Some of the most interesting names include Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Lowry.
NOTE: This story was originally published on Feb. 8 and was updated.
The 2024 NBA trade deadline has passed and hoops fans saw a splattering of deals that could potentially shake up the race for the title.
But it isn’t just trades that potentially could impact the championship odds. After the deadline, once the dust settles, several contenders around the NBA typically make moves to add free agents from the buyout market as well.
Even though buyouts are unlikely to make a dramatic change for teams with legitimate title aspirations, these moves around the edges are still fascinating to follow for those who follow the league most closely.
Due to the CBA, per Yossi Gozlan, players with salaries above the $12.5 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception cannot sign with teams above the first tax apron. Those teams are the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, L.A. Clippers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns.
Players who meet those thresholds are mentioned below in italics. They are permitted to sign with any other team. All players must sign with a team by March 1 to become eligible to make postseason rosters.
Otherwise, let’s take a look at some of the most notable names to emerge:
The 76ers’ new deal with James Harden might get them into some trouble.
Tampering, man. It’s the NBA’s worst-kept secret. In all honestly, everyone does it. Personally, I think it’s fine. But the NBA does not. It’s still against the rules.
The NBA is investigating the 76ers signings from this offseason, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, including James Harden’s.
Despite the 76ers had already traded for Harden, the league is looking to see if the two sides already had an agreement on a contract in place heading into the offseason.
NBA's expected to pursue circumstances surrounding Harden declining $47M option to sign a 1+1 deal that cut salary to $33M and gave team more flexibility to sign Tucker and House. Some have wondered if another deal was already in place for future — which is against CBA rules.
Although this move was long anticipated and first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski a week prior, the official negotiations carried into late July as both sides were eager to see how the free agency and trade market played out before putting pen to paper and agreeing to a deal.
The final deal is a two-year, $68.64 million deal with a player option for the second season, USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win has since confirmed. Harden will earn $33 million next season, and if he opts into his second season, he will earn an 8 percent raise to $35.64 million.
Harden’s longtime business manager and NBPA-certified agent Lorenzo McCloud, who has a long-standing relationship with Daryl Morey and 76ers ownership, handled the negotiations for the deal.
McCloud also helped orchestrate Harden’s move from Houston to Brooklyn in 2021 and then from Brooklyn to Philadelphia in 2022. The 32-year-old former college basketball player is originally from South Central, Los Angeles. He has experience working under former agent and current Lakers executive Rob Pelinka, who represented Harden and many other high-profile players.
What is particularly interesting about Harden’s deal is that could have earned up to $47.4 million before opting out of his contract at the end of June.
His decision to decline his player option to take a $15 million pay cut is unprecedented. But he recently explained his logic to league insider Chris Haynes (via Yahoo Sports):
“I had conversations with Daryl, and it was explained how we could get better and what the market value was for certain players. I told Daryl to improve the roster, sign who we needed to sign and give me whatever is left over … This is how bad I want to win. I want to compete for a championship. That’s all that matters to me at this stage. I’m willing to take less to put us in position to accomplish that.”
This decision by the former MVP and three-time NBA scoring champion helped the 76ers to improve their roster and land key players including PJ Tucker, Danuel House, and De’Anthony Melton.
Philadelphia entered the offseason with no salary cap space and would have been over the salary cap apron ($156.9 million) had Harden exercised his player option. A team over the salary cap apron is only allowed to offer a free agent the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception of $6.5 million, which would have restricted the 76ers opportunities to improve the roster.
By opting out of his player option and signing for $15 million less than his max, however, James moved the 76ers far enough under the salary cap apron line to allow Philadelphia’s front office to use both the Nontaxpayer Mid-Level Exception ($10.5 million for Tucker) and the Bi-Annual Exception ($4.1 million for House).
Harden recently admitted he “wasn’t right” last season, but recently told AP Sports that he is “finally back” and will be more aggressive as a scorer next season. The team is set to enter the campaign as one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference.
Next season, Harden looks to bounce back alongside Joel Embiid to help win his first NBA championship — and Philadelphia’s first NBA title since 1983.
The Philadelphia 76ers and James Harden have finally agreed on a deal for the 13-year veteran to return. He will re-sign with the Sixers on a two-year deal worth $68.6 million with a player option for year two, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. This …
The Philadelphia 76ers and James Harden have finally agreed on a deal for the 13-year veteran to return. He will re-sign with the Sixers on a two-year deal worth $68.6 million with a player option for year two, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. This move could serve as a temporary financial sacrifice from Harden that allows the Sixers to make moves that improve their title odds.
The Philadelphia 76ers and James Harden have finally agreed on a deal for the 13-year veteran to return. He will re-sign with the Sixers on a two-year deal worth $68.6 million with a player option for year two, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. This move could serve as a temporary financial sacrifice from Harden that allows the Sixers to make moves that improve their title odds.
The Philadelphia 76ers will agree to a 2-year $8.5 million deal with Danuel House.
While the Philadelphia 76ers made their quick move to sign P.J. Tucker in free agency, they have now brought in another teammate of James Harden’s during their time together wth the Houston Rockets.
President Daryl Morey has continued to bring in former Rockets as they have agreed to a 2-year $8.5 million deal to bring in Danuel House on a deal. He spent a little over three seasons in Houston, two of them with Harden, and he is a career 36.6% shooter from deep.
House Jr. played for three teams in the 2021-22 season, last with the Utah Jazz, and he averaged 5.9 points and 2.6 rebounds and he shot 37.6% from deep. He will add to the depth that the Sixers need off their bench in order to move forward.
Free agent Danuel House has agreed to a two-year, $8.5M deal with the 76ers, sources tell ESPN.
The Sixers needed to add toughness to their roster and they have done so with their first two free agency signings in Tucker and House. They also both have connections to Harden and Morey so that makes this a smooth transition for both players.
House, 6-foot-7, carved out a career with the Houston Rockets beginning in 2018 as a 3-and-D forward. He hit 41.6% of his 3-pointers that year, though he never surpassed 40% again.
House averaged 4.8 points on 33.8% shooting overall and 29.4% from deep in 16 games this season with Houston, which led to his release as the team continues to get younger.
The New York Knicks ended up signing House to a 10-day deal, and the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings also reportedly had interest.
The Lakers entered the season short on 3-and-D forwards with good size, and House would’ve helped. Recently, the Lakers picked up Stanley Johnson on a 10-day deal, though he has never been a reliable 3-point shooter.
The team currently possesses three such TPEs of note on top of two smaller ones (for $500,000 from the Moses Brown trade and for $370,564 from the Jeff Teague trade) which are unlikely to be used given that such exceptions are the space into which a team completes a non-simultaneous trade. That means any player incoming will need to make no more than $100,000 above the dollar amount in each TPE, which cannot be combined or added to otherwise.
Apart from those details, Boston has TPEs for $17.1 million from the Evan Fournier trade, $9.7 million from the Tristan Thompson deal, and just over $5 million left from the Kemba Walker trade expiring July 18, July 7 and May 17 respectively. Today, we’ll look at some of our favorite options the Celtics could trade for with the Walker TPE.
Two of them shouldn’t surprise, but the third might raise an eyebrow among his perennial doubters. https://t.co/qdgnh8egFp
The Houston Rockets traded away 2018 NBA MVP James Harden in a blockbuster deal. But what will the new version of this team look like?
The Houston Rockets traded away 2018 NBA MVP James Harden in a blockbuster deal. But what will the new version of this team look like?
Under first-year head coach Stephen Silas, Houston will run their offense through John Wall and Christian Wood. They will also incorporate two-time NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo, who was acquired from the Indiana Pacers in the deal as well.
Overall, this move was more focused on the future than the present, as the Rockets landed a total of four unprotected first-rounders and four unprotected pick swaps.
There were also immediate financial implications considering, as noted by our own Yossi Gozlan, Houston went from $5.2 million over the luxury tax to $3.7 million under the tax. Houston can also generate a traded player exception worth $10.7 million if they want to continue tweaking this roster, per Gozlan.
Below, however, as what the rotation looks like for the Rockets after trading away their longtime superstar:
The Houston Rockets traded away 2018 NBA MVP James Harden in a blockbuster deal. But what will the new version of this team look like?
The Houston Rockets traded away 2018 NBA MVP James Harden in a blockbuster deal. But what will the new version of this team look like?
Under first-year head coach Stephen Silas, Houston will run their offense through John Wall and Christian Wood. They will also incorporate two-time NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo, who was acquired from the Indiana Pacers in the deal as well.
Overall, this move was more focused on the future than the present, as the Rockets landed a total of four unprotected first-rounders and four unprotected pick swaps.
There were also immediate financial implications considering, as noted by our own Yossi Gozlan, Houston went from $5.2 million over the luxury tax to $3.7 million under the tax. Houston can also generate a traded player exception worth $10.7 million if they want to continue tweaking this roster, per Gozlan.
Below, however, as what the rotation looks like for the Rockets after trading away their longtime superstar:
