Community Shootaround

After taking a closer look last week at the most lucrative multiyear contracts signed during the NBA’s 2022 free agent period, we’re focusing today on some deals that may have flown more under the radar. These are the contracts that came in around the cost of the mid-level exception – or below it – and represent good values for the teams that signed them.

[RELATED: 2022 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

The Heat only held Non-Bird rights on Caleb Martin entering the offseason, which limited their ability to offer him much of a raise on last year’s minimum salary. However, Miami decided to use the full taxpayer portion of its mid-level exception to bring back Martin, determining that money was better spent on him than any outside free agent who would’ve signed at that price. I liked that three-year, $20.4MM deal for the Heat, as it allowed them to lock up an emerging wing who shot 41.3% on three-pointers and played versatile defense.

Kyle Anderson‘s two-year, $18MM contract with the Timberwolves was another mid-level signing I liked, since Anderson is the type of player who can help a team in a variety of ways on both ends of the court. He’s a solid defender and rebounder who can be a secondary ball-handler and play-maker on offense and has improved his three-point shooting in recent years (35.1% over the last two seasons). He’s a good complementary piece for a Wolves team that will have two or three ball-dominant scorers.

I thought Bruce Brown was a steal a year ago for the Nets when he signed a one-year contract worth $4.7MM and was surprised that he didn’t get much of a raise this year — he’ll fit in nicely as a Swiss Army knife-type player on a Nuggets team that was able to lock him up on a two-year, $13.3MM pact (the second year is a player option).

The Warriors lost some key bench pieces in free agency this summer, but did well to land Donte DiVincenzo (two years, $9.2MM; second-year player option) and JaMychal Green (one year, minimum salary) without breaking the bank. Both veterans are coming off down years, but have shown in previous seasons that they can be starter-caliber players.

Aaron Holiday (Hawks), Damian Jones (Lakers), T.J. Warren (Nets), and Robin Lopez (Cavaliers) are some of the other minimum-salary signings I liked.

What do you think? Which free agent signings do you think were this summer’s best bargains and will provide the most value going forward?

Although not much is known about the 2022/23 schedule, two Christmas Day games have already been leaked. According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Lakers are expected to visit the Mavericks for the holiday and the Warriors will host the Grizzlies.

All four teams are natural selections for the Christmas showcase, considering their popularity and talent level. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry and Ja Morant should all be good for holiday ratings.

The NBA traditionally schedules five games for December 25, and it’s important to have a strong lineup this year because the league will be competing with three NFL games. With six slots left to fill, let’s look at some of the teams that will be under consideration.

As defending Eastern Conference champions, the Celtics seem like a lock for Christmas Day, as do the Heat, who lost in a seven-game conference finals. Both teams have last year’s lineups returning virtually intact and figure to be at the top of the East again.

The Sixers have perennial All-Stars in Joel Embiid and James Harden, while the Bucks are also a title contender and sport two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Knicks represent the league’s biggest television market and are in a strong position to trade for Donovan Mitchell. The Nets are the wild card in the East because of the uncertain future of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who are a guaranteed ratings draw if they’re still on the team.

Out West, the Suns will get strong Christmas Day consideration after posting the league’s best record last season. The Clippers should be in the running if schedule makers expect Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to be fully recovered from last year’s injuries, and the Nuggets also have a two-time MVP in Nikola Jokic. A chance to showcase Zion Williamson could put the Pelicans in the running for a holiday game, while the young talent on the Timberwolves makes them an intriguing possibility as well.

We want to get your opinion. Which six teams would you add to the Christmas Day schedule and how would you match them up? Please leave your answer in the space below.

When we identified the top 50 highest-paid NBA players of 2022/23 on Thursday, four names on that list were free agents who signed new contracts this offseason. Those players, who received the four most lucrative free agent deals of 2022, are as follows:

• Bradley Beal, Wizards: Five years, $251,019,650. Fifth-year player option. 15% trade kicker. No-trade clause.
• Zach LaVine, Bulls: Five years, $215,159,700. Fifth-year player option. 15% trade kicker.
• Deandre Ayton, Suns: Four years, $132,929,128.
• Jalen Brunson, Knicks: Four years, $104,000,000. Fourth-year player option. 10% trade kicker.

As our tracker shows, five other 2022 free agents received multiyear contracts that will pay them at least $15MM per year. Here are those players, along with the details of their new deals:

• Anfernee Simons, Trail Blazers: Four years, $100,000,000.
• Luguentz Dort, Thunder: Five years, $82,500,000. Fifth-year team option. Includes $5MM in unlikely incentives.
• Jusuf Nurkic, Trail Blazers: Four years, $70,000,000.
• James Harden, Sixers: Two years, $68,640,000. Second-year player option. 15% trade kicker.
• Mitchell Robinson, Knicks: Four years, $60,000,000.

These nine contracts are what we’re considering the “big-money” deals of 2022 free agency. That term is subjective, but no other free agent received a contract worth more than $50MM in total, or with an annual average value of $15MM+, so these deals are in a class of their own.

With that in mind, we want to know which of this summer’s biggest free agent contracts you view as the best and worst values from a team perspective.

The Wizards have received some criticism not just for signing Beal to a contract exceeding $50MM per year but for handing him a series of perks that will give him significant leverage if the team wants to trade him down the road. But are there other contracts in the groups above that you’d consider even less team-friendly than Beal’s?

Harden, meanwhile, has been lauded for taking a pay cut that created the spending power necessary for the Sixers to sign P.J. Tucker and Danuel House, though his average salary ($34.32MM) is still the third-highest of any of this summer’s free agent deals. Does the short-term nature of that contract and his potential ceiling make it the most team-friendly contract of these nine, or is there another one you like more?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents on this year’s best and worst big-money free agent signings!

A new NBA season brings with it the promise of a new NBA All-Star Game. And though the actual Sunday games themselves have almost totally lost their luster over the last decade or so, qualifying for the contest itself remains a very big deal for every stripe of player.

Last year, there were seven first-time honorees: Ja Morant, Andrew Wiggins, LaMelo Ball, Dejounte Murray, Fred VanVleet, Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland. Many of those first-timers seem likely to return this season, but invariably some will fall short.

For the 2022/23 season, it seems quite possible that several young hoopers on the rise can take the next steps and reach All-Star glory.

This writer’s smart money is on Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards, who enjoyed a breakout 2021/22 sophomore season in Minnesota — and not just because today is his 21st birthday. The 2020 No. 1 draft pick out of Georgia increased his output across the board, evolving into a two-way leader for a scrappy playoff-bound Timberwolves club that almost clawed its way past the Grizzlies in a hard-fought first-round matchup.

Across 72 games for the 46-36 Timberwolves, the hyper-athletic 6’4″ wing averaged 21.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.5 SPG and 0.6 BPG. His shooting from the floor improved markedly season-to-season, as he converted 44.1% from the field last year, including connecting on 35.7% of his 8.4 three-point attempts.

Though big man Karl-Anthony Towns was Minnesota’s lone All-Star representative last season, Edwards’s two-way contributions on what projects to be an improved Timberwolves roster could help him a first-time All-Star in 2023. Of course, the addition of three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert alongside Towns means that there are two current multi-time All-Stars nominally ahead of Edwards in the team’s pedigree pecking order. But Edwards has more intriguing two-way upside at this juncture than his starrier comrades.

Reigning Raptors Rookie of the Year forward Scottie Barnes looked like a seasoned pro during his inaugural NBA season. Though VanVleet wound up representing Toronto at the 2022 All-Star Game in Cleveland, Barnes’s ceiling is sky-high. Barnes faces some competition from another teammate for All-Star honors next year. Following a slow start, Raptors forward Pascal Siakam rounded into form by the end of the season, making the All-NBA Third Team. Barnes averaged 15.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 0.7 BPG in 74 games played for Toronto, all starts. The team finished the season sporting a 48-34 record, good for the fifth seed in a crowded Eastern Conference.

Despite a disappointing 2022 Western Conference Semifinals performance, Suns big man Deandre Ayton was at the the center of significant speculation this summer. The 2018 No. 1 pick became a restricted free agent, and his fate seemed a bit up in the air when free agency opened. For a while, speculation ran rampant that he could become the focal point of a trade for Nets All-Star Kevin Durant. Later, the Pacers tendered Ayton a maximum four-year, $133MM offer sheet, which Phoenix opted to match. He will remain with the Suns until at least January 15, 2023. There’s a reason Ayton was so coveted: the 24-year-old big man is already an excellent player on both sides of the floor. Should he boost his offensive output this season, he may finally reach All-Star status — with the Suns or elsewhere.

Pistons second-year point guard Cade Cunningham will be joined by a flurry of exciting young prospects this season, chief among them 2022 lottery picks Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren. Cunningham rounded into form down the stretch of the regular season and joined Barnes on the 2022 All-Rookie First Team. At 6’6″, the jumbo-sized lead guard finished with 17.4 PPG, 5.6 APG and 5.5 RPG on a bottom-feeding Pistons team. Should Detroit rise through the standings to around .500 territory, it seems quite possible that will be as a result of the 20-year-old’s contributions.

Another terrific 2022 All-Rookie First Teamer, Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley, formed a formidable front line tandem alongside first-time 2022 All-Star center Allen. Along with All-Star guard Garland, the trio was largely responsible for Cleveland doubling its win total from the (shortened) 2020/21 season, from a 22-50 record to a 44-38 mark. Mobley’s defense played a major role in that turnaround, while his offense was nothing to sneeze at either. The seven-footer averaged 15.0 PPG on 50.8% shooting from the floor, plus 8.3 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.7 BPG, and 0.8 SPG in 69 games.

All-Star point guard Ja Morant led the Grizzlies to a surprisingly robust No. 2 seed in the West this season, but he didn’t get there alone. Breakout shooting guard Desmond Bane and 2022 All-Defensive First Team power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. provided ample two-way support for their turbocharged lead ball handler. If Memphis’ team success continue this season, either of those players could make the All-Star cut.

Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey had a better postseason run for Philadelphia in 2022 than his inconsistent All-Star teammate James Harden, who has not looked the same since being hampered by a hamstring injury while with the Nets in 2020/21. The third-year swingman could lap Harden and become the Sixers’ second All-Star inclusion this year alongside All-NBA center Joel Embiid. In his second NBA season, Maxey averaged 17.5 PPG, 4.3 APG, and 3.2 APG on .485/.427/.866 shooting splits. In the playoffs, he averaged 20.8 PPG, 3.9 APG, 3.5 RPG, and 0.8 SPG.

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray seemed to be on-track for All-Star inclusion prior to suffering the ACL tear that knocked him out of the conclusion of the 2020/21 NBA season and the entirety of 2021/22. Should he return to his pre-injury productivity while helping current MPV Nikola Jokic lead Denver to a top-four seed in the Western Conference, Murray may finally be able to make his first All-Star team. Across 48 games in 2020/21, Murray averaged 21.2 PPG, 4.8 APG, 4.0 RPG, and 1.3 SPG, with shooting splits of .477/.408/.869.

Other candidates on this writer’s list include the Heat‘s Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro, new Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, and maybe, just maybe, productive young guards Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, two players saddled with teams that appear poised to tank in 2022/23. But things can change.

We want to know what you think. Will any of the aforementioned NBA player(s) make their All-Star debuts in Salt Lake City next February? Do you have someone else in mind to take the leap? Head to the comments section below and let us know!

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has consistently asserted that the league isn’t planning on expansion in the near future.

During his annual press conference at the Finals, Silver had this to say: “At least maybe there are people talking who are not at the league office about us potentially expanding after the 2024 season. We are not discussing that at this time. As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it.”

The NBA has been slow to embrace expansion. The last time a new franchise was accepted came in 2004, when the Bobcats — now Hornets — were added.

A franchise fee in excess of a $1 billion would be the main incentive for expansion among owners. It would also have natural appeal to the players, creating more NBA jobs.

When the league finally gets around to expansion, there are plenty of viable options. Seattle has been talked about virtually since it lost the SuperSonics in 2008. The city got the latest NHL expansion team, the Kraken, and there’s an arena available for an NBA franchise. There’s little doubt that Seattle, which also has NFL and MLB franchises, will support an NBA team if it gets another one.

Las Vegas, which has become the host of the Summer League, is another obvious choice. It now has NHL and NFL franchises, as well as a Triple-A baseball club.

There are plenty of other major U.S. cities that could support an NBA team. Pittsburgh has long-term franchises in all three other major pro sports. St. Louis saw the Rams come and go but it has two other highly successful pro franchises. Kansas City, like Seattle, was once an NBA city.

Louisville, a major city in basketball-mad Kentucky, would also be a logical destination. Tampa hosted the Raptors during the pandemic.

The league could also look beyond the borders to Mexico City or Montreal, or perhaps even overseas to London.

That brings us to our question of the day: When the NBA is finally ready to expand, what major city is most deserving of a franchise?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

The Celtics don’t have Kevin Durant on their roster. They’re already the favorite to win the NBA title next season, according to the Las Vegas bookmakers.

So should Boston trade Jaylen Brown and other players and assets for KD and become the prohibitive favorite for the championship?

Brown is the best player that any potential suitor is reportedly willing to give up to the Nets to make an all-out bid for glory. Brown, who is still under contract for multiple seasons, averaged 23.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 3.5 APG last season and, at 25, is just entering his prime.

The Celtics seemingly addressed their biggest need this summer with the acquisition of Pacers point guard Malcolm Brogdon. Boston didn’t have to surrender any significant rotation players in the process. The team also improved its forward depth by adding veteran Danilo Gallinari.

Let’s look at the flip side. If Jayson Tatum and Brown seem like an imposing duo, just imagine what Tatum and Durant could do alongside each other once they work out chemistry issues. KD may be 34 and moody but he’s as good as ever — he averaged just a shade under 30 PPG and a career-best 6.4 APG last season.

He’s got plenty left in the tank and the four-year contract extension he signed erases any possibility of him leaving after a year or two as a free agent, though there’s always the concern that he could request another trade.

That brings us to our question of the day: Should the Celtics give up Jaylen Brown and other significant players and assets to acquire Kevin Durant? Or should they keep Brown and take their chances at a championship run with the group they already have?

Please take to the comments section to address this topic. We look forward to your input.

The play-in tournament, which has been adopted as an every-season fixture, means that only 10 of 30 NBA teams won’t get a taste of the postseason from year to year.

Last season, the Lakers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Thunder and Rockets were the five Western Conference teams who failed to qualify.

All of those teams, via some combination of the draft, free agency and trades, have made numerous roster moves this summer in an effort to improve their stock.

Let’s take a quick look at each of those clubs’ major moves, focusing on acquisitions beyond re-signing their own free agents:

• Lakers – The reshaping of the roster feels incomplete until we see if/when they’ll deal Russell Westbrook and whether Kyrie Irving winds up there. They have made some interesting free agent moves, despite limited resources, most notably adding former Spurs wing Lonnie Walker and ex-Wizards center Thomas Bryant.
• Kings – On the surface, the Kings have made some significant upgrades. Their lottery pick, Keegan Murray, was named the MVP of the Vegas Summer League. He could jump right into the starting lineup. They improved their 3-point shooting significantly with the additions of Malik Monk (free agency) and Kevin Huerter (trade).
• Trail Blazers – The much-rumored Jerami Grant trade came to fruition this summer, giving the Blazers a much-needed frontcourt boost. They added a backcourt rotation piece in Gary Payton II via free agency. Starters Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic signed new deals and Portland rolled the dice on wing Shaedon Sharpe with its lottery pick. Sharpe didn’t play college ball last year but has star potential.
• Thunder – The stockpile of extra draft picks they have accumulated in recent years, plus some draft-night maneuvers, paid off in the form of three lottery selections this season. They chose Chet Holmgren, one of the most unique players to enter the league, with the No. 2 pick. Wings Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams were added with the No. 11 and No. 12 picks, respectively.
• Rockets – Jabari Smith was expected to be the No. 1 pick in the draft but slid to Houston’s choice at No. 3. He could be a franchise player. Christian Wood was dealt to the Mavericks and the Rockets received a number of veteran reserves in return along with a late-first round pick. Houston used that on guard TyTy Washington. In between, the Rockets held the No. 17 pick and selected LSU’s Tari Eason, who impressed in Summer League action.

That brings us to our question of the day: Which Western Conference team that failed to reach the postseason this spring – Lakers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Thunder or Rockets – has the best chance to qualify for next year’s playoffs?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.