2025 NBA Free Agency and Trade Grades for Every Day 3 Deal
The 2025 NBA offseason is here, and Bleacher Report is ready to guide you through all the chaos with instant reactions to free-agency signings, trades, releases and more.
This is your one-stop shop for news and analysis of the NBA's rapidly shifting landscape. So, feel free to bookmark!
As the news rolls in, we'll be grading all of it on our typical A-F scale.
Report cards from Monday's action can be foundย HERE.
Report cards from Tuesday's action can be found HERE.
Now let's get to all the action from Wednesday:
Key Terms and Quick Recap
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As we sort through another summer of player movement, a quick run through some key terms should be helpful.
Player Option: If a team gives a free agent a player option, it means that he is free to choose whether he wants to stay or go in the final year of the deal. For example, if someone signed a three-year deal with a player option, he could opt in to that third year and play for whatever team holds the contract, or opt out and become a free agent.
Team Option: A team option functions just like a player option, except the organization wields the decision-making power. The team has the option of keeping a player on the roster for that final year or letting him become a free agent.
Max: Max deals are determined by a number of factors, including the size of the league's salary cap in a given year and the amount of experience a player has. The cap in 2025-26 is $154.6 million. Players with no more than six years of NBA service can sign max contracts with a starting salary of 25 percent of that number. Players with seven to nine years of experience can sign maxes worth 30 percent of the cap. And players with 10-plus years of service can sign maxes that start at 35 percent of that number.
Mid-Level Exception: The mid-level exception allows teams that are already over the salary cap to sign a player (or players) to deals that do not exceed a certain threshold. For 2025-26, that threshold is $14.1 million.
Taxpayer's Mid-Level Exception: Teams that are above the $187.9 million luxury tax line still have access to a mid-level exception, but it's smaller. For this season, the taxpayer's mid-level exception is $5.7 million.
This offseason, specifically, there was also a ton of movement that happened in advance of the official start of free agency. You can find a list of all the moves that preceded Monday, including the Kevin Durant and Desmond Bane trades, HERE.
And finally, though this isn't necessarily a hard and fast rule, think about the grades below on this scale:
A = Heist | B = Everybody Wins | C = Meh | D = Huh | F = That you, Nico?
Now, let's get to Wednesday's action.
Los Angeles Lakers Sign Deandre Ayton
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Contract:ย Two years, $16.6 million; $8.1 million in the first year (viaย ESPN's Shams Charania and The Stein Line's Jake Fischer)
Option: Player (via Charania)
Grade:ย B
By the time the news broke on Wednesday evening, Deandre Ayton going to the Los Angeles Lakers felt like a foregone conclusion. Now that we know (for sure) that's his destination, it's time for Ayton to prove his worth.
L.A. had an obvious need at center. He should have a clear path to 30-plus minutes per game, and he should get plenty of wide-open looks generated by fellow 2018 draftee Luka Donฤiฤ, along with LeBron James and Austin Reaves.
But he may have to adjust his game a bit to fit Luka's. He'll have to set more ball screens. He may have to be more willing to be a rim-runner. He may have to stretch the range on his jumper a bit (Luka's had success with pick-and-pop players, too).
And he'll absolutely have to bring more consistent effort to the defensive end on a team that desperately needs an anchor.
In short, Ayton has to sharpen pretty much every area of his game. He's averaged a double-double in every season of his career, but his plus-0.8 box plus/minus says he's generally performed around the level of a decent starter or solid sixth man.
For L.A., this being a de facto contract year could be the biggest benefit. Ayton should be motivated to outperform the way he's played to this point in his career and reenter free agency for a bigger payday next summer.
Philadelphia 76ers Sign Eric Gordon
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Contract: One year, $3.6 million (via Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports)
Grade: C
Bringing Eric Gordon back on a one-year, minimum deal gives the Philadelphia 76ers a little more depth, even with the veteran guard set to turn 37 by the end of the year.
Given the injuries to this roster last year, Gordon actually performed well as a spot starter, averaging 11.2 points and 2.3 assists while shooting 53.8 percent from three. Unfortunately, his role will primarily come off the bench, especially with the addition of No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe. In games he played as a reserve, Gordon shot just 36.3 percent overall and 29.2 percent from deep.
With a guard-heavy roster of Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes (restricted free agent), Gordon may find it tough to crack the Sixers' rotation at all if the roster is healthy.
Philly can still use his experience and veteran leadership, though. On a minimum contract, this signing is fine.
Charlotte Hornets Sign Spencer Dinwiddie
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Contract: One year (via ESPN's Shams Charania)
Grade: B
The Charlotte Hornets continue to load up on guards this offseason, which is likely a response to LaMelo Ball's lack of availability the past three years. Before signing Dinwiddie, they traded for Collin Sexton and re-sign Tre Mann to a three-year deal.
Dinwiddie gives Charlotte a veteran option at the position. The 32-year-old averaged 11.0 points and 4.4 assists in 27.0 minutes per game for the Dallas Mavericks last season, although he shot just 41.6 percent overall and 33.4 percent from three.
Assuming this is a one-year, veteran-minimum deal, this is a risk-free approach for the Hornets to help eat up minutes if Ball misses time.
Charlotte had a respectable offensive rating of 114.3 (50th percentile) when Ball was on the floor last season. However, that plummeted all the way to 102.9 (3rd percentile) in the non-Ball minutes, essentially dooming any chance this team had of being competitive.
Dinwiddie doesn't bring anywhere close to the same skill set as Ball, but he's at least capable of running an offense and rarely turned the ball over last year (1.3 per game). This is a good insurance move by the Hornets.
Dallas Mavericks Re-Sign Dante Exum
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Contract: One year (via ESPN's Shams Charania)
Grade: B+
Dante Exum returns on a veteran-minimum deal to the Dallas Mavericks after considering offers from two other contenders, according to Charania.
Exum's ball-handling became even more important to Dallas after Spencer Dinwiddie left to sign with the Charlotte Hornets just hours earlier. The Mavs will likely be without starting point guard Kyrie Irving until at least January while he recovers from a torn ACL, and they previously agreed to a deal with D'Angelo Russell at the start of free agency.
Exum will turn 30 in a few weeks and has done a nice job reinventing himself after a return to the NBA in 2023-24. A terrible shooter in his first six seasons in the league (30.5 percent from three), Exum has been one of the NBA's best with the Mavs (47.2 percent over two years).
A 6'5" guard/wing who can play and defend multiple positions, Exum should find himself in the rotation immediately to start the season, likely running backup point guard behind Russell.
There should have been a number of playoff teams interested in Exum given his versatility. Dallas was fortunate to get him back on a minimum deal.
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