Which teams have improved the most early in free agency, and what is still to come?
Our team-by-team analysis of the major and minor deals:
Updates on each deal will be posted here throughout the day. Latest additions: Ben McLemore to Memphis and Justin Holiday to Chicago
All deals listed alphabetically by team.
Chicago Bulls
1. Agreed to a reported two-year, $9 million deal with guard Justin Holiday
Holiday proved a valuable throw-in to last year's trade sending Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks, playing in all 82 games and averaging a career-high 20.0 minutes per game while making the minimum salary. After flirting with the 3-and-D label, Holiday got there by shooting a career-best 35.5 percent from 3-point range on a robust 6.0 attempts per 36 minutes.
Bringing Holiday back to Chicago will cost the Bulls a fair bit more, as Holiday will presumably get a contract similar to the room midlevel exception (two years, $8.9 million). Signing Holiday that way would allow Chicago to spend more than $22 million in remaining cap space -- including cap holds for restricted free agents Nikola Mirotic ($11.0 million) and Joffrey Lauvergne ($3.2 million).
Though Holiday is more of a shooting guard than a small forward, it's possible he ends up starting at the 3 as the Bulls' best perimeter defender.
Cleveland Cavaliers
1. Agreed to a reported three-year, $22 million deal with forward Kyle Korver
Now that this deal is complete, it's easy to see why the Cavaliers are reportedly trying to trade Iman Shumpert. Assuming Cleveland fills out the roster with players making the veteran's minimum, the Cavaliers will be more than $20 million over the tax line. As repeaters, by that point each extra dollar in salary costs them $4.25 in luxury tax, meaning they're effectively paying more than $30 million more to have Korver instead of a minimum-salary player in that spot.
If I were in that situation, I'd be tempted to let Korver walk, but Cleveland must also consider what that decision means to the chances of LeBron James leaving next summer when he can become an unrestricted free agent. The Miami Heat waived Mike Miller using the amnesty provision to reduce their tax bill, and that may have been one factor in James' departure to Miami. The Cavaliers don't need to give James any reason to look elsewhere.
Certainly, Korver will help Cleveland during the regular season and the Eastern Conference playoffs. He'll have a tougher time staying on the court if the Cavaliers face the Golden State Warriors again in the NBA Finals. The one quibble with this deal, then, is whether Cleveland might have been better off trying to use the taxpayer midlevel exception to sign a better defender like Luc Richard Mbah a Moute or Thabo Sefolosha. But those options are substantial downgrades in terms of floor spacing, and this deal doesn't prevent the Cavaliers from using their taxpayer midlevel as well. It just makes that option substantially more expensive.
Cleveland also protected itself somewhat by guaranteeing only part of Korver's salary in 2019-20, the final year of his contract, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
Denver Nuggets
1. Agreed to a reported three-year, $90 million deal with power forward Paul Millsap
I wrote about the Nuggets and how Millsap makes them contenders in the West.
Houston Rockets
1. Agreed to a reported three-year, $11 million deal with center Nene
After he calmed down from the disappointment of learning the four-year, $15 million contract he agreed to in the opening hours of free agency wasn't legal using non-Bird rights, Nene apparently found there wasn't a better alternative than signing a deal that pays him the same amount over three years instead of four.
Despite the tepid market for centers, Nene might have been able to make a larger salary over a shorter period of time elsewhere. Odds are, however, that would have meant leaving the Rockets for a non-contender, which might not be palatable at this stage of his career. So instead Nene is back for less guaranteed money.
From Houston's standpoint, keeping Nene around is important, particularly since it didn't require using part of the team's mid-level exception (allowing Saturday's reported signing of P.J. Tucker). Nene is the Rockets' best defensive center and averaged as many minutes per game during the opening round of the playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder (22.0) as starter Clint Capela (22.2).
Memphis Grizzlies
1. Agreed to a reported two-year, $10.7 million deal with guard Ben McLemore
After signing two players for the minimum Saturday, Memphis made a bigger move Sunday night, signing McLemore to a two-year deal that appears to use their taxpayer mid-level exception (worth $10.6 million over two years). McLemore injects additional youth into the Grizzlies' wing rotation and appears to signal a move away from veterans Tony Allen and Vince Carter at shooting guard.
The hope is that McLemore will play better away in a more structured setting than he enjoyed with the Sacramento Kings. The outline of a 3-and-D player is there; McLemore shot a career-best 38.2 percent last season and is a capable on-ball defender against guards. (Small forwards can give him more trouble with their strength.)
Yet McLemore is still below average in terms of scoring efficiency and has yet to rate better than replacement level in his career. This is a decent chunk of money to bet on McLemore's slow development being a function of his situation. It leaves Memphis with about $20 million below the tax line to spend on three players to fill out the roster, with one of those spots potentially earmarked for second-round pick Dillon Brooks.
If staying out of the tax is a priority, the Grizzlies will probably have to choose between power forwards JaMychal Green (a restricted free agent) and Zach Randolph for the bulk of the remaining money. Using the taxpayer mid-level on McLemore also allows Memphis to go into the tax to start the season with the expectation of moving a player by the trade deadline to get back under.
Minnesota Timberwolves
1. Agreed to a reported two-year, $28 million deal with forward Taj Gibson
A reunion for Gibson with his former Chicago Bulls coach, Tom Thibodeau, in Minnesota was one of this offseason's most predictable outcomes. Gibson's tough defense was a perfect fit for Thibodeau's system, and the Timberwolves were looking for another big man to round out a rotation that also includes incumbent starters Gorgui Dieng and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Gibson will be a major upgrade at the defensive end of the court, where Minnesota -- despite Thibodeau's arrival -- struggled last season, ranking 26th in the league in defensive rating. Importing Gibson and fellow former Bull Jimmy Butler should help the Timberwolves dramatically on defense. I'd expect Minnesota to defend at a rate better than league average in 2017-18.
The Timberwolves may pay an offensive price for Gibson's defense. For a big man who uses plays at a below-average rate, Gibson has long been an inefficient scorer in large part because he's a sub-40 percent career shooter beyond 3 feet. Adding a capable 3-point shooter at power forward could have opened up space for Butler, Jeff Teague and Andrew Wiggins to create on offense and made Minnesota an elite attack. Instead, somewhat predictably, Thibodeau is aiming for a stronger defense and weaker offense.
Holding the line for Gibson at two years was wise for the Timberwolves, who could see their payroll balloon by the summer of 2019 with extensions for Wiggins and Towns and hopefully a new contract for Butler, who can become a free agent that season. A three-year contract could have all but guaranteed Minnesota paying the luxury tax in 2019-20 if Butler returns.
On the downside, a $14 million annual salary for Gibson swallows up almost all of the Timberwolves' cap space. If they decide to start Teague's contract at its peak and have it descend, Minnesota would in fact be right at the cap.
I suspect the Timberwolves may ultimately regret investing so much of their resources into the two frontcourt positions. Despite already having Towns, Dieng (starting a four-year extension) and backups Cole Aldrich (who could be waived and stretched to create a little more cap space) and Nemanja Bjelica (who is coming off a fractured foot), they paid Gibson and used the No. 16 pick of this year's draft on center Justin Patton. That could leave Minnesota thin on the perimeter.
As things stand, the Timberwolves may have only the $4.3 million room exception and minimum salaries to fill out a roster that currently has just two wings (Butler and Wiggins), since this signing will surely require Minnesota to renounce the rights to restricted free agent Shabazz Muhammad.
Toronto Raptors
1. Agreed to a reported three-year, $65 million deal with forward Serge Ibaka
Having acquired Ibaka at the trade deadline in the final season of his contract, the Raptors are now preparing to pay him like an above-average starting power forward. Of the players who have come to terms so far on deals longer than one year, Ibaka's contract ranks fourth in average annual value behind that of Stephen Curry ($40.2 million), Blake Griffin ($34.4 million) and Jrue Holiday ($25.2 million, not including incentives). While there will certainly be other players who make more, including Ibaka's Toronto teammate Kyle Lowry, I'm not sure Ibaka belongs in that class anymore.
There was no question that Ibaka qualified as an above-average starter a few seasons ago, when he combined elite shot-blocking with floor-spacing and frequent finishes at the rim. The floor-spacing is still there -- Ibaka hit a career-high 124 3-pointers last season at a 39.1 percent clip -- but he has declined in the other two areas.
For a power forward, Ibaka is still an excellent rim protector. As compared to centers, however, his block rate is only a little better than average. And while 32.7 percent of his shot attempts came inside 3 feet as recently as 2013-14, according to Basketball-Reference.com, that has declined all the way to 14.6 percent. That might solely be a function of role -- Ibaka can't be stretching the floor beyond the 3-point line and finishing at the rim at once -- but it helps explain why his efficiency hasn't improved with his development as a shooter. Ibaka's .533 true shooting percentage in 2015-16 was a career low, and last season's bounce-back (.566) brought him only to his career average (.567).
As a result, my multiyear projections estimate Ibaka providing about $46.5 million of value over the next three seasons, during which Toronto will pay him about $20 million more. Since they place more weight on ESPN's real plus-minus than I do, FiveThirtyEight's CARMELO projections are even more pessimistic, pegging Ibaka's value over that span at about $30 million.
The extra money is important to a Raptors team staring at a sizable tax bill presuming it re-signs Lowry. (And as ESPN's Zach Lowe noted on Twitter, there's little reason to spend so much money on Ibaka if Toronto doesn't plan to bring Lowry back.) Already, ESPN's Chris Haynes has confirmed a report by Michael Scotto of BasketballInsiders.com that the Raptors are discussing trading backup point guard Cory Joseph to the Indiana Pacers to shed some payroll.
Toronto Raptors
1. Agreed to a reported three-year, $100 million deal with guard Kyle Lowry
I wrote about the next steps for the Raptors with Lowry and Serge Ibaka back.
Washington Wizards
1. Agreed to a reported two-year, $7 million deal with Jodie Meeks
Because a max contract for restricted free agent Otto Porter would put them into the luxury tax, the Wizards had to shop the bargain aisle in free agency. Meeks could be a good find there, presuming he's able to stay healthy. Meeks suffered a Jones fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, which cost him most of the 2015-16 season and 19 games when it recurred last season. Later, Meeks missed 26 games with a sprained thumb, which is less of a long-term concern.
When he was on the court last season, Meeks shot 40.9 percent from 3-point range. He's a career 37.6 percent 3-point shooter who should benefit from John Wall's ability to set up corner 3s when they play together. For a shooting specialist, Meeks is a solid defender and an upgrade on Bojan Bogdanovic in that regard. Washington may view Meeks as a lower-cost alternative to Bogdanovic, who is a restricted free agent. If Meeks is healthy, I'd rather have him.