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Every Deal From The First Night Of NBA Free Agency

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After a week of trades, the Draft, and teams signing current players to extensions and new deals, NBA free agency finally got started at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday. Typically there is flurry of action as soon as the moratorium period opened up, as teams don’t want to wait long to lock up top targets and players don’t want to wait too long to miss out on cap/exception space that often dries up quickly around the NBA.

However, this year it took longer than usual for things to get warmed up. For one, teams could agree to deals with their own free agents as soon as the Finals ended, which meant a lot of the deals that used to get held for 6:01 p.m. (or 12:01 a.m.) could just get locked in over the past two weeks. We saw that with guys like Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Immanuel Quickley, and others, taking away some of those handshake deals to re-sign guys we usually get the first night. Along with that, teams at least pretended to be better about playing along with the league’s rules about not contacting other players outside their rosters. There were a handful of deals that teams got done on Sunday prior to free agency opening to keep their own players in town, and then about an hour after free agency finally started to open up and deals began rolling in.

Still, it was a pretty quiet night, largely due to Paul George still not being officially locked in — even though the Clippers publicly announced he wouldn’t be back in Los Angeles. With the biggest name taking his time in meeting with the Sixers, things were held up a bit, while the newly increased salary cap apron penalties put a real damper on teams enthusiasm for being aggressive early on.

Here are the 15 deals that got agreed to on Sunday, including those that re-signed with their current team prior to free agency opening.

Patrick Williams (Bulls)

Sunday’s action started with the Bulls and Patrick Williams agreeing to a 5-year, $90 million deal just after midnight to keep the young forward in Chicago.

Obi Toppin (Pacers)

Elsewhere in the Central, the Pacers beat the clock to lock up Obi Toppin on a long-term deal for 4 years, $60 million to keep him from hitting the open market, giving him just above the mid-level to stay a couple hours prior to free agency.

Max Christie (Lakers)

An hour before the market opened up, the Lakers got a deal done with Max Christie to keep him in L.A. for the next four years (including a player option) and $8 million per year.

James Harden (Clippers)

From there, James Harden got a new 2-year, $70 million deal done to stay with the Clippers just before free agency started and let L.A. focus their efforts on Paul George’s free agency once the clock hit 6 p.m. ET.

Luke Kornet (Celtics)

As free agency began, Luke Kornet re-signing with the Celtics was the first deal on the board, as Boston looks to run it back in their title defense.

Kevin Love (Heat)

The deals to re-sign guys continued with Kevin Love returning to the Heat on a 2-year, $8 million deal.

Andre Drummond (Sixers)

Finally, an hour after free agency opened, we got our first signing that saw a player change teams, with Andre Drummond inking a two-year deal with the Sixers to backup Joel Embiid.

Kevin Porter Jr. (Clippers)

The Clippers signed Kevin Porter Jr. to a two-year deal (with a player option) after he missed all of the 2023-24 season after getting charged with harassment and third-degree reckless assault of his then-girlfriend at a New York City hotel, reaching a plea agreement in January.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Magic)

The first truly big signing of the day came when the Orlando Magic struck a new three-year, $66 million deal with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Orlando fills their need for a veteran presence and three-point shooting with the move, while Denver loses a key contributor for a second straight year (but this time could’ve matched the offer and chose not to).

Eric Gordon (Sixers)

The Sixers continued making moves around the periphery, signing Eric Gordon to a vet minimum deal.

Chris Paul (Spurs)

The Spurs made their first move of free agency by bringing in a needed veteran point guard presence with Chris Paul on a 1-year, $11 million deal to provide some stability on offense and create a very fun pick-and-roll pairing with Victor Wembanyama.

Jonas Valanciunas (Wizards)

The Wizards got in on the action by signing Jonas Valanciunas to a 3-year, $30 million deal to bolster their frontcourt alongside No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr.

Mason Plumlee (Suns)

The Suns made their first signing outside their roster last year adding some frontcourt depth in the form of Mason Plumlee.

Naji Marshall (Mavericks)

The reigning West champs made their first move of free agency by signing Pelicans wing Naji Marshall to add another much-needed 3-and-D wing to their rotation.

Derrick Jones Jr. (Clippers)

With the Mavs going in a different direction with their mid-level, Derrick Jones Jr. was left to find a new team and landed a 3-year, $30 million deal with the Clippers as they pivot away from Paul George.