NBA free agency 2024 predictions and live updates: Donovan Mitchell commits to Cavaliers, Lakers news, grades and rumors

The Golden State Warriors are in serious talks on a sign-and-trade deal to acquire Buddy Hield, league sources told The Athletic.

The Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers have been in deep discussions, and are working to finalize the deal for one of the NBA's best three-point shooters.

Hield, 31, averaged 12.2 points in 32 regular-season games with the Sixers, shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from 3.

Draymond Green shared multiple revealing quotes on his podcast Tuesday, saying he nearly signed with the Memphis Grizzlies last year.

"Last year, during free agency, I called Klay (Thompson), and I called Steph (Curry). Separate calls. And Steve (Kerr). And I was just telling them, like, 'Yo, I'm leaving. I'm going to Memphis,'" Green said on "The Draymond Green Show."

Green returned to the Golden State Warriors on a four-year, $100 million deal. He said on his show, "Obviously, we got it figured out. Shout to the Lacobs and Mike Dunleavy, his first free agency."

Green additionally discussed Thompson's departure and the recent trade talks between the Warriors and Paul George, who is joining the Philadelphia 76ers on a four-year, $212 million max contract, league sources said Monday.

"Paul George was gonna come to the Warriors. ... The Clippers didn’t really want to play ball," Green said. "Didn’t want to help him get to where he wanted to go, so in turn, they get nothing back."

The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the Clippers have an interest in free agent forward Miles Bridges, and The Athletic can confirm via team and league sources that both sides are exploring a move.

While the player is interested in joining the Clippers, per those sources, it does not appear likely at this time that a transaction is imminent.

Bridges averaged 21 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in 69 games with the Hornets last season. He missed the first 10 games of the season serving a suspension after being arrested in June 2022 and pleading no contest to a felony domestic violence charge that November. He received three years of probation but no jail time as part of a deal with prosecutors.

The NBA issued the suspension in April 2023. Twenty games of the suspension were considered served in the 2022-23 season, meaning Bridges — a restricted free agent at the time of the incident who was not signed in 2022-23 — had 10 games remaining on the suspension to start this past season.

I wrote about about the mechanics of a Jonathan Isaac renegotiate-and-extend with Orlando in today's piece. It appears the Magic tacked on $10 million to his 2024-25 salary with their cap room, declined him by the maximum 40 percent to $16.44 million for next year, and then had the maximum 8 perent declines in the out years to take him down to $12.9 million by 2028-29. The total would be $85.3 million, of which $67.9 million is new money.

Orlando then used the remainder of its cap room to re-sign Mo Wagner on a two-year, $22 million deal. The Magic still have their room exception remaining and one open roster spot.

We haven’t heard much from the Kings or New Orleans yet — outside of the Dejounte Murray trade — but I expect both teams to be active in the trade market.

I mentioned other apron teams earlier in this piece, but you can see how Milwaukee and Miami have their hands tied too. Each has been limited to minor deals (Delon Wright, Kevin Love) thus far.

The center market was thin, but I don’t really get Utah paying Drew Eubanks $10 million over two years. The Jazz haven't played their cap space cards yet.

Less than three months after the Cavaliers traded for Donovan Mitchell, I began hearing rumors swirling around his future.

He doesn't want to be in Cleveland. He wants to be in New York. This isn't going to last. The Cavs will eventually have to trade him.

Powerful agents, executives from other teams, and even players around the league whom I spoke to all agreed. The idea of Mitchell remaining in Cleveland long-term just didn’t seem feasible to anyone who actually worked in the league.

That's what makes Tuesday such a significant milestone for the Cavs and the city of Cleveland. The trade for Mitchell may have been the single-biggest gamble in the history of the franchise. His signature on a three-year, $150 million extension this week made it all pay off.

Read the rest of my story here.

Charlotte's new front office rolled into free agency relatively quietly, but picking up Josh Green was a good move at the margins. It appears the Hornets will do it with cap space, likely by waiving Dāvis Bertāns, and then take Reggie Jackson into their room exception. The Hornets still can be a player with cap room depending on what happens with Miles Bridges.

I'm worried Toronto overcommitted on contracts for Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, especially the latter. The two will combine to make over $70 million next year; are they good enough to drive a top-15 offense? Toronto is already essentially capped out for next year, so I'm not sure how much help is coming.

Indiana’s four-year $60 million deal for Obi Toppin was perfect, just fitting into its financial structure to stay below the tax once Jalen Smith left. At some point, Indiana will have to make some hard decisions with its younger players and contracts, but the Pacers are set to run it back in 2024-25.

I like Chicago going younger even if I don't love all the individual contracts. Five years of Patrick Williams at $90 million seems like a bit much, I'm not sure Jalen Smith can play backup five every night, and the Bulls should have wrested a draft pick from the Thunder in the Alex Caruso trade. But the Bulls having a direction instead of chasing 39 victories again is a giant win.

Xavier Tillman Sr. has agreed to a two-year, fully guaranteed minimum contract with the Celtics, league sources told The Athletic. Boston has now re-signed all three of its free agent centers as it prepares for Kristaps Porziņģis to miss extended time recovering from ankle surgery. Boston re-signed Luke Kornet to open free agency and Neemias Queta to a multi-year deal, in addition to locking in max extensions with Jayson Tatum and Derrick White.

The Celtics traded two second-round picks to Memphis for Tillman back at the trade deadline, anticipating that they would be unable to sign rotation-caliber bigs this summer because the second apron limits them to just the minimum exception. The 38-year-old Al Horford is entering the final year of his contract, so Tillman, who turns 26 this upcoming season, could serve as a long-term replacement should Horford retire next summer. Tillman averaged four points and 2.7 rebounds in 20 regular season games after being traded to Boston but played limited minutes during the championship run.

San Antonio’s addition of Chris Paul might seem a bit odd, given that the Spurs are rebuilding and Paul is 39 years old. Even given the team's need at point guard, other targets were available, and San Antonio had the money to chase them — most notably Tyus Jones, brother of incumbent point guard Tre Jones.

However, there may be something here beyond the long-term lovefest between Gregg Popovich and CP3. By signing Paul to a one-year deal, San Antonio gives itself the chance to profit from his contract twice. Paul will be an expiring deal come February, at which time Spurs could either aggregate it if they wanted to use their cache of future picks to hunt for a big star or sell off less dramatically for a second-round pick or two if he’s playing well and the Spurs are out of the hunt.

It's perhaps not the most dramatic thing the Spurs could have done, and their offseason still feels incomplete pending other moves. But Paul was possibly the best player they could have brought in at that position, the money is reasonable and the contract is highly portable.