Here’s the thing about the NBA offseason: So many deals happen in such a short burst of time that, inevitably, some of them slip through the cracks. That’s particularly true when a few blockbusters and/or jaw-droppers command the majority of our attention during the league’s brief but dense transaction season in late June and early July.

As a result, we can overlook some impactful deals and underrated signings that may not yield immediate blockbusters but have significant long-term impacts.

The emphasis today is on “underrated,” so I’m going to glide right past the obvious stuff that everyone lauded at the time. However, that still leaves some fertile ground to cover. Looking at my list from last year, two key moves — Golden State’s Klay Thompson sign-and-trade and Houston’s pick switcheroo with Brooklyn as a sidebar to the Mikal Bridges trade — both ended up being massive for the 2024-25 season, because they were necessary precursors to the Warriors getting Jimmy Butler and the Rockets getting Kevin Durant.

Let’s take a look at some of my favorite underrated moves from the offseason, and we can look back in a year and see how they aged.

Bulls’ re-signing Josh Giddey

I’m about to upset some people. While I’m generally not a fan of much of what’s happened in Chicago lately, the Bulls’ four-year, $100 million contract with Josh Giddey is completely fine and sets up as a likely long-term win for the Bulls. I’m amazed more people don’t think this. It won’t get a draft pick back for Alex Caruso, but given Chicago’s situation, it was the right move.

While Giddey has some apparent weaknesses that become particularly magnified at the highest playoff levels (not that the Bulls need to worry about that), he’s also 22 years old and coming off his best season as a pro, particularly the second half of it. He even shot 37.8 percent from 3 last season (no, really!). Sure, Giddey wasn’t going to help the Oklahoma City Thunder when they already had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, but people act as if he sucks and he can’t get better from here. Both counts are just dead wrong.

So, no, this isn’t Patrick Williams redux (thank goodness). While it’s true the Bulls had most of the leverage because Giddey was a restricted free agent in a market with no buyers, he also had the strongest résumé of any of the four key RFAs whose situations dragged (Giddey, Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga, Philadelphia’s Quentin Grimes and Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas).

More importantly, Chicago’s endgame was completely different from that of the Sixers and Warriors: The Bulls didn’t need to squeeze Giddey on his 2025-26 salary because of a luxury-tax or apron crunch. Instead, the correct endgame was securing his name on a long-term deal at a reasonable price and hopefully generating massive surplus value in his age 25 and 26 seasons.

The Bulls seem to have done that; $25 million a year may seem like a lot, but this deal doesn’t require Giddey to be a superstar or even close to one. It’s an average of 14 percent of the projected salary cap. Thus, if he tops out as something like “sixth man on a good team” or “decent team’s third-best player,” this contract is still a win. Giddey’s deal would make him the sixth-highest paid player on the 2026-27 Cleveland Cavaliers or the fifth-highest paid on this year’s Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks or Minnesota Timberwolves.

The most significant criticism I can offer is not of the contract itself, but the fact that Giddey’s peculiar weaknesses do somewhat constrain team-building options if Chicago aspires to someday finish above ninth place. You need rim protectors who can cover for him and a role in which he’s mainly on the ball. The latter will happen by default until the Bulls find somebody better; the former does not appear to be in the cards for this season.

My BORD$ formula values Giddey at $31.6 million for the 2025-26 season, with his prime seasons not expected to arrive until the end of the contract. Maybe last season was his peak level, and even if he never reaches that again, he is still young enough to get considerably better with solid value.

Spurs’ signing of Luke Kornet

This one kind of flew under the radar because it occurred in the opening flurry of free-agent deals. Still, the Spurs’ landing of Kornet with the bulk of their non-taxpayer midlevel exception (four years, $41 million) was a strong piece of business. On straight valuation, San Antonio didn’t get a huge bargain (BORD$ values Kornet at $12.7 million for this season; he’ll make $11 million), but the details of the contract and the fit in San Antonio both line up strongly in the Spurs’ favor.

For starters, San Antonio wisely targeted a player it knew wouldn’t be retained by his original team (the Boston Celtics were in cost-cutting mode). Kornet also fit the Spurs’ need for a banger to play behind — and occasionally alongside — Victor Wembanyama absolutely perfectly. Process-wise, it’s a 180-degree turn from the Zach Collins Extension Fever Dream.

Kornet isn’t breaking the bank in the present, but the real gem of the deal is all the future flexibility it allows. For starters, the money descends year-to-year over the four-year deal to $9.35 million over the final season in 2028-29. Thus, as the rest of the young Spurs roster likely becomes more expensive, Kornet becomes less so. Second, the final two years are only partially guaranteed at $2.55 million apiece (with the final year also including a team option). Hence, the Spurs’ worst-case scenario beyond this season is an exposure of just $13 million.

Having those outs on the back end of the contract is essential because Kornet is already 30; too many teams erroneously give extra years to rotation players just as they age into being replacement-level or worse. The Spurs have insulated themselves from the worst case of a long-term deal while still having a long-term contract. Finally, Kornet is unlikely to become shorter than 7 feet 2 in the next four years, which should help him maintain value.

Regardless of where he’s being paid, Kornet doesn’t need to provide starter-level value; he has to be a plus rotation player, which he’s already proved he can do. Solid work all around.

Nets’ Michael Porter Jr. trade

This is precisely how you’re supposed to do it when you have more cap space than talent — turn that space into some truly juicy asset, not just a random late first- or second-round pick. Taking on Terance Mann with three years and $47 million left on his deal to get a pick in the 20s when you already had four others? Meh. Getting an unprotected 2032 first-rounder from the Denver Nuggets to turn Cam Johnson into Michael Porter? Beautiful.

Michael Porter Jr. fires a 3 against Luka Dončić and the Lakers. (Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)

That Denver pick will take a while to deliver benefits, but the upside is undeniable. A lot of water can go under the bridge in seven years, but by 2032, Nikola Jokić will be 37. The Nuggets are likely to be at a low ebb after hemorrhaging draft picks to stay competitive in Joker’s prime while avoiding or minimizing their luxury-tax payments.

The expected value on this pick is high, and here’s the other key: It doesn’t require the Nets to wait until 2032. That pick is also a very valuable trade piece if the Nets want to make their own chips-in move at some point between now and then.

Essentially, that draft pick cost them $35 million: the difference in salary between Porter and Johnson, two similarly skilled players who are both signed for the next two seasons. That’s a screaming bargain to obtain an unprotected pick on a team that is likely to be rebuilding. Given that the Nets had to use their cap room on something to meet the league’s salary floor, you can argue that the actual cost was substantially less.

At 27, Porter is also two years younger, and while his health track record is concerning, he’s played more than Johnson each of the last three seasons.

Heat’s Norman Powell trade

How exactly did the Heat pull this off? Miami turned Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love into a starting-caliber player in Powell, one who played at a near All-Star level a year ago with the LA Clippers, and it didn’t even need to give up a draft pick to do it.

Sure, the deal added $7 million in salary and, in a roundabout way, forced a salary dump trade that I’m much less fond of. However, stick with the big picture: The swap turned a bench player (Anderson) and an end-of-bench player (the current version of Love) into a dynamic scoring threat for last year’s 21st-ranked offense.

Powell’s salary of $20.5 million underpays him for his current production level, even if he’s a lock to miss some time with injuries; his 60-65 games will be a massive upgrade on what Miami got from Terry Rozier and Alec Burks a year ago.

That his deal is expiring could be a feature, not a bug, depending on whether Miami becomes aggressive in the February trade market. However, Powell is also eligible for an extension. Regardless of whether he’s a keeper or a rental, Miami won big.

Thunder’s deal for Jaylin Williams

Nobody had anything notable to say about this. Still, Oklahoma City quietly made a solid deal by declining Williams’ cheapo $2 million option for this season and re-upping him for three years and $25 million instead, with a team option for 2027-28.

This won’t have a seismic impact on the league, but it was a good deal. Given that the Thunder have two max extensions kicking in a year from now, adding to Williams’ 2025-26 salary wasn’t essential or consequential; the key piece was protecting their frontcourt flank.

By locking up a third rotation-caliber center — as well as a locker room leader — Oklahoma City limits its vulnerability to an injury to Chet Holmgren or the potential free agency of Isaiah Hartenstein. The contract looks especially valuable now that rookie first-round pick Thomas Sorber will miss the entire season after recently tearing his ACL.

Oklahoma City’s pristine tax and apron situation will deteriorate sharply a year from now, and it may result in the Thunder declining a $28.5 million option on Hartenstein or making other cuts. The Thunder are currently $44 million over the projected 2026-27 luxury tax, which would result in a staggering $200 million tax payment to the league. That number could go higher if Jalen Williams — no relation — makes an All-NBA team in 2025-26 and his contract becomes a supermax.

So, back to Jaylin Williams. The Thunder front-loaded his deal with $8.4 million in 2025-26 money before dropping his salary back down to $7.7 million in the two seasons that matter, 2026-27 and 2027-28. No club has done a better job of preserving its future flexibility: Ten of the 15 players on the roster have team options on the final years of their deals.

(Top photo of Josh Giddey: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)