NBA news has been pouring in since the league began its offseason negotiating period this weekend, and the momentum continued unabated on Monday.
A new superteam was formed in Philadelphia, a superteam finally disbanded in the West, and a host of other change-making moves were happening across the league.
Below, we'll break down all the biggest moves from Day 2 from our time-tested “winners and losers” perspective.
News broke early Monday morning that the Philadelphia 76ers had acquired Paul George. After the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers dropped out of the race to acquire George, the 76ers were the obvious choice.
And now that he's officially (or at least unofficially until the moratorium ends on July 6) in Philadelphia, it's pretty easy to declare the Sixers the winners.
They already had one of the best duos in the league in Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, and although news of Maxey's re-signing came hours after the George news, there were glaring holes between them and on both sides of the floor.
George clearly fits the bill as one of the game's most versatile star-level talents. He's a high-volume 3-point shooter who can distract defenses from the movements of Maxey and Embiid in the middle of the court. He can beat rotating or closed defenders on the catch. Plus, he can get the offense going when Maxey and Embiid are off the court.
But George wasn't the only reason Philadelphia won on Monday. They also got Maxey's new contract. Kelly Oubre Jr. is returning. And when you combine those moves with the cost-effective signings of Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon on Sunday, it's easy to get excited about this team's prospects for 2024-25.
The flip side of the George coin, obviously, is that the Los Angeles Clippers will lose him.
They were operating under the salary cap, so there was no realistic way to find a replacement for him short of a sign-and-trade.
Now, instead of having a max-contract star on the wing alongside Kawhi Leonard, the team is trying to chip away at his loss with exceptions and minimums.
That resulted in the signings of Nicolas Batum, Derrick Jones Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr., but none of them come close to replacing what George brought to the team.
On the bright side, LA could re-sign James Harden, and while a “two stars and depth” model might make more sense under the new collective bargaining agreement, they need the right two stars (and the right depth).
Harden turns 35 in August, Kawhi's body seems to betray him every spring, and much of this supporting cast feels like a roll of the dice.
The average salary of Isaiah Hartenstein's contract is downright shocking: $87 million over three years for a backup player coming off a season in which he averaged 7.8 points per game, which is sure to surprise some fans.
But Hartenstein is good, he filled a need for the Thunder and he was going to a team that was in a unique position to pay him a premium for his size, rebounding, hustle and underrated passing.
OKC has plenty of cap space with their two most important players (Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams) still on their rookie deals, and by the time their second contracts start, Hartenstein's contract will likely be up (unless he's extended).
For a team that just finished first in the West, adding Hartenstein and Alex Caruso and still having enough salary and draft assets to make a big trade meant this offseason was the perfect opportunity.
The biggest news for the Denver Nuggets came on the first day of free agency when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was sent to the Orlando Magic, but they're still on the wrong side of the “winners and losers” chart because they haven't done anything in free agency yet.
The plan appears to be to add Christian Braun to the starting five, and there's reason to think that would work. Everyone plays better with Nikola Jokic on the floor, and Brown would thrive as a fifth option on a high-functioning unit rather than as a scorer on a struggling second unit.
But leaving him out of that group means the reserves are even worse off, and watching their own free agents depart puts a lot of pressure on young players like Peyton Watson, Julian Strother and rookie Darron Holmes II.
There's been a lot of talk about the possibility of Russell Westbrook joining the team, which is better than nothing, but Denver was last in 3-point shooting last season, and leaning further into that is not a winning strategy.
There are still ways to add shooters or other help through a minimum contract, the taxpayer's midlevel player exception or the trade exception created by the Reggie Jackson deal, but the options are getting fewer and the gaps are getting longer as more contracts are signed around the league.
I am among those who believe Klay Thompson's decline has been overstated.
Sure, he's not the flame-thrower or multi-position defender he was in his prime, but the 34-year-old averaged 17.9 points and 3.5 three-pointers on 38.7 percent 3-point shooting last season. He still terrorizes defenses, chasing him all over the court. And with his new team, his role will be simplified.
Playing alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving means Thompson will have more free 3-pointers to shoot per game, and he might not have to exert as much energy to take those shots without the ball (though Thompson's experience working off the ball would be beneficial for the Mavs).
Losing defensive back Derrick Jones Jr. isn't ideal, but replacing him with Naji Marshall and Thompson is definitely a plus.
Plus, Dallas' victory in a free-agent battle that also included the Los Angeles Lakers may say something about the culture and current drawing power of both teams.
The Mavericks weren't the only team pursuing Klay, as the Lakers were reportedly “active” as well, and there were even rumors that LeBron James might take a discount on his next contract to allow the team to sign the impactful free agent.
But with the Warriors' longtime shooter now headed to Dallas, the Lakers will, at least for now, return with mostly the same roster that appeared in the play-in tournament the past two seasons (though LeBron and Anthony Davis are both a year older).
Falling to them for Dalton Knecht in the draft could play out a bit like Jaime Jaquez Jr. fell to the Miami Heat last year. Signing DeMar DeRozan on an outsized contract would also be easy to sell as a win.
But with some young teams on the rise in the West, LA will likely rejoin play-in contention.
The Boston Celtics agreed to contract extensions with both Jayson Tatum and Derrick White on Monday, all but guaranteeing the team will continue to pursue more titles for years to come.
Tatum's contract is the biggest in league history, but it's worth it: He's just 26, a high-end, multi-position defender and developing playmaker, and he's risen to nearly every challenge thrown at him in the postseason.
White, meanwhile, might be the best perimeter defender in the league — he was second on the team in blocks and first in assists per game — and his gap-closing play led the team in wins against replacement in the playoffs en route to the title.
With those two, plus Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown under contract, Boston has a very good chance of ending its NBA championship drought (they haven't done so since the Warriors in 2018).
Speaking of which, Klay leaving the Warriors of Teams of the 2010s.
He and Stephen Curry were known as the Splash Brothers. They won four championships together (including three from 2015-2018). They are the greatest shooting backcourt of all time. And for most of their careers, it seemed like both were destined to be Warriors for life.
However, after winning in 2022, Golden State finished sixth in the West in 2023. After a tumultuous 2023-24 season in which Draymond Green served multiple suspensions, the Warriors missed the playoffs entirely.
As a result, ownership and the front office may have been hesitant to raise the luxury tax further for a disappointing team, which may have led Thompson to feel disrespected.
Whatever the reason, one of the best and most decorated teams in NBA history is no longer around.
For already extremely expensive teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns, whose billionaire owners seem willing to pay the luxury tax in perpetuity, implementing the new collective bargaining agreement may seem like a loss.
For many others, it's very easy to sell it as a win.
Since the start of free agency, it has become increasingly clear that the so-called first and second aprons, and the team-building penalties that come with them, essentially constitute a hard cap, giving team owners the justification (and in some cases the obligation) to curb spending while allowing organizational values to continue to rise.
A higher cap from a new TV rights deal could give teams some breathing room, but many are under pressure at the moment, and while it limits the salaries of lower- and mid-tier players, it could ultimately benefit them.
