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2023 NBA Free Agency: Day 2 Recap

July 2nd, 2023 at 12:30am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s free agent market remained active on Saturday after a busy Friday, but the most significant headlines of the day involved players who were already under contract.

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard made the day’s biggest news by submitting a long-awaited trade request to the team. Lillard is reportedly focused on landing with the Heat, but Portland will survey the market, and there are questions about whether Miami will the assets to get a deal done without involving a third team.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s two most lucrative contract agreements were extensions rather than free agents deals. The Hornets and guard LaMelo Ball reached an agreement on a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension, while Kings center Domantas Sabonis agreed to a renegotiation and extension that will add four years and $195MM in new money to his deal.

Listed below are the rest of the highlights from around the NBA on Saturday.

Free agent agreements

Most of these deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these agreements sometime after the moratorium ends on July 6.

[RELATED: 2023 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

Note: Some of these salary figures may include options, incentives, or non-guaranteed money.

Dillon Brooks, Rockets agree to four-year, $80MM contract (sign-and-trade).
Max Strus, Cavaliers agree to four-year, $63MM contract (sign-and-trade).
Austin Reaves, Lakers agree to four-year, $53.8MM contract.
Donte DiVincenzo, Knicks agree to four-year, $50MM contract.
Brook Lopez, Bucks agree to two-year, $48MM contract.
D’Angelo Russell, Lakers agree to two-year, $37MM contract.
Jock Landale, Rockets agree to four-year, $32MM contract.
Moritz Wagner, Magic agree to two-year, $16MM contract.
Dwight Powell, Mavericks agree to three-year, $12MM contract.
Jalen McDaniels, Raptors agree to two-year, $9.3MM contract.
Russell Westbrook, Clippers agree to two-year, $7.9MM contract.
Jeff Green, Rockets agree to one-year, $6MM contract.
Ty Jerome, Cavaliers agree to two-year, $5MM contract.
Thomas Bryant, Heat agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
Jaxson Hayes, Lakers agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
Patrick Beverley, Sixers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Dante Exum, Mavericks agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Alex Len, Kings agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Sandro Mamukelashvili, Spurs agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
Jack White, Thunder agree to two-year contract.
Jae Crowder, Bucks agree to one-year contract.
Dennis Smith Jr., Nets agree to one-year contract.
Heat sign Orlando Robinson to minimum-salary contract.

Trades

Knicks agree to trade Obi Toppin to Pacers for two second-round picks.
Rockets agree to trade Kenyon Martin Jr. to Clippers for two second-round picks.
Rockets agree to trade Usman Garuba, TyTy Washington, two second-round picks, and cash to the Hawks for the draft rights to Alpha Kaba.
Spurs to acquire Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens, and a second-round pick; Heat to acquire a second-round pick in the Max Strus sign-and-trade agreement with the Cavaliers.
Rockets to acquire Dillon Brooks in a sign-and-trade agreement that includes Josh Christopher going to the Grizzlies and Patty Mills going from the Nets to an unknown team. There will be more details to come on this one.
Jazz agree to trade Damian Jones to Cavaliers.

Other notable deals

Vasilije Micic, Thunder agree to three-year, $23.5MM contract.
Sasha Vezenkov, Kings agree to three-year, $20MM contract.
Several first-round picks signed their rookie scale contracts, including No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs.

Previously:

NBA 2023 Free Agency: Day 1 Recap

Latest On Damian Lillard

July 1st, 2023 at 8:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin will try to accommodate the trade request Damian Lillard made earlier today, but he will also operate in the best interests of his own team, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Rival front offices believe Cronin is looking for a “star-level” return and he’s willing to consider other teams besides Miami, which is Lillard’s preferred destination.

Cronin confirmed that sentiment in a statement he issued after the Lillard news was made public, saying, “We have been clear that we want Dame here, but he notified us today he wants out and he’d prefer to play someplace else. What has not changed for us is that we’re committed to winning, and we are going to do what’s best for the team in pursuit of that goal.” (Twitter link)

Tyler Herro, who has four years and $120MM left on his contract, is considered a vital part of any Heat deal for salary matching purposes. However, sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that Cronin doesn’t view Herro as a good fit with his roster and would try to find a third team to take him if Lillard is traded to Miami. The Nets have been considered as a team that might take on Herro’s contract, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link).

There’s also a sense that the Blazers won’t rush into a deal and will take their time to make sure they get the best return for Lillard, tweets Mark Medina of Sportsnaut.

Many teams are interested in acquiring Lillard, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who names the Sixers, Clippers and Jazz among them. Amick reiterates that a third team would likely have to get involved for a trade with Miami to work.

Amick also examines what led to Lillard’s trade request, saying he was ready to ask for a deal when he and his agent met with Cronin on Monday. Cronin was able to talk Lillard into waiting to see what the team was able to do in free agency, but when no major additions took place Friday night, Lillard called coach Chauncey Billups and decided it was time to move on.

Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer also has doubts that Lillard will end up in Miami, stating that the Heat’s potential best offer would be “one of the worst trades in NBA history.” He believes Miami would be willing to accept Jusuf Nurkic‘s contract along with Lillard, while sending back Herro, Kyle Lowry, Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, first-round picks in 2028 and 2030 and a pick swap in 2029. O’Connor points out that the deal wouldn’t give Portland a collection of valuable picks or young talent to build around.

O’Connor lists eight teams that he believes should be aggressively pursuing Lillard, starting with the Sixers. Philadelphia has indicated that it’s not willing to part with Tyrese Maxey, but if that changes, O’Connor views Maxey, two future first-rounders, a pick swap and expiring contracts as better than what Miami can offer. He points out that Sixers president Daryl Morey can pick up more trade assets by sending James Harden to the Clippers before addressing Lillard.

Lakers Sign D’Angelo Russell To Two-Year Deal

July 1st, 2023 at 6:48pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

July 7: Russell’s new contract is now official, the Lakers announced (Twitter link via Jovan Buha of The Athletic).

July 1: The Lakers and point guard D’Angelo Russell have reached an agreement on a two-year contract that will be worth $37MM, his agents at CAA Basketball tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Wojnarowski, Russell will hold a player option for 2024/25 as part of the deal.

Los Angeles acquired the 6’4″ vet, whom the Lakers initially drafted with the second pick in 2015, from the Timberwolves this past February. The Russell acquisition headlined a flurry of tactical moves designed to improve the club’s positional balance and add more shooting around stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The 27-year-old performed exceptionally well as a supplemental scorer and passer upon being installed as L.A.’s starting point guard. Across his 17 healthy regular season contests with Los Angeles, he averaged 17.4 PPG on .484/.414/.735 shooting splits, plus 6.1 APG and 2.9 RPG.

The playoffs were a different story. His jump shooting took a major dive, and opposing teams often targeted him on defense. Russell averaged 13.3 PPG on a .426/.310/.769 slash line, 4.6 APG, 2.9 RPG and 0.7 SPG in the playoffs.

Yesterday’s announced signing of ex-Heat point guard Gabe Vincent, a better defender who enjoyed a much better postseason, made Russell’s future in Los Angeles seem a bit more tenuous. Though Russell’s contract makes it seem like he will at least begin the season as the team’s starter, one wonders if that will be the case at the end of the season.

Rockets To Trade Kenyon Martin Jr. To Clippers

July 1st, 2023 at 6:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers have agreed to trade for Rockets forward Kenyon Martin Jr., according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), who reports that Houston will receive two second-round picks in the deal.

The two second-rounders will be the Clippers’ own 2026 pick and the Grizzlies’ 2027 pick, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times.

The Clippers have a $2,134,843 trade exception they can use to absorb Martin’s salary.

Martin spent three years in Houston after being acquired from the Kings, who selected him with the 52nd pick in the 2020 draft. He served as a valuable bench player for most of his time with the rebuilding Rockets, but became a full-time starter by the end of last season. He posted career highs with 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 56.9% from the field.

Martin is also an electrifying leaper who frequently posted highlight-worthy slams. He participated in this year’s Slam Dunk Contest, but didn’t get past the preliminary round.

The 22-year-old forward will get his first experience on a contender in L.A. He’ll provide additional depth behind Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who both have a long history of battling injuries.

On Thursday, the Rockets picked up Martin’s $1.93MM option for 2023/24, so he’s set to be unrestricted free agent next summer. He will become eligible to sign a four-year extension worth up to $75MM six months after the trade is finalized.

ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk points out that Clippers president Lawrence Frank has a connection to Martin after being his father’s coach with the Nets (Twitter link).

Russell Westbrook Re-Signs With Clippers

July 1st, 2023 at 5:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 6: Westbrook’s new deal with the Clippers is official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.

JULY 1: Russell Westbrook will re-sign with the Clippers for nearly $8MM over two years, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Westbrook will receive a player option for the second season, Wojnarowski adds.

L.A. will use the Non-Bird exception for Westbrook, who joined the team in February after being traded to the Jazz and negotiating a buyout. The Clippers are limited to a 20% raise for Westbrook over the veteran’s minimum contract he played under last season.

He will receive $3,835,738 for the 2023/24 season and $4,027,525 for the following year if he exercises the option. The deal gives Westbrook a chance to opt out and test the market again next summer as an unrestricted free agent.

Westbrook struggled through the season and a half he spent with the Lakers, but he was able to revive his reputation somewhat with the cross-town Clippers. He became a full-time starter again after the move and averaged 15.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 7.6 assists in 21 games while helping the team avoid falling into the play-in tournament.

The Clippers were “eager” to keep Westbrook after his late-season performance, Wojnarowski adds.

The former MVP and nine-time All-Star is considered a shoo-in Hall of Famer, but his standing around the league has fallen in recent years due to his declining shooting percentage, his penchant for turnovers and the number of times he has changed teams. After spending the first 11 seasons of his career in Oklahoma City, the Clippers marked Westbrook’s fifth team in six years.

He also became a scapegoat for an underachieving Lakers team, and trade rumors started circulating shortly after he was acquired in a 2021 deal. The Lakers had to part with a future first-round pick to send him to Utah, but before that happened, he experienced a coaching change and was made a full-time bench player for the first time in his career.

Clippers management was originally cool on the idea of adding Westbrook in February, but they relented after lobbying from Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

L.A. was considered to be among the front-runners to land Chris Paul after the Suns traded him to Washington last month, but the Warriors snagged Paul by agreeing to part with Jordan Poole. The Clippers indicated that they would have considered re-signing Westbrook even if they had traded for Paul.

Damian Lillard Rumors: Heat, Herro, Martin, Nurkic, Grant

July 1st, 2023 at 3:31pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Shockwaves were sent throughout the league this morning when it was reported that longtime Trail Blazers All-NBA point guard Damian Lillard had requested a trade.

During an appearance on NBA Today, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter video link) spoke with host Malika Andrews about the curious timing of the deal.

“His conversations with the organization, at least going back several days [to] that last Monday meeting in Portland, the expectation was he was going to give the organization a chance to get through free agency, and see how they could improve the team,” Woj said. “And on the opening night of free agency, they committed in Portland $160MM to Jerami Grant to return to the Blazers, certainly with Damian Lillard in mind. And now, less than 24 hours later, Lillard has asked for a trade.”

Sources tell Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report that Lillard’s agent Aaron Goodwin informed Joe Cronin of his client’s decision on Saturday morning.

Haynes is one of many reporters hearing that Lillard hopes to be dealt to Miami. Heat All-NBA swingman Jimmy Butler, fresh off leading the team to its second Finals appearance in four seasons, has told Miami personnel that Lillard is his No. 1 target for the club’s offseason, Haynes adds.

Miami is prepared to make an offer centered around young shooting guard Tyler Herro, according to Haynes, who says sharpshooter Duncan Robinson and draft picks could be used to build out the package. The team is hoping to avoid including affordable forward Caleb Martin in trade talks, per Haynes and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (via Twitter).

The Trail Blazers, for their part, may angle to unload the contract of veteran center Jusuf Nurkic in a deal.

“If you want to go into a full rebuild, Brooklyn has the better assets going forward,” a front office executive told Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports. “But Portland is pretty clear that they are not looking to be terrible next year. They will be young but they want to stay competitive. Dealing with Miami gets you there.”

Surrounding third overall lottery pick Scoot Henderson with a play-making scorer at the level of Herro and perhaps a marksman with the pedigree of Robinson could help the Trail Blazers at least remain somewhat competitive next season.

However, there have been rumblings that Portland may be “lukewarm” on Herro, so it’s possible a third team would have to get involved, as Jackson writes for The Miami Herald in an exploration of possible trade scenarios. Haynes (Twitter link) has indeed heard that any Lillard trade between the Blazers and Heat would probably have to include a third team, though he doesn’t specify whether that’s related to Portland’s feelings about Herro.

The Sixers are another club that hopes to get into the running for Lillard. However, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) is hearing that young combo guard Tyrese Maxey, who is still on his rookie scale contract, is currently off the table in any trade talks, even for Lillard. Fischer reiterates that rival teams, including Philadelphia, are convinced Lillard hopes to be moved to the Heat specifically.

Finally, Wojnarowski provides an important update on another key veteran whose future is affected by Lillard’s trade request, tweeting that today’s news won’t change Portland’s plans to re-sign Grant to the five-year, $160MM contract he and the team agreed to on Friday night.

That deal can’t be made official until July 6, so either side could back out of their verbal agreement before then. However, it would be a bad look for a club to rescind such a significant offer, and Grant seems unlikely to do anywhere near that well elsewhere on the free agent market.

Luke Adams contributed to this story.

Lakers Re-Sign Austin Reaves To Four-Year Contract

July 1st, 2023 at 2:07pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 6: Reaves is officially back under contract with the Lakers. The team issued a press release announcing the signing.

JULY 1: Restricted free agent guard Austin Reaves will be returning to the Lakers, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who hears from agents Aaron Reilly and Reggie Berry that Reaves will be signing a four-year contract worth the full Early Bird amount to remain in Los Angeles.

The deal will be worth just shy of $54MM. It will include a fourth-year player option, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), and will feature a 15% trade kicker, according to Charania (Twitter link).

It’s a great outcome for the Lakers, who only held Reaves’ Early Bird rights and couldn’t legally offer him any more than approximately $54MM over four years. Because he was an Arenas provision free agent, Reaves would have been eligible for a back-loaded offer sheet worth in excess of $100MM from a rival suitor, which Los Angeles could have matched.

However, either that offer sheet didn’t materialize or Reaves simply opted to negotiate directly with the Lakers in order to stay with the club that helped facilitate his breakout season in 2022/23.

The No. 12 free agent on our top-50 list, Reaves averaged 13.0 points, 3.4 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game with an excellent .529/.398/.864 shooting line in 64 regular season appearances last season. He was a full-time starter in the postseason and played even better, putting up 16.9 PPG, 4.6 APG, and 4.4 RPG on .464/.443/.895 shooting in 16 contests (36.2 MPG).

It has been a busy 24 hours for the Lakers, who also reached agreements to re-sign D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura and lined up deals with Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, and Jaxson Hayes.

Assuming they sign Maxwell Lewis to a rookie-minimum contract, the Lakers will be right up against the luxury tax line with at least one roster spot still to fill, tweets Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. However, they’ll have plenty of breathing room below the first tax apron ($172.3MM), which will be their hard cap for the season.

The Lakers will likely seek one more big man with their 14th roster spot and will plan on keeping the 15th slot open to begin the 2023/24 season, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Bucks To Re-Sign Brook Lopez To Two-Year Deal

July 1st, 2023 at 1:39pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Bucks have agreed to terms on a new deal for All-Defensive center Brook Lopez, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who reports that the free agent big man will return to the team on a two-year, $48MM deal.

There had been rumblings leading up to free agency that the Rockets were preparing a two-year offer in excess of $40MM for Lopez, so the Bucks used their Bird rights to make an aggressive bid for the big man, ensuring that the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up will continue his career in Milwaukee. Charania confirms (via Twitter) that Houston had indeed made a similar offer.

Lopez, 35, has been a huge part of the Bucks’ recent success. After spending the first portion of his career as an old-school post scorer with an aversion to rim protection, he remade his game in Milwaukee, evolving into a 3-and-D center on a perennial title contender. He won his first NBA championship with the club in 2021.

In agreeing to re-sign Lopez and All-Star swingman Khris Middleton, the Bucks have now held onto their two most important free agents this summer. Milwaukee has thus far let two rotation players, reserve point guard Jevon Carter and backup forward Joe Ingles, walk during this free agent window.

Last year for a 58-24 Bucks club — the league’s top overall seed heading into the playoffs — Lopez averaged 15.9 PPG on .531/.374/.784 shooting splits, 6.7 RPG, 2.5 BPG and 1.3 APG. That block rate was third overall for the season.

Spurs Officially Sign Victor Wembanyama

July 1st, 2023 at 11:23am CST by Rory Maher

The Spurs have officially signed 2023 No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama, the team announced in a press release.

While the terms of the contract were not disclosed, Wembanyama will have a $12,160,680 salary in 2023/24, which is the maximum he can receive in the first year of his rookie scale contract. As with all first-round picks, San Antonio will hold team options in years three and four.

Wembanyama, a 7’3″ big man, was MVP and Defensive Player of the Year of the LNB Pro A, France’s top basketball league. He averaged 21.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 3.0 blocks in 34 games last season (32.1 minutes per contest).

The 19-year-old is widely considered to be the best NBA prospect since LeBron James was selected first overall 20 years ago. Wembanyama will participate in Summer League with the Spurs later this month, per the team.

Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard Requests Trade

July 1st, 2023 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard has requested a trade out of Portland, sources tell Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report (Twitter link). The team is expected to work to accommodate the request, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne (Twitter link).

Lillard’s future in Portland has been the subject of speculation for several years, as the team hasn’t made it out of the first round of the postseason since 2019 and has missed the playoffs entirely in each of the last two seasons.

The seven-time All-Star, who has spent his entire 11-year NBA career with the Trail Blazers, has repeatedly expressed his loyalty to the organization and conveyed a desire to stick it out in Portland. However, Lillard – who will turn 33 later this month – has also made it clear that he wants to have a chance to contend for a championship during his remaining prime years.

Lillard spoke earlier this year about his preference that the Blazers look to build out their roster with veterans rather than prioritizing youth. So when the franchise landed the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft, there was a sense that what Portland did with that selection would significantly influence Lillard’s next move.

Rather than trading the No. 3 pick for an impact player, the Blazers kept it and drafted Scoot Henderson, a 19-year-old guard who has superstar upside but who will need some time to develop at the NBA level. Portland also reached an agreement on a five-year, $160MM deal with free agent forward Jerami Grant on Friday, but Lillard has apparently determined that the team’s moves early in the offseason won’t substantially increase its chances of contending in the short term.

According to Shelburne (Twitter link), Lillard considered asking for a trade when he met with the Blazers’ front office on Monday, but wanted to give them every opportunity to make roster upgrades this week. He decided on Friday night to request a move, Shelburne adds.

Haynes initially reported (via Twitter) the Heat and Nets are the preferred landing spots for the former No. 6 overall pick. Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports adds (via Twitter) that no other teams – including the Sixers – are on Lillard’s wish list for now, though Shelburne (Twitter link) adds that he has a “deep respect” for the Spurs.

While Brooklyn could put together a competitive offer of players and draft picks, it sounds like Lillard is focused specifically on Miami. League sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the Blazers were told that Dame wants to end up with the Heat.

Lillard spoke to some Heat players recently about how a deal might work, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), the star guard loves the city of Miami, is good friends with Bam Adebayo, has “great respect” for Jimmy Butler, and views the Heat as a legitimate contender.

Lillard doesn’t have a no-trade clause, so he could be dealt to any team, but the Blazers likely won’t want to reward his 11 years of service to the franchise by sending him somewhere he doesn’t want to be. If Portland does open up the Lillard sweepstakes to other suitors, Philadelphia would have interest in exploring a deal, as would the Clippers, tweets Wojnarowski.

The Heat are expected to “vigorously” pursue a trade for Lillard, according to Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami was reportedly in the mix for Bradley Beal in June, but after Phoenix traded for the longtime Wizards star, reports indicated that the Heat were focused on Lillard and were willing to wait for him to ask out of Portland.

A Miami offer for Lillard would almost certainly include at least two of Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, and Duncan Robinson. The Heat also have at least two tradable future first-round picks (2028 and 2030) and could sweeten their offer by attaching young prospects such as Nikola Jovic or 2023 first-rounder Jaime Jaquez, or a veteran on a team-friendly contract like Caleb Martin. They could also offer multiple first-round pick swaps.

According to Wojnarowski, the Trail Blazers will prioritize young players and draft picks in their Lillard trade negotiations. In Henderson and 2022 lottery pick Shaedon Sharpe, the club already has two young potential cornerstones to build around.

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