NBA

NBA 2024 Free Agency Moves: Paul George to 76ers, Klay Thompson Leaves Warriors

Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar02/07/2024 - 10:48 am

The NBA moves quickly through the offseason. The Boston Celtics won the NBA championship two weeks ago, we had the 2024 NBA draft last week, and free agency officially opened Sunday evening with some big moves already in the books involving Paul George, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul, and more.

Yesterday, the Celtics inked Jayson Tatum to the richest contract in NBA history with a 5-year extension worth $314 million. Tatum and teammate Jaylen Brown aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but the 2023-24 Celtics are a great example of the importance of team building this time of year. That team likely doesn’t win it all without retooling around their stars and bringing in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.

The Celtics are favorites to win again next year, so it is up to the rest of the league to close the margin and get better now with free agency moves. Let’s analyze some of the big moves so far of players changing teams and note who else is still out there in free agency.

Paul George to the 76ers

The biggest move so far was Philadelphia signing forward Paul George to a 4-year extension worth $212 million. That contract would carry George through his age-37 season, but the 76ers obviously are in a win-now mode with former MVP Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey (this year’s Most Improved Player winner) making up the Big 3 in Philly.

George is another future Hall of Famer, and his FG% was a career-best .471 last season at 33 years old as he averaged 22.6 points per game for the Clippers. He also made 41.3% of his 3-point attempts, another career high.

But this move is a risky gamble, especially for a team that notoriously has not advanced past the semifinals since 2001. Is adding an aging George the move that’s going to get them over the hump? Remember, George’s playoff reputation is not strong as fans have mockingly called him “Playoff P” over the years. His teams are 8-11 in playoff series in his career, and he has never been to the NBA Finals (0-3 in Conference Finals). He’s had some rough season-ending losses in his career.

On the plus side, George really wouldn’t have to be more than the second or third-best player in this Big 3 setup in Philadelphia, and some of his underwhelming moments with the Clippers were related to rarely having a healthy Kawhi Leonard around him in big games. George had some solid playoff moments for the Clippers, including his 33 points against Dallas in a Game 4 win this past April.

Naturally, talking about durability in Philadelphia is a sore subject as Embiid has often been injured around playoff time too. There is no guarantee this team can get to the playoffs with Embiid close to 100%, which is what they’ll need to advance farther than they have in over two decades.

George himself has not been the healthiest in recent years. He played 74 games this past season, the first time he played more than 56 games in a season since 2018-19 when he was with Oklahoma City.

But as for the fit in Philly, George will replace Tobias Harris, who left for Detroit (see below). He can be a more consistent scorer, better shooter, better playmaker, and is a willing rebounder. George will have a dominant center in Embiid to feed off for a change, and Maxey proved to be an excellent guard last season.

This is a better roster, on paper, than past 76ers teams that had a combo of Embiid, James Harden, Harris, and a younger Maxey. The 76ers are tied with Oklahoma City for the second-highest odds to win the NBA Finals (+850 at FanDuel) behind Boston (+300) this year, so expectations are high for this to work to at least get the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals for a change and challenge Boston.

But winning it all? That would be on Embiid, George, and Maxey to stay healthy in the spring.

As for the impact on the Clippers, it’s big, but the team has been among the busiest in free agency so far. The Clippers are reportedly bringing James Harden back, they signed Kevin Porter Jr. (19.2 points per game for Houston in 2022-23) after a year away from the league for a domestic violence charge, and they added Derrick Jones Jr. from the Mavericks’ run to the NBA Finals.

In five seasons with the Clippers, George helped the team reach a Western Conference Finals in 2021, then it was downhill from there with injuries to George and Leonard at the worst moments. We’ll see if both of these teams can get their main stars (Embiid and Leonard) to be there when it counts the most this season.

The End of the Splash Brothers: Klay Thompson Joins Mavericks

It was a move many expected to happen this offseason, but it is still hard to imagine a world where Klay Thompson is no longer on the Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry. But after a dozen years with the team, The Splash Brothers are no more as Thompson is signing with the Dallas Mavericks to try to help another Western Conference squad win a championship.

The Warriors released a statement thanking Thompson for his contributions with the hopes they will retire his #11 jersey one day.

Thompson is 34 years old, and it is clear he is not the same player he was before the devastating knee and Achilles injuries that knocked him out of action for two full seasons in 2019-21. It is a minor miracle he’s even come back from that.

But since returning, Thompson has averaged 19.9 points per game and shoots 39.7% from 3-point territory. Throw in some solid defense, and the Mavericks would gladly take that this season over dealing with the inconsistency of someone like Tim Hardaway Jr., who went to Detroit.

It became very apparent during the playoffs that the Mavericks were a 2-man team with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, which usually isn’t enough to win a championship. It is certainly not enough to beat a deep, balanced team like the Celtics. The Mavericks didn’t have that No. 3 player, and when Irving played poorly in the games in Boston and Doncic fouled out in Game 3, that’s not a winning formula for Dallas.

So, the allure of adding someone like Thompson is understandable, though he’s clearly not in his prime anymore. But he can be better than what Dallas had in this role last season even if they also lost Derrick Jones Jr. to the Clippers, which hurts the defense a little.

He’s not pre-leg injury Klay anymore, but it’s a move that can give Dallas an edge over Western rivals like the Warriors, Thunder, and Nuggets (who lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to Orlando).

For a cool footnote, this gives the 2024-25 Mavericks three players who have scored 60 points in an NBA game before in Doncic (73), Irving (60), and Thompson (60). That likely has not happened since Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Wilt Chamberlain were teammates on the Lakers in the early 1970s.

Tobias Harris Shipped Back to Detroit

With the 76ers making the splash move to sign forward Paul George, Tobias Harris became expendable in Philadelphia. The good news (for him) is he got the Detroit Pistons to give him $52 million for a 2-year deal. The bad news is he’s going to a young Detroit team that won 14 games last year.

Harris played for the Pistons in 2016-18 for three seasons where he averaged numbers in line with what he’s done with the 76ers. Harris averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and shot 47% from the field in Detroit.

But Detroit was not nearly as bad at the time as it is now. Harris is going to a very young team with guards like Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey looking for guidance with a revolving door at coach.

Harris is going to have to do his share of scoring and rebounding on this team, but he is not a good enough player to transform them into a playoff team. But the checks will be nice as he turns 32 in a few weeks.

Isaiah Hartenstein Is a Reminder of the Cost of Free Agency

Free agency is a great and exciting time for player movement and hope, but the contracts also come with a harsh reminder of how much it costs to add players like this. Not everyone can build through the draft like the Spurs used to do, the Warriors did, and that’s also basically how the Nuggets won the championship two seasons ago.

Take for instance Isaiah Hartenstein. He’s a journeyman center on his sixth team since 2018-19 and he has averaged 6.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in his NBA career. He’s coming off a career-high 8.3 rebounds per game with the Knicks.

That was enough for the Thunder to offer him a 3-year deal worth $87 million. Maybe they seem some potential the last five teams didn’t, but when you give a player that kind of contract, he better live up to it or it looks like you’re setting money on fire.

The area to watch now with Oklahoma City is what this does to their rebounding numbers, particularly on the offensive glass. Last season, the Knicks with Hartenstein ranked No. 1 in offensive rebound rate (33.3%) while the Thunder were No. 28 (25.0%).

If that’s what they mostly want Hartenstein to do next to Chet Holmgren on offense, then so be it. He also needs to protect the rim on defense, but it will be interesting to see just how many minutes he gets on this Thunder roster.

Chris Paul Expected to Join Spurs After Cut by Warriors

This has not been the best time in Chris Paul’s career. He was waived by the Warriors after one disappointing season where he set numerous career lows, and the team was knocked out in the play-in game before even making the playoffs. It was just never a good fit for him.

We’ve also seen him portrayed in the Hulu series Clipped by an actor who looks nothing like him in a show that has become a meme online.

But maybe this is just a natural end for the career of a 39-year-old athlete. It rarely ends with them on top of their game. But instead of retirement, Paul is reportedly coming back to play point guard for the San Antonio Spurs this season.

Playing for legendary coach Gregg Popovich and with 7’4” phenom Victor Wembanyama has to be enticing for Paul, who needs just under 200 assists to move into No. 2 all-time ahead of Jason Kidd (12,091).

Paul’s veteran leadership and passing ability should be good for a young San Antonio team that is trying to build the next big thing in the NBA. Unfortunately for Paul, by the time the Spurs get to where they need to go, he’ll be over 40 and likely headed to retirement without a ring.

But he’s had a great career.

Notable Free Agents Left for 2024-25 NBA Season

Many of the big names in free agency are reportedly going to re-sign to stay with their teams, including James Harden (Clippers), Tyrese Maxey (76ers), Pascal Siakam (Pacers), Malik Monk (Kings), and OG Anunoby (Knicks).

The biggest name of them all is of course LeBron James, who is expected to re-sign with the Lakers, especially after they fulfilled his goal of playing with his son Bronny, who they drafted with the 55th pick in the second round last week. Expect contract details on the next James deal soon in LA.

We also are awaiting for the finalization of the trade of Mikal Bridges from the Nets to the Knicks. That’s an interesting move for the Knicks as they gain an Ironman and another scorer who played with Jalen Brunson at Villanova years ago. The Knicks were shorthanded and ran out of steam in the playoffs so that one looks like a good move for them.

But what about the players expected to be on the move who haven’t been linked to a team yet?

Six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan could be one of those big chips to fall as he is a free agent. Even though he’ll be 35 in August, he just led the NBA in minutes per game played (37.8) last year with Chicago. He’s a clutch shooter, he averages 21.2 points per game in his career, and he could settle down as an excellent No. 3 option on a playoff contender right now. That’s why many have been linking him to the Lakers, but we’ll see if they can pull that off or not.

The free agency chatter has been a little quiet for forward Miles Bridges, and that could just be the effect of his off-court issues that caused him to sit out the whole 2022-23 season. He returned last year and averaged 21.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game for a bad Charlotte team. Imagine if the Warriors stepped in to get him. They haven’t run away from taking in some reclamation projects over the years.

Finally, since a recurring theme has been about contenders finding their No. 3 or No. 4 player to fill out their roster better, what about the Nuggets replacing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with Mailk Beasley (Bucks)? He started his career with the Nuggets as the 19th pick in the 2016 draft. He showed some sound 3-point shooting last year (career-high 41.3%) and could fill that role for the team as they try to get over blowing a 20-point lead in Game 7 where it didn’t look like anyone but Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray had the courage to take a shot.

This is the time of year to get better.

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Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar02/07/2024 - 10:48 am