It’s the quietest time of the NBA calendar, but there is still work to be done. For some teams, anyway. While most of this summer’s major moves were made about a month ago, there are still restricted free agents in limbo, unrestricted free agents on the market, extension candidates and trade candidates.
Some teams have multiple roster spots to fill, others have too many players under contract and one still has a bunch of unused cap space.Let’s start with the team that changed coaches after making the conference finals.
1. New York Knicks
The Knicks added Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson, but they still have only 12 players under contract. No. 51 pick Mohamed Diawara will sign with New York rather than staying in Cholet, according to the French team, but that could be a two-way contract.
Could Ben Simmons be an option? He’s been linked to the Knicks, and, if coach Mike Brown wants to play faster and diversify the offense, maybe he’s worth a shot. It would be simpler to integrate a playmaker like Malcolm Brogdon, though, and three guards who finished the season in New York — Cameron Payne, Landry Shamet and Delon Wright — remain unsigned. Precious Achiuwa is still out there, too.
The Knicks are hard-capped at the second apron and are $3.7 million away from it. If they don’t work out extensions with Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson, could this front office pull off another eve-of-training-camp trade?
New York is still looking for a lead assistant, by the way.
2. Golden State Warriors
Technically, the Warriors haven’t made a roster move of any kind this summer. They have only nine players signed to standard contracts, but they reportedly have deals lined up with free agents Al Horford and De’Anthony Melton. They’ve been linked to Brogdon and Seth Curry, and I’d personally like to see them add Amir Coffey and/or Trey Lyles for additional depth. Everything is on hold, though, because of the unresolved Jonathan Kuminga situation.
The latest on Kuminga, per ESPN: Golden State has offered the restricted free agent a two-year, $45 million deal with a player option on Year 2 and without the de facto no-trade clause that he’d typically get on a contract that includes only one guaranteed year. Kuminga is reportedly asking for three years and $82 million, and, while the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings are willing to pay him up to $90 million over four years (with a player option), neither team has presented the Warriors with a sign-and-trade offer that they find appealing. If Kuminga and the front office cannot find common ground, he could end up signing his $7.9 million qualifying offer, which would come with a de facto no-trade clause and would make him an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
If Golden State uses the taxpayer midlevel exception to sign Horford, it’ll be hard-capped at the second apron. If it takes back more than Kuminga’s outgoing salary in a sign-and-trade (in this case, the outgoing salary is 50% of his actual salary because of base-year compensation), it’ll be hard-capped at the first apron. The team has an $8.8 million trade exception from the Jimmy Butler deal.
Gary Payton II is still on the market. Same with Pat Spencer.
3. Boston Celtics
Unlike the first two teams on this list, Boston doesn’t need to shop for depth pieces. Even after waiving JD Davison, it has 12 guaranteed contracts, two non-guaranteed contracts (Jordan Walsh and Neemias Queta, the latter of whom might be the team’s starting center) and one Exhibit 10 contract (Hayden Gray) on the books. The Celtics are on this list for an entirely different reason: Given that they are (temporarily) not contenders, they’re too expensive.
Boston saved tons of money in the Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday trades, but it’s still about $18 million over the luxury-tax threshold. This is why there have been rumors about them flipping Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang before the season starts (or closer to the trade deadline). Both are on expiring contracts; Simons’ is worth $27.7 million and Niang’s is worth $8.2 million.
Earlier this month, team president Brad Stevens downplayed the importance of further cost-cutting: “There’s benefits to [getting under the tax line]. But it’s not the priority. The priority is continuing to make sure that we have our future firsts and all these things that are in play for us so that we can then use those to build.” In other words, after managing to keep their future picks out of the Porzingis and Holiday deals, they would prefer not to give any away in a straight salary dump.
This implies that, if Boston does move a pick in a Simons deal, it would want to get back a player who is making significantly less money than Simons and has a chance to stick. Right now, there aren’t many theoretical partners for that kind of trade, but there aren’t zero, either. Which brings us to…
4. Brooklyn Nets
The Nets used some of their cap space to absorb Michael Porter Jr. and Terance Mann’s contracts (and add the Denver Nuggets’ 2032 first-round pick and the pick that became Drake Powell in the process), but they haven’t used all of it. Exactly how much they have left is largely dependent on what happens with restricted free agent Cam Thomas.
Thomas’ qualifying offer is worth $6 million. According to The Stein Line, Brooklyn isn’t willing to pay him much more than the value of the non-taxpayer midlevel ($14.1 million) annually, and that’s about half of what Thomas is looking for. Also, like Golden State with Kuminga, the Nets have reportedly offered Thomas a two-year deal with a team option on the second season.
Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams have reportedly agreed to two-year, $12 million contracts, but neither has technically re-signed yet. In theory, if one of them signs with the room exception and Thomas accepts the qualifying offer, Brooklyn could have almost $37 million of cap space, but that would require the team to cut all of the players signed to non-guaranteed deals: Keon Johnson, Jalen Wilson, Tyrese Martin and summer-league standout Drew Timme.
If Thomas returns, either a couple of those guys will be cut in camp or Brooklyn will have to find another way to downsize. Including Sharpe and Williams (and excluding Thomas), the Nets have 16 players on the roster. If they take on more “bad” money from other teams, they could have more than that.
5. Charlotte Hornets
Have you looked at the Hornets’ roster lately? It’s weird, man. They have 18 guys under contract, and one of their two non-guaranteed deals belongs to Moussa Diabate, who could conceivably be their starting center. (The other belongs to DaQuan Jeffries.)
Charlotte got two second-round picks from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for taking on Pat Connaughton’s $9.4 million expiring contract. He’s as obvious a buyout candidate as there is in the league, but he hasn’t been bought out yet.
As well as being thin at center — besides Diabate, the options are veteran Mason Plumlee and No. 34 pick Ryan Kalkbrenner — the Hornets suddenly have a surplus of ballhandling guards: LaMelo Ball, the newly acquired Collin Sexton, the re-signed Tre Mann, the newly signed Spencer Dinwiddie and the returning Nick Smith Jr., plus their own summer league standout, KJ Simpson, on a two-way.
Charlotte could simply waive Connaughton, Smith and Jeffries in between now and opening night. If it doesn’t make a bigger move that happens to clear a roster spot, that is.
6. Utah Jazz
Utah’s 15-man roster is full — for now. There hasn’t been much buzz about Lauri Markkanen trades lately, but there’s another floor-spacing big man on the team who will likely go elsewhere: Kevin Love.
The former All-Star turns 37 in September and is on a $4.2 million expiring contract. He was acquired as part of the Norman Powell–John Collins deal, and he doesn’t make much sense on the rebuilding Jazz. If the front office can’t find a suitable trade, Love could get a buyout.
Acquired in the same trade, Kyle Anderson is five years younger than Love and is owed $18.9 million over the next two seasons. I’m not saying Utah will flip Anderson, but it is fair to assume he is available.
The reason the Jazz are listed here, though, is not that they might part ways with a veteran or two. They’re listed here because, aside from the Nets, they have more spending power than any other team in the league. The Collins deal gave them a $26.6 million trade exception, and they can use it without getting anywhere near the first apron.
