The present and the long term! The Rockets and Nuggets become the winner of Day1. The Lakers are standing still and waiting for the era without Zhan?

At 6:00 this morning, the 2025 NBA free market officially opened.

Nuggets sent Porter Jr. to the Nets in the unprotected first round in 2032, in exchange for Cameron Johnson. The deal doesn't seem shocking, but it means a lot to the Denver Nuggets.

What everyone should pay most attention to is the salary difference between Porter Jr. (79.14 million in 2 years) and Cameron Johnson (43.04 million in 2 years). Porter Jr.’s salary will be 38.33 million and 40.81 million in the next two years. In contrast, Cameron Johnson’s salary will be 20.54 million and 22.5 million in the next two years. Especially in the 2026-27 season, Porter Jr.’s salary will almost double that of Cameron Johnson!

This deal helped the Nuggets save $40 million, create a transaction exception of 16.8 million, and also reduce the team's total salary to about 9.2 million under the luxury tax line. At the same time, the Nuggets can also use the full middle-class special list worth 14.1 million to sign and strengthen, and they will wake up laughing when they ask for help from teachers.

The salary explosion has always been the lifelong goal of the Nuggets after winning the championship in 2023. The team was forced to let Jeff Green, Bruce Brown and Pope go one after another. Before trading Porter Jr., the total salary of the four major starters Jokic, Murray, Gordon and Porter Jr. next season has reached an astonishing $162 million. If Porter Jr. is not traded, the Nuggets will still repeat the tragedy of seven players being eliminated in the past two years.

Potter Jr. averaged only 7.4 points per game with injury in the second round, and averaged only 25.0% of the three-point shooting percentage per game. In five games, they scored in single digits, nearly 40 million yuan in the next two years, with obvious high salary and low energy, and a serious premium to the contract. Not only did Cameron Johnson have better defense than Porter Jr., but he averaged 39.0% of three-point shooting percentage (2.8/7.2) last season, he can be a full-time fixed-point shooter around his teacher, and he is also more cost-effective than Porter Jr.

The Nuggets dismantled the four King Kongs, unpacked their salary, and signed Bruce Brown back, and took off on the spot. After all, their seven-player rotation was still tied with this year's championship Thunder while Porter Jr. and Gordon were injured. They are still potential champion competitors that cannot be ignored in the new season.

As of now, Rockets general manager Stone is basically the MVP of the free market this year.

3D forward Finney Smith jumped out of the player option of $15.38 million in the last year, joined the Rockets in 4 years, and the player option of the last year.

This signing not only lit a fire in the Lakers' backyard, but also essentially upgraded the Jaylen Green + Dillon transaction to Durant + electric fan. Jaylen Green→Durant, Dillon→Electric Fan, Rockets aimed directly at the division finals.

The Rockets also welcomed the "Bai King" Capela by signing first and then changing. Although the instruction manual is in the Clippers, the size and thickness of Shin Kyung + Bai King + Adams are obvious to all. The three centers are enough to fight against some specific types of opponents such as the Mavericks and the Nuggets.

The Rockets' signing Capela has laid the groundwork for the future. They can even use Shin Kyung + Shepard + Whitmore + a large number of draft picks to quote another superstar!

Rockets general manager Stone signed 12 contracts in half a month to create an almost perfect championship lineup. This is by no means a whim. Renewing the contract with Uduka + top defense is the basic set of the Rockets' championship competition in the new season.

Before Uduka coached the Rockets, the Rockets ranked 29th in defense efficiency; after Uduka took office, he ranked 9th in the league in 2023-24 and 4th in the league this season, which is the foundation of the Rockets' rise.

Amen, Ethan, Aquaman and Smith represent the rockets' defense. Stone gave Smith a five-year, $122 million in advance, a three-year, 39 million in renewal of the contract, and then introduced Durant and electric fans. The defensive framework has been established.

Van Vreeter's performance in the playoffs averaged 18.7 points + 43.5% three-point shooting percentage is definitely a key player for the Rockets to fight the Warriors for seven games when Jaylen Green is poor. The original 44.88 million team option is indeed high. The newly signed two-year, 50 million contract has a significant salary cut. His organization and projection ability are perfectly adapted to Durant.

The Rockets renewed Tate, Jeff Green and Aaron Holiday in their one-year contract, ensuring the depth of rotation. Now the Rockets have created a 14-man roster on the first day of the free market. The three towers in the inside + the strongest forward group in the league (Durant + Amen + Ethan + Smith + electric fan) are truly aimed at the championship! The free market is very lively. The Lakers signed Laravia for only 12 million in two years as a replacement for electric fans. I believe everyone is confused about the same thing. Why does Pelinka not do anything?

The Lakers' free market conditions are still harsh in the beginning of this year: James is 52.63 million, Doncic is 46 million, Hachimura is 18.26 million, Reeves is 13.94 million, Vincent is 11.5 million, Kleber is 11.0 million, and Van Debiao is 11.57 million. Currently, the total salary of seven contracts of ten million has reached 164.9 million, and the salary cap is 154.6 million next season - after losing the electric fan, the Lakers only have full middle class and biennial special cases available. Once one of them is used, the Lakers will trigger the first rich line, which fundamentally determines Pelinka's purchasing power and competitiveness in the free market.

In other words, the biggest hope for the Lakers to strengthen comes from trading rather than naked signing in the free market. Considering that the three contracts of Doncic, James and Reeves cannot be easily moved, Vincent, Kleber, Van Debiao and Hachimura can be used for trading, but they must take advantage of the future first round of signing.

40-year-old James still wants to compete for the championship, while the Lakers management is more inclined to ensure the flexibility of future salary space and completely build a team around Doncic.

Lao Zhan (52.63 million), Hachimura Hira (18.26 million), Vincent (11.5 million), and Kleber (11 million) all carried the last year expiration contracts, with a total salary of 93.39 million for the four, which means that Lakers Xia can release a lot of salary space..

The James team is also evaluating whether the Lakers' lineup has the ability to win the championship. Once the lineup cannot satisfy James, there is a possibility that James will apply for a deal to leave the Lakers.

This is also the cleverness of James in executing player options. If he does not execute the player options and becomes a free agent, he can sign him naked. He is basically weak teams. Reducing salary to join a championship team will harm his own economic interests. Only by executing the 52.63 million player options can apply for a transaction not only guarantee economic benefits but also join the team he likes.

The Lakers currently have 7 contracts of over 10 million restrict their competitiveness in the free market, and the Lakers have also replaced their new boss. As a professional manager, Pelinka, without obtaining a clear order, the Lakers' lineup will obviously not undergo fundamental changes. The only life-saving straw is undoubtedly signing Aiton who has survived the clarification period.

For the Lakers, the super giants are backed by the big city of Los Angeles, and they make money when operating normally. Who cares if James wants to win another championship? Obviously, we will not sacrifice future salary space and draft picks.

Essentially, there is an irreconcilable contradiction between James' personal needs for winning the championship and the Lakers' current team building policy. On the one hand, the 40-year-old veteran is going to compete for the championship, but it occupies 52.63 million in salary space; on the other hand, the Lakers rebuild the salary space for the 26-year-old Doncic and protect the future.

Think from the perspective of others, from Pelinka's perspective: the boss, the team building policy, the 40-year-old comrade, and the 26-year-old future cornerstone must be taken care of. I will sign a 23-year-old Laravia first. Is there nothing big wrong with it?