Чөлөөт агентуудын гэрээ болон драфтын өмнөх солилцооны цуурхлууд NBA-ийн хүрээнд идэвхжиж эхэллээ.
Чөлөөт агентуудын зах зээл албан ёсоор нээгдээгүй байгаа ч багууд өөрсдийн тоглогчидтой гэрээгээ сунгаж эхэллээ. Атланта Хоукс Си Жэй Маккаллумтай нэг жилийн 21 сая ам.долларын гэрээ байгуулсан бол Финикс Санс Коллин Гиллеспитэй дөрвөн жилийн 48 сая, Жордан Гудвинтай гурван жилийн 19 сая ам.долларын гэрээ хийхээр тохиролцжээ. Мөн Атланта Хоукс Оклахома Сити Тандер руу хоёр хоёрдугаар тойргийн драфтын эрх илгээн Аарон Виггинсийг эгнээндээ нэгтгэсэн нь татварын ачааллаа бууруулах зорилготой Тандерын хувьд санхүүгийн чухал алхам боллоо.
NBA-ийн драфт маргааш эхлэх гэж байгаатай холбогдуулан ирээдүйн залуу тоглогчдын чансаа болон боломжит сонголтуудын талаарх таамаг олны анхаарлыг татаж байна. Шинжээчид сүүлийн 20 жилийн драфтын сонголтуудад дүн шинжилгээ хийж, эхний гурван сонголтоор ирсэн тоглогчдын амжилттай тоглох магадлал өндөр байдгийг онцолжээ. Тухайлбал, 2003 болон 2022 оны драфтууд нь хамгийн өндөр үр дүнтэй тооцогддог байна.
Драфтын өмнөх таамаглалаар зарим тоглогчдыг өндөр амжилт үзүүлнэ гэж үзэж байгаа бол заримыг нь эрсдэлтэй гэж дүгнэжээ. Кэатон Ваглер, Адай Мара, Беннетт Стиртз, Хенри Висаар нарыг драфтын “бүтэлгүйтэх” магадлалтай тоглогчдод нэрлэсэн бол Коа Пийт, Жошуа Жефферсон, Крис Сенак, Исайя Эванс нарыг ирээдүйтэй “нуугдмал авьяастнууд” хэмээн онцолсон байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
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If you’re wondering when Giannis Antetokounmpo might be traded, I will be on a flight around 8:15 p.m. ET today. It’s a four-hour flight. I would put my money on the trade happening during that window.
Free agency
Early re-signings — and a trade!
Even though free agency doesn’t officially begin until June 30 at 6 p.m. ET, the action has already very much begun. Currently, teams are allowed to speak to their own free agents to try to reach deals. Of course, we know that those discussions with all sorts of teams have been going on for months behind closed doors. It’s just a matter of whether the discussions worked to poach a free agent away when the window officially opens.
In the meantime, the NBA Draft starts tomorrow, and teams can go wild with some trades. We’re all still waiting for a Giannis trade. To where? No clue. But we’re pretty sure something will happen! We had some news surface about some re-signings over the weekend, and a Western Conference contender made a trade. Let’s go over everything you need to know so far.
Hawks expected to re-sign CJ McCollum for one year and $21 million: Excellent signing for Atlanta without any major options to replace McCollum on the free-agency market. He’ll make $9 million less than he did last year, and it’s just one year.
Grade: A
Team’s remaining needs: A big man, more of a playmaking lead guard and more shooting.
Suns expected to re-sign Collin Gillespie for four years and $48 million: If Gillespie continues to improve, this is more of an A grade. Securing him for four years for less than the mid-level could end up being one of the better bench player contracts in the league. No reported options on the deal.
Grade: B+
Team’s remaining needs: Quality big men and forwards who can score.
Suns expected to re-sign Jordan Goodwin for three years and $19 million: For a guy who has bounced around a bit, this is nice security for him. For the Suns, grabbing your eighth or ninth guy for about $6 million per season is good quality. He just hasn’t quite shown enough yet to be certain he’ll stick in the rotation.
Grade: A-
Team’s remaining needs: Quality big men and forwards who can score.
The Hawks are also reportedly trading two second-round picks to the Thunder for Aaron Wiggins:
I love this pickup for the Hawks. Wiggins is a quality defender on the perimeter, has decent playoff experience and can really shoot the ball. This is a cap move for the Thunder. By shedding his $9 million salary for next season, they move down to roughly $19 million into the second apron and $32 million into the first apron. This could save the Thunder $60 million in tax penalties and opens a spot on the roster. They have the 12th, 17th and 37th picks in the draft with 14 players under contract.
Grades: A for Atlanta, C- for OKC
The last 24
🤯 Chaos. The NBA Draft doesn’t always go the way we think it might. So I came up with a chaos mock draft.
📈 Top 75! John Hollinger has given his top 75 prospects for the NBA Draft. Cameron Boozer is tops.
🏀 Developing story. Our Law Murray is ranking the young cores for every team in the league. First up: the West.
🤔 Is it possible? The Cavs and Spurs both thought they outplayed the Knicks. Why do they feel this way?
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!)and catch out-of-market games onLeague Pass.
Too big to fail?
How often does a loaded draft deliver?
What does a loaded draft class actually mean? What does a “can’t miss” set of players truly look like? That’s what we’ve heard and reiterated about this 2026 class, thanks to BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and Duke’s Boozer. North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson emerged early in the college season as a fourth guy, but it’s been about those top three players.
It’s made me wonder when we have at least three top prospects, how often does this work out with everybody as a great pick? We can quibble over who was and wasn’t a “can’t miss” prospect, but I’m operating on what the consensus seemed to be at the time of those drafts.
Let’s look at the 20 years from 2003 to 2022.
2003: LeBron James | Darko Miličić | Carmelo Anthony
Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade were also in this draft class, and it’s funny that Maciej Lampe was thought of as a top-five guy at one point. Darko was the big bust, but the other four ended up being easy hits in this loaded class. Hit rate: 4/5.
2004: Dwight Howard | Emeka Okafor | Ben Gordon
Maybe you’d want to include Shaun Livingston with these guys, but this was mostly a three-person top of the class. Okafor wasn’t the franchise guy he was presumed to be, and Gordon had a nice, long career. Howard more than cleared his potential. Hit rate: 2/3.
2008: Derrick Rose | Michael Beasley | O.J. Mayo
I don’t think we can include Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love in this because they weren’t surefire prospects. But Rose versus Beasley was a legitimate debate, and Mayo was a year away from being a monster prospect. Hit rate: 1/3.
2014: Andrew Wiggins | Jabari Parker | Joel Embiid
This actually ran about seven deep with the hype around Aaron Gordon, Dante Exum, Marcus Smart and Julius Randle. Only Parker and Exum were definite busts, because of injuries. Everybody else has had very good careers. Hit rate: 5/7.
2015: Karl-Anthony Towns | Jahlil Okafor | D’Angelo Russell
There was some good hype around Kristaps Porziņģis, as well. Towns and Porziņģis have delivered. Russell made an All-Star team. Okafor was out of the league pretty quickly. Hit rate: 3/4.
2017: Markelle Fultz | Lonzo Ball | Jayson Tatum
Tons of hype around these three guys, and only Tatum has really delivered. Ball has had too many injuries, and Fultz went through his own physical issues. Hit rate: 1/3.
2018: Deandre Ayton | Marvin Bagley III | Luka Dončić
Let’s extend this to Jaren Jackson Jr. and Trae Young, as well. Some people were squirrelly about Mo Bamba, but we won’t include him. Dončić, JJJ and Young have delivered. Bagley has not. Ayton is unlikely to. Hit rate: 3/5.
2021: Cade Cunningham | Jalen Green | Evan Mobley
We should probably include Scottie Barnes and Jalen Suggs in the mix here. Everybody except Green has come through, although he still has plenty of time to get it together. Suggs has dealt with injuries but is still very important. Hit rate: 4/5.
2022: Paolo Banchero | Chet Holmgren | Jabari Smith Jr.
These three have all had interesting careers so far. Banchero is an All-Star. Holmgren is All-NBA and a champion. Smith isn’t quite there, but he’s good enough that I’m willing to include him as making it. Hit rate: 3/3.
Conclusion: This is a bit of a crude scientific experiment, sure. But for the most part, those top-three-heavy draft classes or the completely loaded classes near the top tend to produce good results — 26 out of the 38 selections in these nine classes turned out well. In seven of those classes, more than half of the top prospects hit.
Washington, Utah and Memphis should feel pretty good about their selections tomorrow night. Chicago too. Of course, we would have said the same about some of the failed prospects mentioned here …
Will Aday Mara be a bust? (Bob Donnan / Imagn Images)
Draft predictions
My 4 sleepers and 4 busts
There are few better feelings in sports than telling people that an under-the-radar draft prospect is going to be awesome in the NBA and then that turns out to be true. But because we can be such a cynical bunch, a better feeling might be telling people that a highly touted player won’t be good and then they end up being a bust. Is that mature? No. It’s kind of true, though, right?
We love a good “I told you so” when it comes to any predictions. With the start of the draft tomorrow, it feels like a good time to give some potential busts and sleepers in 2026.
Let’s start with the guys I think could be potential busts. This is no offense to them. I just don’t know that I trust their placement on draft boards and mock drafts versus what I expect them to be at the next level. Feel free to use this against me years from now. And, as always, check out Sam Vecenie’s NBA Draft Guide.
Four potential busts
Keaton Wagler | Lead guard | Illinois: Wagler being so poorly recruited and then jumping up to a top half of the lottery guy in less than a year is an awesome story. I have some questions about why all of a sudden he’s this amazing prospect. If he can shoot and get past his defender, he’ll be fine. I don’t know that he’s an NBA lead guard. Maybe he’s better suited for off-ball at that level.
How Keaton Wagler came from out of nowhere to become a top NBA prospect
Sam Vecenie
Sam’s board – Sixth
Aday Mara | Big | Michigan: Enough people believe in Mara that I’m open to being very wrong about him. I’m just not sold that he’ll be able to defend enough in the NBA to warrant going top 10. If this is the Hawks’ plan at No. 8, I think they can find a lot better.
Sam’s board – 13th
Bennett Stirtz | Guard/wing | Iowa: Incredible shooting prospect, but I am always concerned when we’re wondering how a small guard is going to get his shot off. Especially when he isn’t a great athlete. If Stirtz were 6-foot-6 instead of 6-3, those concerns would be gone.
Sam’s board – 21st
Henri Veesaar | Big | North Carolina: I didn’t think he was much of an NBA prospect at Arizona, and his year at UNC didn’t convince me more. We can’t assume he’s a shooter now based on 40 makes from deep. And how does he defend in the NBA?
Sam’s board – 29th
Four sleepers
Koa Peat | Forward | Arizona: Yes, he needs a jumper, but Peat feels like he should be a top-10 guy in this draft. He’s incredibly physical and competitive. He does whatever the team needs him to do. He’s a specimen. I’m not worried about his NBA position. He can play.
Sam’s board – 16th
Joshua Jefferson | Forward | Iowa State: Feels like a really good team is going to get him because he’s 22 years old and isn’t super athletic. Jefferson has a high IQ, though, and his ability to make plays for others will go so far.
Sam’s board – 23rd
Chris Cenac Jr. | Big | Houston: There aren’t great big men in this draft, but I love the idea of Cenac as a project for a playoff team. He’s a monster on the boards and has a 7-foot-5 wingspan to use around the rim.
Sam’s board – 25th
Isaiah Evans | Guard/wing | Duke: He needs to add some bulk, but he’s going to be a really nice wing in this league. He can shoot the ball and will turn into one of the best 3-and-D guys from this class. He should go in the early 20s.
Sam’s board – 35th
