{"id":1311950,"date":"2019-06-29T21:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T03:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/it-begins-nba-free-agency-finally-starts-sunday\/"},"modified":"2019-06-29T21:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T03:48:00","slug":"it-begins-nba-free-agency-finally-starts-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/it-begins-nba-free-agency-finally-starts-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"It begins: NBA free agency finally starts Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard hoists the MVP trophy next to teammates during the team’s NBA basketball championship parade in Toronto, Monday, June 17, 2019. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/strong>
AP | The Canadian Press<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Kawhi Leonard is planning meetings in Los Angeles. Kevin Durant will do the same in New York.<\/p>\n

Those are the cities where they\u2019ll begin free agency.<\/p>\n

Where they will end it will finally start to get clearer soon.<\/p>\n

NBA teams will start opening their checkbooks Sunday at 6 p.m. EDT, when the negotiating window for one of the most hotly anticipated free-agent periods begins and with more than 200 players \u2014 including two dozen players with at least one All-Star appearance \u2014 eligible to change teams in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people could say, \u2018Oh my God, look at all that player movement,\u2019\u201d NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said during this past season. \u201cOn the other hand, that player movement could be very positive for a lot of teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard, Durant, Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Nikola Vucevic, Al Horford and Khris Middleton are among the top players who will be deciding whether to change addresses or not. Boston apparently knows it will be losing Kyrie Irving, since a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Saturday that fellow All-Star point guard Kemba Walker has informed the Charlotte Hornets that he\u2019s leaving them for the Celtics. Irving\u2019s focus is believed to be on joining the Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n

No deals can be signed until July 6 because of the league\u2019s annual moratorium, though players and teams can enter into agreements starting Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of obviously decisions that will go into the summer,\u201d Golden State guard Stephen Curry said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll deal with those accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone will, and won\u2019t have a choice.<\/p>\n

Changes could shift the balance of NBA power considerably \u2014 especially if Durant leaves the Warriors and Leonard leaves the NBA champion Toronto Raptors. Durant will be pursued by the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers along with Golden State; Leonard is likely to hear pitches from the Los Angeles Lakers, the Clippers and the Raptors.<\/p>\n

Durant and Leonard were asked countless times this past season about their free-agent plans.<\/p>\n

Neither offered much of a hint.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to play and just let people remember that I played hard at both ends of the floor, I was a winner, and that\u2019s basically it,\u201d Leonard said during the NBA Finals, on his way to winning his second ring and second finals MVP award. \u201cI\u2019m just here enjoying my dream, having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durant won\u2019t play next season because of a ruptured Achilles. He still may command a $221 million, five-year contract from Golden State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what I bring to the team but I also know that a lot of people on the outside, you know, don\u2019t like to see us together,\u201d Durant said last month. \u201cYou know, I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether he and the Warriors remain \u201cus\u201d is up to him now.<\/p>\n

Then again, even when players say certain things, it doesn\u2019t mean much. A parting of ways between Irving and the Celtics didn\u2019t seem likely in October, when the point guard grabbed the microphone at a fan event in Boston and said \u201cif you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans apparently changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shouldn\u2019t really comment on things until things are done,\u201d Celtics President Danny Ainge said on draft night, dodging question after question about Irving and Horford\u2019s respective futures. \u201cI really can\u2019t comment on all of the things that are said to have happened. I wish I could tell you everything I know, but I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a certainty that the Lakers will be extremely active in free agency, since they\u2019re about a week away from having only three players actually on their roster. Take away their restricted free agents, and when the complex six-player, four-pick trade with Washington and New Orleans gets executed on July 6 and lands the Lakers Anthony Davis, they\u2019ll have just him, LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma under contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a superstar on our team and an open slot,\u201d Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said earlier this offseason, when the team hired Frank Vogel as its new coach and before it swung the deal that will net Davis. \u201cSo I think that people can look at this as an opportunity to come and win a championship possibly next year. And we\u2019ve got to do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some deals shouldn\u2019t take long to be announced Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Warriors have said they have no intention of letting Thompson leave, even while he recovers from a torn ACL, so expect a $190 million, five-year deal to be agreed to quickly there. A person with knowledge of the situation told AP that Sacramento plans to offer Harrison Barnes a deal that will pay him as much as $90 million over the next four years, with the exact total hinging on math that will be figured once the salary cap is set for next season.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Butler could re-sign with Philadelphia to stay there, or as the first step in a sign-and-trade with Houston and Miami among the potential suitors in that case. Orlando wants to keep Vucevic, and Milwaukee seems positioned to give Middleton a max deal that will keep him alongside NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of things are going to happen,\u201d said Raptors guard Danny Green, one of this summer\u2019s free agents.<\/p>\n

Come 6 p.m. Sunday, those things can officially begin.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard hoists the MVP trophy next to teammates during the team’s NBA basketball championship parade in Toronto, Monday, June 17, 2019. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press via AP)AP | The Canadian Press Kawhi Leonard is planning meetings in Los Angeles. Kevin Durant will do the same in New York. Those are the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 20:16:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311950\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}