I love NFL free agency but it doesn’t have the same fireworks that the NBA has and today has been no different. Many big name players have either signed new deals with their original team or found a new home in general.
First off, the Cleveland Cavaliers are out of their MINDS for giving Jarrett Allen a five year, hundred million dollar contract. Allen is no where near a top five NBA center and they just threw top five money at him.
This past season, Allen posted 12.8 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game. Those are decent stats. Decent. No where near the hundred million that Allen will be getting over a five year span.
Maybe the Cavs signed him purely off his awesome afro.
In other news, former Big Baller, Lonzo Ball has signed a deal landing him on the third team of his career. The Chicago Bulls gave him a four year, eighty five million dollar deal to hopefully play alongside Zach Lavine.
I actually like this move a lot because the Bulls feel like a team that was one piece away from making a playoff run and this could be that piece.
With this signing, this means that Marcus Smart will most likely be back in a Celtics uniform. The Bulls were one of the main teams that was courting Smart to play in their backcourt but thank goodness he’ll be back.
As I am writing this, I get the Bleacher Report update that the Bulls have made another signing to bolster their backcourt. They have brought in Alex Caruso on a four year, thirty seven million dollar deal.
It seems like Ball and Lavine will be the starting guards in ChiTown while Caruso will be a solid contributor off the bench. Chicago is making a splash.
While those two guards are on the move from Los Angeles and New Orleans, another guard in the west will be sticking around on a new deal. Chris Paul has signed a new deal to stay in Phoenix on a four year, one hundred and twenty million dollar contract.
This is a huge resigning for the Suns as they bring back their main facilitator and are looking to make another run at the NBA Championship.
Phoenix also retained another key player from their title run in Cameron Payne. Phoenix made sure to make these guys priorities and this will be massive if they want to fight back to the title in a new and improved Western Conference.
Along with bringing Paul and Payne back, they’ve added help at the center position off the bench. The Suns have signed former Lakers center JaVale McGee to a one year, five million dollar deal. A very underrated pickup.
Other signings across the league have been the Utah Jazz bringing back Mike Conley on a questionably big deal. The Jazz threw seventy two and a half million at Conley for three years.
What I don’t like about this resigning is that Conley is thirty three years old and when his contract is up, he’ll be thirty six, that’s if he’s still even playing. Not too many guys play after their thirty fifth birthday.
Last season he posted solid numbers and earned his first All Star game bid which is the main reason why he got this type of money. He tallied 16.2 points per game and 6 assists per game as the number two guard alongside Donovan Mitchell.
Hopefully there are bigger signings that occur overnight like Kawhi Leonard possibly resigning with the Clippers or going to another team.