Winners, Losers and Fallout from 2024 NBA Free Agency Day 1

The 2024 NBA free agency period started slowly (no tampering charges this year, folks!) yet picked up considerably as the night unfolded.

We saw Chris Paul get waived by the Golden State Warriors and sign with a rebuilding team in the West. The Denver Nuggets lost a key piece of their championship roster. And the LA Clippers made a surprisingly public announcement regarding one of their stars.

With a lot left to be decided in free agency, here are some early winners and losers from Day 1.

It’s rare to see an NBA veteran who’s been willing to play on minimum contracts actually get an above-minimum deal again. Andre Drummond at least temporarily reversed this trend, agreeing to a two-year, $10 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto. The second year is a player option.

Drummond had played on minimum deals the past three seasons with the Sixers, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls despite being one of the best backup centers in the league. The 30-year-old averaged 8.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 0.9 steals on 55.6 percent shooting in 17.1 minutes last season.

One of the NBA’s historically great rebounders, Drummond’s 29.3 total rebound percentage would have easily been the best in the league (Jusuf Nurkić, 22.8 percent) had he logged enough court time to qualify.

Drummond getting a nice increase in pay and moving from a lottery team in Chicago to a potential championship contender with the 76ers is a big win as well. He’ll inevitably get some starting opportunities next year, as Joel Embiid has averaged just 54.1 games per season over his eight healthy seasons.

The Sixers can use their room exception of $8 million to sign Drummond, keeping their actual cap space open for Paul George or another star.

This was a win for both player and team.

The LA Clippers weren’t in a great situation going into the offseason. Re-signing an aging core was still the best option, however, given how many draft picks and young talent was sent out to put Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden together.

Harden is reportedly coming back on a two-year, $70 million deal, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. This was a smart decision by Los Angeles to give Harden, who turns 35 in August, just a two-year deal. Still, no one on the open market was going to give the veteran guard anything close to $35 million a season.

The Clippers then made the bizarre move of issuing a public statement saying that George was leaving even before his new signing was officially announced.

Los Angeles still owes a 2025 first-round pick swap and a 2026 unprotected first-round pick from the trade to acquire George from the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019 in what looks like one of the worst deals of the past decade. The Clippers wound up winning just three playoff series in five years with George and Leonard.

Even with George walking out the door for nothing, Los Angeles is still $14 million over the salary cap and can only use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception of $12.9 million to try and replace him.

This is a disaster scenario for a Clippers team moving into a new arena this fall.

The West is loaded with powerhouses. As their roster currently stands, Los Angeles may not even make the playoffs now.

The young Orlando Magic were just a game away from advancing to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and have now added a two-time champion to their starting lineup.

According to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has agreed to a three-year, $66 million deal with the Magic. USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reports that the third year is a player option.

Caldwell-Pope is the perfect starting shooting guard for Orlando, as he’s long been one of the best 3-and-D wings in the NBA. A starter on both the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets title teams, the 31-year-old is a notable upgrade over Gary Harris for a Magic team looking to establish themselves as a power in the East.

Orlando ranked dead last in the NBA in made threes per game (11.0) and 24th in accuracy (35.2 percent). KCP helps to solve both issues, as he connected on 1.6 threes a game at a 40.6 percent clip. Both would have ranked second on the Magic.

As the Athletic’s Tony Jones reported, the Nuggets actually offered Caldwell-Pope a similar contract to what he ended up getting in Orlando. The Philadelphia 76ers were another team with significant cap space who could have made a big offer to Caldwell-Pope as well.

The Magic probably still need some playmaking help, although Spotrac’s Keith Smith projects Orlando with $30 million worth of cap space even after signing KCP.

This was a really nice pickup for the Magic, who still have the cap room a few more impact players.

The Mike Dunleavy Jr. era in Golden State hasn’t been pretty thus far.

After taking over for Bob Myers as general manager in June 2023, the Warriors dynasty has crumbled before our eyes, with Klay Thompson’s expected departure now leaving Golden State even further away from another title run.

The Warriors ended up waiving Chris Paul to begin free agency a year after acquiring him in exchange for Jordan Poole, a 2030 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick. Any attempts at using Paul’s non-guaranteed deal in a trade for Paul George or another star ultimately failed.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that “Thompson is departing the Warriors and the sides will begin to work through sign-and-trade options” to find the five-time All-Star a new home. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers were all planning to talk with Thompson.

The 34-year-old, despite his decline in play, was still the Warriors’ second-leading scorer last season (17.9 points) and hit 38.7 percent of his threes. With Stephen Curry under contract for two more years and Draymond Green for three, it’s a shame to see the Thompson era in Golden State end already, especially in this way.

If Thompson leaves outright as a free agent with no sign-and-trade deal the Warriors will still be about $6 million above the salary cap and only have the mid-level exception to try and replace both him and Paul.

Unless Dunleavy can pull off some sort of blockbuster trade, the Warriors dynasty is officially dead.

After the Golden State Warriors waived Chris Paul in a cost-cutting move, the Los Angeles Lakers seemed like a logical landing spot for the future Hall-of-Famer, given his home in the area and friendship with LeBron James.

Instead, Paul chose to sign a one-year deal with the San Antonio Spurs according to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes, joining a young team that went just 22-60 last season.

“Chris Paul had a great talk with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and was sold on the culture and opportunity to help elevate the game of Victor Wembanyama. CP is eager and motivated to showcase he’s still an elite guard in this league,” Haynes reported.

This was a win for Paul, who gets $11 million (about $7.4 million over a veteran minimum contract) and will likely be traded to a contender closer to the deadline.

It’s mainly a win for the Spurs’ young core, especially Victor Wembanyama and rookie Stephon Castle.

Wembanyama only shot 32.5 percent from three last season, but made 39.2 percent of his looks coming off passes from Tre Jones, San Antonio’s best option at point guard. Paul’s game has sharply declined now at age 39, but he’s still a terrific passer who will look to feed Wembanyama early and often. Castle, the franchise’s potential long-term solution at the position, gets to learn from one of the best point guards in the history of the NBA as well.

Paul has done wonders in recent years with young teams in Oklahoma City and Phoenix, serving as a mentor to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Devin Booker.

The Spurs are lucky to have him.