less years than the max he’s able to? He could look to game the system a bit, while also keeping pressure on the Bucks, by extending but adding a year or two fewer than he’s eligible to in an extension. That way he can get back on the market sooner, and potentially cash in even bigger by taking advantage of the year-over-year cap growth.
3. What moves do the Bucks have to make over the next year to show Antetokounmpo they are serious about staying contenders? First is getting something done to keep Jrue Holiday in Milwaukee. After that, it’s probably being aggressive in trading role players and draft picks (when they are able) to upgrade with top-tier talent. That could leave the team thin depth-wise, but that’s not really the superstar’s problem to worry about. That’s for the front office to figure out, if they want to keep Antetokounmpo in the Good Land green and Cream City cream.

James Harden has asked for a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has set a high asking-price for his All-Star guard. As of this writing in late-August, no trade has materialized.

The lack of a trade, plus maybe some other stuff, has seen Harden publicly call Morey a “liar”. Harden also said that he’ll “never be a part of an organization that Morey is a part of” again.

How did we get here? Where did it all go south? What are the ramifications of what’s happened? Where do Harden and the 76ers go from here? There are a lot of questions, and we hope we can provide some answers and insight.

The History

Ahead of the 2020-21 season, James Harden asked for a trade from the Houston Rockets. Harden correctly read the tea leaves and saw that Rockets were probably heading towards a reset, if not a full rebuild. He didn’t want to be a part of that and asked for a trade.

Harden initially showed up and played great for Houston. His first three games of that season saw him average 37 points and 11 assists per game. But that fell off quickly and in a major way. He played five more uninspiring games for the Rockets, expending precious little effort while doing so. In mid-January (the NBA was still working on an adjusted calendar due to COVID), he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets.

Harden’s happiness in Brooklyn lasted approximately a year. Whether driven by his desire to reunite with Daryl Morey in Philadelphia, or his own frustrations with injuries, or by the circus the Nets had become, Harden wanted out.

After sitting out a couple of games, Harden played twice more for Brooklyn. Harden’s Nets finale in Sacramento was maybe the most checked-out an NBA player has ever been while playing 37 minutes in a game. Harden barely went through the motions and never played for Brooklyn again before being traded ahead of the 2022 trade deadline.

Harden’s first half-season in Philadelphia went fairly well, even if he was clearly still hampered by a hamstring injury. In the 2022-23 season, Harden returned back to his All-Star form, even if he wasn’t named a 2023 All-Star. But it’s what happened in-between those seasons that seemingly caused this latest fracture between player and club.

In the 2022 offseason, Harden opted out of his $47.4 million player option for the 2022-23 season. As a free agent, Harden agreed to a two-year, $68.6 million deal. That two-year agreement included a player option for the 2023-24 season.

Part of the reason Harden willingly took a pay cut of over $14 million for 2022-23 was that it gave the 76ers the ability to sign P.J. Tucker, Danuel House Jr. and others, while staying under the tax line. In fact, the NBA found that this was lined up far enough in advance that they docked the Sixers two second-round picks for tampering with P.J. Tucker.

As far as Harden went, the assumption was that he’d play out last season for $33 million, opt out again and sign a max deal with Philadelphia in the summer of 2023. Not so fast, my friend.

As early as Christmas Day of 2022, reports came out that Harden wanted to return to the Rockets. Houston was lined up to have maximum cap space, and an unlikely reunion seemed to be on the table. Again, not so fast, my friend.

Harden didn’t opt out and re-sign with the Sixers. He didn’t opt out and sign with the Rockets either. We don’t know for certain, but it seems Harden got two pieces of information between the end of 2022 and free agency opening in July of 2023.

The first piece of info was that Philadelphia wasn’t going to give him a max deal. The second piece of info seems like it was that Houston was going in a different direction with their cap space. 

At that point, Harden again read the tea leaves and realized that to land in a destination of his liking, it would be easier to pull off via trade than free agency. So, Harden opted in and immediately requested a trade. And here we are.

James Harden’s Contract

James Harden is in the final year of the two-year deal he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in the summer of 2021. His deal is fully guaranteed for $35,640,000. There are no incentives or trade bonuses in Harden’s deal.

Because the 76ers are currently sitting just over the tax apron, the most they could take back in trade is 110% of Harden’s salary in a deal, plus $250,000. For simplicity’s sake, that’s $39,454,000.

It’s also important to note that any team that trades Harden will not be able to extend his contract. Because he signed a two-year deal, Harden is not extension-eligible. If traded, he’ll play out this season and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024.

The Overall Situation

Now that we understand the history and what James Harden’s contract is, where are we at exactly?

Harden is still a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers have publicly said that they expect him to report for training camp in October. Harden has made it known that he has no intention of doing that, and that he still expects a trade.

The NBA hit Harden with a $100,000 fine (the maximum allowable for a single transgression) for “indicating that he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless traded to another team”. The league could have hit Harden with a $150,000 fine, but that would have been for publicly asking for a trade. This lesser fine seemingly falls under the “conduct or statements prejudicial or detrimental to the best interests of basketball, the NBA, or a team” category, as opposed to the public trade demand one.

The NBPA intends to file a grievance on Harden’s behalf. Their argument is that Harden is being unfairly punished for calling Daryl Morey a “liar”, as opposed to saying he’ll withhold services. This was to be expected, as the NBPA has to protect their player and to make sure that the rest of their constituency isn’t punished for simply making comments the NBA finds objectionable.

As for Harden, he said his calling Morey a liar was related to Morey saying that he’d trade him “quickly” after Harden opted in. He has not referenced any kind of wink-wink agreement in reference to his free agency in 2022.

James Harden’s Situation

James Harden wants a trade and doesn’t want to play for the Philadelphia 76ers any longer. Or, at the very least, he doesn’t want to play for the Sixers while Daryl Morey is still running the front office.

To his credit, Harden has never openly called out where he wants to be traded to. Reporting is that Harden prefers a trade to the LA Clippers. That’s likely accurate, but Harden hasn’t agitated anything towards “Clippers or else!”, at least not publicly.

Beyond that, Harden kind of made his own bed, to at least some degree. He could have let his prior contract play out. He could have opted out of his current contract. Either way, he would have had full control over what was next. As it stands now, Harden can want to be elsewhere, but he’s beholden to the whims of Morey and 29 other teams and what they can negotiate in trade.

As far as Harden saying he won’t report to the Sixers goes, he’s playing a dangerous game. Under the CBA, any player who withholds services for 30 total days while in the final season of his contract, will be deemed to have not completed that contract.

In Harden’s case, if he stays away from the Sixers for at least 30 days, his contract will expire as scheduled on July 1, 2024. But Harden will not be able to sign with any professional basketball team without the permission of the 76ers. (Note: That’s any professional team. FIBA is generally fairly good about upholding contract rules of the various leagues they are partnered with. That makes it unlikely Harden would be approved to sign outside of the NBA.)

That makes the most likely situation, assuming Harden is still with Philadelphia at the start of training camp, also the most uncomfortable one. He’ll have to show up and do the bare minimum. We’ve seen what that looks like, and it benefits no one.

Finally, for those who say “Harden is in a contract year. He has to show up and play well, or no one will want him!” That’s complete nonsense. Teams know who Harden is at this point in his career. They also understand the situation. They’ve seen Harden play uninspiring basketball with both the Rockets and Nets in pre-trade situations. If he does it again, it’s not going to deter a team that wants him from making a trade.

The Philadelphia 76ers' Situation

Daryl Morey laid out some guidelines for making a James Harden trade. Morey said he needs to get a player or players that will keep his team a contender. Or the team needs to get enough draft picks that they can be turned into a player or players that will keep the Sixers a contender.

In addition to the above, Morey is prioritizing the Sixers keeping the cap flexibility that they are looking at for the 2024 offseason. Philadelphia is one of seven teams that project to have cap space in the summer of 2024.

To sum it up: Morey wants good players, or draft picks that he can flip for good players, and he doesn’t want to take on any salary into 2024-25.

Good luck.

Either of those ambitions are fine. The 76ers are a contender and should be trying to stay at that level. It’s also fine to want to have cap space next summer. Money to spend with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in place? Every team in the league would sign up for that.

But, it’s not really that simple.

It’s hard to find players at Harden’s level that are also on expiring contracts, especially at this point in the offseason. Moving Harden in a package built around draft picks is also a difficult thing to swing. Again, it’s late-August. Most teams are fleshing out their rosters with training camp invites, not trying to pull off blockbuster trades.

Also, let’s spend a little time talking about preserving cap space for 2024. It’s been massively overstated how much cap space the 76ers can get to.

As it stands today, the NBA projects the salary cap to land at $142 million for the 2024-25 season. That’s a very modest 4.4% increase from this season. Even if the league is being very conservative, let’s run with that $142 million projection for now.

This is what Philadelphia has on the books for the 2024-25 season:

• Joel Embiid - $51,415,938
• Filip Petrusev - $1,891,857 (non-guaranteed)
• Paul Reed - $7,723,000 (non-guaranteed unless team makes second round of 2024 playoffs)
• Jaden Springer - $4,018,363 (4th year rookie scale team option)
• P.J. Tucker - $11,539,000 (player option)
• 2024 First Round Pick (projected at #25): $2,739,360

The 76ers can also have a host of cap holds for free agents, but in order to have cap space, they’ll need to renounce most of those players. These are the two free agent cap holds that Philadelphia is most likely to carry into the 2024 offseason:

• Tyrese Maxey - $13,031,760 (restricted free agent coming off rookie scale deal)
• De’Anthony Melton - $15,200,000 (unrestricted free agent coming off less than average salary)

Our projection for the 76ers cap space for 2024 is $32,961,798. We don’t project trades, so here’s what is included in that projection:

• Embiid
• Reed
• Tucker
• 2024 First Round Pick
• Maxey cap hold
• Melton cap hold

For reference, $32.9 million in cap space is less than the 0-6 Years of Service maximum salary, which projects to be $35.5 million (25% of the cap).

Now, let’s play a bit…

Let’s say Morey can get off everything but Embiid’s salary and Maxey’s cap hold. And, to be honest, that isn’t all that far-fetched of a scenario. That would give the 76ers $65,237,062 in cap space against a cap of $142 million.

For reference, a 7-9 Years of Service maximum salary for 2024-25 projects to be $42.6 million (30% of the cap). A 10-plus Years of Service maximum salary projects to be $49.7 million (35% of the cap).

So, we’re definitely in range of a maximum signing at 25%, 30% or 35% of the cap. And there would even be enough left over to sign another player or two, plus the $8 million room exception. But that’s still well shy of the double max salary space that has been touted in the basketball-sphere in recent weeks.

Let’s play a bit more…

Let’s say the Sixers wipe everything off the books except for Embiid and Maxey AND the cap goes up the maximum of 10%. That’s kind of the dream scenario for Morey and Philadelphia. In that situation, the cap would be $149.6 million for 2024-25.

If that happens, then the Sixers would be looking at about $70-72 million or so in cap space. Better than $65 million, and certainly better than $33 million. But that also involves a lot of “if this and this and this and this” happening to get there.

In an attempt to simplify this a bit: The Philadelphia 76ers have good cap flexibility, but they aren’t landing two max free agents in the summer of 2024. That would take some salary cap gymnastics that are simply too unrealistic to really consider. A single max free agent to add to Embiid and Maxey, as well as some leftover spending power, that’s a far more realistic scenario. And it’s not really a bad one!

Summary

This is a mess. It has been for a while, and will continue to be one, especially as the ugliness seems to be amping up. James Harden seems unlikely to back down, and has reportedly threatened to make things “uncomfortable” if he’s not traded.

Daryl Morey is going to find it hard to achieve all of his stated goals in making a Harden deal. It’s just not realistic to expect to find contention-level players, who are also on expiring contracts.

The NBA itself is in an increasingly tricky spot. If Harden continues to push that he was promised things that haven’t come to fruition, the league is going to have to investigate just how far things went in the summer of 2022. If there is proof that there were wink-wink and under-the-table agreements, the league will hammer Philadelphia with massive penalties.

When the Minnesota Timberwolves and Joe Smith had shady dealings, the NBA came down hard. The Wolves lost five first-round picks (two of them were later returned), were hit with a $3.5 million fine and then owner Glen Taylor was suspended for a year. It’s fair to expect Adam Silver and the league office would hit the 76ers with similar consequences.

To be fair, there’s no indication that’s going to happen. So far, Harden has held firm that his “liar” comments were about Morey not trading him quickly after opting in. But the longer this situation drags on, the uglier it could get.

As with all trade negotiations, the parties involved often set unrealistic terms early on. No one wants to give up everything in the first conservation. As time goes along, one side comes up down from their ask, while the other comes up with their offer, and the deal gets done.

In this situation, we have a pretty clear deadline about a month or so from now, with training camp on the horizon. Harden doesn’t want to be in Philadelphia, and says he won’t be. The 76ers aren’t going to want an awkward media day and opening to the new season. NFL executive-turned-analyst Andrew Brandt is fond of saying “Deadlines spur action” and that applies here.

Morey will come down in his asking price, perhaps because the idea of maximizing cap space is a somewhat futile one. He’ll come away with a collection of good players, along with retaining a good amount of cap flexibility. Harden will land elsewhere (probably with the Clippers, because players generally get their way), and we’ll move on.

If that’s not the way this plays out, it’s going to become an ugly staring contest for no good reason. And that’s going to have spillover to the rest of the roster. The rumor mill is already churning regarding Joel Embiid. If this gets to a point where Embiid is agitated enough to want a change of scenery, it’ll be a failure of epic proportions.

We aren’t there yet, and probably won’t get there. But avoiding that has to be part of the equation. That’s why it behooves Philadelphia to get a deal done and to move onto whatever is next.

The NBA offseason is fully into the dog days of August. We’re still waiting to see when (if?) Damian Lillard or James Harden gets traded. One situation has been curiously quiet, while the other has been contentiously loud. But both Lillard and Harden remain in Portland and Philadelphia, respectively.

But everyone else is filling out training camp rosters at this point. That means it’s time to reset where each roster stands. We’re going to look at who is returning, who was acquired and who has departed. We’ll also answer a few key questions about each team.

We covered the Atlantic Division, Central Division, Pacific Division and Southwest Division already. Next up: The Southeast Division!

Atlanta Hawks

Players Returning (11)

Saddiq Bey, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela, Bruno Fernando, A.J. Griffin Jr., De’Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, Garrison Mathews, Dejounte Murray, Onyeka Okongwu, Trae Young

Players Added (6)

Kobe Bufkin, Mouhamed Gueye, Seth Lundy (two-way), Wesley Matthews, Patty Mills, Miles Norris (two-way)

Players Lost (5)

John Collins, Trent Forrest (two-way), Aaron Holiday, Tyrese Martin, Donovan Williams (two-way)

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Atlanta is $9.7 million under the luxury tax line.

Spending Power Remaining

The Hawks have the full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE left, plus the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception. Atlanta also has the NBA’s largest TPE at $23 million from the John Collins trade.

Biggest Move of the Summer

We’re going to give this one a tie. One move involved a player moving on and one move involved retaining a player.

Atlanta finally traded John Collins, following years of speculation that they would do so. In the end, Collins was salary-dumped to Utah Jazz. Atlanta created necessary room under the tax line, and also freed up some frontcourt playing time. No one who can replace Collins is nearly as accomplished as he is, but they are all significantly cheaper. And for an expensive team that’s achieved average results, something had to give for the Hawks.

On the retention side, Atlanta agreed to a four-year, $114 million extension with Dejounte Murray. That’s far less than the max Murray was eligible for, but a good example of the new extension rules in the CBA getting a deal done. For better or worse, Atlanta is now committed to a backcourt of Murray and Trae Young, and Quin Snyder has to find a way to make it work.

Work To Do

The Hawks roster is basically finished. They have a two-way spot to fill. Atlanta waived Vit Krejci recently, which got them down to 15 players on standard spots.

With the roster complete, Quin Snyder can spend camp implementing his systems, while figuring out his rotation. Collins and his 30 minutes per game need to be replaced. The guess here is that some combination of Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson and maybe some small-ball lineups will be the way the Hawks do it. Keep an eye on Johnson. He started to come on late in his second season and seems ready to make a leap this year.

Charlotte Hornets

Players Returning (11)

LaMelo Ball, James Bouknight, Gordon Hayward, Kai Jones, Cody Martin, Bryce McGowens, Nick Richards, Terry Rozier III, Kobi Simmons, J.T. Thor, Mark Williams

Players Added (6)

Amari Bailey (two-way), Leaky Black (two-way), Miles Bridges, Brandon Miller, Frank Ntilikina, Nick Smith Jr.

Players Lost (6)

Theo Maledon (two-way), Svi Mykhailiuk, Kelly Oubre Jr., Xavier Sneed (two-way), P.J. Washington

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Charlotte is about $46.7 million under the luxury tax

Spending Power Remaining

The Hornets have the full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE left, plus the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Signing LaMelo Ball to a five-year, maximum contract rookie scale extension. Ball is Charlotte’s most important player and they got him to sign a five-year extension to stick around long-term. That’s huge for building out this roster and what the Hornets hope to be.

Behind extending Ball is drafting Brandon Miller. Charlotte chose Miller instead of Scoot Henderson, who most thought was the second-best player in the draft. But Miller is a better positional fit for the Hornets, and he’s got a ton of talent himself. If Miller can develop into a running mate for Ball, Charlotte will have two important positions covered for years.

Miles Bridges will be back this season, after he signed his qualifying offer. When he last played in 2021-22, Bridges looked like he was on the verge of being an All-Star. An ugly domestic violence incident kept Bridges out all of last season, and he’ll serve a 10-game suspension to open next season. (Bridges was given a 30-game total suspension, but deemed to have served 20 games when he did not play last season.) Bridges has an opportunity to show he’s an improving and better person, to go along with his basketball talent. But he has a lot of work to do to prove himself again.

Off the court, Michael Jordan sold the Hornets to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. This ends Jordan’s up-and-mostly-down reign running the Charlotte franchise. It’ll take some time before we can judge what sort of owners Plotkin and Schnall will be.

Work To Do

Charlotte only has a two-way spot left to fill, but they aren’t done with their roster yet. P.J. Washington remains a restricted free agent. Washington reportedly wants a contract that averages $20 million per season. That’s pretty far away from where the Hornets have been.

That means we’re in range of Washington signing the qualifying offer, a la Miles Bridges, and playing out the year before unrestricted free agency in 2024. The other option is to find a sign-and-trade for Washington. That’s occasionally happened late in the offseason, with Lauri Markkanen joining the Cleveland Cavaliers from the Chicago Bulls as a recent example.

If Washington is back, that makes a somewhat crowded frontcourt even more so, especially after Bridges returns. Washington, Bridges, Gordon Hayward and rookie Brandon Miller will all need plenty of minutes and one or two of them will have to go to the bench. That’s a potentially combustible situation, with Bridges, Hayward and Washington playing for their next deals and Miller needing run as a rookie.

Miami Heat

Players Returning (11)

Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Jamal Cain (two-way), Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson, Orlando Robinson

Players Added (5)

Jamaree Bouyea (two-way), Thomas Bryant, Jaime, Jaquez Jr., Josh Richardson, Dru Smith (two-way)

Players Lost (6)

Udonis Haslem, Victor Oladipo, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Omer Yurtseven, Cody Zeller

Roster Openings

2 standard spots.

Cap/Tax Status

Miami is $1.8 million below the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining

The Heat have the full $5 million Taxpayer MLE remaining. However, Miami doesn’t have enough clearance under the second apron to use more than $1.8 million of it. And using the Taxpayer MLE would hard cap the Heat at the second apron. That makes the Taxpayer MLE unlikely to be used for the time being.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Signing Josh Richardson…we guess? We all know the story here. Miami is trying to figure out a way to collect the necessary assets to trade for Damian Lillard. That pursuit has more or less put the rest of the Heat’s offseason on pause. Until Miami trades for Lillard, or moves on from trading for him, their offseason has an air of incompleteness around it.

That said, signing Richardson at the veteran minimum was a great pickup. He’ll play a big role for Miami and returns to the team where he had the best years of his career. His ability to play on- or off-ball, and as a starter or a reserve, is also helpful for a roster that is still being molded.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. just feels like a Heat player. He could add some nice depth as a rangy forward who can do a little bit of everything.

Thomas Bryant is a nice rehab project for Miami. He was pretty good for the Washington Wizards a few years back before tearing his ACL. The Heat have a history of getting players right, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Bryant have a bounce-back season.

Work To Do

The Heat need to trade for Lillard or not. There really isn’t a whole lot else to do. If they don’t trade for Lillard, they’ll wage a five-way battle for roster spots in training camp. And it’s a pretty good bet that one of those players will eventually play key rotation minutes for Miami.

But really, this is all about a Lillard trade. Nothing else here can approach the impact of getting that deal done.

Orlando Magic

Players Returning (14)

Cole Anthony, Paolo Banchero, Goga Bitadze, Wendell Carter Jr., Makelle Fultz, Gary Harris, Kevon Harris (two-way), Caleb Houstan, Jonathan Isaac, Chuma Okeke, Admiral Schofield (two-way), Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Moritz Wagner

Players Added (3)

Anthony Black, Jett Howard, Joe Ingles

Players Lost (3)

Bol Bol, Michael Carter-Williams, Jay Scrubb (two-way)

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

The Magic are $34.3 million under the luxury tax line.

Spending Power Remaining

Orlando has the full $7.7 million room exception remaining.

Biggest Move of the Summer

For this season: signing Joe Ingles. For the long-term: drafting Anthony Black and Jett Howard.

Orlando is trying to push up the standing. After last season’s disastrous 5-20 start, Orlando went 29-28. The Magic believe they are closer to that .500 team of the final two-thirds of the season, than the injury-plagued group that opened the year.

We’re inclined to believe them. That’s why signing Ingles makes sense. He’ll be the grownup in a young locker room, while providing some shooting and a lot of ball movement on the floor. Ingles is more 3/4 now, than the 2/3 he used to be, but that’s fine. He’ll play about 20 minutes a night and help this fledgling group mature.

Black and Howard were this year’s first-round picks. Black is ready to defend in the NBA right now, but the rest of his game needs work. He has to improve his shot and his playmaking, but he oozes potential. Howard is closer to ready to contribute as an NBA shooter, but the rest of his game is where he needs to improve. Because Orlando’s roster is pretty loaded with young talent, neither Black nor Howard might make much of an impact this season.

Work To Do

Jamahl Mosley can have some fun in training camp this year, assuming his guys stay healthy. The Magic are deep in guys who can play. Just as importantly: Orlando is deep in guys who need to play. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner will come into camp off a summer of national team experience, along with a few others. But it’s those two burgeoning stars who are ready to take another big step forward.

This season is about figuring out who fits around Banchero and Wagner, while also winning more games. The Magic have a lot of the rotation to figure out, especially in the backcourt, but that’s better than the “no healthy perimeter players” situation that Mosley started last season with. This time, things are starting from a far better place.

Washington Wizards

Players Returning (8)

Deni Avdija, Xavier Cooks, Johnny Davis, Daniel Gafford, Anthony Gill, Corey Kispert, Kyle Kuzma, Delon Wright

Players Added (10)

Jared Butler (two-way), Patrick Baldwin Jr., Bilal Coulibaly, Danilo Gallinari, Tyus Jones, Mike Muscala, Eugene Omoruyi (two-way), Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, Landry Shamet

Players Lost (9)

Bradley Beal, Taj Gibson, Jordan Goodwin, Jay Huff (two-way), Quenton Jackson (two-way), Monte Morris, Kendrick Nunn, Kristaps Porzingis, Isaiah Todd

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

The Wizards are $26.9 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

Washington has the full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE left, plus the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Leaning fully into a rebuild. Washington traded away Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, and shed a lot of the long-term salary they had on their cap sheet. They also picked up several draft picks in the Beal trade, in addition to the new cap flexibility. These moves truly mark a new direction for the Wizards.

Washington committed some of that newfound cap flexibility to Jordan Poole, who they acquired by flipping Chris Paul after the Beal trade, and by re-signing Kyle Kuzma. The two veterans will give the Wizards scoring and shooting, as the roster develops over the next few years.

Tyus Jones was a very solid pickup in the Porzingis trade. He’s long been thought of as someone who could handle a starting role. It looks like we’ll find out, as Jones is the best Washington has at the point guard position.

Everyone else the Wizards acquired this summer is a mix of flyers on young players and veterans that were included for salary reasons. Washington will have opportunities for players to emerge or for vets to get their careers back on track.

Work To Do

The Wizards have to cut or trade a player with a guaranteed standard salary to get into roster compliance. They also have a two-way spot to fill.

Beyond that, Washington could extend Deni Avdija, as he’s eligible for a rookie scale extension. Given the in-progress nature of the Wizards roster, that one might play out to restricted free agency next summer. For now, only Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Poole and rookie Bilal Coulibaly seem to have guaranteed long-term futures with the Wizards. Everyone else is playing for a spot for this season and beyond, both in Washington and, for some, in the NBA as a whole.

The 2023 NBA offseason is mostly behind us. Why only mostly? Well, Damian Lillard and James Harden still call Portland and Philadelphia home, respectively. Until those guys are traded (more likely) or show up for training camp (less likely), the offseason won’t really be wrapped up.

But outside of those two stars, rosters are more or less set to open the 2023-24 season. And that means we can start looking ahead by nearly a year to what the landscape looks like for the 2024 NBA offseason.

The NBA CBA negotiations wrapped up without any sort of major hitches. No work stoppages and everything is moving forward as per usual. The salary cap settled at just over $136 million for the 2023-24 season. That was a 10% increase over last year’s cap of about $123.6 million. The luxury tax landed at $165.6 million, with the tax apron coming in at $172.3 million. The new second tax apron (it really is a shame that “super tax” hasn’t caught on more!) is set at $182.8 million.

For the 2024-25 season, the NBA is being very conservative. Initial projections are that we’ll see just a 4.4% increase. That means a cap of $142 million, a tax line of $172.5 million, first apron of $179.9 million and second apron of $190.8 million. The reason for this conservative projection is likely driven by the uncertainty with several Regional Sports Networks (RSNs). Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports, currently broadcasts games for about half of the NBA teams. They are going through bankruptcy proceedings, and that’s caused issues for those teams, and the league as a whole. Thus, the conservative cap projection.

We’re basing everything on the NBA’s official projection. Yes, there is a good chance the cap raises by more than a modest 4.4%. It might even go up the full 10%, which many smart capologists are betting on. But for now, for consistency purposes, we run with the league’s official projection.

With all of that said, here’s our first pass at what the spending power landscape might look like in the summer of 2024.

(Note: These projections are made using the noted cap and tax figures above, draft pick cap holds based on projected standings and a projection on all option and guarantee decisions by players and teams. No extensions or trades have been projected. We will call out where those types of situations could impact a team projection.)

Cap Space Teams – 7 Teams

1. San Antonio Spurs: $55.3 million

2. Orlando Magic: $51.3 million

3. Utah Jazz: $41.6 million

4. Charlotte Hornets: $40.7 million

5. Detroit Pistons: $38.7 million

6. Philadelphia 76ers: $32.9 million

7. Washington Wizards: $20.1 million

Seven teams project to have cap space in 2024. Not only will these teams likely go the cap space route, but they’ll also have the $8.1 million Room Exception too. In the new CBA world, the Room Exception has more spending power than the Taxpayer MLE does. So, these seven teams are kind of in control of the free agent board.

The Spurs are highly likely to use some of their $55 million in an extension for Devin Vassell. But even a deal of $20 million or more would leave San Antonio with considerable cap space. There’s also a world where the Spurs choose to keep Vassell’s moderate cap hold of $17.7 million on the books to maximize their cap space, while re-signing Vassell after.

This projection for the Magic is largely dependent on Orlando moving on from Jonathan Isaac. Given that his deal is fully non-guaranteed for 2024-25, and he still can’t stay healthy, it’s probably time for the Magic to go in a different direction. Orlando may use a chunk of this space to re-sign Markelle Fultz and/or Cole Anthony. They could also extend Fultz and/or Anthony before it gets to that point. Either way, the Magic should have the ability to add some major talent to a developing young roster.

Utah is sitting pretty. They’ve got all of their core players under contract, with a ton potential cap space. Some of this spending power could be used to renegotiate-and-extend Lauri Markkanen’s deal. That’s en vogue at the moment, with Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, as well as Jazzman Jordan Clarkson, having inked such deals in the last year. If Utah chooses to let things play out with Markkanen, they could be a major player in free agency, as they’ve got a ready-to-win roster.

The Hornets are a tricky projection. As of this writing, P.J. Washington hasn’t re-signed. If he signs a long-term deal, that will eat into some of this $40 million in spending power. If Washington signs his qualifying offer for this season, a la teammate Miles Bridges, he’ll be headed towards unrestricted free agency and a potential departure next summer. We’re betting on the latter for now and the Hornets having cap space to build around an extended LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller.

Detroit feels like they are perpetually in this spot of sitting on a bunch of cap space with an interesting roster of vets and young players. This season will give us a big sense of the Pistons plans. If they’re competitive, they might use some of this space to add more veteran talent. If they struggle again, then it’s probably time to move on from some of the older players and reset once again around the kids.

The 76ers are a bit of a mess. The James Harden drama lingers over the team, but Philadelphia has given us some clues as to their plans for next summer, independent of the Harden situation. By not extending Tyrese Maxey, who is the organization’s second-most important player behind Joel Embiid, the Sixers are signaling they intend to have cap space next summer. It won’t be the “double max contract” cap room that’s been bandied about, but Philadelphia will have enough to make some moves as they rebuild around Embiid and an ultimately re-signed restricted free agent Maxey.

Washington cleaned up their cap sheet considerably, despite taking on Jordan Poole’s contract and re-signing Kyle Kuzma. But both of those guys make less than Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis by a considerable amount, so the Wizards are in a better spot both short- and long-term. They could easily stay over the cap, as $20 million is right in range where that becomes and either/or decision. If the Wizards retain Tyus Jones, they’ll end up staying over the cap. If not, then they’ll be hunting for a point guard to put next to Kuzma and Poole.

Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Teams – 10 Teams

1. Brooklyn Nets

2. Chicago Bulls

3. Houston Rockets

4. Indiana Pacers

5. Miami Heat

6. New Orleans Pelicans

7. New York Knicks

8. Oklahoma City Thunder

9. Sacramento Kings

10. Toronto Raptors

These 10 teams project to have access to the beefed-up Non-Taxpayer MLE of $12.95 million. This group is mostly full of playoff contenders, or teams trying to get into that position.

The Nets have rebuilt on the fly in an impressive manner. Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson are signed for the next three and four seasons, respectively. The draft pick situation has been reset with the trades of their former Big 3. Of the team’s free agents, Nic Claxton is the most important one to get re-signed. Brooklyn can do that and still have plenty of clearance under the tax line to use the full Non-Taxpayer MLE.

Chicago didn’t make a lot of their fans happy by extending Nikola Vucevic and re-signing Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. This wasn’t a group that was screaming “Run it back!”. But the Bulls have a solid group, even if there are question marks. Pending what happens with re-signing or extending DeMar DeRozan and/or Patrick Williams, Chicago could have enough room to use the Non-Taxpayer MLE. That’s not bad, considering the team is still working around Lonzo Ball’s salary on the books, while he tries to come back from his knee injury.

Houston spent big this summer, and that probably took them out of the cap space derby for next summer. That’s fine. The Rockets are trying to push things forward. The roster remains pretty full, so Houston should be able to spend the full MLE on a targeted signing.

The Pacers are kind of in the same spot as the Rockets, but about a year ahead on the rebuilding timeline. Indiana is ready to win now. Their young guys are ready now, and they’ve got vets in place. Indiana’s cap sheet is also relatively clean. They’ve got a few pending free agents, but even if they re-sign or extend guys like Buddy Hield and Obi Toppin, the Pacers will likely have the ability to use the full MLE.

Miami…what to do with Miami? Projecting where the Heat will be next summer is kind of an exercise in futility. If they trade for Damian Lillard, they’ll likely be a tax team, and potentially up against the super tax. If they don’t, the Heat could have the Non-Taxpayer MLE to add someone alongside all the names you already know. We’ll definitely be updating this one down the line, as this situation remains very much in flux.

The Pelicans are dancing around the tax line this season, but could have enough clearance to use the full MLE next summer. A lot depends on what happens with Jonas Valanciunas. He wants an extension, but New Orleans seems at least as open to trading him, as they do extending him. If the latter happens, the Pels could have some money to spend in the form of the MLE.

The Knicks are probably going to spend a good chunk of change to extend Immanuel Quickley. Or they should, at least. Even so, they should still have room to use the full Non-Taxpayer MLE. The only way this projection changes is if Evan Fournier is traded to bring long-term money onto the books. Then, the Knicks will probably be a Taxpayer MLE team.

It might be a surprise to see the Thunder here, as opposed to in the cap space section, but they’re carrying more money than most think. The good news? None of that is bad salary. A few years of high and multiple draft picks, along with a few smart re-signings, have the team just over the cap. Also working for Oklahoma City is that they can use the full MLE on a targeted player, because they have a mostly full roster too.

Sacramento is coming off their best season in forever, and they’ve got the ability to keep the good times rolling. The Kings should be about $20 million clear of the luxury tax line next summer. They’ll use some of the clearance to re-sign Malik Monk, but Sacramento should still have enough room to use the full Non-Taxpayer MLE. For a team that doesn’t need a lot, that’s a great spot to be in.

The Raptors are in a weird spot. Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. will likely be free agents, along with probably Precious Achiuwa. If those guys all came off the books entirely, Toronto could have a ton of cap space. If one of two them return, the Raps are over the cap. If all returned, they’re probably up against the tax. It’ll probably fall in the middle, and that leaves Toronto with the MLE to spend.

Taxpayer Mid-Level Teams – 7 Teams

1. Atlanta Hawks

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

3. Dallas Mavericks

4. Denver Nuggets

5. Los Angeles Lakers

6. Minnesota Timberwolves

7. Portland Trail Blazers

The Taxpayer MLE is no longer much of an advantage for the NBA’s more-expensive teams. It’s been knocked down to just $5.22 million in value for 2024-25. The real kicker is that using the Taxpayer MLE hard caps a team at the second tax apron. That makes it hard to find the right amount of wiggle room to use this MLE, while staying under that hard cap.

Atlanta reset their cap sheet by salary-dumping John Collins. Pending extensions for Onyeka Okongwu and Saddiq Bey, the Hawks could be right back to bumping against the luxury tax line. Extending Okongwu seems important, given the trade of Collins and Clint Capela having just two years left on his deal. There’s also the fact that Okongwu is pushing Capela for the Hawks best big man status. Add it all up, and Atlanta is probably working right around the tax apron next season.

The Cavs spent a good chunk of money this offseason. Combine that with Darius Garland’s extension and Donovan Mitchell’s and Jarrett Allen’s deals, and Cleveland is as expensive as they’ve been since LeBron James was on the team. If Ricky Rubio retires, the Cavaliers could probably angle themselves in a spot to use the full Non-Taxpayer MLE. But for now, put them in Taxpayer MLE territory.

The Mavericks are just below the tax line, but that’s before extending or re-signing Josh Green. He’s an integral part of the team’s rotation (and a likely starter this season), so Green will be extended or re-signed. That’ll leave Dallas working with either the Taxpayer MLE, or maybe dancing just below the second apron line.

Denver is sitting about $6.3 million under the second apron. That should give them juuuuuuust enough room to use the Taxpayer MLE and to sign a player to a minimum deal. That’s good news, because Denver should only have one or two roster spots to fill. If they can shed a salary or two, they’ll have even more wiggle room under the super tax.

The Lakers have rebuilt their roster, but still left themselves some room to work. And if some guys move on, then Los Angeles will have even more room to work with. They’ll probably have several roster spots to fill, so using their MLE in a productive way is very important to the Lakers. Things will probably look similar to this summer, with lots of movement through re-signings, using the MLE and minimum deals.

Minnesota is going to be up against the tax to open next summer. They’ve got most of their core guys signed, but if Jaden McDaniels extends, they’ll be well over the tax. If not, they have to carve out room to re-sign McDaniels next summer. He’s their best all-around defender and a better-than-you-think offensive player. Pending what he signs for, the Wolves could even be approaching super tax status.

Portland is in a similar place to Miami and Philadelphia. We don’t really know where to put them. For now, with Damian Lillard’s $48.8 million on the books, the Blazers are close to being a super tax team. If they move on from Lillard, they’ll still probably take back at least some long-term money. We’re going to split the difference and call them a Taxpayer team for now, owning that this could change greatly.

Super Tax Teams (no signing exception) – 6 Teams

1. Boston Celtics

2. Golden State Warriors

3. LA Clippers

4. Memphis Grizzlies

5. Milwaukee Bucks

6. Phoenix Suns

This is the same group as this current season, minus swapping out the Heat for the Grizzlies, and there’s a good chance Miami lands back here again too. This group also comprises some of the top contenders in the NBA. If you’re going to spend this much, you better be in the mix for the Finals.

Reminder: Super Tax teams are limited to re-signing their own free agents, signing their draft picks and signing minimum deals. And in the summer of 2024, the new and far-more restrictive trade rules will be in full effect, as well.

Boston is set to be over the second apron by virtue of signing Jaylen Brown to his super max extension. The Celtics also extended Kristaps Porzingis. They’ll likely have a few roster spots to fill, and that’ll happen through the draft or veteran minimum signings. With extensions looming for Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, Boston will probably be in this spot for the next few years.

Golden State could get out of the super tax mix. Could. Not likely to happen though. That would mean the Warriors re-signed Klay Thompson to a deal worth a fraction of what he makes now, or they let him walk entirely. If Thompson looks good and the Dubs contend, they’ll run it back for at least a couple more years of the super tax.

The Clippers are fascinating. They could be the most expensive roster in the league if they extend or re-sign all their major free agents (including maybe James Harden?). Or LA could be resetting their roster with around $100 million in cap space. Bet on the former, as the Clips are going to try to keep this group together to get them to that elusive Finals berth. With a new arena opening, LA isn’t going to want to be rebuilding.

It might surprise some to see Memphis here. The Grizzlies have been thought of as an up-and-coming team with great flexibility. Well, they’re here now. Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. will all be on their extended deals, and the team traded for Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart in the last year. All that salary has Memphis just below the second apron and without any kind of signing exceptions projected for next season. That’s no big deal for the Grizzlies, because their roster is basically full as is.

Milwaukee’s projection mostly involves an idea that the team will extend or re-sign Jrue Holiday. If Holiday approaches a deal in the range of $35 to $40 million in first-year salary, then the Bucks will probably be right around the super tax. If Holiday takes a discount, Milwaukee could be far enough under the second apron to use the Taxpayer MLE.

Phoenix has over $185 million committed to the foursome of Deandre Ayton, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. That’s less than $6 million under the second apron with 11 roster spots to fill. Much like this past summer, when the Suns nailed their minimum signings, they’ll be in the same boat for at least the next couple of years. They’ll need to do similarly good work to flesh out their roster around their big-money quartet.

The NBA offseason is just about wrapped up. As of this writing, we’re still waiting on trades for Damian Lillard, James Harden and maybe Pascal Siakam. There are a handful of impact free agents left on the board, but every team has used almost all of their meaningful cap space. There are lots of exceptions left, but it seems as though teams are in wait-and-see mode, as the calendar moves into the dog days of August.

That means it’s time to reset where each roster stands. We’re going to look at who is returning, who was acquired and who has departed. We’ll also answer a few key questions about each team.

We covered the Atlantic Division, Central Division and Pacific Division already. Next up: The Southwest Division!

Dallas Mavericks

Players Returning (9)

Luka Doncic, Josh Green, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jaden Hardy, Kyrie Irving, Maxi Kleber, A.J. Lawson (two-way), JaVale McGee, Dwight Powell

Players Added (7)

Seth Curry, Dante Exum, Richaun Holmes, Dereck Lively II, Mike Miles Jr. (two-way), Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Grant Williams

Players Lost (8)

Davis Bertans, Reggie Bullock, Justin Holiday, Markieff Morris, Frank Ntilikina, Theo Pinson, Christian Wood, McKinley Wright IV (two-way)

Roster Openings

1 standard and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Dallas is $4.1 million under the luxury tax line.

Spending Power Remaining

The Mavs have $5.4 million remaining of the Non-Taxpayer MLE.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Re-signing Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks did a lot of things this summer, but re-signing Irving has to be at the top of the list. Irving is a superstar and Dallas gave up quite a bit to get him in last season’s trade. The Mavs also got Irving for far less than the full maximum deal that he could have signed. Irving signed for more than $10 million less than his first-year max salary, and he signed a three-year deal too. All-around, this deal is a win for both the Mavericks and Irving.

Dallas also beefed up their frontcourt by signing-and-trading for Grant Williams, trading for Richaun Holmes and re-signing Dwight Powell. All three should be integral members of the Mavs big man rotation, along with the returning Maxi Kleber. Williams is effectively the replacement for Dorian Finney-Smith, who was traded to get Irving. And a bonus for Dallas is that Williams is making slightly less than Finney-Smith over the next few seasons.

Work To Do

Dallas has a couple of roster spots to fill. They’ve also been openly shopping Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee. That’s about $23.6 million in matching salary that could bring back a rotation upgrade.

Josh Green is also extension-eligible. Negotiations on a extending his rookie deal could continue up to the start of the regular season. Green has become an important player on both ends of the floor for Dallas, so keep an eye on these discussions.

Houston Rockets

Players Returning (8)

Darius Days (two-way), Tari Eason, Jalen Green, Trevor Hudgins (two-way), Kevin Porter Jr., Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Jae’Sean Tate

Players Added (8)

Dillon Brooks, Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday, Jock Landale, Jermaine Samuels (two-way), Amen Thompson, Fred VanVleet, Cameron Whitmore

Players Lost (9)

D.J. Augustin, Willie Cauley-Stein, Josh Christopher, Usman Garuba, Frank Kaminsky, Boban Marjanovic, Kenyon Martin Jr., Daishen Nix, TyTy Washington Jr.

Roster Openings

1 standard spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Houston is about $21.6 million under the luxury tax

Spending Power Remaining

The Rockets have the full $7.7 million Room Exception available.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Adding veterans to the roster. Houston made it clear months before free agency started that they would be attempting add veterans to the roster. Mission accomplished. The Rockets add over 30 years in combined veteran experience this summer.

The key guys are Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks. Both should start and will be good fits in upgrading first-year head coach Ime Udoka’s defense. Jeff Green and Jock Landale both have an opportunity to play key rotation roles off the bench, while putting pressure on Houston’s kids to play the right way.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Rockets summer is perhaps a good illustration of what happens when you have too many draft picks. You can’t keep everyone, while simultaneously adding outside talent. That saw Houston effectively salary-dump former first-round selections in Josh Christopher, Usman Garuba and TyTy Washington. None are major losses, but it’s a cautionary tale on hanging on to every draft pick you acquire while rebuilding.

Work To Do

The Rockets have one roster spot to fill. They’ve got four players on camp deals, so one of them could claim that spot. Or Houston could pick up a veteran that needs a home ahead of the season.

Beyond that, the work falls on Ime Udoka. In his first year with the Rockets, he has to meld the returning youngsters with the veterans into a cohesive rotation and team. The talent is there, it’s up to Udoka and the players to make it work.

Memphis Grizzlies

Players Returning (15)

Steven Adams, Santi Aldama, Desmond Bane, Brandon Clarke, Jacob Gilyard (two-way), Jaren Jackson Jr., Luke Kennard, John Konchar, Jake LaRavia, Kenneth Lofton Jr., Ja Morant, David Roddy, Xavier Tillman Sr., Ziaire Williams, Vince Williams Jr. (two-way)

Players Added (4)

Josh Christopher, Derrick Rose, Marcus Smart, Isaiah Todd

Players Lost (2)

Dillon Brooks, Tyus Jones

Roster Openings

None.

Cap/Tax Status

Memphis is $13.4 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

The Grizzlies have their full $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE available, as well as the full $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Trading for Marcus Smart. Memphis didn’t have a lot of roster turnover, as they are returning a league-high 15 players from last season, but they did well with the few moves they did make. The Grizzlies added Smart to effectively replace the two rotation players they lost in Dillon Brooks and Tyus Jones.

Smart will likely start at point guard for Memphis to open the season, while Ja Morant is suspended. Then when Morant returns, Smart will likely start in the spot that formerly belonged to Brooks, while also functioning as the backup point guard. Smart’s defense and playmaking will be welcomed additions for the Grizzlies on both ends.

Memphis also did well to add Derrick Rose as a backup point guard. Rose will likely be needed in the first part of the year while Morant is out, then he can transition into a depth role.

Work To Do

The Grizzlies roster is so full that they’ll have to cut two players with guaranteed contracts. That may be two guys they acquired in trades this summer in Josh Christopher and Isaiah Todd. Memphis likes to keep their own drafted and developed players, so Christopher and Todd may not be long for the roster.

New Orleans Pelicans

Players Returning (13)

Jose Alvarado, Dyson Daniels, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones, Kira Lewis Jr., E.J. Liddell, Naji Marshall, C.J. McCollum, Trey Murphy III, Larry Nance Jr., Dereon Seabron (two-way), Jonas Valanciunas, Zion Williamson

Players Added (2)

Jordan Hawkins, Cody Zeller

Players Lost (4)

Jaxson Hayes, Willy Hernangomez, Josh Richardson, Garrett Temple

Roster Openings

2 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status

The Pelicans are $2.9 million over the luxury tax line.

Spending Power Remaining

New Orleans has $10.6 million remaining of their Non-Taxpayer MLE and all of their $4.5 million Bi-Annuel Exception.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Re-signing Herb Jones. New Orleans acted a year early in re-signing Jones, but they now have him locked up for the next four years. He’s on the cusp of being a mainstay on the All-Defense team, and the offense is coming along. Jones is a perfect fit alongside the team’s stars, so retaining him was important.

The next biggest move was one the Pelicans didn’t make. They didn’t trade Zion Williamson. Was that a mistake? Only time, and Williamson’s health, will give us that answer. When healthy, he’s been a star. But…well…you know.

Work To Do

New Orleans needs to sign a couple of two-way players, but the roster is pretty well set. Jonas Valanciunas is extension-eligible and has made it known he’d like to extend. He’s also been rumored in just about any trade package involving the Pels this summer. We’ll see how that one plays out.

Also, this may go into the season, maybe as deep as the trade deadline, but expect the Pelicans to get out of the tax. They’re a minor move or two away from ducking under the tax line. Unless they’re a top-tier title contender, they’ll make the necessary moves to get out of paying the tax.

San Antonio Spurs

Players Returning (14)

Dominick Barlow (two-way), Charles Bassey, Khem Birch, Malaki Branham, Julian Champagnie, Zach Collins, Devonte’ Graham, Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Doug McDermott, Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell, Blake Wesley

Players Added (6)

Reggie Bullock, Sidy Cissoko, Cedi Osman, Cameron Payne, Sir’Jabari Rice (two-way), Victor Wembanyama

Players Lost (3)

Keita Bates-Diop, Gorgui Dieng, Romeo Langford

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

The Spurs are $28.8 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

San Antonio has their full $7.7 million Room Exception available.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Drafting Victor Wembanyama. Did you really think it was going to be anything else?

Look, the Spurs don’t deserve a ton of credit for this one. It was lottery luck that delivered Wembanyama, but San Antonio didn’t overthink it or get cute with a trade. They now have their future superstar and franchise player in place around an exciting young core.

San Antonio also re-signed Tre Jones to a very fair contract and acquired a bunch of veterans in salary-shedding trades. And, arguably right behind drafting Wembanyama on the importance scale: the Spurs re-signed Gregg Popovich to a new contract. He’ll be around to shepherd this group through their early stages of development.

Work To Do

San Antonio is currently three players over the regular season roster limit. That means they’ll be eating some guaranteed salary, barring trades. And that may come in the form of useful veteran players, which means keeping an eye on trades. The Spurs don’t have to get into roster compliance until the end of the preseason. They might be able to see if a playoff contender has a need for one of their players, then swing a deal vs simply cutting them.

Beyond that, Gregg Popovich has to figure out how all of these pieces fit together. The Spurs have a little bit of everything in terms of wings, frontcourt players and on-ball scorers. They’re still a little light at point guard and in playmakers behind Tre Jones. That means ballhandling and on-ball playmaking duties will go to young players who can use the reps. That could get a little messy at times, but it will have long-term benefits for the players and the Spurs.

The NBA offseason is just about wrapped up. As of this writing, we’re still waiting on trades for Damian Lillard, James Harden and maybe Pascal Siakam. There are a handful of impact free agents left on the board, but every team has used almost all of their meaningful cap space. There are lots of exceptions left, but it seems as though teams are in wait-and-see mode, as the calendar moves into the dog days of August.

That means it’s time to reset where each roster stands. We’re going to look at who is returning, who was acquired and who has departed. We’ll also answer a few key questions about each team.

We covered the Atlantic Division and Pacific Division already. Next up: The Central Division!

Chicago Bulls

Players Returning (12) 

Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan, Ayo Dosunmu, Andre Drummond, Carlik Jones, Zach LaVine, Justin Lewis (two-way), Dalen Terry, Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, Patrick Williams

Players Added (5)

Onuralp Bitim (two-way), Jevon Carter, Torrey Craig, Julian Phillips, Adama Sanogo (two-way)

Players Lost (5)

Patrick Beverley, Javonte Green, Derrick Jones Jr., Marko Simonovic, Terry Taylor (two-way)

Roster Openings

None.

Cap/Tax Status

The Bulls are $1.8 million under the luxury tax line.

Spending Power Remaining

Chicago has $6.2 million remaining of the Non-Taxpayer MLE. The Bulls also have a $10.2 million Disabled Player Exception for Lonzo Ball.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Extending Nikola Vucevic. It was a controversial extension, because some Bulls fans were hoping the team would blow up the roster and start over. But Chicago got Vucevic on a fair deal for $60 million over the next three seasons. It would have been better if the Bulls had some protection on the final season of the deal, but it’s still a fair value.

As far as outside additions go, Jevon Carter was a very nice pickup, as was Torrey Craig. Both players will give the Bulls a boost defensively, and both have shot it well in recent years.

Work To Do

Chicago doesn’t have a lot left to do. The roster is more or less finished. They don’t currently have a spot to give a player if they use the Lonzo Ball DPE to sign someone. That means that will be a piece of spending power that lingers into the season.

Mostly, it’s a good, if uninspiring roster. The Bulls should compete for a spot in the playoffs, but likely through the Play-In Tournament. That’s the kind of stuck-in-purgatory situation that Chicago fans were hoping to avoid this season.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Players Returning (10)

Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, Caris LeVert, Sam Merrill, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Isaiah Mobley (two-way), Isaac Okoro, Ricky Rubio, Dean Wade

Players Added (6)

Emoni Bates (two-way), Ty Jerome, Damian Jones, Georges Niang, Craig Porter Jr. (two-way), Max Strus

Players Lost (7)

Mamadi Diakite (two-way), Danny Green, Robin Lopez, Raul Neto, Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler

Roster Openings

2 standard spots.

Cap/Tax Status

The Cavaliers are about $2.8 million under the luxury tax

Spending Power Remaining

The Cavaliers have $3.6 million remaining of the Non-Taxpayer MLE.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Adding shooting via Max Strus, Georges Niang and Ty Jerome. It’s hard to narrow this down to one move, because all three players are going to help Cleveland a lot. Strus got the biggest payday by a wide margin, and he could start on the wing for the Cavs. So, he’s probably the single biggest move.

Cleveland also brough back Caris LeVert on two-year, $32 million deal. That was more than fair, given his ability to be a productive bench scorer. Retaining LeVert should allow the team to avoid offensive droughts when Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell sit.

Finally, sometimes the best moves are ones you don’t make. The Cavaliers didn’t swing a major trade involving one of their core players, despite some chatter that a big deal could be a thing. Instead, they added very solid pieces around that core in hopes of a deeper playoff run this season.

Work To Do

Cleveland has a couple of roster spots to fill. They could use another veteran center to replace Robin Lopez. Damian Jones was a fine addition, considering his minimum deal, but he’s been inconsistent throughout his career. Having Dean Wade healthy will help quite a bit to round out the frontcourt too.

The Cavs could also use one more point guard. Ricky Rubio really struggled last season, and he’ll be 33 years old this season. Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell are awesome, but one more ballhandler for depth purposes should be added before the season starts.

Detroit Pistons

Players Returning (11)

Marvin Bagley III, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Killian Hayes, Jaden Ivey, Isaiah Livers, Jared Rhoden (two-way), Isaiah Stewart II, James Wiseman

Players Added (5)

Malcolm Cazalon (two-way), Joe Harris, Monte Morris, Marcus Sasser, Ausar Thompson

Players Lost (5)

Hamidou Diallo, R.J. Hampton, Cory Joseph, Rodney McGruder, Eugune Omoruyi

Roster Openings

1 standard spot and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

Detroit is $29.6 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining

The Pistons have their full Room Exception of $7.7 million available.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Adding Joe Harris and Monte Morris. The Pistons have made it clear that they are trying to move forward this season. As bench veterans, Harris and Morris will help toward that end. Harris adds much-needed shooting, while Morris can be a steady hand to run the offense.

Detroit also held on Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, which seemed likely after not trading either player at last season’s trade deadline. This team has an interesting mix of solid veterans around a lot of developing young players.

On the sideline, Detroit gave Monty Williams the richest coaching deal in NBA history. Williams is a respected coach and the Pistons are hoping he’ll lead them back to playoff appearances.

Work To Do

There isn’t a lot left to be done roster-wise. The Pistons have viable NBA players or highly-touted prospects at every position. Monty Williams isn’t going to hand minutes to anyone who hasn’t earned them. There are going to be a lot of fun roster battles at each position to monitor throughout the preseason.

Indiana Pacers

Players Returning (12)

Kendall Brown (two-way), Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Isaiah Jackson, Bennedict Mathurin, T.J. McConnell, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Jordan Nwora, Jalen Smith, Daniel Theis, Myles Turner

Players Added (6)

Bruce Brown, Ben Sheppard, Oscar Tshiebwe (two-way), Obi Toppin, Jarace Walker, Isaiah Wong (two-way)

Players Lost (5)

Oshae Brissett, Chris Duarte, George Hill, James Johnson, Gabe York

Roster Openings

None.

Cap/Tax Status

The Pacers have the ability to still create $7.5 million in cap space.

Spending Power Remaining

In addition to their cap space, Indiana has the entirety of the $7.7 million room exception remaining.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Extending Tyrese Haliburton. The Pacers have their star and franchise player in Haliburton. He’s happy in Indiana and the team got him signed to a Designated Rookie extension. Having a young All-Star locked up for years is huge for a small market team.

Coming in behind extending Haliburton is adding Bruce Brown. Did Indiana overpay a little for Brown? Probably. But it’s really a one-year, $22 million deal, because the Pacers have a team option on the second season. If for some reason things aren’t working out, Indiana can move on with ease next summer. But we’re betting things work out just fine.

Getting Obi Toppin for a couple of relatively minor second-round picks was also a steal by Indiana. They needed to add some size and Toppin’s skillset should be a perfect fit for the go-go-go Pacers. He could end up being a breakout player this season.

Work To Do

Indiana is pretty much done roster-wise. They could hammer out an extension with Obi Toppin. But don’t be surprised if the Pacers want to see how he fits before committing long-term money.

The roster still skews heavy with guards and wings, but that’s something Kevin Pritchard and his staff can figure out in-season. There isn’t a lot of size at the forward and center spots, so Indiana could move some of their perimeter depth for a bit more frontcourt depth.

Milwaukee Bucks

Players Returning (12)

Grayson Allen, Gianis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, MarJon Beauchamp, Pat Connaughton, Jae Crowder, A.J. Green, Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, Khris Middleton, Bobby Portis, Lindell Wigginton (two-way)

Players Added (5)

Malik Beasley, Andre Jackson Jr., Chris Livingston, Robin Lopez, Omari Moore (two-way)

Players Lost (5)

Jevon Carter, Goran Dragic, Joe Ingles, Meyers Leonard, Wesley Matthews

Roster Openings

1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status

The Bucks are $6.5 million over the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining

Milwaukee can only offer minimum contracts, as they are over the second tax apron.

Biggest Move of the Summer

Re-signing Khris Middleton. There were rumors for months that one of the cap space teams was going to throw the proverbial bag at Middleton. Whether that happened or not, we’ll never really know, as he re-signed with Milwaukee for $95 million guaranteed over three seasons. If healthy, Middleton is a perfect fit with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday and a solid two-way wing. Given the Bucks couldn’t replace him if he left, getting Middleton back was huge.

Only slightly less important was retaining Brook Lopez for $48 million over the next two seasons. He’s been one of the best defensive centers in the league since signing in Milwaukee, and his offensive game fits like a glove around the Bucks stars.

Getting Malik Beasley on a minimum deal was a nice pickup too. He’ll give first-year head coach Adrian Griffin another option on the wing. That’s important, given Middleton’s propensity to miss games.

Work To Do

The Bucks have a two-way spot to fill, but they’re basically done. The roster is deep and balanced. Health is probably the biggest question for how deep of a run this team can make.

The next biggest question is how Adrian Griffin will adapt to being a first-time head coach. Griffin was advocated for by the players, so that should make his transition a bit smoother. But Mike Budenholzer had an incredible amount of success in Milwaukee. So, it’s natural that there will be some “prove it” moments coming this season.

If there is anything the Bucks seem to be missing from this roster is a proven backup point guard behind Jrue Holiday. That’s something the team could still address in the coming weeks, or leading up to the trade deadline.

It’s often said that timing is everything in life. That’s true for Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics and your intrepid author here.

It took about three weeks or so longer than expected, but Brown reached an agreement on a Designated Veteran Extension with the Celtics. As luck would have it, Brown’s deal was agreed to as I was out to sea on our long-awaited family vacation. Without the benefit of the internet (or perhaps without the detriment of the internet!), I learned about the deal kind of old school. I turned on SportsCenter one morning and that was the lead story.

Now, a week or later, we have all the details on Brown’s extension, and I have thoughts. These are going to be a bit scattered. These are the things that came to mind about Brown, the Celtics, the process and some thoughts on the impact of the deal on the NBA as a whole.

The Contract 

Jaylen Brown signed under the Designated Veteran Player Extension rules that have existed over the last couple of CBAs. Nothing Brown signed for is new or unprecedented, despite some of the sensationalized reporting around the deal. I’ll have more thoughts on that later.

Brown’s new contract is for five years and will start at 35% of the salary cap in the 2024-25 season. There are no options in the deal. His contract includes a trade bonus for the lesser of 7% of his salary or $7 million.

Unlike Brown’s current deal, there are no incentives in this contract. Brown will make the full 35% of the cap in 2024-25, with the maximum 8% raises in the following seasons. Brown’s current contract with Boston is ladened with several different incentives related to individual and team success. This one is for the maximum that Brown could get, without any bonuses involved.

The deal has been reported as being for $304 million over five years. For that to be the total number, Brown would need to start at about $52.4 million in first-year salary. That assumes the salary cap will again jump by the maximum possible 10%. However, it’s not quite that simple.

The NBA’s current projection for the 2024-25 salary cap is $142 million. That’s a modest 4.4% bump. The reason for this lower-than-expected projection is that there is considerable uncertainty within the Bally Regional Sports Network system that carries the games for about half of the NBA’s teams. The NBA is baking in some potential losses due to the bankruptcy of the Bally RSN’s parent company Diamond Sports.

Now, the cap may very well end up jumping by 10%, but that’s not what the NBA is currently projecting. Therefore, we are basing Jaylen Brown’s extension off the actual projection of a cap of $142 million.

That makes the projection for Brown’s Designated Veteran Extension as five years, $288,260,000, with a first-year salary of $49,700,000.

The Reporting

Related to the above, the reporting around Brown’s extension got a little sideways. And it’s caused some madness across the world of sports. This is true on the team, player, analyst and fan sides.

As we know by now, the terms reported in most new contracts or extensions are often in the most favorable possible light for the player and the agent. As details of these new contracts become known, the overall money is often less than the original report. This happens for a lot of different reasons. The most common, and least egregious, is simple rounding. If a deal is for $29.4 million, it will often get rounded off to $30 million.

Sometimes, the reports include all possible money the player can earn. So, let’s say a deal is for $45 million, but there are $5 million in incentives, it will regularly be reported as a $50 million deal.

In the NBA, contracts regularly include an option on the final season. Sometimes, NBA deals include partial or non-guaranteed season. So, while a report may be that a deal is for $100 million over four years, there may be a team option on the final season. Or the final two years may be only partially guaranteed.

One great example of this is Chris Paul’s current deal. It was reported as a four-year, $120 million contract. But Paul’s deal only originally had $75 million in guaranteed salary.

Getting back to Jaylen Brown’s new deal…

The reporting was at best inaccurate and at worst irresponsible. Yes, Brown’s extension could be for a maximum of $304 million, but that isn’t in line with the current projection. Sure, $288 million is basically the same, especially considering the relative Monopoly type of money we’re talking about here. But it was that mystical $300 million barrier that has issues.

Time and time again, it was reported that Brown signed the first $300-million deal in the NBA, and one of the few deals in the big four US sports (Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge in MLB and Patrick Mahomes in the NFL) to have crossed the $300-million barrier. The first-year salary of $52.4 million would be the largest first-year salary in the NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL by a decent margin.

And it was those figures that have been endlessly spouted off about by talking heads across sports media. In addition, it’s those figures that fans, and some players, have attached to.

Now, are $288 million and $49.7 million really all that different? Not really. But they aren’t $300 million and $50 million. We gravitate toward large, round numbers. They are easy to remember and discuss.

Lastly: Who is to blame here? No one, really. This is really just another data point in the whole “Be careful of the initial numbers!” warning that we so often issue at this time of year. In this case, because it’s the first deal to approach (and possibly even cross!) both the $300 million and $50 million marks, it got an outsized amount of attention.

The Timing

This isn’t about Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics taking three weeks to get to this deal, even if that was a bit odd. There’s only so much that can be negotiated in these types of deals, and Brown and Brown seem to have haggled over some stuff that took about three weeks to sort out.

This is about the timing of Brown inking the richest contract in NBA history. And that’s really all it was: timing.

Jaylen Brown is a wonderfully talented player and he’s earned every penny of his new contract. He made All-NBA last season and he’s an established All-Star level guy. He’s a top-20 to top-25 player in the NBA.

But he’s not a top-5 to top-10 player in the league. And therein lies the rub. Should a non-top-10 player be getting the largest contract in league history?

Doesn’t matter.

It’s all about timing, with a smidgen of circumstance.

Jaylen Brown qualified for the Designated Veteran Extension. The NBA has never been in better shape financially. Boston couldn’t afford to lose Brown.

Add it all up, and Brown gets the richest contract in NBA history because he was eligible for it right now.

That’s really all it is. Next summer, or later this summer/fall in an extension, someone like Anthony Davis or Kawhi Leonard is going to get a massive deal, and possibly one that’s even bigger than Brown’s. And then the next season, their deal will get knocked off by whatever Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum sign for. And then, and then, and then.

There was far too much focus on “Jaylen Brown shouldn’t be getting the biggest deal in NBA history!” with far too little focus on “This is just how NBA contracts work timing-wise.”

The Contract Part 2

This is a quick one, but an important one.

Brown is signing for 35% of the 2024-25 salary cap. That currently projects to $49.7 million. From there, Brown will get 8% raises.

There seems to be somewhat of a perception that Brown will get 35% of the cap every season. Not only is that not the case, but cap growth is projected to go up the maximum of 10% over the life of Brown’s deal. That means the cap will outpace Brown’s raises. In fact, after the 35% of the cap in the first year, Brown’s contract over Years 2-4 projects to be 34.4%, 33.6%, 32.6% and 31.6% of the cap.

The Impact on the Celtics

Brown’s now locked in under contract for the next five years. It’s the NBA, so we all know that is Brown or Boston decide in a year or two that things aren’t going as they want, a trade or trade request will come. At that point, both sides will go their separate ways. But for now, they are connected for more than a half-decade.

This is a good point to pause and remind everyone that Brown and Boston are linked for at least a year. When a player signs a Designated Veteran Extension as Brown did, that comes with a one-year trade restriction. Given how late in July Brown signed his extension, that means he can’t be traded until July 26, 2024. That’ll be long after most of free agency is complete, so Brown and Boston are probably together for the next two season, at least.

We’re going to assume that the Celtics will also ink Jayson Tatum to a Designated Veteran Extension too. And Boston already extended Kristaps Porzingis.

This season and next, the Celtics will be dancing around the second tax apron, and deep into the tax itself.

At the start of the 2025-26 season, Boston is likely to have at least $154.5 million on the books for Brown, Tatum, Porzingis, Robert Williams and Jordan Walsh. That’s almost at what projects to be a salary cap of $156 million for that season. For five players. And that’s before factoring in any kind of extensions or new contract for players like Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon or anyone else acquire in the next two years.

Essentially, Boston is capped out for the foreseeable future, and likely to be above the tax too. The Celtics core is good. Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, White and Williams are good enough to win a title, if they have enough help.

It’s on Brad Stevens and the front office to find that help. And they’re going to have to win on the margins for the next several years. Veteran Minimum players are going to have to hit. Draft Picks are going to be crucial. And doing well in any future trades is imperative. The ability to add to this roster outside of those means are going to be mostly non-existent.

The Impact on the rest of the NBA

This one is also going to be quick.

There really isn’t one. Unless things go really, really poorly for Boston and Brown.

Extensions and trades are how most big business is getting done in the NBA these days. Free agency delivers a few big moves here and there, but for the most part, players are taking money early via extensions. And then trades are how teams make their major additions and subtractions.

As we covered previously, Brown signed the largest deal in the NBA…for now. That’ll quickly get replaced with a new largest deal in the NBA.

Where this could impact teams and players is if Brown doesn’t come even close to living up to the deal. Let’s say he’s simply good for the life of this contract, but not an All-Star and never again All-NBA. That would be a huge loss for Boston. He’s being paid as an All-Star, at the minimum, and as an All-NBA guy, at the top-end.

If Brown doesn’t live up to the deal, the next team in this spot could pause and not be so willing to commit. You’re putting yourself in tax and second apron hell for years by having two players combining for roughly 2/3 of the cap. And building a contender that way is a tricky line to walk.

The reality is, few teams will be in this spot. Not many are sitting on two All-NBA level guys heading into their peak years. And when you have an All-NBA level guy, you pay him.

The NUMBERS 

We’re capitalizing NUMBERS here, because whether you use $300 million and $52.4 million or $288 million and $49.7 million, those are massive salaries. We all get that.

But that lacks context.

On each of our NBA salary pages on Spotrac, we added “% of cap” to the salary numbers. NBA max deals use caps of 25%, 30% or 35% in first-year salary, pending years or service, or qualifying for Designated Player status.

From there, as covered in The Contract Part 2 above, the cap projects to outpace the raises a player can get. It’s important to understand that percentage of the cap is how we’re thinking about NBA deals now, vs just focusing on the number.

We’re not that far off from the NBA salary cap reaching above $200 million in a single season. At the current projected growth, we’ll get there by the 2028-29 season. When we do, the maximum salary for a player with 10-plus years or service or for a Designated Veteran Player will be $72.7 million.

$72.7 million in first-year salary and $422 million over a five-year max deal. The final salary in that contract? $96 million. Nearly $100 million for a single season. Whew boy!

But you know what? That $72.7 million is 35% of the cap in 2028-29. Same as Jaylen Brown getting $49.7 million in 2024-25. Same as it was when Russell Westbrook signed his Designated Veteran Extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder for $35.6 million of the $101,869,000 cap in 2018.

Stop focusing on the NUMBERS. They’re already big and only getting bigger by the year. Reframe your thinking to percentage of the cap and everything starts to look a lot more in context.

The NBA offseason is just about wrapped up. As of this writing, we’re still waiting on trades for Damian Lillard, James Harden and maybe Pascal Siakam. There are a handful of impact free agents left on the board, but every team has used almost all of their meaningful cap space. There are lots of exceptions left, but it seems as though teams are in wait-and-see mode, as the calendar moves through mid-July.

That means it’s time to reset where each roster stands. We’re going to look at who is returning, who was acquired and who has departed. We’ll also answer a few key questions about each team.

We covered the Atlantic Division already. Next up: The Pacific Division!

Golden State Warriors

Players Returning (8):

 Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Kevon Looney, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins

Players Added (5): 

Trayce Jackson-Davis, Cory Joseph, Chris Paul, Brandin Podziemski, Dario Saric

Players Lost (9): 

Patrick Baldwin Jr., Donte DiVincenzo, JaMychal Green, Andre Iguodala, Ty Jerome (two-way), Anthony Lamb, Jordan Poole, Lester Quinones (two-way), Ryan Rollins

Roster Openings: 

2 standard spots and 3 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

Golden State is $25.5 million over the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining: 

The Warriors are far over the super tax line and can only offer minimum contracts to free agents.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Re-signing Draymond Green. Yes, the Jordan Poole for Chris Paul trade was a big one, but it’s not on the level of keeping Green in the fold. Green is the key to the Warriors defense, and an important player for the offense because of his facilitation skills. The Warriors had to keep him. It also signals that the core has enough left to keep competing for titles.

As for the Paul trade, it was at least as much about shedding long-term money for Poole as it was about acquiring Paul. The role for the veteran Point God is unclear, and the fit is a little messy. We’ll see how that all plays out.

Work To Do: 

The Warriors need to fill out their roster. They added a nice piece in the frontcourt with Dario Saric, but the big man rotation could use another guy. And Golden State could use another bench shooter, unless they think Moses Moody is ready for a bigger role, or rookie Brandin Podziemski is ready to play from the ump.

Keep an eye on Chris Paul too. His deal is pretty tradable, as it’s basically a $30 million expiring contract (the 2024-25 season is non-guaranteed). Golden State is pretty limited in what else they can do, so having Paul as a living $30 million trade exception could end up just as valuable as what he could do on the court.

The Warriors also need to fill out their two-way spots. Lester Quinones is a good bet to return, as the team remains high on him. Golden State has also done a nice job in recent years with developing players and getting them to the main roster. Don’t bet against that happening again with whoever they bring in on two-way deals this summer.

LA Clippers

Players Returning (15): 

Nicolas Batum, Brandon Boston Jr., Amir Coffey, Robert Covington, Moussa Diabate (two-way), Paul George, Bones Hyland, Kawhi Leonard, Terance Mann, Marcus Morris Sr., Mason Plumlee, Norman Powell, Jason Preston, Russell Westbrook, Ivica Zubac

Players Added (2): 

Kobe Brown, Kenyon Martin Jr.

Players Lost (2): 

Eric Gordon, Xavier Moon (two-way)

Roster Openings: 

2 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Clippers are $11.3 million over the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining: 

LA can only offer minimum contracts, due to being over the second apron.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Re-signing Russell Westbrook. After joining the Clippers during buyout season, Westbrook played really well. LA had very little at the point guard position, so bringing back Westbrook for $7.8 million over the next two seasons is a good value signing.

The Clippers snagged Kenyon Martin Jr. for a second-round pick and draft rights to a player who will likely never come to the NBA. Given they needed to inject some athleticism into an older roster and ground-bound frontcourt, this was a steal for LA.

Re-signing Mason Plumlee was also a smart move by LA. He combines with Ivica Zubac to give Ty Lue 48 minutes of solid center play. Plumlee is also a smart passer who knows to keep the ball moving to the team’s stars.

Work To Do: 

Should they trade for James Harden? That’s the question the Clippers front office has to be asking themselves. It’s clear Harden wants to go to the Clippers. LA has the ability to match salary in a trade without surrendering any key rotation players. But it would sap some of the team’s depth, and given the past injury histories of the main players, the Clippers can’t have enough depth.

Beyond that, there’s not a lot left for LA to do. The Clippers are returning more players from a season ago than any other team in the NBA. They need to waive or trade a player from a standard deal. And the Clippers have a couple of two-way spots to fill. This roster is pretty well finished, minus a Harden trade.

Los Angeles Lakers

Players Returning (8): 

Max Christie, Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Cole Swider (two-way), Jarred Vanderbilt

Players Added (8): 

Colin Castleton (two-way), Jaxson Hayes, D’Moi Hodge (two-way), Jalen Hood-Schifino, Maxwell Lewis, Taurean Prince, Cameron Reddish, Gabe Vincent

Players Lost (9): 

Mo Bamba, Malik Beasley, Troy Brown Jr., Wenyen Gabriel, Shaq Harrison, Scotty Pippen Jr., Dennis Schroder, Tristan Thompson, Lonnie Walker IV

Roster Openings: 

2 standard spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

Los Angeles is $1.4 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

The Lakers have $1.9 million of the Non-Taxpayer MLE remaining, but are functionally limited to veteran minimum contracts, which pay just over $2 million for next season.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Re-signing Austin Reaves. The Lakers re-signed all of their most important free agents, but Reaves was the most most-important player of that group. He’s blossomed into a multi-faceted offensive player, who is equally productive starting or coming off the bench. Reaves also didn’t get the massive $100 million offer sheet that was projected by many. That meant the Lakers got him on a four-year deal for right around the Non-Taxpayer MLE. That’s a great value.

Los Angeles also did well to get Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell back on solid deals. They are both important rotation players. And adding Gabe Vincent for the actual Non-Taxpayer MLE was a good value signing for the Lakers too.

Work To Do: 

Los Angeles will likely fill their 14th roster spot ahead of training camp. They’ll bring in camp guys, but may choose to leave the 15th spot open. That could make it easier to convert a two-way player (keep and eye on Colin Castleton, who was terrific in Summer League) or to sign a veteran player in-season.

Overall, the Lakers roster is far deeper than at this point a year ago. And it makes sense with good positional balance. They probably need to add one more rotation-level big, just to make sure they don’t overtax Anthony Davis, and for when he inevitable misses some games. But this roster is deep and balanced.

Phoenix Suns

Players Returning (7): 

Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Damion Lee, Saben Lee (two-way), Josh Okogie, Ishmail Wainright

Players Added (9): 

Keita Bates-Diop, Bradley Beal, Bol Bol, Toumani Camara, Drew Eubanks, Jordan Goodwin, Eric Gordon, Chimezie Metu, Yuta Watanabe

Players Lost (9): 

Darius Bazley, Bismack Biyombo, Torrey Craig, Jock Landale, Chris Paul, Cameron Payne, Terrence Ross, Landry Shamet, T.J. Warren

Roster Openings: 

2 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Suns are $4.7 million over the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Phoenix can only sign players to minimum contracts, due to being over the second apron.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Trading Chris Paul for Bradley Beal. This was the Suns all-in move. Beal isn’t a perfect fit, as he overlaps quite a bit with Devin Booker, but he should be just fine for Phoenix. Adding Beal took on a lot of long-term money, and put the Suns in a position to be one of the more expensive teams in the NBA for at least the next few years.

Because Beal, Booker and Kevin Durant have all played alongside other superstars for most of their careers, they should be able to make this work as a trio. The bigger concern: Who is going to make sure Deandre Ayton gets enough touches to stay engaged?

Work To Do: 

Phoenix’s roster is probably about set for the regular season, minus a couple of two-way signings. It seems as though the Suns intend to keep Deandre Ayton. James Jones and the front office did a wonderful job filling out the roster with impact players, despite only have minimum contracts to work with. They added depth and balance behind the star-studded starting lineup.

Now, it’s up to Frank Vogel to turn this collection of players into a team. It’s likely to be a little bumpy early on, but there’s enough talent here that the Suns should eventually be a terrific team.

Sacramento Kings

Players Returning (11): 

Harrison Barnes, Kessler Edwards, Keon Ellis (two-way), De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Alex Len, Trey Lyles, Davion Mitchell, Malik Monk, Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis

Players Added (5): 

Chris Duarte, Colby Jones, Nerlens Noel, Jalen Slawson (two-way), Sasha Vezenkov

Players Lost (6): 

Terence Davis, Matthew Dellavedova, P.J. Dozier, Richaun Holmes, Chimezie Metu, Neemias Queta (two-way)

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Kings are $21.6 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Sacramento has about $1.4 million remaining of the Room Exception. Beyond that, it’s minimum contracts for the Kings.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Renegotiating-and-extending Domantas Sabonis. It was a busy summer of retaining talent for Sacramento, but getting Sabonis signed long-term was their best move. He’s become an All-Star center, and made All-NBA last year. He’s a perfect pairing with De’Aaron Fox as the co-engines that make the Kings offense hum. Creating and using cap space to keep Sabonis around was creative and smart by Monte McNair and his front office staff.

Extending Harrison Barnes for a second time, along with re-signing Trey Lyles were also great moves. And finally brining Sasha Vezenkov over, six years after drafting him, seems like a really solid move too. He’ll be a rotation guy from Day 1.

Lastly, keep an eye on Chris Duarte. He went through a mess of a season with injuries, and he got lost in the shuffle in a crowded wing group in Indiana. He can play and the bet here is that he ends up a key guy off the bench for the Kings.

Work To Do:

Sacramento has a couple of roster spots to fill. They could maybe use one more point guard, as a break-glass type of player. But the frontcourt and wing groups seems pretty fleshed out.

It’s not an immediate thing, but the Kings are well clear of the luxury tax. That should give them the flexibility to take on money during any in-season dealings. But that’s something that will make itself known as the season goes along.

Sacramento is talented and deep. That’s a combination that should make it so that last season’s playoff appearance started a new streak vs being a one-year blip.

The NBA offseason is just about wrapped up. As of this writing, we’re still waiting on trades for Damian Lillard, James Harden and maybe Pascal Siakam. There are a handful of impact free agents left on the board, but every team has used almost all of their meaningful cap space. There are lots of exceptions left, but it seems as though teams are in wait-and-see mode, as the calendar moves through mid-July.

That means it’s time to reset where each roster stands. We’re going to look at who is returning, who was acquired and who has departed. We’ll also answer a few key questions about each team.

First up: The Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics

Players Returning (11): 

Malcolm Brogdon, Jaylen Brown, Justin Champagnie, J.D. Davison (two-way), Sam Hauser, Al Horford, Luke Kornet, Payton Pritchard, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Robert Williams

Players Added (5): 

Dalano Banton, Oshae Brissett, Kristaps Porzingis, Jay Scrubb (two-way), Jordan Walsh

Players Lost (6): 

Danilo Gallinari, Blake Griffin, Mfiondu Kabengele (two-way), Mike Muscala, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Celtics are $2.3 million under the second tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Boston has the $5 million Taxpayer MLE, but they’d need to clear over $2.7 million in salary to use it in order to stay under the second apron. Teams are hard-capped at the second apron if they use the Taxpayer MLE under the new CBA.

Biggest Move of the Summer:

 Trading Marcus Smart (and others) in a deal to land Kristaps Porzingis. Boston went big, literally and figuratively, this summer by trading Smart for Porzingis. The Celtics are betting that Porzingis will stay healthy and will give the team another offensive weapon, along with some rim protection. Boston’s mounting payroll also played a part in Grant Williams leaving for the Dallas Mavericks via sign-and-trade. That’s a lot of toughness, versatility and defense out the door for the Celtics this summer.

Work To Do: 

Boston needs to get Jaylen Brown signed to an extension. He’s eligible for the super max, and all parties involved continue to say it’ll get done, but it’s been nearly three weeks and nothing is signed yet. That’s something to monitor.

Beyond extending Brown, Boston has to figure out if they are going to trade Malcolm Brogdon or not. He was originally supposed to be part of the deal for Porzingis, but the LA Clippers balked at Brogdon’s health and Brad Stevens pivoted to trading Marcus Smart. Now, the Celtics need to repair their relationship with Brogdon and get him healthy for this upcoming season. Or Boston needs to find another deal for the reigning Sixth Man of the Year before the season starts.

The Celtics will also fill out their roster by adding a 15th player on a standard deal and by filling their third two-way spot. That’s in addition to bringing a few players to training camp, with eyes on getting them to play for Maine in the G League this season.

Brooklyn Nets

Players Returning (10): 

Mikal Bridges, Nicolas Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, RaiQuan Gray (two-way), Cameron Johnson, Royce O’Neale, Day’Ron Sharpe, Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas

Players Added (6): 

Darius Bazley, Noah Clowney, Dennis Smith Jr., Lonnie Walker IV, Dariq Whitehead, Jalen Wilson (two-way)

Players Lost (7): 

Seth Curry, David Duke Jr., Joe Harris, Patty Mills, Dru Smith (two-way), Edmond Sumner, Yuta Watanabe

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot and 1 two-way spot.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Nets are $10 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Brooklyn has the $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE to spend. They are $12 million clear of the first apron, at which they’d be hard-capped if they used the NTMLE. That means to use the entire thing, they’d need to clear a little more space.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Re-signing Cam Johnson. Brooklyn sees Johnson as an important part of their core, alongside Mikal Bridges. Getting him inked to a fair value deal with $94.5 million guaranteed over four years is huge. Brooklyn also got good value with minimum signings in Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Smith Jr., as well as intriguing draft picks in Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead.

Work To Do: 

The Nets are perhaps a bit light on shooting after trading Joe Harris and Patty Mills in salary-shedding deal, and losing Seth Curry in free agency. Lonnie Walker will help fill that void to some extent, but one more shooter would be nice.

Brooklyn could also use another experienced big to play behind Nic Claxton. The Nets are relying on unproven youngsters behind Claxton. The fifth-year big man has proven himself a top defender, but Claxton can still find himself in foul trouble on occasion. A proven backup would be good to have for the Nets.

It’s not a roster move, but Brooklyn really needs to find out what they have in Ben Simmons. All reports are that he’ll be ready to go to start the season. Can he find his way back to the All-Star level he was just a few years ago? Can he at least be a productive rotation player?

The Nets will also fill out their roster with another standard signing, a third two-way player and then some camp signings.

New York Knicks

Players Returning (13): 

RJ Barrett, Jalen Brunson, Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, Josh Hart, Isaiah Hartenstein, DaQuan Jeffries, Miles McBride, Immanuel Quickley, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Roby, Jericho Sims

Players Added (2): 

Donte DiVincenzo, Jaylen Martin (two-way)

Players Lost (4): 

Trevor Keels (two-way), Derrick Rose, Obi Toppin, Duane Washington Jr. (two-way)

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot and 2 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

New York is $4.7 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

The Knicks have the $4.5 million Bi-Annual Exception to spend, but are unlikely to do so.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Signing Donte DiVincenzo. The Knicks traded big for small by signing DiVincenzo and trading Obi Toppin. The rotation is very wing- and guard-heavy, but getting DiVincenzo for the MLE is good work. He’ll be a productive player and can allow New York to deal from a position of strength in any future trades.

Work To Do: 

The Knicks are still looking for an Evan Fournier trade. At this point, it seems likely they’ll keep Fournier and his $18.8 million pseudo-expiring deal (Fournier has a $19 million team option for 2024-25) in case they need to match salary in a bigger trade.

New York is still looking at potential backup power forward options. They need someone for about 10-12 minutes per game behind Julius Randle. But that player has to come in with the understanding that that’s the role. The Knicks don’t want to get caught with another player looking for a bigger role.

Beyond that, extension talks will continue with Immanuel Quickley, and the Knicks will fill out their roster with a couple more two-way signings and one more standard deal.

Philadelphia 76ers

Players Returning (11):

 Joel Embiid, James Harden, Montrezl Harrell, Tobias Harris, Danuel House Jr., Furkan Korkmaz, Tyrese Maxey, De’Anthony Melton, Paul Reed, Jaden Springer, P.J. Tucker

Players Added (6): 

Mo Bamba, Patrick Beverley, Ricky Council IV (two-way), Filip Petrusev, Terquavion Smith (two-way), Azuolas Tubelis (two-way)

Players Lost (6): 

Dewayne Dedmon, Louis King (two-way), Mac McClung (two-way), Jalen McDaniels, Shake Milton, Georges Niang

Roster Openings: 

1 standard spot.

Cap/Tax Status:

 Philadelphia is $2.8 million under the first tax apron.

Spending Power Remaining: 

The Sixers have the $12.4 million Non-Taxpayer MLE, but are functionally limited to spending no more than the $5M Taxpayer MLE, due to room under the first apron/hard cap.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Signing Patrick Beverley…so far. In reality, nothing will top whatever happens with James Harden and the potential package Philadelphia gets for trading him. Alas, we wait…

Work To Do: 

As referenced above, the 76ers need to find a James Harden trade. They’ve done some moves while waiting for that deal to develop, but this roster has a very unfinished feel to it. Patrick Beverley is a nice addition, no matter if Harden is on the team or not. Mo Bamba is fine, as is re-signing Montrezl Harrell. But the Sixers have a lot of bigs now and the wing and the backcourt feel a bit thin.

Nothing else of substance is likely to happen until Harden is dealt. That’s likely to be at least a 2-for-1, if not a 3-for-1 or 4-for-2 type of deal. Because of the likelihood of an unbalanced trade, Philadelphia has to somewhat conserve roster spots. You don’t want to pitch a free agent on joining you team, then not have a roster spot for them when the regular season starts.

Toronto Raptors

Players Returning (12): 

Precious Achiuwa, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Chris Boucher, Malachi Flynn, Christian Koloko, Jakob Poeltl, Otto Porter Jr., Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent Jr., Joe Wieskamp, Thaddeus Young

Players Added (4): 

Gradey Dick, Jalen McDaniels, Markquis Nowell (two-way), Dennis Schroder

Players Lost (5): 

Dalano Banton, Will Barton, Jeff Dowtin, Ron Harper Jr., Fred VanVleet

Roster Openings: 

2 two-way spots.

Cap/Tax Status: 

The Raptors are is $3.3 million under the luxury tax.

Spending Power Remaining: 

Toronto has only veteran minimum contracts to offer.

Biggest Move of the Summer: 

Re-signing Jakob Poeltl. Toronto got a nice deal on Poeltl, as they re-signed him for $78 million guaranteed over four seasons. That’s a very good value for a starting center. The Raptors also got Jalen McDaniels for a relative bargain of $9.3 million over two seasons via the Bi-Annual Exception. And Dennis Schroder was a nice addition for $25.4 million over two seasons via the Non-Taxpayer MLE. Gradey Dick was also a solid value pick in the middle of the first round of the draft.

Work To Do: 

Toronto’s roster remains very unbalanced. They have approximately 87 forwards, a few centers and two guards. OK…maybe it’s not quite that drastic, but the Raptors remain very heavy in forwards and light in the backcourt. You have to assume that eventually a trade will come to balance things out a bit, otherwise Dennis Schroder is going to have to carry a very heavy load at point guard, unless Malachi Flynn makes a major leap in his fourth season.

Rumors continue to bubble to the surface about Pascal Siakam trade interest. It feels like Toronto has hit a breaking point to extend Siakam or trade him. Letting things play out seems unnecessarily risky. OG Anunoby is in only slightly less of an uncertain position, given his player option for the 2024-25 season.

Fred VanVleet is gone. Siakam and/or Anunoby could be next. Toronto has the pieces in place to be a playoff team, but the possibility of trades given the unbalanced roster still loom over this team. After years of being rock solid, it feels like everything is built on an increasingly shaky foundation. Eventually, this needs to be torn down or reinforced, with the former seeming the more likely path than the latter.