Best and worst fits from BBNBA free agency

The first day or two of free agency is always a raucous mess. Woj and Shams break deals by the second as the whirlwind of new deals seemingly hits all at once. Several former Kentucky Wildcats have either found new homes or put pen to paper to extend their time with their current team. Here are the three best fits and two not-so-good fits from the free agent ‘Cats thus far. 

Best Fits

Malik Monk – Los Angeles Lakers

Per a Woj Bomb on the opening night of free agency, Malik Monk has found a new home in Los Angeles next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Free agent G Malik Monk has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2021

He joins Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Kendrick Nunn, and Trevor Ariza, among several others as part of the Lakers 2021 signing class. It’s a big class, but a reload was necessary with Los Angeles losing most of its rotation outside of their Big Two.

While Melo and Westbrook are the bigger names, Monk provides relief where this squad desperately needs it: the three-point line. After shooting over 40% on volume in 2021, Charlotte decided to draft his replacement instead of investing further capital on Monk. Can’t totally blame them. Monk was never remotely efficient prior to 2021 and has had some off-the-court scuffles.

Either way, the Purple and Gold are willing to take a chance on Monk — and I’ll bet it pays off. So long as Monk stays on the court (between suspensions and some nagging injuries), he’ll have unlimited open three-point attempts.

Since this is a one-year deal, Monk again has the chance to earn himself some real money. He showed enough to get a second deal in year four, but what if he wants to show a little bit more of himself in a one-year prove-it deal with a title contender? Seemed to work out for Bobby Portis a year ago.

If Monk turns in another electric year from beyond the arc he could be in for a much heftier third contract heading into 2022-23.

Julius Randle – New York Knicks

Julius Randle is coming off the year of his life (so far), and what better way to celebrate a career year than by signing a deal that pays more than the annual GDP of Nauru (a small Oceanian country).

Randle re-upped with the Knickerbockers for a cool $117 million over four years. Add in the year he still has left on his current deal that will pay him about $23 million, and Randle is projected to receive roughly $140 million over the next five years.

If he plays as he did throughout last season, that number is more than worth it.

For Randle, the money is a huge plus (duh), but I’m also glad he’s settled into New York. It was a city in need of sanctuary on the basketball court, or maybe just a mid-level star. Randle stepped in with the franchise’s best season since Carmelo Anthony departed and helped drag a fairly un-talented NYK squad to the playoffs. And the Garden went bananas. Imagine if Julius led them to…I don’t know…a playoff series victory?

The big fella is beloved in the big apple. With the investment New York made on Randle and some of the other returners in addition to some of the outside pieces they’ve added — such as Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier — the Knicks are set up to use last season as a launching pad into a run of NBA Playoff appearances. So long as they don’t suck.

It’s a much-improved roster built around the same evolving star in Randle. Exciting times at the Garden.

Nerlens Noel – New York Knicks

Like Randle, New York saw what it liked from its year with Noel and decided to invest a portion of their future in the former Wildcat big. Noel was handed a 3-year, $32 million contract that, as Kyle Tucker noted, would almost double his total earnings thus far in the NBA.

Noel was more of an afterthought in the crowded Knicks frontcourt at the beginning of last season. An injury to young starting center Mitchell Robinson brought Noel into the fold, where he put up Defensive Player of the Year level metrics as the primary center throughout the rest of the season.

Noel’s tenacity as a shot-blocker and general defensive acumen around the basket made him a perfect fit in a bruising Knicks lineup as he filled in as a big that did all the dirty work and made life hell in the paint.

Whether he or Robinson gets the nod as the primary center is up in the air, but investing 10 big ones per year in a guy who plays exactly the same as your other young big is odd, but things will work themselves out I’m sure.

Worst Fits

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Oklahoma City Thunder Thunder

$172 million is never a bad fit with anyone’s wallet. That’s how much money the Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to pay SGA for the next five years following this upcoming season.

Great for Shai to go and get his huge payday after just turning 23. I just would have hoped for a better location.

I get it. Being that Oklahoma City is his current team, they are the only ones that can offer a five-year max with THAT much money and do so a year prior to his free agency. Other teams would have had to wait until next summer and could only give him a four-year deal. Essentially, OKC is able to offer so much more money that Alexander would be a financial fool to say no.

Still, Oklahoma City stinks. As a city? Probably. As a basketball franchise? Oh absolutely.

This front office refuses to draft players from this side of the Atlantic Ocean and is more obsessed with acquiring draft picks than established young stars who produce offense at an All-Star caliber.

Less than a week before they offered Gilgeous-Alexander the max, OKC was quoted in discussions to trade him for the no. 1 pick a day or two prior to the NBA Draft and then again for the no. 3 pick on the day of.

OKC was trying to ditch SGA for a younger, sexier prospect but struck out and decided “Ah! Fooey! We’ll just sign the 23-year-old future All-Star instead.”

Good decision, but I’m dubious whether the contract is a genuine investment in SGA as a franchise guy or is it a deal to lock down a future asset that they’ll be able to trade for 140 cents on the dollar in a deal that lands them another boatload of future first-round picks.

Not sure what SGA’s future as a player is, but we know he’ll be a very rich man in any location.

Trey Lyles – Detroit Pistons

The term “Detroit” just doesn’t fit my image of Trey Lyles. To be completely upfront, does anybody have a clue what’s happened to Lyles since he left UK? He’s bumped around a few NBA rosters and had a strange situation in San Antonio that led to him sitting the entire second half of this past season. He has to be the least memorable ‘Cat from the 2015 team, right? Everybody else had at least a little more story to them.

Either way, Lyles heads to Detroit, where he’ll likely play for yet another losing team as a reserve forward. Not sure if Lyles can revive his career with the P’s, but he should have a decent opportunity.

I’m just not sure Trey Lyles and his “calm as a church mouse” approach will be much welcomed in Detroit. I would much rather see a team take a chance on Lyles as someone who can be molded into a stretch four.