The start of 2024 NBA free agency didn’t begin with the typical fireworks due to a number of players re-signing with their own teams under the new CBA rules.
We did eventually see Paul George agree to join the Philadelphia 76ers, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leave the Denver Nuggets for the Orlando Magic, James Harden re-up with the Los Angeles Clippers, Cade Cunningham get a max extension from the Detroit Pistons and a number of other impactful signings that you can find grades for here.
There were still plenty of big names left on the board on Day 2, including LeBron James, Tyrese Maxey, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Hartenstein and others.
It’s time to hand out live grades for every Day 2 signing.
The terms: Five years, $204 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
This money was a long time coming.
Maxey could have locked in this same contract last year heading into the final season of his rookie deal. However, his draft position (21st overall in 2020) gave him a modest $13.0 million cap hold that allowed the Philadelphia 76ers to open up more cap space if he waited.
The plan worked out perfectly for both Maxey and the Sixers, as Philly used this strategy to sign Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond and others and give Maxey the max deal he deserves.
The 23-year-old was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player and was a first-time All-Star last season, averaging 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 37.3 percent from three.
This was always going to be a max deal, although the Sixers get bonus points for not having to tack a player option onto the end. All five years are guaranteed, with Maxey earning (a very reasonable) $46.4 million during the 2028-29 season when we could see some stars making over $70 million.
Grade: A+
The terms: Three years, $50 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
The Dallas Mavericks have had themselves quite a month.
Following a surprising run to the NBA Finals, the Mavs are now reportedly adding Klay Thompson via a three-team sign-and-trade deal that will see Josh Green end up on the Charlotte Hornets.
Thompson will likely become Dallas’ new starting small forward, playing alongside two of the NBA’s best offensive creators in Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. The 34-year-old Thompson struggled for stretches of last season, yet he averaged 21.2 points while shooting 41.2 percent from three over his final 15 regular-season games.
Equally dangerous on pull-up threes (41.4 percent) or off the catch (38.1 percent), Thompson should keep the floor wide open for the Mavericks’ star guards to drive. He isn’t the athlete that Derrick Jones Jr. was for the Mavs last season, but Thompson is a far better shooter who should feast off passes from Dončić.
Woj added that Thompson took less money and years to join the Mavs in the hopes of winning a championship.
This was a no-brainer for Dallas. Getting a proven talent and four-time champ in Thompson while also weakening an opponent in the West is a massive win. The Mavs don’t have a lot of draft picks, cap space or young talent to improve the roster with, so landing Thompson was a best-case scenario in terms of talent acquisition. Keeping him away from the Los Angeles Lakers was important as well.
Grade: A
The terms: Two years, $52 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
The Detroit Pistons always seemed like the eventual landing spot for Tobias Harris due to their immense amount of cap space and need for veteran talent.
Detroit probably gave Harris a little more per season ($26 million) for him to take a shorter contract. This deal only overlaps with Cade Cunningham’s new max contract for one season (2025-26) and will be up by the time that young players like Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren are up for new contracts.
Even after signing Harris and taking on Tim Hardaway Jr. in a salary dump from the Dallas Mavericks, the Pistons have roughly $24 million of cap space remaining, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Harris, 31, now likely becomes the team’s new starting power forward after averaging 17.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.0 steals per game for the Sixers last season.
This is a low-risk move by the Pistons, who needed more veteran talent on their roster. Harris still gets a nice payday as well.
Grade: B
The terms: Three years, $87 million (via Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium)
The New York Knicks faced an uphill battle to retain Isaiah Hartenstein. Since they only had Early Bird rights on him, they couldn’t offer him more than a four-year, $72.5 million deal.
In the end, the 26-year-old got $15 million more from the Thunder and gets to re-enter free agency a year earlier.
Hartenstein’s raw numbers from this past season (7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 blocks per game) don’t look deserving of nearly $30 million annual salary, but the Thunder had to push this contract over what the Knicks could offer. This might be a bit of an overpay, but Hartenstein should solve a lot of what plagued the Thunder last season.
OKC ranked 28th leaguewide in rebound percentage last year and was thin in the middle behind Chet Holmgren. The West is loaded with talented bigs (Nikola Jokić, Anthony Davis, Victor Wembanyama, Zion Williamson, Domantas Sabonis, Karl-Anthony Towns, etc.), and Hartenstein now gives the Thunder a strong defensive presence to play behind or alongside Holmgren.
His salary suggests that Hartenstein will play next to Holmgren in the starting lineup, although that would force either Lu Dort or the newly acquired Alex Caruso to the bench. Hartenstein isn’t a three-point shooter, which could affect driving lanes for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s used to playing in five-out lineups.
This isn’t a perfect fit for Hartenstein and was probably more money than he deserves, but it’s an overall solid signing for a Thunder team that should be right back in the championship mix next season.
Grade: B+
The terms: Two years, $16.3 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
Filling out a roster around two stars on max contracts is hard enough under the league’s new CBA. With Paul George now joining them on a third max deal, the Philadelphia 76ers were in real danger of sacrificing depth.
After agreeing to contracts with Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon in the opening hours of free agency, getting Oubre to re-sign in Philly as a potential starter or sixth man is a huge win for the Sixers.
The 28-year-old rehabbed his value on a veteran-minimum deal in Philadelphia last season, averaging 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game in 68 games (52 starts).
There was a real chance that Oubre could have gotten more from a contender possessing the full $12.9 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. By signing for this amount, Oubre’s new salary could fit into the Sixers’ $8.0 million room exception rather than eating into their remaining salary-cap space.
Oubre has a player option on Year 2, which means he can opt out next summer and re-sign on a deal starting at nearly $14 million via his Early Bird rights, according to Bleacher Report’s Bryan Toporek.
Oubre isn’t the perfect fit for a team that now needs more three-and-D players around Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and George, but at this price point, there likely weren’t better options available. If George or Embiid miss time due to injury, the Sixers will need Oubre’s scoring.
Grade: B+
The terms: Three years, $27 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
As we await the futures of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan in Chicago, the Bulls used the majority of their $12.9 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Smith.
Smith, 24, becomes a backup power forward/center behind Patrick Williams and Nikola Vučević and brings some much-needed shooting to the roster. After swapping Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey, Chicago needed players who can knock down open shots and keep the floor spread.
Smith hit 42.4 percent of his threes last season, but he carried a career mark of only 29.7 percent in 146 career games before that. We’ll see if he can keep up that same long-range shooting with no Tyrese Haliburton and a less talented cast around him.
The idea of Smith has always been better than the player himself. He was largely left out of the Pacers’ playoff rotation and offers little passing or rim protection.
Smith could turn out to be a solid backup big for a Bulls team that’s getting younger, although spending this much on him this early in free agency with so many other roster needs seems like a mistake.
Grade: C-
The terms: Four years, $48 million (via Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium)
The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to show why they’re one of the best-run organizations in all of professional sports.
After being waived by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022, Joe signed with OKC and became one of the better three-point shooters in the NBA. He’s averaged 8.8 points and made 41.2 percent of his threes the past two seasons with the Thunder, who will now have him under contract until 2028.
OKC held a team option on Joe for $2.2 million for this season, but it would have risked losing him in free agency in 2025. The Thunder declined that option and agreed to a new deal that gives Joe an $8.5 million raise this season and $45.8 million in new money altogether.
His deal is projected to take up only 7.6 percent of the cap this season and should age well over time.
Grade: A-
The terms: Five years, $47 million (via Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium)
Much like they did with Isaiah Joe, the Thunder declined their team option on Aaron Wiggins to instead sign him to a new long-term deal.
The Thunder originally selected Wiggins with the 55th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, which speaks to how well they identify and develop talent.
The 25-year-old shot a career-high 49.2 percent from three last year while chipping in 6.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.7 steals in his 15.7 minutes per game off the bench. With good size at 6’6″ and an efficient 66.4 percent true shooting mark, Wiggins now gets generational money to stay with one of the best teams in the NBA.
Wiggins isn’t projected to count for more than 5.8 percent of OKC’s salary cap moving forward. Both this deal and Joe’s contract can also serve as valuable salary-matchers should the Thunder eventually take a big swing for a star.
These deals were smart business all around by OKC.
Grade: A-
The terms: Two years, $10 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
After Tobias Harris signed with the Detroit Pistons, the Utah Jazz had the most remaining cap space ($37.7 million) of any team.
While they could use most of that to renegotiate Lauri Markkanen’s contract and give him an extension, it was surprising to see that the Jazz’s first order of business was to give Eubanks a $10 million deal.
The 27-year-old center has never played on anything but minimum contracts in his career to this point and wasn’t particularly good for the Phoenix Suns last season. The Jazz already have Walker Kessler and John Collins at center and selected Duke big man Kyle Filipowski with the No. 32 overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft, too.
Bringing in Eubanks as a veteran insurance option near the end of free agency on a min deal would have been fine, but there’s no reason why Utah should have given him a chunk of its cap space now. Even if the Jazz weren’t going to be big spenders in free agency, they could have been a dumping ground for teams looking to offload money and draft picks.
This was a puzzling and unnecessary move by Utah.
Grade: D
The terms: One year, $3.3 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
The Milwaukee Bucks are projected to be over the second apron this season and could lose Malik Beasley, Jae Crowder and Patrick Beverley in free agency.
Signing Wright to a veteran-minimum deal is a solid move for a Bucks team in win-now mode with few avenues to improve the team. The 32-year-old spent last season between the Washington Wizards and Miami Heat, averaging 4.5 points, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 36.8 percent from three.
For now, Wright looks like the primary backup to Damian Lillard. He hass good size at 6’5″ and has been a plus defender for the majority of his career.
If Kyle Lowry wasn’t willing to come to the Bucks on a minimum deal, this was a solid backup option for Milwaukee.
Grade: B
The terms: Two years, $9.6 million (via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN)
Nicolas Batum never wanted to be traded from the Los Angeles Clippers last season. He’s now going back to the place he largely called home for the past four years.
Batum’s salary will go into the Clippers’ bi-annual exception, as they didn’t have enough of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception left over after signing Derrick Jones Jr.
The Clippers should be thrilled to have Batum back. The 35-year-old is still a good defender who can shoot and play whatever role they’ll need from him.
With Paul George gone, Los Angeles now has some additional wing depth with the return of Batum.
Grade: A-
The terms: One year, $12.8 million (via Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium)
The one good thing about the Golden State Warriors losing Klay Thompson and Chris Paul in free agency was that they gained access to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception. They used it to sign De’Anthony Melton, one of the more underrated players on the market.
Still just 26 years old, Melton is one of the better defensive guards in the NBA. He averaged 1.6 steals per game for the Philadelphia 76ers last season while chipping in 11.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and shooting 36.0 percent from three.
The Sixers were 10.3 points per 100 possessions better with Melton in the game, which that ranked in the 93rd percentile leaguewide, per Cleaning the Glass.
Golden State could use Melton as its starting shooting guard to take defensive pressure off of Stephen Curry or as its primary ball-handler off the bench.
Warriors fans probably hate this offseason so far, although this was a good signing as long as Melton’s back problems are a thing of the past.
Grade: B+
