2025 NBA Free Agency: Biggest Winners & Losers, Best Available Players & MORE

2025 NBA Free Agency: Biggest Winners & Losers, Best Available Players & MORE

Ready to go for a Sunday with final round coverage with a crowded leaderboard of the John Deere Classic, the Gold Cup final between the US and Mexico and of course the finale of the Subway Series with the Yankees looking to avoid a sweep. How’s it going everyone? I’m Chris Honorado. We start though this morning, this afternoon with the off season in the NBA. Free agency always starts with a flurry, but there are still some players out there who are either household names or ready to contribute and make their names known. And so already some winners and some losers declared in this NBA off season, but maybe some names that will still sign and swing the pendulum a little bit there. Brad Botkin is all over the NBA for us. Let’s bring him in now. All right, Brad. Most of the free agents ranked in the top 10 at the start of the off season are off the market, but as we said, still some guys left out there looking for new deals. In your mind, who are some of the winners already this off season? Oh, well, you got to point directly to the Rockets. First of all, they get Kevin Durant for, you know, a minimal really kind of risk assessment here. Like they give up Jaylen Green. They weren’t really sure they were they were rocking with that contract that they gave him. although that could end up being a steal if if he plays well for Phoenix. And then they get off Dylan Brooks. But they bring in Kevin Durant, Clint Capella, um and they give themselves a lot of center depth. I think the Rockets are actually setting themselves up for another trade mid-season because they’re armed with three centers. They’ve got matching salary. They’ve still got young players that they could deal. So they could do even more. But even if they stay as is, uh they keep their elite defense. to keep Amond Thompson, Tari E, Fred Van Vleet, keep all of that in place and add Kevin Durant to an offense that really was the only hole um there. The Hawks I would go to next. The Hawks have had a phenomenal offseason. They add Chris Porzingis. Really one of the big free agent prizes in Nquille Alexander Walker who I expected to go to Detroit had been heavily rumored there. He’s one of the prizes. Now that says a little bit about how thin this class was. We’re certainly not talking about a superstar, but in terms of outfitting Trey Young with an optimal defensive lineup around him, they can put out a lineup now with a Congoo at center, Nikil Alexander Walker, uh last year’s number one overall pick, Zachary Reach, the defensive player of the year, runner up, Dyson Daniels. They have now outfitted Trey Young. If he can’t do it with this surrounding, with this kind of perimeter insulation, with this kind of backline protection with a Congu and Porzingis at the rim, then we might have to start questioning not just Trey Young, but this total archetype of player of of of a point guard who’s a brilliant offensive player, brilliant creator, but is so limited defensively that even insulated as the Hawks have done, it’s too much of a detriment. So really a good case study happening in Atlanta this year. I would go through uh Denver. Phenomenal added to their bench. Uh makes an unbelievable trade for Michael Porter Jr. This is a guy that uh they really I think kind of quietly been trying to get off for a while now, but just had too big of a contract. In today’s apron world, it’s too punitive to have your third best player making over $200 million not actually be a star. you can’t out the roster with enough depth. They get off him and get Cam Johnson, a better player and then also give themselves the ability to add some depth with Bruce Brown. We’ll see what happens with Jonas Valenunis, but they have really given themselves the depth that they need to contend with Nicolic. So, those those are three that I would point to. I think the Grizzlies did very well. Um, but but a lot of team th those those three four teams have have had really really good off seasons. Brad, let me ask you a question quickly here on Houston. the trade of Cam Whitmore to the Wizards on Saturday. What do you make of that move? Just simply not enough minutes and shots to go around for a young talented guy. You’re exactly right right there. And I I thought they might, you know, put Whitmore in a little bit of a bigger package. Um but again, I I do think Houston is kind of angling for for another move down the line with this center depth. And so you put those second round picks into another package. But but you’re right, just not enough minutes. I mean, last year’s number three overall pick, Reed Shepard, couldn’t even crack the lineup. So, maybe without Green, you know, they get him a few more minutes this year. But, you know, it’s very tough to develop. We’re seeing a case play out right now in Golden State where you got a team that’s that’s been ready to win and has been in compete for a championship mode for a while. And albeit their guys have gotten a little bit more time than Whitmore and and Shepard did last year. relatively speaking, we’re seeing a guy in Jonathan Kaminga who might be an all-star and nobody knows what he’s worth because he has just not been able to tap into a role that’s been able to show exactly how good he’s been for a team that is prioritizing winning now. And now that Houston is prioritizing the same thing, uh it’s just a situation where Cam, you’re right, Cam Whitmore, really talented scorer, great athlete in a Wizards situation where he’s not going to be bound by the restrictions that come with a team that’s trying to win and is going to sit him down for every mistake that he makes and is going to let him go through that learning curve. Uh could be a very good move for him individually as well. All right, if we have winners on July 6th, we’ve got to have some losers. What teams make your list in that category? Oh man, this is a a big fat Bucks blinking sign. I mean, this is we’re we’re you know, let’s just roll one topic right into the next. The the Bucks uh the Lak We’ll start with the Lakers. Okay, I don’t The Lakers have not done well this off season. Uh they lose Dorian Finny Smith. They bring it. You know, it’s funny. It speaks to the the thinness of this class that we’re out here talk. You know, it’s like a DeAndre Aiden sweep stakes. DeAndre DeAndre Aiden, give me a break. I mean, the guy is a double double guy. He does have talent. He was one of the pick one of the better pick and roll finishers uh when he was playing with Chris Paul in Phoenix. Didn’t have the same kind of spacing or point guard play in Portland. So, maybe you dismissed some of that. Um but again, put all this in perspective. We’re talking about DeAndre Aiden and then I I bet you if you went and you asked half the NBA watching viewership if they know who Jake Loravia is, you’d get about 50 different answers. So, you know, he’s good player, makes solid plays, little bit of a replacement for for Dorian Finny Smith, but but the Lakers are are making a clear statement here that they’re planning for 2026 and 27, which we can get into. I would I would poke some holes in that plan. But in terms of through the prism of this season, uh I don’t think the Lakers have done that well. To add DeAndre Aiden, yeah, you filled your center position, I guess, a little bit. So, nothing nothing to write home about. But the Bucks, I mean, where do we where do we start with with Milwaukee? They stretch. There’s never been anything like this in NBA history. Nobody has ever waved and stretched a contract of this magnitude. Damen Lillard $113 million over the next five years. They’re going to pay him $22.5 million every year for the next five years. He could go to Turks and Caos and be drinking beach drinks for the next five years, not touch a basketball, not lace, not even put any shoes on, and he’s going to get 22 and a half million a year from the Bucks. He needs to get in touch with Bobby Bonia and see how do I spend this money that I’m doing nothing to work for. One of the great setups for Damen Lillard. This guy is set up can sign anywhere for a veteran minimum. But the Bucks do this. They they they have already they have done a series of increasingly desperate desperate moves and you got to give them some credit for trying to do that to outfit Giannis and keep him in a small market. They make the trade for Drew Holiday. It cost them dearly, but it get it it has a payback. They win the title. Then they get a little bit more desperate when the Giannis rumblings start. He might leave again. We don’t have a lot of options. We spent all of our draft picks on Drew. Let’s go get Damen Lillard. Now, that was a little bit desperate, but it’s still Damen Lillard. You take your shot. It ended up not working. and they dismiss too much defense getting rid of Holiday. They brought in an offense that didn’t exactly click between Lillard and Giannis. So then they get a little bit more desperate and man, we better fire our coach and let’s bring in Doc Rivers. Now that’s when it started getting really dire when you think Doc Rivers is just going to flip around a team with the same roster. And now they have just gone fullon delusional paying Damen Lillard 113 million over the next five years. We have been talking on this segment about the punitive aspect of the new aprons in the CBA. They’re now working from a 22 and a half million dollar hole every year before they even start on their cap sheet to say nothing of all the draft picks that they’ve gotten rid of. They have no no young talent that anybody wants. All for Miles Turner, which no disrespect to Miles Turner, he was a number one guy on my free agency list. Um but again, that speaks to the thinness of the class. Miles Turner is a little bit better than Brook Lopez. All right, this is a guy that’s been on the trade block for a half decade in Indiana. I know we all have recency bias. We just watched his Pacers make a great run to game seven of the NBA finals and he played well, played big minutes, didn’t shoot all that well. He wasn’t overwhelming, but clearly a a playoff rotational player, starting center fine. But if you’re going to stretch Damen Lillard at 113 million to put yourself behind that kind of eightball from an apron perspective for the next half decade, you better be getting Jokic. You know, you’re getting Miles Turner a little again a little bit of an upgrade from Brook Lopez and you don’t and Lillard’s gone. So now you’re twoman show. You’re what your point guard is Kevin Porter. You know, you resign Gary Trent. It’s it’s it’s so dire. I think that they again give them credit that they pulled they they have pulled all the stops to try to keep Giannis happy, but this was one too many. They should have they should have conceded to trading Giannis. It’s over. They got their championship. Let’s go get a huge package for him and set up our next era. They went one step too far here and they are going to be feeling the ramifications of this step for the next half decade plus. Okay, so my next question was going to be what do the Bucks need to do to keep Giannis, but Brad, it sounds like maybe it’s a franchise that should be I’ve always said I don’t want to be the GM who trades away a generational talent, but for the betterment of a franchise, maybe you need to take that risk. Is that what you’re saying here? They’re like, look, Milwaukee is better off not just trying to keep Giannis happy, but but trying to find a way to win after him without him. Yeah. anybody anybody who plays the stock market or the NBA market is really the same. Like you need to be ahead of things. You you have to if you if you keep pressing your bet on the crabs table like eventually somebody’s crapping out. So you’ve got to know when to and it’s hard it’s hard to judge when’s the right time. When are you ahead of it? But yeah, I think the Bucks should have seen that they kind of they won their pot with with the championship and they were pressing their bet a little too far and they should have got out of the game and cashed in a lot of chips uh for Yiannis Doopo. Now having said that, the fact that they didn’t and they already took this step now it’s like well hell we’re already drowning. We may as well kind of keep you know throwing some more water on us. And I so I think now that you’re in you’ve you’re already whether you give up Giannis now or not and they and I still don’t think it would be the worst move. I I still would probably say man look to trade Giannis. But think about the optics of this when they go into this hole for Damen Lillard. They do all this for Miles Turner all under the flag of keeping Giannis happy. Then they have to trade Giannis anyway. Well then hell give me back the Lillard money. Let me use him as an asset. Get even more for him in a trade. Now they can’t even trade him. So I I do think there’s a possibility that now that they are this deep in that they go even further like to hell with it and let’s go get Anthony Simons from Boston who might be in a mode of trying to trim salary. We know they’re in a gap year. Anthony Simons can somewhat replicate Damen Lillard and now at least on paper you can say you might have a top four seed in the Eastern Conference. At least maybe then the Miles Turner if we add more to it can at least plausibly make an impact. I mean, right now you’re still like a six seed in the JV conference. So, I I think that actually now that they’ve gone this far in, it’s like what’s the difference? And I I’m kind of watching the Anthony Simon situation. There have been rumors that Boston would be willing to reflip him. They’re trying to trim salary. They’re they’re they’re kind of conceding to their own gap year. And, you know, look, it’s the Eastern Conference. The Bucks might be able to convince themselves. Maybe more importantly, Giannis can convince himself and say, “I want to stay with Simons and and Turner and Giannis.” They just watched the Pacers do it with with an offense first point guard and and center rim protection and Turner and you’ve got Yiannis. So, I think there’s a chance they go even further. I wouldn’t do it. I think they should have they should have cashed in their bet a long time ago, but they didn’t. And now that they’re in this deep of water, I think there’s a chance that they actually go further. Brad Bodkin always brings it here on HQ. Thank you, man. There is no offseason when it comes to the NBA either. We say it about the NFL all the time, but boy, with the activity and the storylines in the NBA, it can be early July and we are still all over it. Of course, the Triple Threat podcast on YouTube and CBS Sports Network. Use that QR code on your screen as well to follow along.

Brad Botkin joins CBS Sports HQ to discuss NBA Free Agency.

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