6 deals that would start free agency with a bang

NBA free agency is here and you already know the drill: It’s about to be a hectic 48-72 hours as teams and players begin inking deals with one another.

But are the right deals being inked? The right deals aren’t even being talked about.

Here are six I’d like to see happen to jumpstart the 2021-22 season.

Balls takeover Charlotte

Let’s get ballsy. LaMelo Ball rejuvenated the Hornets franchise by winning Rookie of the Year and leading Charlotte to a play-in tournament appearance. The Hornets should triple down on LaMelo and sign both Lonzo and Liangelo Ball to contracts this offseason.

Liangelo has already been working out with the Hornets this summer and GM Mitch Kupchak said he will have an opportunity to earn a spot on the team’s summer league roster. Lonzo’s situation, obviously, is a bit more complicated.

Lonzo Ball is a restricted free agent, and a coveted one at that. He is in line for a significant pay raise, and the Hornets have the money to offer him a competitive contract in the $20 million a year range.

It’s unclear whether the Pelicans want to keep Lonzo in New Orleans. They are reportedly looking to sign Kyle Lowry as a free agent—a move that would need to be done via sign-and-trade—and they also have the right to match any offer sheet Lonzo might sign with another squad and keep him in New Orleans.

Not only would Lonzo and Liangelo Ball to the Hornets make for some ridiculously fun, high-speed basketball on the floor, but it would instantly make the Hornets Hollywood, as the Balls have their own online TV series and have been in the spotlight most of their lives.

Not to mention it gives the Hornets a chance to keep the Balls in Charlotte for their careers. How often do players get a chance to play with their relatives? It’s a win-win-win for the brothers, the franchise and the small-market city, though it would likely cost the Hornets any and all players outside of Gordon Hayward, LaMelo and Miles Bridges.

A Midwest reunion

If DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry want to make good money and compete for a championship, Chicago is the only city that offers the opportunity to do both.

A four-man unit of Lowry, DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic can compete against any Big 3 the league might assemble. Yes, including the ones in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

The Bulls have already positioned themselves to do this: Reports are surfacing of their interest in finding a sign-and-trade partner for budding, but underperforming young forward Lauri Markkanen.

Teams are permitted to acquire more than one player via sign-and-trade, but they will be hard-capped, meaning under no circumstances can their payroll exceed the apron, which will be in the ballpark of $142 million.

It will take some serious cap manipulation, but the Bulls have the young players (Markkanen, Patrick Williams, Coby White, Troy Brown Jr.) and salary fillers (Thaddeus Young, Tomas Satoransky and Al-farouq Aminu each make at least $10 million) to pull off this miracle deal.

Talk about a sleeper super team. One could form in Chicago if all parties are interested.

Kyle Lowry goes home

The only place I want to see Lowry as much as I want to see him with DeRozan in a Bulls uniform is at home in Philly alongside Joel Embiid.

The Sixers have a desperate need to add a legitimate point guard who can score outside the paint, and the Ben Simmons pairing with Embiid has not improved with a new head coach. It’s time to pull the plug and deal Simmons to the highest bidder, and the Raptors are in need of a franchise player.

The Raptors can sign-and-trade Lowry in a deal for Simmons. They can also make this a three-team deal that loops in the Warriors and sends Pascal Siakam to Golden State.

The Sixers would be hard-capped but can save money to add additional players if Lowry takes a pay cut. Instead of three years, $90 million, a three-year, $60-65 million deal would give the Sixers flexibility to round out the roster with impact players.

For reference, 33-year-old Mike Conley is expected to re-sign with the Jazz on a three-year, $60 million contract.

Damian Lillard and Kawhi Leonard to the Knicks

I mean, why not just break all of basketball in one summer?

The real question is can the Knicks pull it off?

If the Knicks traded every player not named Julius Randle in a deal for Damian Lillard, they would still have about $39 million in cap space to sign free agents. That’s just enough to sign Kawhi Leonard to a deal close to his max, creating a legitimate Big 3 in Manhattan to take on the Goliath in Brooklyn.

The Knicks would then only have their mid-level exception and minimum contracts to sign players in free agency. Players will take a pay cut to play on a contender in New York City, and better players will become available on the mid-season buyout market.

Walker to the Knicks on a contract buyout

Home is where the heart is, and if no place else is going to give The Bronx’s own Kemba Walker his flowers, New York should.

Not if those flowers cost $73 million, though. The Knicks would be foolish to take on that much salary over the next two seasons.

The market has been cold for Walker, and teams appear to echo that line of thinking. It would behoove the Knicks to monitor Walker’s status on the buyout market. Injuries sliced his mobility but he’s still a perennial All-Star point guard capable of both running and generating offense for himself and his teammates.

That’s what the Knicks need more than anything right now. A competent point guard, preferably one who’s a star. Though, obviously, Lillard is priority No. 1.

Dinwiddie gets the Bag

The question has never been whether Spencer Dinwiddie deserves the money he’s seeking. The question has only been whether it would be wise for the Nets to pay that money.

In my opinion, it wouldn’t: Not with James Harden and Kyrie Irving eating the majority of the minutes in the back court already. And as I wrote earlier, $100 million is one costly insurance policy.

That doesn’t mean Dinwiddie shouldn’t get the bag, and the Nets can ensure he gets it in a sign-and-trade. They need a backup point guard, a starting caliber big man and reliable three-and-D wings and forwards to build out their championship-hopeful roster.

A deal with the Wizards could net the Nets any variation of Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Thomas Bryant, though it’s unclear how available the latter two are versus the first two.

A sign-and-trade with Dallas for Dorian Finney-Smith and Trey Burke also makes sense given the Mavericks’ interest in Dinwiddie.