I guess it's that time of year already! I typically make this post after the NBA draft, but now that deals started pouring in over the weekend, I'm starting now and will just add draft day moves in here.
This will be constantly updated throughout the summer, so I'll be adding the latest news at the top to be readily available upon revisiting the page instead of always having to scroll down. Or in other words, it goes in chronological order from the bottom up.
As usual, players already under contract have their figures listed based on Keith Smith's work at Spotrac.com while salaries in bold italics are my own estimates based on reported numbers and the standard 5% or 8% raises that the teams could give. Salaries are also color coded if they are a player option, a team option, not fully guaranteed based on the reporting, with parentheses to credit whoever broke the news and when.
Young to re-sign with the Wizards: 4 years, $212 million (Shams 6/22)
After declining his $48,967,380 player option for this season, Young did not end up needing to take much of a haircut at all to add more guaranteed years based on this reported number. The Wizards could have offered him up to 5 years and a projected $287.1 million (or $221.76 million over the first 4 years), but this is just about equivalent to the 30% max contract (4 years, $212.85 million) that other teams could have offered.
It didn't seem like there would be that much of a market for Young with so few cap space teams (likely only the Bulls, Lakers, and Nets) and not much of a demand for him this past season considering he was traded for just McCollum and Corey Kispert with no picks involved. I wouldn't imagine that his stock rose much after playing just five games with Washington after the trade as he dealt with nagging injuries and they tanked for the worst record, but I guess the team really does hold him in high esteem and wasn't just buying low as a value play. The usually reliable Marc Stein reported earlier this month that a deal of around 3 years, $120 million was expected, which I thought made sense, so I'm pretty surprised that it ended up being this big.
Atlanta adds wing depth (Shams 6/21)
Hawks receive:
Thunder receive:
2030 Hawks 2nd round pick
2032 2nd round pick (lesser of Hawks or Lakers)
Atlanta has an $11 million trade exception from sending out Luke Kennard at the trade deadline, so that can easily be used here to pick up a useful wing on a good contract. Using that TE will hard cap them at the First Apron, but that shouldn't be an issue since they don't tend to even go across the luxury tax line. This further indicates that they'll operate as an over the cap team, as mentioned below.
Yossi Gozlan and and Bobby Marks noted that this projects to save around $61-64 million off of Oklahoma City's tax bill depending on what else they do this summer. That is certainly not a small sum for a team that is going to be very expensive over the next handful of years as contenders with three max contracts, so that alone makes this an understandable move for them even before adding two more 2nd rounders. Wiggins himself was the 55th pick back in 2021 and became a tremendous developmental story from a Two-Way contract to rotation regular and fill-in starter. His role fluctuated a bit in different playoff rounds, but he is a career 38% three point shooter on solid volume with nice passing and defensive chops. While that kind of player will be missed, especially after helping to build OKC's culture, they have plenty of perimeter depth to backfill his minutes.
McCollum extends with the Hawks: 1 year, $21 million (Shams 6/21)
One more guard off the board. After basically replacing Trae Young on the Hawks, McCollum averaged 18.7 points, 4.1 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 1 steal against 1.9 turnovers with 45.6%/35.7%/74.8% shooting on 6.5 threes and 3.3 free throws in 28.8 minutes. His splits between starting and coming off the bench were pretty even, but as Shams noted in his report (as part of the agent feeding him this news), Atlanta went 19-4 down the stretch after he became a regular starter.
McCollum proved to be a playoff hero in their two wins over the eventual champion Knicks and is an important part of their team as a veteran guard to help run the offense next to Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Dyson Daniels. After earning $30,666,666 this past season, coming down to $21 million is fair with him turning 35 before the season starts, and only needing to commit one year to him at this age is a win for Atlanta. Armed with the #8 pick in the draft thanks to the Pelicans, in addition to their own #23 pick, there is a chance that they take one of the elite guards in this class who can be McCollum's understudy for a season before taking over next year.
There was a the possibility of the Hawks being a big cap space player this summer if they declined Jonathan Kuminga's team option and waived Buddy Hield's partially guaranteed contract, but this signing likely means that they will stay as an over the cap team instead and just use various exceptions to add to the roster.
Goodwin to re-sign with the Suns: 3 years, $19 million (Shams 6/21)
Another guard that thrived with the Suns last season, Goodwin was actually acquired as part of the Bradley Beal trade after he had intriguing minutes for the Wizards, but he wasn't trusted enough due to poor outside shooting (29.8% there after 31.9% in Washington). After being dealt in the Royce O'Neale trade, he finished the season on the Grizzlies before spending the next year with the Lakers, where his defensive tenacity actually got him a few playoff minutes.
Goodwin's non-guaranteed contract ended up waived last summer with Phoenix claiming him, which gave them Early Bird Rights this year to potentially give him this slightly smaller starting salary with 8% raises instead of a $6,031,746/$6,333,333/$6,634,921 structure. That could be helpful if they end up back in the luxury tax (or even dealing with the First Apron) after re-signing their remaining notable free agent, Mark Williams. Either way, it's a fair deal at around the price of the Taxpayer MLE for the 27 year old. He even improved to 37.1% on 6.9 threes per-36 minutes after making 38.2% on 4.5 per-36 with LA, and if that kind of shooting holds up, this could end up a bargain for a real 3-and-D guard.
Gillespie to re-sign with the Suns: 4 years, $48 million (Shams 6/20)
I don't think many people would have expected Gillespie to be the first move off the board this summer, but with this being a good deal all around, it makes sense. After only being on Two-Way contracts his first couple of years, he made a little over $2 million on the minimum this past season, so locking in this much guaranteed money days before turning 27 is a no-brainer.
Perhaps Gillespie could have made more, even up to the MLE, if he waited to test the open market, but this way he gets to stay where he's comfortable and with the coach that trusted him with the opportunity for a breakout. His per-minute numbers weren't actually that much different than the flashes shown in previous years, but rookie coach Jordan Ott played him in 86 of their 88 total games with 61 starts and let him spread his wings to the tune of 28.5 minutes per game to average 12.7 points, 4.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals against only 1.6 turnovers while nailing 40.1% of 7.2 threes per game. That is a valuable player that the Suns were able to lock down at a nice price.
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