Now on the clock: Chaos.
The NBA offseason is about to kick into high gear.
A draft that had good bits of intrigue — at least after Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and R.J. Barrett were chosen first, second and third in moves that were widely expected for weeks — is now done. Up next is free agency, which will be much more unpredictable when it begins June 30.
Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Kemba Walker and Kyrie Irving were All-Star starters this past season and may soon change addresses. So might fellow All-Stars Khris Middleton, Nikola Vucevic and Klay Thompson. Al Horford apparently has decided to leave Boston. Anthony Davis has been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, or at least will be traded when the new league year begins July 6.
“We’ll have more answers then,” Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge said.
In the meantime, questions abound.
More than 200 players are free agents. The available salary-cap space around the league for next season alone exceeds $500 million. Add up the value of every deal that’s going to be signed starting July 6 and it’s conceivable that teams will combine to commit more than $2 billion in new salaries over the next four or five years.
“I feel like I’m going to need every dollar,” Philadelphia 76ers General Manager Elton Brand said.
He’s not alone. It is going to be a spending frenzy.
Luxury real-estate agents in the New York area might drool at the thought of the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks having well over $100 million in cap space to play with this summer. That sort of available cash means the Nets and Knicks conceivably could lure two max-salary players to their clubs, and both are certain to pursue the big names like Leonard, Durant, Walker and Irving.
“I don’t know what they’re going to be interested in, but when they look at Brooklyn from afar we’ve got to give them some credit because the guys that are free agents, all of them have spent the last year or two surveying the league,” Brooklyn General Manager Sean Marks said Friday. “They know where they want to go and what they want to be a part of.”
Walker could command $221 million from Charlotte, though he has said he will take less. Durant could get the same from Golden State and hasn’t said he would take less. Leonard is probably the biggest mystery case that needs solving; he could end up with the Los Angeles Clippers, stay with the Toronto Raptors or look to New York. And as is almost always the case with Leonard, there have been no real hints.
Some Las Vegas oddsmakers say the Lakers — with Davis teaming alongside LeBron James and potentially a third star player — are the favorites to win the 2020 NBA title. Those odds could swing big-time in the next few weeks.
“If you’re asking now, with the way the Western Conference looks or the league looks in general, I couldn’t even venture a guess how that stacks up because we’re so far from the offseason really ending,” Oklahoma City General Manager Sam Presti said. “Every team is going to do what they can to come back better.”
It was already going to be a wild summer, and the decisions that are looming got even more interesting – unfortunately so – when Durant and Thompson endured major injuries during Golden State’s loss to the Raptors in the NBA finals. Durant tore an Achilles; Thompson tore an ACL.
Both will miss, at a minimum, most of next season. Still, the Warriors clearly want to retain them.
“Those are guys that you do everything you can to keep within your organization,” Golden State General Manager Bob Myers said.
Free agency isn’t the only mechanism that will be in play over the coming weeks.
Some teams, if inclined to dramatically change the makeup of their rosters, will have to do so through trades. Miami, a team never shy about getting into the free-agent fight, isn’t likely to be that active this time because it lacks cap space.
“There are possibilities,” said the team president, Pat Riley.
“Possibilities” will be a buzzword in the NBA for the next few days until the circus begins at 6 p.m. June 30.
The Celtics are bracing to lose Irving and Horford.
“Listen, I’ve always said that when somebody goes, then somebody else gets a new opportunity and we’ve seen that happen here many times,” Ainge said. “And I’m very excited about what the possibilities are over the next month. … Maybe the players and the names on the jerseys change, but the approach is the same. We have a very attractive franchise to play for.”
HEAT: A person with knowledge of the situation said Hassan Whiteside is exercising his $27.1 million option for next season.
The move was not a surprise. It will be the final year of Whiteside’s four-year, $98 million contract with Miami, and the salary he’ll command next season will keep him as the highest-paid player on the roster.
Whiteside averaged 12.3 points and a team-best 11.3 rebounds last season, appearing in 72 games and starting 53. He also averaged only 23 minutes per game and at times expressed his displeasure about not having a larger role.
“He’s going to come to training camp like everybody else this year and earn it,” said the team president, Pat Riley, several hours before the option was exercised.
FORMER DUKE teammates Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett will make their Summer League debuts against one another when New Orleans and New York meet July 5, the first day of the annual summer showcase at Las Vegas.
KINGS: Hall of Famer Joe Dumars was hired as a special adviser to General Manager Vlade Divac.
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