2025 NBA Free Agency Winners and Losers After First Wave of Deals
Although this year's free-agent class didn't have a ton of household names, the NBA still produced plenty of fireworks and landscape-shifting moves on the first couple days of free agency.
Two max extensions have been handed out. One blockbuster trade went down. One shocking release happened. And several shrewd moves pushed teams from one tier to the next.
We've compiled the biggest winners and losers from a wild day of dealing here.
Winner: Memphis Grizzlies
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The Memphis Grizzlies didn't waste time once free agency began. They got Jaren Jackson Jr. to agree to a five-year, $240 million max deal via a renegotiate-and-extend, which gives them an All-Defensive-level anchor who's developed into a steady 20-point-per-game scorer for the foreseeable future.
That move was hardly a surprise. Where Memphis really made some noise was with its signing of Ty Jerome, one of last season's best reserves, for just $28 million over three years.
Jerome is versatile enough to play some of the minutes left behind by Desmond Bane, both as a shooting guard alongside Ja Morant and as a reserve playmaker when Morant is off the floor (or out altogether).
Add the new deal for Santi Aldama (three years for $52.5 million), and it's easy to believe in what the Grizzlies did this offseason.
Loser (for now): Los Angeles Lakers
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It's not that the Los Angeles Lakers had a bad first day. Jake LaRavia has a chance to be an interesting floor-spacer in lineups with LeBron James and Luka Dončić. He shot 42.3 percent from deep last season.
But he's certainly not the kind of splashy name whom Lakers fans have grown accustomed to hearing during these player-acquisition windows.
At least one of the names attached to L.A. leading up to Monday, Brook Lopez, went to the crosstown rival Los Angeles Clippers. A Lakers incumbent, Dorian Finney-Smith, went to the Houston Rockets. And there's still no word on Deandre Ayton, who won't clear waivers until 5 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Landing the recently bought-out big man could make all of the above feel a lot different than it does now. In the meantime, Lakers fans have to be feeling a bit more tense than they did a few days ago, especially after news that suggests LeBron might be available.
Winner: Houston Rockets
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The Houston Rockets may well have had the best pre-free-agency period of any team in the league.
Had they just rested after acquiring Kevin Durant, renegotiating with Fred VanVleet and re-signing Jabari Smith Jr. (among others), they still would've been in great shape headed into 2025-26.
But they didn't rest. Houston landed one of the prizes of this free-agency class, three-and-D specialist Dorian Finney-Smith, who's now a part of one of the most loaded wing rotations in the league.
The Rockets also signed Clint Capela, who may seem a bit redundant on a team with Steven Adams and Alperen Şengün. But at $21.5 million over three years, that redundancy probably isn't a huge deal.
Outside of maybe point guard, Houston is now one of the deepest teams in the league at each position.
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Loser: D'Angelo Russell
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In a vacuum, the D'Angelo Russell signing isn't a major loss for the Dallas Mavericks, especially at $13 million over two years.
Russell has hit 38.2 percent of his three-point attempts over the last three seasons. He's a solid manipulator of defenders and defenses as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. And Dallas obviously needs a point guard while Kyrie Irving rehabs from a torn ACL.
But it's just impossible to ignore the context that was built ahead of this move.
Nico Harrison spammed the "defense wins championships" cliche in the wake of the Luka Dončić deal. This move sends the exact opposite signal.
The often spacy-on-defense Russell hasn't had a positive defensive estimated plus-minus since 2018-19 and will almost constantly stress test the back line with Anthony Davis, Cooper Flagg and either of Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II.
Winner: Atlanta Hawks
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Another one of the biggest prizes of free agency, combo guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker went to the Atlanta Hawks on a four-year, $62 million deal as part of a sign-and-trade that cost the Hawks a second-round pick and some cash.
Now, Atlanta has another defensive difference-maker it can deploy alongside Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher and Jalen Johnson. While the three-point side of the three-and-D equation is still a question for those three (with the possible exception of Risacher), NAW checks both boxes.
Over the last three years, he's hit 38.5 percent of his three-point attempts. He's versatile enough to either play alongside Trae Young or take some on-ball reps when Young is out.
That alone probably would've been enough to get the Hawks on this side of the winners-and-losers ledger, but they made another shrewd move by adding Luke Kennard on a one-year, $11 million deal.
Kennard doesn't fit the defense-first approach that the Hawks seem to be taking with much of the rest of the roster, but he has enough playmaking chops to run the second unit. He's also third all-time in career three-point percentage.
Loser and then Winner: Milwaukee Bucks
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The Milwaukee Bucks didn't necessarily make any bad moves on Day 1. In fact, getting Taurean Prince, Gary Trent Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr. all re-signed to reasonable deals was probably about as good as Milwaukee could've done.
But when you have Giannis Antetokounmpo in the middle of his prime, and on a roster devoid of other stars, that series of first-day moves, plus the loss of Brook Lopez, made it feel like they were heading toward mediocrity in 2025-26.
But Milwaukee quickly changed that narrative on Tuesday, when they released Damian Lillard by waiving and stretching the remaining $113 million on his deal and signed Myles Turner away from the Indiana Pacers.
The Bucks were going to get nothing out of Lillard's roster spot in 2025-26 as he recovers from the Achilles tear that he suffered in the playoffs. They now have a dynamic frontcourt that features playmaking from Giannis, shooting from Turner and defense from both.
Surrounding those two with three-and-D wings makes a ton of sense, and they added Gary Harris to the aforementioned group of returners, too.
If there's a caveat to all of the above, it could be Giannis not loving the way Lillard's dismissal was handled (per Chris Haynes), but it's not as though he was going to come out publicly and celebrate the loss of his superstar former teammate.
Milwaukee's trade of Pat Connaughton for Vasilije Micić (which cost Milwaukee two second-rounders) was also a bit of a head-scratcher, but the totality of these two days, even with reasons to nitpick them, make the Bucks winners.
Winner: Denver Nuggets
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The Denver Nuggets are clearly among the biggest winners of free agency.
They traded Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick for Cameron Johnson in a move that shed enough salary to open up the mid-level exception. They also brought 2023 champion Bruce Brown back to a second unit that desperately needed him. On Tuesday, they swapped Dario Šarić out for Jonas Valančiūnas. And finally, they added volume shooting veteran Tim Hardaway Jr. to the overhauled bench.
In the space of two days, the newly appointed Nuggets front office made their roster deeper, more versatile and more financially flexible.
In the starting lineup, they picked up a shooter at (or at least near) the same level as MPJ, only he's more mobile defensively and more dangerous off the bounce and as a passer.
And for the bench, having the competitiveness and multipositional versatility of Brown back on the roster is a huge boost, particularly to a second unit that now includes a legitimate backup 5 and a catch-and-shoot threat to space the floor.
Loser: Indiana Pacers
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Fresh off an unexpected and awe-inspiring run to the NBA Finals, the Indiana Pacers are now headed into 2025-26 without face-of-the-franchise Tyrese Haliburton (who'll be rehabbing his torn Achilles) and starting center Myles Turner (who is headed to the Milwaukee Bucks).
Even if Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith have breakout campaigns and Pascal Siakam continues to play like an All-Star, it's tough to imagine this team coming anywhere near replicating the success of the last two playoff runs.
To go from the vibes surrounding the team as it entered Game 7 of the Finals to this is a major bummer for Pacers fans and anyone else who pulls for the underdog.
Winner: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is coming off one of the best guard campaigns we've ever seen. He won the scoring title, league MVP and Finals MVP over a two-month span and then led the Oklahoma City Thunder to this year's championship.
And now, he's secured an NBA-record four-year, $285.4 million supermax extension with one of the youngest and most versatile rosters in the league.
All of OKC's most important players are coming back in 2025-26. It still has a mountain of future draft assets with which to build. And it has an all-time great scorer on the books for the foreseeable future.
Much has been made of the NBA's "no repeat champs" streak that dates all the way back to 2018, but the Thunder look poised to threaten it.
Potential Future Winner: Damian Lillard
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At first glance, Damian Lillard getting waived and stretched feels like a cruel end to his abbreviated stint with the Milwaukee Bucks.
He returned from deep vein thrombosis a bit earlier than expected to play in the playoffs, where he ruptured his Achilles. The team he rushed back for is now cutting him. But he's still going to get the remaining $113 million on his contract.
Whenever Lillard is cleared to play, he'll now be able to explore his options as an unrestricted free agent.
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