Big names sign big deals early in free agency

If the opening stanza for the 2018 NBA free agency season had a theme, the theme would be, “Secure The Bag by any means and at all costs.”

Well, it isn’t like teams and players really have a choice.

The NBA informed teams of the season salary cap and tax for 2018-19. The cap is $101.8 million while the taxes are $123 million for luxury, $5.3 million for mid-level and Room mid-level $4.4 million. The limits are prompting quite a few teams to hustle and get deals done.

First up is the Oklahoma City Thunder. Paul George finessed ESPN out of a three part series and some money to re-sign with OKC for $137 million over four years. In Houston, Chris Paul re-upped with the Rockets for four years and $160 million. These two moves in weren’t surprising. Paul getting the max was.

DeAndre Jordan on the move to Dallas was also expected. There was no way he was going to turn down what the Mavs were offering.

For me, the surprise of the period thus far was Trevor Ariza signing a 1 year $15 million deal with the Suns. For certain, I thought that Ariza was a priority for the Rockets as well as Paul and Clint Capella.

Meanwhile on the Warriors’ front, theres only Kevin Durant re-signing for two more years. Again, not surprising. However, according to the Athletic’s Tim Kawakami ( and confirmation by Sam Amick) the Warriors may pursue Tyreke Evans. Evans to the Warriors makes great sense. In Evans, the warriors would get a player that switches a lot on defense and attack off the dribble. Evans has the ties. His former agent is Bob Meyers and his former trainer, Lamont Peterson is now the Warriors’ scout. Now the question is, will he take the $5.3 million mid level exception.

So, what is the biggest surprise in free agency thus far? Let me know in the comments.