Quick Thoughts on the 2022 NBA Offseason

The most transactional major sports league has done it again, with trades, free agent signings and rumors swirling amidst the most voguish time of the year for the NBA.

While the world keeps its eye on the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving saga, the preeminent storyline of this offseason, the moves that have occurred over the last week will help shape the league for the upcoming season.

While we still have a way to go before the offseason winners and losers are demonstrably declared, it’s an optimal time to re-assess the initial frenzy of free agency before the second wave of the offseason commences.

Let’s take a look at some of the early offseason moves, breaking it down with the mainstream NBA storylines first before diving into the less-heralded ones.

Rudy Gobert, 30, will make over $46 million in the last year of his contract. Photo courtesy of CBS Sports.

Mainstream NBA Moves

• $38.1 million. $41.0 million. $43.8 million. $46.7 million. That is how much money is left on Rudy Gobert’s max contract, which is now owned by the Minnesota Timberwolves after they traded four first-round picks (three unprotected to the Jazz), 2022 first-round pick Walker Kessler and key role players Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley and Jarred Vanderbilt. As a reminder, Minnesota just paid new Team President Tim Connelly eight million a year to be their personnel czar. Not sure this is what Minnesota fans had in mind.
• The Atlanta Hawks obviously wanted something different, as espoused by Hawks owner Tony Ressler after bowing out in five games to the Miami Heat in the first round, but it’s hard to envision that trading three unprotected first-round picks for Dejounte Murray, a career 33 percent three-point shooter, is the adequate move to take them into the first-tier hierarchy of the Eastern Conference.
• The other major development so far this offseason has been the number of max contracts dished out (six so far). The worst of them? The perpetually incompetent Washington Wizards giving Bradley Beal a five-year, $251 million deal that screams of the age-old sentiment: “Well, what else are we going to do?” Not trading Beal two years ago when he averaged 31.3 points per game and his trade value was at its peak is a cautionary for teams that hold on to mediocrity for too long.
• Jalen Brunson, this year’s marquee free-agent mover, went to the New York Knicks on a four-year, $104 million deal that they moved heaven-and-Earth in the form of pre-free agency trades to get. Brunson will provide needed stability at point guard for New York, but does a team centered around RJ Barrett, Julius Randle and Brunson even make the play-in tournament this year? The Jalen Brunson sweepstakes will go down as one of the most sensationalized free agent stories in recent memory.

Under-the-Radar NBA Moves

• This year’s winner for “How much did he get paid!?” goes to Marvin Bagley III, or the guy drafted ahead of Luka Doncic in the 2018 NBA Draft. Bagley showed promise during his 22 games with the Detroit Pistons last season when he averaged 14.6 points with a 58% Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%). But paying one of the major draft disappointments of the last decade over $11 million a year is head-scratching for a team that otherwise has had a solid offseason.
• I would also put Gary Harris in the aforementioned category, mainly because the team that just dropped $13 million a year on him, the Orlando Magic, are nowhere near contention, which conflicts with where Harris is at in his career. Lu Dort getting paid $87.5 million over five years when guys like Jae’Sean Tate and Bruce Brown got considerably less is also one of the overpays of the offseason.
• Speaking of Brown, his two-year, $13 million deal (player option on the second year) was one of the steals in the early free agency period. Brown served as the Brooklyn’s Nets’ quasi-center last season and can take over the Jeff Green role off the bench as a screen-setting forward that can operate and play-make in space.
• Some of my other favorite under-the-radar early signings include: Isaiah Hartenstein to the Knicks, Danuel House to the Philadelphia 76ers, Kyle Anderson to the Timberwolves and Donte DiVencenzo to the defending champion Golden State Warriors. These types of fringe moves don’t make NBA Twitter explode but can uplift a team’s depth and fortify its protections against injury.
• Besides Bagley and Harris, PJ Tucker getting a fully guaranteed three-year, $33 million deal from the 76ers at 37-years-old is a desperate cry to assuage franchise cornerstone Joel Embiid’s innate desire to get more physical players around him. Tucker was solid, especially defensively, for the Miami Heat playoff run last season, but that’s a lot of money to guarantee to an almost 40-year-old who can be an offensive liability if he’s not hitting corner three-pointers.
• The Boston Celtics took their loss in the NBA Finals and vastly improved their weak areas at excellent value. Acquiring Malcolm Brogdon, a former Rookie-of-the-Year winner, for Aaron Nesmith and what will likely be a late first-round pick in next year’s draft is a steal. They also signed veteran forward Danilo Gallinari, who will provide a much-needed scoring boost off the bench.
• The Kings are…interesting? Acquiring Kevin Huerter from the Hawks, signing Malik Monk in free agency and drafting Keegan Murray fourth overall in the draft builds out their wing depth and improves their prospects for the upcoming season. But like other middling teams — looking at you Wizards and Knicks — what are the goals with these moves? How do they help build a long-term contending team?
• The last takeaway I have: How is DeAndre Jordan still in the league? He agreed to a one-year deal at the veteran minimum with the Denver Nuggets, who could’ve just re-signed DeMarcus Cousins if they wanted a former All-Star center that has lost a step. Or two or three. Remember when the Nets chose to start Jordan over now All-Star center Jarrett Allen? Maybe that was a precursor to the madness inundating the Nets’ current decrepitude.