Much of the NBA’s summer business is done, save for the whole Kevin Durant thing. One of the 15 greatest players in the history of basketball requesting a trade as free agency opens has a tendency to muck up the process, but everyone else still plunged forward with billions of dollars worth of contracts.
All-Stars Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Darius Garland, Nikola Jokic, Zach LaVine, Ja Morant, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zion Williamson signed deals that could net them a combined $2 billion by 2028. All stayed put. We covered each signing in great detail. Just click on their names if you are so inclined. You can also follow early winners and losers of free agency and details of every transaction in our tracker and from our experts.
Jalen Brunson has been the biggest name to change teams in free agency, accepting a $104 million offer from the New York Knicks. Rudy Gobert, Dejounte Murray and Malcolm Brogdon also headlined a trio of potentially seismic trades to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics, respectively.
So, what’s left? Well, you have come to the right place because here is your 2022 NBA free-agency reset.
SALARY CAP SPACE
Only three teams still have — or could create — significant salary cap space. The San Antonio Spurs, with $32.1 million, have just enough to offer the only possible maximum contract player still available a starting salary of 25% of the $123.655 million salary cap ($30.9 million). And we will get to that player in a moment.
The Indiana Pacers, with $26.4 million, could get there, too.
The Detroit Pistons entered free agency with more cap space than any other team, but they used much of it to help the New York Knicks create room to sign Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein in exchange for draft picks. As dust settled on trades that sent Kemba Walker, Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel from New York to Detroit, the Pistons have a little more than the non-taxpayer midlevel exception ($10.5 million) to offer in free agency. The Knicks have a little less than a taxpayer midlevel exception ($6.5 million) still available.
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
Deandre Ayton
The recent No. 1 overall pick’s value was at an all-time high last summer, when his two-way performance at the center position helped the Phoenix Suns reach the 2021 NBA Finals. He was bound for a max deal, but myriad factors over several months — a reported quarrel with Suns head coach Monty Williams, Phoenix’s Game 7 collapse against the Dallas…