Stephen A Smith cries, the Pelicans have become a dark horse and the Warriors gave a max contract to someone not named Durant or Thompson; and it’s only day one of NBA Free Agency. The NBA kicked off the greatest offseason event in sports, Sunday at 6 p.m. eastern times and it has not disappointed at all. Since it officially opened, deals have been pouring in on top of each other. The biggest one of them all seemed to have kicked everything off and then some. That would be Kevin Durant announcing that he will be signing with the Brooklyn Nets. Initially, Durant agreed to sign a 4 year, $ 164 million dollar deal with the Nets as a free agent, but now it has turned to a sign and trade deal with the Nets, as they have acquired D’Angelo Russell and signed him to a 4 year $117 million max contract. In addition to getting Durant, the Nets are also expected to sign Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, making a solid contender in the East, even KD will be out this year due to his achilles injury.
Durant and Irving ending up in New York was not a surprise, but it wasn’t the team in the Big Apple many expected for them to be at. For most of the regular season, there was talk that the New York Knicks would be frontrunners to land the 2 time Finals MVP, with all of their cap space they had available. Still, there was also rumblings that Durant was going to head down the coast from the Bay Area to the Los Angeles Clippers or possibly still head over to the Nets. Despite all of that, the Knicks were very much thought of as the guaranteed landing spot for KD, until the achilles injury came into play. It was reported the Knicks did not offer Durant a max contract due to concerns over the recovery of his injury. Thus, it sent him to Brooklyn, with a year off, and a all star point guard waiting on him.
This was not the only big news for free agents on this day: Here are some other notable free agency moves from Sunday:
- The Philadelphia 76ers sign former Celtics center Al Horford to a 4 year, $109 million deal. They also retained Tobias Harris with a 5 year, $180 million deal. They also did a sign-and-trade with Jimmy Butler and sent him to the Heat in exchange for Josh Richardson.
- The New York Knicks actually salvage the day by signing Julius Randle to a 3 year, $63 million deal.
- The Phoenix Suns will sign Ricky Rubio to a 3 year, $51 million deal
- The New Orleans Pelicans added some veteran shooting to their young roster when they added J.J. Redick.
- The Milwaukee Bucks traded Malcom Brogdon to the Indiana Pacers, where he signed a deal for 4 years, $85 million.
- The Warriors traded Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies to make cap room for Russell’s contract. They will also be sending one first round pick with descending protections, per Tim Kawakami of The Athletic.
- It is worth noting that Durant and Irving took paycuts in order for the Nets to sign Jordan, to a 4 year, $40 million contract. KD will not get the $221 million that was first reported but will settle with the $164 million offered while Kyrie will sign for 4 years, $141 million.
The NBA’s 2019 free agency started off with a bang and there is still a lot more to get to. A lot of people have their eyes on what the Houston Rockets could be doing after they missed out on the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes but also have been in trade rumors every other day for a few weeks now. Kawhi Leonard has not taken any meetings yet, so he will be the next big announcement coming as to where his landing spot will be.
There are only a couple of things to take away from today’s action. The New Orleans Pelicans might shock a lot of people this year. After their trade with the Lakers, they were able to secure some young pieces such as Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball; but they also still have Jrue Holiday as a young veteran. Of course, there’s the number one pick in Zion Williamson, but adding Redick to the mix gives them some good 3 point shooting. The other is takeaway is it’s time for the Knicks to win some games. Sure, they did not get their prize free agents, but this should be a wake-up call that they need to put effort towards playing winning basketball. They tanked for so long that they have developed a losing culture. It’s so bad that a 30-year-old player with an injured achilles turned them down to go elsewhere. Yes, it is Kevin Durant, and he could make those moves, but at the same time, if you invest that much into being mediocre you can invest that much into being great and securing him for the future. This is just day one of free agency, but the Knicks – along with many other teams – have a lot of time to really put something together for the upcoming season.
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