What do the latest trades and signings in NBA free agency mean for every team? What's next across the league?
NBA free agency officially began Friday, and teams are now allowed to negotiate deals with players.
You can find team-by-team analysis on all of the movement here, including Dwight Howard to the Philadelphia 76ers, De'Aaron Fox's max contract extension, Goran Dragic's return to the Miami Heat and moves by the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers.
Note: The latest updates will be posted here, with teams sorted alphabetically.
MORE: NBA trade grades | Latest NBA free-agency buzz
Atlanta Hawks
1. Finalizing a reported three-year, $61.5 million deal with Danilo Gallinari
"Operation: Eighth Seed" begins with this signing, which gives the Hawks a good player but a poor fit at a questionable price.
In the wake of a disappointing 20-47 season, Atlanta's desperation to get back to the playoffs after a three-year absence is evident.
"My prayer is that this is my last season picking the lottery because I think we have all of the elements there, and we are developing all of our young players," co-owner Jami Gertz told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before representing the Hawks at the NBA draft lottery in August.
I appreciate that there are real-world concerns at play above and beyond impatience. Atlanta can't slow-play things forever, especially with All-Star point guard Trae Young reportedly expressing frustration last season. Still, I think there was a way for the Hawks to split the difference by targeting young depth that could have helped the team win now and grown with the existing core.
That description doesn't apply to Gallinari, who is 32 and has already lost athleticism because of both aging and the ACL tear that sidelined him for the entire 2013-14 season. Given Gallinari's track record of injuries (he was limited to 21 games in 2017-18 by multiple injuries and hasn't played more than 63 in a season since before the ACL injury, granting that he was on track to exceed that before the March stoppage of play), there's serious risk of his value atrophying by the end of a three-year deal. In that span, the players rated most similar to Gallinari at the same age by my SCHOENE projection system lost about a third of their value.
Then there's the matter of fit. As he has aged, Gallinari has increasingly drifted toward defending big men rather than wings. My analysis of lineup data from NBA Advanced Stats shows no Gallinari minutes at small forward in the entire regular season. (He played 11 defensive possessions there during the playoffs.)
Atlanta has John Collins at power forward and Clint Capela at center, all but forcing Gallinari to start at -- and defend -- the 3, barring further roster changes.
It's possible that a Collins trade is on the way, and the return the Hawks get might change my opinion of this move to some extent. Still, from a broader standpoint, Gallinari doesn't solve Atlanta's biggest problems. The Hawks were already an above-average offensive team with Young on the court last season (lineups including Young ranked in the 57th percentile leaguewide in offensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass). The problem was that Atlanta couldn't stop anyone. Gallinari doesn't really help there, particularly as he ages.
Even after handing out the day's biggest contract, the Hawks should still have somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million in cap space to continue adding to their roster. We'll see whether Atlanta's next moves do more to fit the timeline or shore up the team's defensive shortcomings.
Boston Celtics
1. Traded Enes Kanter to Portland in a three-team deal involving the Grizzlies
Get my full grades for all three teams in the deal here.
Brooklyn Nets
1. Agreed to a reported four-year, $75 million deal with Joe Harris
So far, Joe Harris' three contracts with the Nets have paid him a total of $2.5 million (two-year minimum in 2016), $16 million (two-year deal in 2018) and $75 million. At this rate of increase, Harris' next deal will be a supermax.
In seriousness, Harris' development into an important role player has been one of the best parts of the Nets' transformation from rebuilding without draft picks into legitimate contenders. Harris made himself so valuable that Brooklyn couldn't let him get away despite the price. Make no mistake: The price is enormous -- not just the contract itself but also what it does to the Nets' luxury-tax bill.
Assuming that Harris' deal includes max 8% raises, a starting salary around $16.7 million pushes the Nets' payroll $22 million into the luxury tax. Before the adjustment based on how much this year's basketball-related income (BRI) falls short of pre-pandemic projections, that would be a $54 million tax bill. Brooklyn still appears willing to add to that using the $5.7 million taxpayer midlevel exception, with Serge Ibaka reportedly a target.
Still, the Nets almost had to keep Harris because they had so few options to replace him. Unless Brooklyn could have shed an eight-figure salary, the taxpayer midlevel was the only means of adding to the roster. It wouldn't have yielded a shooter anywhere as good as Harris, the NBA's 2018-19 leader in 3-point percentage who has become a well-rounded player capable of defending either wing spot. He cashed in on the Nets' lack of alternatives.
Dallas Mavericks
1. Agreed to re-sign Trey Burke for a reported three-year deal worth nearly $10 million
2. Traded for James Johnson in a deal involving the Pistons and Thunder
You can find full trade grades for the Thunder-Pistons-Mavericks trade here.
With J.J. Barea still unsigned, Burke might have replaced him in the role of undersized point guard who seems to play well only in Rick Carlisle's offense. Burke had a decent 25-game run with the Mavericks after coming over from New York as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade. With Barea and Jalen Brunson at the point, in addition to some guy named Luka, Dallas let Burke walk in free agency. He signed with the Sixers and couldn't hold down a rotation spot before being waived in February.
That left Burke available to join the Mavericks in the bubble as a substitute player after Willie Cauley-Stein opted out. Brunson's shoulder surgery cleared minutes at point guard, and Burke took full advantage, averaging 12.0 points and 3.8 assists in the eight seeding games and 12.3 PPG in Dallas' playoff loss to the LA Clippers.
Although the bubble setting might have helped Burke, he's a perfect fit in Carlisle's system. Second Spectrum tracking distinguishes between spread pick-and-rolls -- essentially, those with the other three players beyond the 3-point arc -- and more traditional versions. Burke thrived in a spread pick-and-roll system playing for John Beilein at Michigan. In his NBA career, Burke has averaged .99 points per chance on spread pick-and-rolls (putting him in the 74th percentile among players with at least 1,000 such pick-and-rolls) and just .88 points per chance on traditional pick-and-rolls (18th percentile).
Given his small stature, Burke gives a lot of that value back at the defensive end of the court and might be best cast as a reserve. Still, he's worth a modest investment from the Mavericks, especially seeing as his return helped the team move Delon Wright in a trade Friday.
Houston Rockets
1. Agreed to a reported three-year, $41 million deal with Christian Wood
Back in 2015, shortly after he went undrafted, Wood played for the Rockets in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He never made it to camp with the team, instead signing with the Philadelphia 76ers, who were still run by former Houston executive Sam Hinkie at the time. Five years later, Wood is finally back with Houston and a whole lot richer, thanks to this deal.
To some extent, Wood represents the evolution of Rockets basketball that we never saw under Daryl Morey: What if they had someone center-sized who could shoot 3s? Houston tried with the likes of second-round pick Zhou Qi, but for the most part, the Rockets' centers were rim-runners until the team jettisoned Clint Capela at the trade deadline and went without a center.
Wood is something of a compromise between those small-ball lineups and more traditional ones. He'll space the floor for James Harden and Russell Westbrook, assuming they remain with the Rockets. He hit 37% of his limited NBA 3-point attempts (182 in total), though he made just 28% on a bigger sample (398 attempts) in the G League.
At the same time, Wood can finish above the rim like Capela or former Houston backup Montrezl Harrell. Per Second Spectrum tracking, Wood recorded 112 dunks last season, and his average of 4.2 dunks per 100 possessions ranked 14th among players who dunked at least 10 times.
I understand that there is some skepticism about Wood, given his meteoric rise after he was waived twice in three months, first by the Milwaukee Bucks in March 2019 and then by the New Orleans Pelicans that summer. After beating Joe Johnson for Detroit's final roster spot last season, Wood was productive off the bench before replacing Andre Drummond in the starting lineup and averaging 22.8 points and 9.9 rebounds in the Pistons' final 13 games of the season.
Despite the small sample, all the data we have on Wood suggests that he is a highly productive player. His averages of both points and rebounds per 36 minutes were better in the 251 minutes he played in 2018-19 between Milwaukee and New Orleans. He crushed the G League that season, averaging 29.3 points and 14.1 rebounds in 28 games. Plus, Detroit performed much better with Wood on the court, suggesting that he isn't just racking up empty-calorie box-score stats.
Even though Wood took five seasons to establish his NBA career, he's just 25, so a four-year deal takes him across his prime years. There could be more skill development ahead. All of which is to say that I like the Rockets' going beyond their midlevel exception with this deal, which required turning the Trevor Ariza trade to the Pistons that was reported Wednesday into a sign-and-trade. Wood fits the current direction but also would make more sense for a retooling Houston team than Robert Covington, who was initially traded by the Rockets to create this salary space.
Making a sign-and-trade hard caps Houston at $6.3 million more than the luxury-tax line. That means the Rockets will probably be limited to paying the veteran's minimum to the remaining free agents who fill out their roster. Houston has nine players under contract with Wood, including non-guaranteed contracts.
Indiana Pacers
1. Agreed to re-sign Justin Holiday to a reported three-year, $18 million deal
Holiday was an important player for the Pacers last year after he languished in free agency and signed a one-year deal worth $4.7 million late in the process. He averaged 25 minutes per game, shot 40.5% from 3-point range (a career high by a wide margin; he'd never previously topped 36%) and played even more minutes (32.8 mpg) during Indiana's first-round sweep against the Miami Heat.
Because the Pacers had only non-Bird rights on Holiday, this deal was the most they could offer him without using their non-taxpayer midlevel exception and triggering a hard cap. As is, they've crept up to the luxury-tax line. It isn't realistic for Indiana to pay the tax as a low-revenue team in the best of circumstances, so more moves are forthcoming for the Pacers. The simplest would be waiving T.J. Leaf and stretching his $4.2 million salary, which would net them about $1.2 million in savings after they replace him with someone making the veteran's minimum.
LA Clippers
1. Agreed to re-sign Marcus Morris Sr. to a reported four-year, $64 million deal
Morris had plenty of negotiating leverage with the Clippers, who wanted to keep him after surrendering a first-round pick to the New York Knicks to get him at the trade deadline. Add the Clippers' limited ability to replace Morris and Montrezl Harrell after the latter left for the Lakers earlier Friday, and Morris was in prime position to command a deal that will pay him starter money through age 34.
So far, Morris has aged well. Last season, at 30, was his career year in both scoring (16.7 PPG) and 3-point percentage (41%). In a way, the game has come to Morris, who used to be a tweener at the forward spots. Now that gives him the versatility to play either spot because he shoots like a wing and can defend power forwards -- ideal alongside the multidimensional Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
Like the rest of his Clippers teammates, Morris struggled in Games 6 and 7 of the team's second-round loss to the Denver Nuggets, shooting a combined 3-of-14 from the field. Overall, it was still a strong postseason for Morris, who made 47.5% of his 3-point attempts.
While the Clippers re-signed Morris, they saw both Harrell (Lakers) and JaMychal Green (Nuggets) sign elsewhere. Losing both players frees the Clippers to comfortably use both their $9.3 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception and their $3.6 million biannual exception to shop for replacements.
If the Clippers decide to go for another center to complement incumbent starter Ivica Zubac, they could target Toronto Raptors free agents Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. The midlevel matches or beats what other contenders can offer Gasol and Ibaka, and the Raptors might be hesitant to offer long-term deals because of their pursuit of max cap space in the summer of 2021.
Alternatively, the Clippers could shop the bargain bin for a center such as Nerlens Noel with the biannual exception and devote their midlevel exception to the pursuit of another ballhandling option. Rajon Rondo would be one possibility, with D.J. Augustin another veteran option on the market.
Los Angeles Lakers
1. Agreed to a reported one-year, $3.6 million deal with Wesley Matthews
2. Agreed to a reported two-year deal with Montrezl Harrell
You can find my full analysis on the Harrell and Matthews signings -- including what they mean for both the Lakers and Clippers -- here.
After trading Danny Green to acquire Dennis Schroder earlier this week and seeing Avery Bradley decline his player option to test free agency, the Lakers began rebuilding their wing rotation with a one-year deal for Matthews.
On the court, Matthews should be a solid fit. Strong for his size at 6-foot-4, Matthews is capable of defending either wing position. That's important, given that the Lakers are a little lacking in size on the wing if they re-sign Bradley and/or Caldwell-Pope. Matthews is also a capable catch-and-shoot option, having shot 38% beyond the arc over the course of his career.
I'd rather have Green, who has a better long-term track record and tends to generate more high-value steals and blocks, but the possibility of adding a player such as Matthews surely factored into the Lakers' decision to trade Green.
Miami Heat
1. Agreed to re-sign Goran Dragic and Meyers Leonard to reported two-year deals
One of the last two teams playing in the 2020 NBA playoffs was the first team to make a splash after NBA free agency opened for business at 6 p.m. ET Friday, as the Heat are reportedly re-signing starter Goran Dragic and contributor Meyers Leonard, in addition to Gabe Vincent, who played last season on a two-way deal.
Despite the complicating factor of Miami's desire to maintain cap space for the summer of 2021, Dragic's return seemed like the most logical outcome after he played a key role in the Heat's unexpected run to the Finals.
The two sides found common ground on a two-year deal that gives Miami flexibility with a team option on the second season -- like the Heat got in the extension they gave Andre Iguodala as part of a February trade.
The team option is important because if Dragic were on a straight, one-year deal, he would have to approve any trade, giving him a de facto no-trade clause. This way also gives Miami the opportunity to pivot and pick up Dragic's option if 2021 free agency proves to be less star-studded than expected because of players extending their contracts (for example, Giannis Antetokounmpo) or exercising player options (Paul George, Kawhi Leonard).
I think Dragic's playoff run probably seemed a tad better than it was, in part because he started so strong. Through Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals vs. Boston, Dragic was averaging 22.2 PPG while making 40% of his 3-point attempts and 53% of his shots inside the arc.
That level of accuracy probably wasn't sustainable for Dragic, a career 36% 3-point shooter. He ended up slumping below that mark for the remainder of the conference finals and during his brief NBA Finals appearance, making 23% of his 3s and 45% of his 2s the rest of the postseason. His overall numbers weren't dramatically different from those of the regular season, granting that they came against playoff competition.
Nonetheless, even the Dragic we saw before the bubble was a crucial part of the Heat's team construction. Whether he retains the starting job he held after play resumed or returns to a sixth-man role behind Kendrick Nunn, Dragic is the Heat's best perimeter playmaker. He would have been nearly impossible for Miami to replace had he decided to leave for a longer-term contract paying him less annually.
The price point for Leonard (nearly $20 million over two years, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski) is legitimately shocking. Although Leonard started the first 49 games of the season at center for the Heat, he lost his job while sidelined by an ankle sprain and played sparingly in the restart, including just 31 total minutes in the playoffs.
Surely, Miami likes how well Leonard fit into the much-lauded "Heat Culture" and was a positive presence on the bench when he wasn't playing. Still, this kind of money makes sense only if Miami is thinking about eventually using Leonard as matching salary in a trade for a star.
Because the Heat are re-signing Dragic and Leonard using Bird rights, they'll stay over the cap this offseason. They retain full Bird rights on unrestricted free agents Jae Crowder and Derrick Jones Jr. and could utilize their midlevel exception to add to the roster.
Minnesota Timberwolves
1. Agreed to re-sign Malik Beasley to a reported four-year, $60 million deal
It has been an interesting week for shooting guards in Minnesota. Two days after taking Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 overall pick, the Timberwolves agreed to re-sign Beasley -- a restricted free agent acquired from the Denver Nuggets before the trade deadline -- to a deal that pays him like a long-term starter.
Because Beasley and Edwards are big enough to play together, there isn't necessarily an issue here. But when you add that the team's past two first-round picks were wings (Josh Okogie and Jarrett Culver) and that Minnesota apparently plans to play point guards D'Angelo Russell and Ricky Rubio together at times, Ryan Saunders is going to have some challenging decisions to make about playing time this season.
Of course, too many wing options is a problem the Timberwolves would have welcomed during the first half of their disappointing 2019-20 season. Adding Beasley at the trade deadline helped because he provided needed shooting. Given a chance to start at shooting guard and log 33 minutes per game, he averaged 20.7 points with 3.5 3-pointers in the remaining 14 games -- a mark that would have ranked him in the NBA's top 10.
Realistically, Beasley probably won't stay quite as hot as he was during that stretch, when he made 43% of his 3-point attempts, compared to 39% over the course of his career. But for a player who turns 24 next week, that stretch was an indication that Beasley might be a long-term answer at one of the wing positions.
The next order of business for Minnesota is re-signing the other player acquired from Denver in that trade, forward Juan Hernangomez. The Timberwolves have about $10 million to spend below the luxury-tax line.
New Orleans Pelicans
1. Finalizing a trade to acquire Steven Adams in a four-team deal
Having lost starting center Derrick Favors, who returned to Utah earlier Friday, New Orleans will apparently replace him with Steven Adams via trade with Oklahoma City. Details of which players are heading to the Thunder in the deal aren't yet available.
I'm not sure what to think of how Adams fits with the Pelicans. They certainly needed a more reliable center option than 2019 lottery pick Jaxson Hayes, who predictably struggled defensively as a rookie. As obsessed as everyone is with the idea of putting shooting next to Zion Williamson, lineups with Zion at power forward and Favors at center were quite good in 2019-20: a plus-12.1 net rating per 100 possessions, according to NBA Advanced Stats, and a better offensive rating (112.4) than all other lineups with Zion (110.6).
Still, there's a modest difference in perimeter shooting between Favors (who shot 11-of-35 outside the paint, per NBA Advanced Stats) and Adams (4-of-17, with one of the makes coming on a buzzer-beater from beyond half court). If Zion's on the block, where does Adams go offensively?
On the plus side, the idea of Adams and Williamson both crashing the offensive glass could be trouble for undersized opponents. They were both among 35 players league-wide to grab at least 10% of available offensive rebounds last season, with Adams ranking eighth overall.
Defensively, Adams' size could make him an upgrade on Favors. Opponents made just 54% of their shots within 5 feet with Adams as a primary defender in 2019-20, per Second Spectrum tracking on NBA Advanced Stats, compared to 62% for Favors.
Ultimately, Adams might not be the right fit for New Orleans. If so, the Pelicans aren't making a long-term commitment. Adams is in the final season of his contract, making $27.5 million. Given the current market for centers, he'll either return at a lower annual rate, or New Orleans will have the flexibility to replace him next summer.
Philadelphia 76ers
1. Agreed to a reported one-year, $2.6 million deal with Dwight Howard
The Sixers have to feel good about what they've been able to accomplish in the first week of the offseason. After adding shooting and shedding payroll with Wednesday's pair of trades that netted Seth Curry and Danny Green, Philadelphia has capably replaced Al Horford as backup center on the cheap.
It appears that being shut out of last summer's free agency altogether -- he didn't sign until late August, in the wake of a torn ACL for DeMarcus Cousins -- helped convince Howard to accept a smaller role on offense. He finished just 52 post-up plays all season with a shot, trip to the free throw line or turnover, per Synergy Sports tracking on NBA Advanced Stats, and his 15% usage rate was far and away the lowest of his career.
Instead of trying to create his own offense, often poorly, Howard was content setting screens in pick-and-roll and mashing on the glass, where his 15% offensive rebound percentage ranked third in the league, according to Basketball-Reference.com. The result was Howard's best season since at least 2016-17, as well as an elusive championship ring.
Daryl Morey, the 76ers' president of basketball operations, surely wishes Howard would have had this mindset when Morey paired him with James Harden in Houston. Still, Morey can benefit if Howard remains committed to playing a role in Philadelphia. Given Joel Embiid's tendency to miss time (an average of nearly 20 games the past three seasons), the Sixers need a capable backup. Given Philly's luxury-tax issues, that player ought to be a bargain. At the veteran's minimum, Howard qualifies on both counts.
Portland Trail Blazers
1. Re-signed Rodney Hood on a two-year, $21 million deal
2. Agreed with Derrick Jones Jr. on a reported two-year, $19 million deal
The Blazers have been active and productive this week, upgrading the roster in hopes of getting back in the mix for home-court advantage in the Western Conference after a below-.500 season. A pair of trades netted Portland forward Robert Covington and center Enes Kanter. Now, the Blazers added one of the more promising free agents on the market in Derrick Jones Jr. while re-signing Rodney Hood.
I had my eye on Jones because he's an unusually young unrestricted free agent at age 23. He apparently agreed that it would be a bad idea to tie himself down with a long-term contract, instead signing a two-year deal with a player option in the second season. That still could work for Portland, which can afford to pay Jones the full non-taxpayer midlevel now and would be able to give him a modest raise next summer using non-Bird rights if he opts out.
The past two seasons in Miami, Jones has put the leaping ability that earned him the nickname "Airplane Mode" and won him the 2020 Slam Dunk contest to good use on the court. His long arms made him a big part of the Heat's zone defenses. According to analysis of Second Spectrum tracking data, Miami played zone on 17.5% of possessions with Jones during the regular season, compared to just 7% of possessions with him on the bench.
Offensively, Jones continues to fill out his game. He has shown some progress as a shooter, improving to 77% at the foul line in 2019-20 after shooting just 64% in his first three seasons. That has yet to translate into accurate 3-point shooting, as Jones hit just 28% of his attempts last season. Whether Jones can get that into the mid-30s will help determine his ceiling as a contributor.
Coming off an Achilles rupture in December 2019, Hood found a more robust market for his services than expected. He declined a $6 million player option. On the plus side, the delayed start to the upcoming campaign will give Hood almost a full year since the injury by the start of training camp. He also was off to an excellent start before the injury, hitting 49% of his 3-point attempts and 52% of his shots inside the arc -- both career highs had he been able to maintain them.
Despite his reputation as a shooter, Hood has never been a particularly efficient scorer. Before last season, he surpassed league average in true shooting percentage only once, and even then, it was by a whisker. Because Hood rarely gets to the free throw line (2.7 career attempts per 36 minutes) and isn't an especially strong finisher, he has to be elite from the perimeter to justify his existence offensively.
Given how much Hood's confidence has fluctuated throughout his career -- trending downward during his time in Cleveland before rebounding with the Blazers -- I wonder what kind of challenge coming back from an injury will be for him. Can Hood keep his head up if he struggles initially? Any drop in quickness also doesn't figure to help him at the defensive end of the court, which has never been a strength for him.
Fortunately, with Gary Trent Jr.'s emergence as a 3-and-D option and Covington's ability to play both forward spots, Portland will have plenty of options if Hood needs time coming off the injury. That depth should help during a grueling season.
After today's spending spree, the Blazers have just enough room left to fill out the roster with second-round pick CJ Elleby at the minimum and two players making the veteran's minimum, staying below the tax line. Although I'm not sure Portland has to avoid the tax, doing so would avoid the repeater tax in 2021-22, when the Blazers' payroll will skyrocket because Damian Lillard begins a supermax extension.
Sacramento Kings
1. Agreed to a reported five-year, $163 million max contract extension with De'Aaron Fox
As the Kings sort out the fallout from the Bogdan Bogdanovic sign-and-trade that wasn't, their first order of business in free agency was extending their promising, young point guard. Fox beat the other rising stars from the 2017 draft by becoming the first player from that class to strike a max extension to his rookie contract.
No, Fox isn't yet a max player. Consider, however, that this extension will carry him from age 23 to age 28 -- the period when point guards tend to develop rapidly. Already, we've seen impressive growth from Fox, who has improved his usage, true shooting percentage, assist rate and free throw attempt rate in each of the past two seasons. (One exception? Fox's 3-point percentage, which slid to 29% last season after a suspiciously fluky jump to 37% in Year 2.)
Another similar jump for Fox could put him in All-Star consideration next season. Sacramento might hope that he doesn't develop too quickly, because making an All-NBA Team would bump his salary by making him eligible for an increase via the so-called "Derrick Rose Rule." Per my ESPN colleague Bobby Marks, Fox will go from making the standard 25% of the cap in the first season of his extension to 26% if he makes All-NBA Third Team, 28% for Second Team and the full possible 30% if he's All-NBA First Team.
Perhaps the Kings could have haggled a little over those numbers. But doing so would have risked Fox signing a shorter extension or, worse, not signing at all. For a small-market team such as Sacramento, the first priority was getting a young star signed for the full five years with no options. The Kings accomplished that here.
Utah Jazz
1. Agreed to re-sign Jordan Clarkson to a reported four-year, $52 million deal
2. Agreed to a reported three-year, $30 million deal with Derrick Favors
Clarkson had a transformative effect on the 2019-20 Utah season. When the Jazz dealt for Clarkson on Dec. 23, they were 18-12 (.600) and struggling to get any production from their bench. Adding Clarkson's scoring punch helped energize Utah, which went 23-11 (.676) through the stoppage of play in March -- a six-win difference over an 82-game schedule.
It helped that Clarkson's transition from volume scorer to high scorer with decent efficiency, which began the first two months of 2019-20 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, carried over after the trade. His .574 true shooting percentage was a career high by a wide margin (previously .542), despite the fact that Clarkson's usage rate (26%) was right in line with his recent marks.
Certainly, Clarkson benefited from the fact that his departure would have forced the Jazz to choose between replacing him using the non-taxpayer midlevel exception and signing Favors. As a result, Clarkson was able to leverage a deal that pays him better than the midlevel over the full four years. I'd be concerned about the back end of the contract, when Clarkson will be in his 30s and the athleticism that has been crucial to his shot creation will begin to wane.
For now, Utah has strengthened the bench by getting both players. The Jazz had to trade Favors to New Orleans last summer in order to sign Bojan Bogdanovic as a free agent, but there was mutual interest in a reunion.
It will be interesting to see what role Favors plays in his second stint in Utah. It's possible that he could start at power forward next to Rudy Gobert, though that would force Bogdanovic to defend wings and both Joe Ingles and Royce O'Neale to come off the bench. More likely, Favors will primarily be a backup to Gobert, and we've seen what a force he can be in that role. In 2018-19, the Jazz outscored opponents by 5.5 points per 100 possessions with Favors at center, according to Cleaning the Glass analysis.
This week's pair of money-saving deals that sent Tony Bradley to Detroit and Ed Davis to New York gave Utah just enough breathing room to re-sign Clarkson, use the full non-taxpayer midlevel exception for Favors and stay under the resulting hard cap at the luxury-tax apron. Barring another money-saving move, which would require moving a rotation player, the Jazz are set to pay the tax for the first time since 2010-11. With 14 players under contract, including non-guarantees, Utah's heavy lifting is already done.
Washington Wizards
1. Agreed to re-sign Davis Bertans to a reported five-year, $80 million deal
The Wizards got Bertans for as close as possible to free last summer -- they sent back the rights to 2015 second-round pick Aaron White -- because of a Spurs blunder. San Antonio used Bertans as matching salary to land DeMarre Carroll in a sign-and-trade while freeing its midlevel exception for Marcus Morris Sr. Morris subsequently spurned the Spurs in favor of a one-year deal with the Knicks, and Carroll was bought out at midseason.
In San Antonio, Bertans was seen as a specialist, the new Matt Bonner. Washington transformed his value by unleashing Bertans to launch 3s far more aggressively than he could in the Spurs' offense. His rate of 3-point attempts went from 7.5 per 36 minutes in 2018-19 to 10.7 last season without any impact on his 42%-plus accuracy. The result was the most 3-pointers in the league on a per-minute basis, just ahead of that of Duncan Robinson.
Bertans' fit with the Wizards isn't perfect. Because he isn't quick enough to chase around wings or enough of a presence in the paint to protect the rim, Bertans is pretty much strictly a power forward defensively. That's a problem on a team that drafted a power forward (Rui Hachimura) in the 2019 lottery. Washington couldn't stop anyone in the best of circumstances, but lineups with both Bertans and Hachimura were particularly flammable, ranking in the first percentile of all lineups by allowing 123.9 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass stats.
Still, I can understand why the Wizards were motivated to keep Bertans, a key win for their new front office last offseason. He's far from free now, becoming the first 2020 free agent to sign a five-year deal, the longest possible, for an average of $16 million per season. That's a lot for a reserve, and I do wonder how much Bertans' mobility might be an issue on defense by the end of this contract at age 32.