NBA free agency 2025: The 7 best contracts of the summer, including a gem of a deal for the Lakers

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We brought you the NBA offseason’s seven worst contracts, and we know you could not possibly feel complete without the summer’s seven best contracts. Never fear, my friends. Here, we complete you.

Kudos to general managers for once again not doling out dozens of overpriced deals in free agency. Of course, it helps that only one team, the Brooklyn Nets, entered July with significant salary cap space, and they were more interested in accumulating other teams’ bad money in exchange for more draft capital.

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Instead, NBA executives mostly had mid-level exceptions and minimum contracts to address their needs, and that served them well in the open market, where a number of them were able to identify some gems.

THE 2025 OFFSEASON’S 7 BEST CONTRACTS

1. Dorian Finney-Smith, Houston Rockets ($13.2M AAV)

• Contract: 4 years, $52.7 million ($26 million guaranteed)

• Percentage of the 2025-26 salary cap: 8.21%

• 2024-25 (63 games): 8.7 PTS (45/41/67), 3.9 REB, 1.4 AST

The Rockets took a big swing at the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, trading Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and a handful of draft picks for Kevin Durant, going all in on their quest to win the Western Conference. Durant’s scoring represents a massive upgrade from Green, but the trade did leave a whole on the wing, where Brooks served as a high-level defender who could knock down shots in open space.

So, the Rockets targeted Finney-Smith, one of the best available 3-and-D role players on the market. He joins Amen Thompson and Tari Eason for what should be a ferocious defensive wing rotation.

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In the process, Houston hindered the Los Angeles Lakers, a conference rival, who dealt D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks for Finney-Smith in December. The Lakers must have made that move with the intention of re-signing Finney-Smith, whose history with Luka Dončić dates back to their days on the Dallas Mavericks. But the Rockets made a more compelling offer: A shot to win a title.

The Lakers reportedly would not offer Finney-Smith a contract longer than two years, and in the end that is what the Rockets got him for, as neither of the final two years of Finney-Smith’s deal is guaranteed.

2. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta Hawks ($15.2M AAV)

• Contract: 4 years, $60.7 million (player option in 2028-29)

• Percentage of the 2025-26 salary cap: 9.8%

• 2024-25 (82 games): 9.4 PTS (44/38/78), 3.2 REB, 2.7 AST

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The other top 3-and-D role player on the market, Alexander-Walker, secured even more guaranteed money from the Hawks, who will add him to a wing rotation that includes rising star Jalen Johnson, Most Improved Player Dyson Daniels and 2024 No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher.

Alexander-Walker, a cousin of Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, was a throw-in to a three-team February 2023 trade between the Lakers, Timberwolves and Utah Jazz. In Minnesota, he quietly built his value as a reliable reserve for a team that made consecutive Western Conference finals appearances.

The Hawks are hoping to do the same in the East, building around four-time All-Star point guard Trae Young and newly acquired center Kristaps Porzingis. In between the defensively questionable Young and the oft-injured Porzingis, it is wise to stack as many two-way wings as possible, and NAW is one of them.

3. Guerschon Yabusele, New York Knicks ($5.6M AAV)

• Contract: 2 years, $11.3 million (player option in 2026-27)

• Percentage of the 2025-26 salary cap: 3.56%

• 2024-25 (70 games): 11 PTS (50/38/73), 5.6 REB, 2.1 AST

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Once a first-round pick for the Boston Celtics in 2016, Yabusele required years of seasoning overseas to reestablish himself as an NBA contributor. Following an impressive performance in the 2024 Olympics, the Philadelphia 76ers gave Yabusele his chance at redemption, and the Frenchman seized it.

Playing for a terrible Sixers team, Yabusele had plenty of opportunities to showcase his capabilities as a shooter and switchable defender, especially in the frontcourt, where he can play some small-ball center.

He should extend the rotation for the Knicks, who reached the Eastern Conference finals with only Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson — and no one on the wings in between — to capably come off the bench. New York also smartly added Jordan Clarkson’s scoring to its reserve unit on a veteran’s minimum deal.

4. Deandre Ayton, Los Angeles Lakers ($8.1M AAV)

• Contract: 2 years, $16.2 million (player option in 2026-27)

• Percentage of the 2025-26 salary cap: 5.24%

• 2024-25 (40 games): 14.4 PTS (57/19/67), 10.2 REB, 1.6 AST

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The Lakers entered this offseason in desperate need of a center, as last season’s post-Dončić-trade attempts to force Jaxson Hayes into a starting role failed miserably in the first round of the playoffs. And for at least a week of free agency it appeared the Lakers might strike out entirely in that regard.

They avoided disaster, coming to terms with Ayton, who negotiated a buyout from the Portland Trail Blazers to become available. The Lakers could have done a lot worse than a 26-year-old former No. 1 overall draft pick who has averaged a double-double in each of his first seven seasons in the NBA.

I get that the Blazers paid him $25.6 million not to play for them this season. I get that he has underwhelmed as a recent No. 1 overall pick, often demonstrating a lack of commitment to his team. But if he can recommit to the brand of basketball that made him an invaluable member of the Phoenix Suns’ 2021 NBA Finals run — protecting the rim, running in transition, finishing around the basket and setting hard screens in the pick-and-roll for the Lakers’ three best players — he should easily exceed his value.

5. Ty Jerome, Memphis Grizzlies ($9.2M AAV)

• Contract: 3 years, $27.7 million (player option in 2027-28)

• Percentage of the 2025-26 salary cap: 5.68%

• 2024-25 (74 games): 12.5 PTS (52/44/87), 2.5 REB, 3.4 AST

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Ty Jerome was a serious Sixth Man of the Year candidate last season, coming off the bench to control the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offense in the absence of All-Star guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. He performed that duty better than most anyone ever expected. After all, the Cavs were a 64-win team.

Cleveland underwhelmed in the playoffs, and Jerome was no small part of that. His defensive limitations became more obvious, and his shot abandoned him against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, where Jerome made just 30% of his field-goal attempts (including 25% of his 3-point attempts).

But as a backup to Ja Morant in Memphis, he is perfectly suited. Morant is not always healthy, and the Grizzlies are at their best when they can play a capable backup point guard for their All-NBA superstar.

6. Bruce Brown Jr., Denver Nuggets ($3.1M AAV)

• Contract: 1 year, $3.1 million

• Percentage of the 2025-26 salary cap: 1.48%

• 2024-25 (74 games): 8.3 PTS (42/33/82), 4 REB, 2 AST

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Brown was a beloved member of the 2023 NBA champion Nuggets, serving as a two-way dynamo off the bench. His cutting especially meshed well with Denver superstar Nikola Jokić’s passing prowess.

Brown left the Nuggets for the Pacers, accepting a two-year, $45 million deal that Denver could not match. It has been a winding road for Brown ever since, as he dealt with injuries and a trade to the Toronto Raptors in the meantime. Despite some struggles, there is still the belief that the 28-year-old Brown could rediscover what made him so impactful on the Nuggets, and on a minimum deal no less.

7. Gary Trent Jr., Milwaukee Bucks ($3.8M AAV)

• Contract: 2 years, $7.6 million

• Percentage of the 2025-26 salary cap: 2.39%

• 2024-25 (74 games): 11.1 PTS (43/42/85), 2.3 REB, 1.2 AST

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The Bucks gave Trent a modest raise to retain the services of one of the NBA’s more undervalued wings. Trent is not the greatest defender, but he gives great effort, and he shot a career-high 42% from distance this past season — pretty important stuff when you play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Trent is a guy who has averaged as many as 18.3 points per game, and he made as much as $18.6 million in the 2023-24 campaign. He could not find any big-money offers last summer, when few teams held salary cap space, so he opted to rebuild his value in Milwaukee, where he submitted one of his better seasons, even twice dropping more than 30 points in a pair of first-round playoff games against Indiana.

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The money still was not there for Trent this summer, so the Bucks scored him at a bargain … again. He may be the best example of how role players are being squeezed under the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, as high-priced superstars eat up much of the cap, leaving scraps for anyone else.

This news was originally published on this post .

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