The dust appears to have settled after NBA free agency opened on Monday, and while the annual summer period may not have involved the rampant movement of household names as in years past, the world’s greatest basketball league always finds a way to be a little dramatic.
Two max extensions were handed out (including the richest deal in league history), a potentially landscape-shifting trade was made, a top-75 player of all-time was stunningly waived and a couple shrewd teams moved up the contention totem pole.
And while championships aren’t won or lost in the off-season, a good free agency can be the first step in a six-month-long journey toward hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Just ask fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With that being said, here are some winners and losers:
Winner: Denver Nuggets
Anyone who watched Mile High basketball last season saw the team’s dire need for depth up and down the roster as it finished bottom four in the regular season and playoffs in bench scoring.
So, by getting off Michael Porter Jr.’s contract (and an unprotected 2032 first), the Nuggets were able to create the necessary space to address that issue expeditiously.
For starters, a $17-million cheaper Cameron Johnson came back in the trade. Johnson — while older, shorter and with more of a recent injury history — has been similarly productive on offence (without the benefit of playing next to Nikola Jokic), offers more as a playmaker and is a notable upgrade defensively.
Denver then used some of that extra cap room to reunite with Bruce Brown, who was a pivotal part of the 2023 champions’ second unit. Neither side has found much success since their split — the Nuggets have been bounced in the second round in back-to-back seasons, while Brown hasn’t been able to replicate his career-best scoring campaign that happened next to Jokic and has since been traded twice.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets also dealt for backup big Jonas Valanciunas (for the time being) and signed veteran sharpshooter Tim Hardaway Jr., both of whom will, at the very least, be able to eat minutes and give Denver’s starters some much-needed relief.
And although OKC deserves “top dog” status as the defending champions, the Nuggets took that squad to seven games before running out of steam. After loading up this off-season, things might look quite different should they match up again.
Loser: Los Angeles Lakers
If GM Rob Pelinka’s plan for the Lakers is to keep waiting for former top-three picks to fall into the team’s lap, then he’s doing a stellar job. But as for actively building a contender around L.A.’s two all-NBA calibre players, things haven’t been quite so smooth.
After LeBron James opted into the final year of his deal for next season, marking the first time he’s foregone early free agency when given the ability to do so, the Lakers responded by making it clear the eventual Hall of Famer’s timeline takes a backseat to Luka Doncic’s future. According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, the Lakers “exercised discipline” in this negotiation window to preserve cap space for 2027 in hopes of landing a max-salary free agent.
But what does that mean for the Lakers of today, who were just the third seed in a loaded Western Conference?
Well, for starters, it meant not retaining forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who was not only a strong locker-room presence thanks to his long-standing relationship with Doncic but was also a major on-court addition. Finney-Smith made a difference on both ends of the floor since L.A. acquired him in December, shooting 40 per cent from distance as a Laker while helping lift what was the 21st-ranked defence before he joined the team up to 14th thanks to his efforts on the perimeter.
It hasn’t been all bad for the Lakers, however, as they signed Jake LaRavia, who can be a younger facsimile of Finney-Smith offensively — the 23-year-old shot 42.3 per cent from distance last season, although it’s unlikely he’ll provide a similar impact defensively.
Meanwhile, L.A. did make a sorely needed upgrade at centre with the recently bought-out Deandre Ayton. However, that addition doesn’t come without its concerns either. The former No. 1 overall pick has hardly lived up to his high billing ahead of his eighth NBA season, and should more issues about his level of engagement arise as they did in previous stops, the signing could prove to be more of a head-scratcher than anything.
So, while the Lakers wait in hopes of a big splash in 2027, which may or may not come, one of the two stars already on the roster might be gone by then. Either way, it’s not exactly a great way to make the most of Doncic’s early prime.
Winner: Houston Rockets
Houston’s front office deserves credit because even after leaping from 11th to second out West year-over-year, it understood the team required upgrades if true contender status was the goal.
Not only did the Rockets make the biggest move of the off-season by trading for a superstar and go-to clutch scorer in Kevin Durant, they also added along the margins. Aside from retaining key contributors in Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith Jr., and Steven Adams, Houston added two impact veterans in Finney-Smith and Clint Capela.
The Lakers’ loss will undoubtedly be the Rockets’ gain as Houston poaches the top 3-and-D free agent and a centre who would’ve also made plenty of sense in L.A. Instead, they’ll join a Rockets team that already boasted the league’s No. 5 defence last year — one that knows exactly in which direction it’s headed and isn’t afraid to make ceiling-raising moves along the way.
Loser: Indiana Pacers
Cinderella runs don’t often get storybook endings in sports. It’s even rarer for those fairytales to end in the nightmarish fashion things did for the Pacers — losing Game 7 of the NBA Finals and star guard Tyrese Haliburton for the foreseeable future along the way.
Then, as if things couldn’t get worse, Indiana’s longtime starting centre, Myles Turner, not only left in free agency, but he signed with a bitter division rival in the Milwaukee Bucks.
While Turner had an up-and-down run to the Finals, the Pacers losing two starters for the 2025-26 season is a downer just on vibes alone — even for a team that predicated much of its success on depth. From being 48 minutes away from an NBA title to viewing the follow-up campaign essentially as a gap year within the span of two weeks is quite the turn of events.
Winner: Canadian guards
It’s been quite the year for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. After a season in which he won the scoring title, league MVP, finals MVP and an NBA championship, the Thunder rewarded the Hamilton, Ont., native with the richest contract by annual value in NBA history at four years, $285 million.
Gilgeous-Alexander earned every penny after his historically great season, but wasn’t the only guard from north of the border to get paid handsomely.
Toronto’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker joined the Atlanta Hawks as part of a sign-and-trade deal, inking a four-year, $62 million deal in the process. And while it appears measly compared to SGA’s deal, NAW is going to make more in the next two seasons than he had through his first six years in the NBA.
Alexander-Walker’s contract is a testament to his work for a guy who was once traded three times in the span of a year and was essentially salary filler to get Mike Conley from Utah to Minnesota. But after building a reputation as a reliable top-tier 3-and-D player that helped the Timberwolves make back-to-back West Finals runs, his value had risen so much that Minnesota couldn’t realistically afford to retain him.
Now, he not only gets his first big NBA payday, but the 26-year-old also joins a Hawks team that looks primed to make noise in the East after adding Alexander-Walker, Luke Kennard and Kristaps Porzingis to an already developing core.
Loser: Restricted free agents
There was a time in the NBA when teams felt bold about snatching young, ascending talents via restricted free agency. The idea of throwing so much money in a bet on future upside left the player’s original team in a dilemma of whether to match the offer or let the guy walk. Consider the Pacers agreeing with Ayton on a four-year, $133 million deal in 2022, which the Suns begrudgingly matched.
Unfortunately for the RFAs of today, that reality appears long gone. Thanks to the financial restrictions teams now face if they spend too flagrantly, front offices are holding onto their cap space and future assets much tighter than in years past.
It leaves a handful of young players like the Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga with little leverage in deciding what’s next for their NBA careers or in financial negotiations.
With every passing day, RFAs get less and less say on the matter, while their current teams tighten their strangleholds on their futures.
Winner: Damian Lillard (and sort of the Milwaukee Bucks)
Getting paid 22.5 million annually for the next five seasons as he rehabs from an Achilles injury and essentially gets his pick of the litter for his next team is quite a development for the nine-time all-star.
It’s no secret that when the Bucks traded for Lillard, it wasn’t his preferred landing spot. So for him to get waived and now have the peace of mind to recover at his own pace, knowing he’ll be getting paid and can sign with any team for any dollar amount, must feel pretty good.
Meanwhile, the Bucks themselves can also be considered a tentative winner. Lillard was going to take up a roster spot next year without likely stepping foot on the court, and with Giannis Antetokounmpo seemingly growing restless after three consecutive first-round exits, Milwaukee had few avenues to improve its lacklustre roster.
By waiving Lillard and stretching his salary, it gave the Bucks enough room to sign arguably the top free agent in Turner, who’ll fit exceptionally well next to the Greek superstar and represents an upgrade from Brook Lopez. However, Turner will essentially costs Milwaukee $50 million per season if you account for the money Lillard’s owed as well.
While Antetokounmpo reportedly played a part in the Bucks going after Turner, the two-time MVP wasn’t a fan of the team letting go of Lillard in the process, making it quite a large gamble by Milwaukee’s front office.
Loser: Boston Celtics
If there’s a group of fans that have no sympathy for what the Pacers are going through right now, it’s supporters of the Celtics.
In the span of a year, Boston has essentially lost three starters and almost all of its frontcourt depth. While moves seemed inevitable after Jayson Tatum’s injury and the financial penalties the Celtics were set to incur, it’s quite the jarring shake-up nonetheless.
Aside from the loss of Tatum and trades of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, Boston also said goodbye to Luke Kornet as the backup big opted to join the San Antonio Spurs in free agency, while all indications point to Al Horford eyeing a move out west. It leaves Beantown quite barren at the five, unless you believe in a rotation of the recently signed Luka Garza, Neemias Queta and Xavier Tillman.
Honourable mention winners
Orlando Magic: After addressing some of their shooting woes by trading for Desmond Bane, the Magic still desperately needed a true floor general to take some ball-handling burden off Paolo Banchero’s shoulders. Signing Tyus Jones and his 4.71 assist-to-turnover ratio from last season (second in the NBA) should do wonders in that regard.
Los Angeles Clippers: 37-year-old Brook Lopez isn’t the player he once was, but adding him as a bench big behind Ivica Zubac — for a fair cost of two years, $18 million — was a tidy bit of business for the Clippers. His giant frame and rim protection will only boost L.A.’s already stout third-ranked defence from a year ago, while Lopez’s ability to stretch the floor — shooting 37 per cent from three in 2024-25 — will be an interesting wrinkle, too.
Honourable mention losers
Detroit Pistons: Darling status in the NBA only lasts so long — just ask the Sacramento Kings, whose “light the beam” era is firmly in the rearview mirror. While the Pistons surprised many with a 30-win leap that ended a six-year playoff drought, that success now comes with expectations. So far, Detroit’s off-season has been spent offsetting losses rather than upgrading the roster. For a team that was reportedly in the mix for guys like Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Santi Aldama, among others, walking away with Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert feels slightly underwhelming. Meanwhile, impact vets like Dennis Schroeder and Tim Hardaway Jr. left, and Malik Beasley’s basketball future appears to be in jeopardy.
Sacramento Kings: Puzzling feels like an understatement when describing what the Kings have been up to. Aside from reuniting the not-so-successful pair of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, adding Dennis Schroeder in the mix only adds another mouth to feed. While the Kings needed a floor general post-De’Aaron Fox, the German guard hasn’t exactly been a pass-first player in quite some time. When listed as a point guard, as opposed to his more natural combo guard role, Schroeder has not ranked above the 65th percentile for assist percentage since 2020.
