When looking through the list of 2024 free agents, it quickly becomes evident that many of the top players tend to skew on the older side. LeBron James will be 40 at the end of December, James Harden and DeMar DeRozan both turn 35 in August, and Paul George is 34.
The top two free agent centers this year — Nic Claxton and Isaiah Hartenstein — are 25 and 26, however, which is interesting. They’re also both unrestricted free agents.
While reports have indicated Claxton is expected to re-sign with the Nets, perhaps for a deal in the range of $20-25MM annually, Hartenstein’s future is a little more cloudy because the Knicks only hold his Early Bird rights. That means they are limited to offering him a maximum of about $72.5MM over four years, and it’s possible he could get more than that from another team.
Unlike Tyrese Maxey, who is a lock to return to Philadelphia on a max deal in restricted free agency, it’s possible Precious Achiuwa (25 in September) could sign an offer sheet with another team and the Knicks might not match, given their financial situation now and going forward. Achiuwa is more of a four/five than a true center, but he’s another intriguing big man on the market.
Jalen Smith, 24, had an outstanding regular season off the bench for Indiana, but was largely a non-factor in the playoffs, having been supplanted in the rotation by Isaiah Jackson. That was an interesting development, because Smith seems pretty likely to exceed the $5.4MM player option he holds for 2024/25 in free agency (Jackson, on the other hand, still has another year left on his rookie scale contract).
Goga Bitadze, who turns 25 next month, is another young center who flew under the radar a bit in ’23/24. He started the early portion of the season while Wendell Carter was recovering from hand surgery and played pretty well, particularly defensively, averaging 7.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 33 games (23.9 minutes). The Magic have Carter, Jonathan Isaac and Moritz Wagner ahead of Bitadze on the depth chart, so he might look for a larger role elsewhere.
Xavier Tillman (25) and James Wiseman (23) are among the other young free agent centers in 2024, with veterans Jonas Valanciunas and Andre Drummond arguably the top big men over 30 available. Former No. 2 overall pick Wiseman could be restricted if Detroit tenders him a $7.7MM qualifying offer, though that seems unlikely to happen.
What do you think of this year’s group of free agent centers? Will Hartenstein stay with the Knicks or leave for more money elsewhere? What about Achiuwa? Did we overlook anyone? Head to the comments to let us know what you think.
Wiseman to the Warriors on a 2way lols…..
Wiseman to the Grizzlies on a 1+1 lmfao
DLo is the most important FA among non stars
Lakers GM made a big mistake by giving him virtual one year contract last year
Lakers expectation is championships but they could miss the playoffs if DLo walks for nothing
DLo and picks plus salary filler could turned out to be Mitchell or Young
D lo for Mitchell or Young haha, wow. All these other teams should just give Lakers whoever they want basically for free, typical entitled L.A behaviour. Lakers stink man and are going nowhere with LeBron.
Nailed it…
The league knows Dlo is a contract year player…
Only a GM looking to get fired would sign and trade for him…
If Hartenstein walks for nothing, Knicks are doomed
This is how FA used to be before Silver’s way to obviously rigged game
Yup
My brother, they were always doomed. It’s the Knicks.
Bulls should pick up Jalen Smith. Good size, decent rebounding and can shoot the 3. Better fit for PF than PWill
What’s the point of Chicago doing anything
Plumlee is a FA. And a solid backup big.
Knicks should get Wiseman for nothing. Work the Thibs magic on him.
There’s a real possibility that IHart walks. I’m all for drafting a Center.
Is there a less Thibsy player than Wiseman?
The Thibs “magic” is giving Thibs guys who have shown that they are Thibs guys.
We’ve seen it for years…
If Thibs doesn’t see a Thibs player in them they dont get minutes…
I like the idea of challenging Wiseman this way, but I doubt the results would be anything else but Wiseman in Europe after 70+ DNP – coaches decisions…
One thing I would never understand is that SGA makes average $37 million per year and Paul George wants average $53 million per year
SGA
4 years $148M
George wants
4 years $212M
Present Value
SGA = George + 6 unprotected first round picks
Over 4 years ago
Clippers traded SGA, Tre Mann, Jalen Williams and 4 Firsts for George
Present value
Jalen Williams = George + 3 future Firsts
My only question
NBA GMs is world best
Why didn’t other GMs trade for SGA 5 years ago?
Where is Jerry West?
Um, Jalen Williams was drafted in 2022….
I like Goga for the tpmle on lakers (5.2m)
Think he will be a target for many in this dreadful class tho and a starters role is probably even present somewhere that the lakers can’t offer
Dunno is the tmle lands him. Think NYK would put a strong offer on the table to retain him. Think a few teams with the ntmle would as well.
Orl is current squad but yea I could also see many Ntmle on him , I think mins/ role will be bigger issue with him
If your the Knicks I think you need to go hard to keep Hartenstein and then maybe you move Mitchell Robinson depending on the money situation.
I’d rather Hartenstein and Precious than Robinson
Cmon bulls,you need some bigs.i like hartenstein.goga look good too. Healthy jonathan isaac would be great too.
iHart will be this offseason Mozgov
Anyone surprised that the NBA free agent list is filled with old players and a lot of one dimensional players hasn’t been paying attention…
All the top young players sign extensions even when they want a change of scenery… Get that bag then work out the trade demand…