Chris Paul, Paul George stay with Houston Rockets and OKC

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On Sunday, right after the opening of the 2018-19 NBA free agent market, 19 deals were made involving a total number of 732 million US dollars.

Chris Paul stays in Houston for 160 million dollars for four years

Chris Paul accepts four year contract for 160 million US dollars with the Houston Rockets. /VCG Photo

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Chris Paul accepted a four-year contract worth about 160 million US dollars with the Houston Rockets. He will continue together with James Harden, to challenge the defending champion, the Golden State Warriors and strive for the NBA Final Championship in the new season.

33-year-old Paul gave up the opportunity of making a five-year deal that could bring him as much as 205 million US dollars after negotiations with the Rockets. Having finished their most important task in the off-season, Houston could focus on keeping Clint Capela and upgrading their franchise with all possible resources on hand, especially when they lost Trevor Ariza who went to the Phoenix Suns for a 15 million US dollar one-year deal.

Paul George accepts four-year contract worth 137 million US dollars from OKC

Paul George agreed to sign a four-year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunders for 137 million US dollars. /VCG Photo

Wojnarowski has also said that All-Star forward Paul George decided to sign a four-year contract of around 137 million US dollars with the Oklahoma City Thunders. George said “I’m here to stay” at a party hosted by Russell Westbrook on Saturday night, according to Slam Magazine.

According to Wojnarowski, the four-year deal includes a player option in the third year, meaning that George can choose to opt out of the contract in 2020 summer when he finished his 10th year in the league. After that, he will be able to sign a maximum salary contract that starts to pay 35 percent of the salary cap from the first year.

However, after keeping George and Jeremy Grant who accepted a three-year deal worth 27 million US dollars, the Thunders are feeling pressure on their payroll. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the team will have to pay 156 million US dollars to the current 11 players they have and 130 million for luxury tax, which could be a new record in NBA history.

Nikola Jokic agrees to five-year contract worth 148 million US dollars with Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokic #15 accepts a five-year contract worth 148 million US dollars with the Denver Nuggets. /VCG Photo

23-year-old talented Serbian center Nikola Jokic agreed to sign a five-year maximum salary contract with the Denver Nuggets, reported Wojnarowski. Such a contract shows that Denver already sees Jokic as their cornerstone player for the future.

Nicknamed “Joker”, Jokic is one of the best examples for center in the small-ball era. He can both attack the rim and shoot outside the paint area. When double-teamed, he can also create opportunities for teammates through passing, which is what he has been known for in the past two seasons. On February 15, Jokic took his fifth dripple-double of the season, in 14 minutes and 33 seconds, the fastest in NBA in 63 years.

Before Jokic, the Nuggets had already maintained Will Barton with a four-year contract worth 54 million US dollars. The two new contracts will for sure push their total salary over NBA’s luxury tax line of 123 million US dollars. As a small market, Denver already started to deal with contracts they considered unnecessary, specifically the contracts of Kenneth Faried, Wilson Chandler and Darrell Arthur.

Kevin Durant accepts another 1+1 contract with Golden State Warriors

Kevin Durant (R) agrees to another 1+1 deal with the Golden State Warriors. /VCG Photo

ESPN’s Shams Charania said that 2017-18 NBA FMVP Kevin Durant decided to accept a two-year contract worth 61.5 million US dollars with the Golden State Warriors with player option for the second year. Like he did in 2017 summer, Durant was willing to cut his pay to help his team avoid luxury tax.

The 1+1 contract will also do KD himself a favor by allowing him to enjoy the Larry Bird exception if he opts out of the contract in 2019 summer to renegotiate the deal. Durant will finish his third year in Golden State in 2019 summer when he can sign a five-year maximum salary contract of about 225 million US dollars with the team.

With KD staying, the Warriors are able to keep their core format to chase their third champion in a row, which is seen by may as the symbol of an NBA dynasty.

DeAndre Jordan reaches verbal agreement with Dallas Mavericks

DeAndre Jordan makes a verbal deal with the Dallas Mavericks again. /VCG Photo

Two-time NBA rebounding leader DeAndre Jordan made a verbal deal with the Dallas Mavericks that he will join the team on a 24 million US dollar one-year contract, reported Marc Stein of the New York Times.

Selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 35th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, Jordan built his career with the team and entered All-NBA First Team in 2016. After the 2017-18 season, he disagreed with the Clippers over new contracts and chose to opt out of the last year of his current contract to become an unrestricted free agent.

Interestingly, back in the summer of 2015, Jordan made a verbal deal with the Mavericks about signing an 80 million US dollar four-year contract with the team but turned it down later to sign a four-year contract with the Clippers for 88 million US dollars. Many Chinese basketball fans nicknamed him “Mr. Man of his word” since then. Today he made another verbal deal with Dallas. Will he keep his word?