The 4 Best and Worst NBA Free Agency Signings
I wanted to wait to write this article until the last of the important free agency signings had been made. Now that Bradley Beal has signed with the Clippers, I feel comfortable in saying that the biggest transactions are behind us.
The buzz of NBA free agency is always about those huge signings and big-name players up for grabs, and rightfully so. However, so often, the season is decided by the marginal acquisitions that don’t get nearly as much press as they deserve. Last year, it was the Thunder trading for Alex Caruso. Three years ago, it was the Bruce Brown signing that helped lift the Nuggets over the top.
In a year where there were no blockbuster deals, I had no choice but to pick from the lesser-known players who secured deals, and I think I did a good job of designating the signings that will age like fine wine and the ones that will come back to haunt their teams.
Best: Bruce Brown to Nuggets (1 yr / $3.1M)
Brown finessed the Pacers into giving him $45M two summers ago shortly after winning a championship as a core member of the Nuggets. In the two years since he was given the contract, Brown missed 46 games, scored under 10.0 PPG, and shot worse than 46% and 33% from the field and from three, respectively. The main reason? He wasn’t playing with Nikola Jokic.
He’s back where he belongs now, and at a very discounted value of $3.1M. Brown will be an important rotation piece, who at his best is in the closing five in playoff games thanks to his elite cutting ability as well as his court vision, defense, and leadership.
Most of all, Brown provides Denver with an extra body. By the end of the postseason, Nikola Jokic and Christian Braun were the only players who were healthy and weren’t scared of the rim. Brown will be a great backup option for the next time Jamal Murray needs rest for his knee or Aaron Gordon has a grade two hamstring strain in the playoffs.
Worst: Myles Turner to Bucks (4 yrs / $107M)
Imagine this: your wife is on the verge of divorcing you, so you take out a multi-million dollar loan to buy her a new Lamborghini, a house in the Caribbean, and an 18-karat diamond necklace to convince her to stay.
By signing Myles Turner, the Bucks had to stretch Damian Lillard’s two-year, $113M contract to five years. This means that instead of paying Lillard $56.5M for the next two years and having him off their books by 2027, they have to pay him $22.5M for the next five years (until 2030). Lillard was waived last week.
So, the Bucks will have $22.5M less to spend for the next five years, which is crucial given that they don’t control of their first-round picks until 2031.
As for Turner, he’s a solid stretch five, but I don’t love paying a big man who has only played in one system his whole career and has likely already reached his peak. I believe Tyrese Haliburton made him look better than he truly is, and that he’ll struggle without a pass-first point guard, which Indiana had for the majority of his years there.
Best: D’Angelo Russell to Mavs (2 yrs / $13M)
The Mavericks are expecting the best from Kyrie Irving when he recovers from his ACL injury, but until then, they need somebody more reliable to run the offense than Brandon Williams. D’Angelo Russell is a perfect rental for half of a season, and the Mavericks poached him at a low price.
Despite being maligned for his mistakes while he was a member of the Lakers, D’Lo quietly averaged 17.9 points and shot over 40% from three from 2022 to 2024. He was also the starting point guard on a conference finals team, helping erase the stigma that he can’t be part of a winning team.
Russell’s weaknesses have always been on the defensive end, but unlike his situation in LA, he has plenty of defensive reinforcement in Dallas. Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively III are both elite rim protectors, Max Christie can guard the best opposing ball handlers, and P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, and Cooper Flagg bring physical prowess and quickness on the wing.
I believe Russell’s strength will show more than his weaknesses and will ultimately help Dallas tread water until Irving’s return.
Worst: Dennis Schroder to Kings (3 yrs / $45M)
This deal is less about Schroder, who I believe is still a very capable backup, but more about the structure of the deal and who made the deal.
Any deal beyond one year is too long for the 31-year-old journeyman. That’s because Schroder hasn’t spent more than two years with a team since the mid-2010s with the Hawks, the team that drafted him. Inevitably, Sacramento will look to trade him in the next year or two, and nobody will want to adopt his contract—he is an aging veteran who is now overpaid.
Secondly, this deal makes no sense for the Kings, who have no direction and might have the most mediocre roster of all time. Sacramento’s starting five of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray, and Malik Monk is a known product and is less than the sum of its parts. If the Kings were a piece away, I could understand the Schroder deal, but this team is nowhere close to contending.
Best: Lopez and Beal Signings for Clippers
1. Signed Brook Lopez for 2 yrs / $17.9M
Ivica Zubac was one of the NBA’s most improved players last season and proved that he is perhaps the best counter to Nikola Jokic in the entire league. However, when Zubac was off the floor, Ty Lue was forced to get creative with lineups that had Nicolas Batum and Ben Simmons playing center.
Signing Lopez takes away any shakiness the Clippers had without Zubac, as he provides them with size, shot-blocking, and floor-stretching. Plus, if Zubac or Lopez are to miss time this season, Lue has the option of going to John Collins as a backup five.
2. Signed Bradley Beal for 2 yrs / $10.98M
I understand Beal’s defensive shortcomings, but $6.5M per year is a massive discount for a player who has averaged 17.6 PPG on 51/41/81 splits for the last two seasons. Beal can still be an important offensive contributor, and he fills a huge shooting guard void for the Clippers, who started Kris Dunn last season.
Much like Russell on Dallas, Beal has defensive reinforcement in Dunn, Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Jones, Collins, Zubac, and Lopez. And if the Harden-Beal backcourt is too vulnerable defensively, LA can go right back to Dunn next to Harden and bring Beal off the bench, which he did a handful of times in Phoenix next season.
Both the Lopez and the Beal signings provide the Clippers with flexibility and shooting, and loft them into the title conversation for next season.
Worst: Duncan Robinson to Pistons (3 yrs / $48M)
The Heat were able to arrange a sign-and-trade that sent Robinson to the Pistons for Simone Fontecchio for one half of what Robinson earns, and I frankly don’t understand this move for Detroit. Robinson is older than Fontecchio, has an established ceiling, and is worse defensively.
I suspect that this is a panic move by the Pistons, who are likely anxious about a three-point shooting decline next season in the wake of Malik Beasley’s messy betting investigation, and because Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris are very year-to-year shooters.
Ultimately, this contract might serve well for Detroit this year as they look to take another leap towards the top of the East, but I believe it’ll come back to bite them in years two and three.
Best: Jordan Clarkson to Knicks (1 yr / $3.6M)
So much was made about the immense load that Jalen Brunson had to carry last season as the only real ball-handler the Knicks trusted to play crucial playoff minutes. Clarkson re-paints the picture for New York—he’s a veteran point guard who is very comfortable with the ball in his hands and will give Brunson much-needed rest after three years of being run into the ground by Tom Thibodeau. Maybe he’ll help Brunson crack a smile this season, too.
Clarkson averaged over 15.0 PPG in all of his six years with the Jazz and posted 16.2 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 3.7 APG in 26.0 MPG last season. He also shot 36.2% from three last season. His microwave scoring will be the boost the Knicks so desperately need to gain separation from opponents—half of their playoff wins last season were by three points or fewer.
Bottom line: I like the Clarkson deal even if he doesn’t shoot his best because at the very least, he’ll balance New York’s offense.
Worst: Jakob Poeltl Extension with Raptors ($4 yr / $104M)
If I had a dollar for every time I asked, “What are the Raptors doing?” I’d be writing this article from the beach in Monaco. The Raptors had the 24th-best record in the league last season, but have the eighth-highest payroll going into this season—no team has a higher payroll with a worse record.
Don’t get me wrong, Poeltl is a helpful and very underrated player, but he’ll be 30 years old by the time the 2025-26 season starts and will probably be declining the next time the Raptors start winning again.
Four years for $104M is the same deal that Jalen Brunson received when he signed with New York, and people thought THAT was an overpay. Poeltl will make $26M per year until the 2029-2030 season, which is $7M more than Ivica Zubac and $6M more than Jarrett Allen.