This is developing into a season of change in the NBA.<\/p>\n
The tanking teams from last season are pivoting to full competition. Some talent has migrated to the East, and that appears to have changed the balance of power that was previously tilted to the West. And there\u2019s expansion on the horizon, and that could spur realignment.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s another trend from this summer and fall involving star players that seems to have and league executives and agents taking note.<\/p>\n
What star player contract trend is standing out?<\/p>\n
Brian Windhorst: There were three significant instances of star players wanting a contract extension this summer and the team played hardball, a departure from recent practice.<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> said on the record that he wanted to extend his contract and was willing to accept less than a max deal. The New York Knicks<\/a> drew a line in the sand, put out a statement ending negotiations and went into the season with Towns unsettled and unhappy. He holds a $61 million player option for 2027-28 but can decline it and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.<\/p>\n Anthony Davis<\/a> was interested in extending his contract with the Washington Wizards<\/a> and, similar to Towns, has the ability to opt out for unrestricted free agency next summer. Agent Rich Paul let it be known that Davis was willing to negotiate a number below his max. But the Wizards tabled discussions, ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania reported, and wanted to see the results of the first 20 to 30 games of the season. Davis then announced he\u2019d wait until after the season. (The Wizards did give a new $212 million contract to Trae Young<\/a>, but after he\u2019d opted out and become a free agent).<\/p>\n Jalen Duren<\/a>, coming off an All-Star and All-NBA season, had a summer of discontent with the Detroit Pistons<\/a> before agreeing to a new deal on the eve of training camp. It\u2019s a $200 million contract, but $87 million less than his max. Duren has said there are no hard feelings, but it was a brutal negotiation.<\/p>\n \u201cA year or two ago, I don\u2019t think you\u2019d have seen that. The teams would\u2019ve felt too much pressure,\u201d an Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. \u201cBeing unhappy is not a negotiating position anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim MacMahon: Well, the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> and Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> sure worked hard over the summer to make sure their superstars are happy.<\/p>\n The Lakers went all in to acquire Walker Kessler<\/a> in a sign-and-trade — sending two first-round picks and two swaps to the Utah Jazz<\/a> for the rights to give him a four-year, $130 million deal — primarily because they promised Luka Doncic<\/a> that they would deliver him the rim-running, rim-protecting big man he desired. The Lakers have a lot of built-in advantages in terms of retaining superstars, but they are clearly prioritizing keeping Doncic content.<\/p>\n Minnesota also made a major roster overhaul in large part to please Anthony Edwards<\/a>, whom some rival executives had previously identified as a potential target. Edwards wanted to play his natural shooting guard position and was invigorated by the idea of pairing with LaMelo Ball<\/a>. The Timberwolves made it happen.<\/p>\n The next step for the Lakers and Timberwolves will be parlaying their superstars\u2019 happiness into signatures on contract extensions next summer, preferably after deep playoff runs.<\/p>\n Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u2019s unhappiness eventually resulted in his departure from the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>, even if he managed to avoid publicly demanding a trade.<\/p>\n \u201cHe actually did them a favor,\u201d said a Western Conference general manager, who was adamant that unhappiness is still a strong negotiating tactic for top-tier stars. \u201cHe gave them a list of five teams. He could have given them only one.\u201d<\/p>\n Windhorst: It\u2019s definitely not a universal position, and we\u2019ll see if the trend continues. It probably will hinge, to some extent, on how the Towns and Davis situations ultimately play out. The league is especially watching Davis, who is saying all the right things for now, and put up 34 points and 12 rebounds in the Wizards\u2019 season-opening win over the Bucks<\/p>\n \u201cI know the fans are tired of hearing about the aprons, but this is just another example of how they are changing the league,\u201d another West GM said. \u201cThe aprons give the owners a reason to take a harder line. Before, it was just about money.\u201d<\/p>\n What are league insiders saying about the Thunder\u2019s future?<\/p>\n Windhorst: Speaking of the second apron and who doesn\u2019t love it, the Thunder made a significant investment this week, signing Cason Wallace<\/a> to a $139 million contract extension. The move wasn\u2019t surprising because the Thunder don\u2019t let players get to restricted free agency; they either extend their contract or trade them.<\/p>\n You might have heard about how expensive the Thunder\u2019s roster could become next season, but you likely haven\u2019t heard the true depth of it. The Thunder are currently looking at about a $250 million payroll and about $200 million in projected luxury tax, a $450 million overall total.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t include the three first-round picks the Thunder own for the 2027 draft, including the LA Clippers\u2019 pick. If you use ESPN\u2019s preseason NBA Power Rankings as a guide, you could project the Thunder to have three picks next June — Nos. 4 (Clippers), 23 (Nuggets) and 29 (Spurs). For the sake of demonstration, let\u2019s say it falls that way. OKC has team options on Nikola Topic<\/a>, Thomas Sorber<\/a> and Jaylin Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Thunder won\u2019t keep all the picks and the players; otherwise, they\u2019d exceed the roster cap. They are facing a roughly $500 million payroll in 2027-28, including tax, following the draft.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will not be paying that much, so it comes down to who and how they cut some of it,\u201d a rival executive said. \u201cSam [Presti] I\u2019m sure has studied it at length and will develop two or three paths out and will look for the cleanest option over the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n League executives are watching whether the Thunder pick up options on Topic and Sorber for next season by the Nov. 2 deadline. Both players have dealt with health issues and are set to earn a combined $12 million next season, and that will cost Oklahoma City more than $60 million in added tax. Not picking up one or both could be level-setting as the Thunder manage this challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all have our problems,\u201d an Eastern Conference executive said. \u201cWe\u2019d all love to have theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n MacMahon: Oklahoma City media members packed the room for Presti\u2019s annual preseason availability, but Thunder governor Clay Bennett might have been the intended audience for significant portions of the session.<\/p>\n Presti has been clear that the savings made over the summer will allow the Thunder to spend at the level required to maintain a championship contender during the window of back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>\u2019s prime.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, the ghost in the machine is the finances, not so much the aprons,\u201d Presti said.<\/p>\n In other words, it\u2019s a matter of how big of a luxury tax check Bennett is willing to sign. The same holds true for Knicks governor James Dolan, although he said during a WFAN radio appearance shortly after New York\u2019s championship celebration that going into the second apron would be \u201csuicidal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe aprons are intended so if you are a high-spending team, you\u2019re not in a position to add more talent,\u201d Presti said last month. \u201cThey\u2019re not designed to tell a team that may feel in any market that they have a very unique moment in their organizational history to pursue excellence, to say, hey, we might be here for 50 years, maybe more; this five years in the luxury tax may be something we want to be aggressive about because we don\u2019t know how many more teams like this we\u2019re going to have in said market, wherever that is. This could be anywhere.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, the choice is there for the teams to make an educated decision about what they want to pursue or what their tolerance level is for different things.\u201d<\/p>\n As a GM from another playoff team put it: \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with going into the second apron for a year or two, if you\u2019re good enough. In fact, you probably should. The repeater [tax] is actually the bigger impediment.\u201d<\/p>\n What are league insiders talking about after the first few nights?<\/p>\n MacMahon: There\u2019s a bright spotlight on the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> because they made two of the splashiest moves of the summer, trading for Jaylen Brown<\/a> and signing LeBron James<\/a>. But Joel Embiid<\/a>, the longest-tenured player on the Philadelphia roster, might be the biggest wild card.<\/p>\n There are two main reasons for that: availability and fit, given that the Sixers no longer revolve around the big man.<\/p>\n So far, Embiid\u2019s actions are encouraging. He clearly committed to improving his conditioning over the summer, reporting to training camp as slim as he has been since early in his career. That increases his odds of staying healthy and keeping up in a star-studded starting lineup that features four of the league\u2019s best fast-break finishers.<\/p>\n Embiid has emphasized his desire to return to All-Defensive form and was active and impactful on that end of the floor in the season-opening win over the defending champion Knicks, who targeted him in last season\u2019s playoff sweep. Embiid didn\u2019t shoot the ball well, but he excelled as a facilitator out of the short roll. Nevertheless, it isn\u2019t difficult to find skeptics about how Embiid will handle often being the third or fourth offensive option.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a problem, and that could railroad them,\u201d a rival scout said. \u201cI just don\u2019t buy it right now. He\u2019s going to want the ball more. He\u2019s going to get pissed. He\u2019s going to stop playing defense. He\u2019s going to stop running.\u201d<\/p>\n Windhorst: Just about every team in the East has the potential to be polarizing, and the Miami Heat<\/a> are definitely on that list. Scouts are watching how the system coach Erik Spoelstra adopted last season from consultant Noah LaRoche, one that minimizes or eliminates pick-and-rolls in a rejection of an NBA standard, works with Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n The idea is to create space and let Antetokounmpo playmake by getting downhill surrounded by shooting. In the opener, he got 12 baskets in the paint, and that\u2019s great production. But the Heat were a brutal 8-of-33 on 3-pointers and were lit up by Edwards and Ball.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of variance for them depending on if their shooters are hitting,\u201d one East scout said. \u201cThey have guys who can make 3s and guys who can defend, but they don\u2019t have guys who can reliably do both.\u201d<\/p>\n MacMahon: The Boston Celtics<\/a>\u2019 hopes of remaining a contender this season rely heavily on Jayson Tatum<\/a>\u2019s return to the elite ranks in his first full season back from his Achilles tear. Off-shooting games happen, so his 6-of-23 outing in the season-opening loss to the Pistons isn\u2019t alarming. The more concerning stat: one free throw attempt.<\/p>\n \u201cI do wonder if he\u2019s the same guy,\u201d a scout who attended Tuesday\u2019s game said. \u201cDoes he have the same burst and explosion? I\u2019m not going to overreact to one game, but if the free throw numbers are down in December, that\u2019s an indication that he\u2019s not back to being himself coming off that Achilles. It\u2019s a telltale sign when guys are shooting jumpers instead of getting to the rim like they used to.\u201d<\/p>\n