The NBA offseason has officially begun. Now that the New York Knicks have defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals, teams are making moves ahead of the draft (Tuesday and Wednesday on ABC/ESPN/ESPN app).
There should be more contract extensions soon, as June 30 is the last day for a player in the final year of his contract to extend that deal. June 30 is also the first day teams can negotiate with free agents outside of their franchise. In other words: That's when you should expect the free agency frenzy to begin.
I'm grading every free agency signing and the most impactful extensions this offseason, breaking down the ramifications for all teams and players involved.
To determine each grade, I'm looking at multiple factors, including the player's on-court impact and age, the contract's financial implications, and the context of the team's short- and long-term outlooks. How risky or certain is the move? And how much does it help or hurt the team's chance to win the championship, next season or beyond?
Let's get into the latest moves:
Quick links:
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Depth charts | Offseason guides | Draft
June 21: CJ McCollum returning to Hawks on one-year deal
Terms: One year, $21 million
Grade: A
McCollum played an unexpectedly important role in Atlanta last season, as the Hawks surged after the All-Star break. And in retrospect, he might have been the most valuable player in the playoffs because he accomplished something that nobody else in the entire NBA could: With game-winning buckets in the final minute of consecutive games, he managed to beat the Knicks multiple times this postseason.
That wasn't the expectation when McCollum came to Atlanta in the Trae Young trade, where he was seemingly included primarily to help match Young's salary. Any on-court contributions would have been a bonus.
But McCollum meshed well with Atlanta's untraditional positional alignment. The Hawks' five-man lineup of McCollum, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu had a plus-21.4 net rating, per Cleaning the Glass, which ranked second among all lineups with at least 500 possessions. In a larger sample, the trio of McCollum, Alexander-Walker and Johnson -- the veteran guard alongside the Hawks' two best players -- had a plus-14.5 net rating, per NBA Advanced Stats.
Next season, the Hawks will continue using those effective lineups, and McCollum's ability to play both on- and off-ball -- which he has successfully balanced throughout his entire career, starting when he was Damian Lillard's sidekick with the Portland Trail Blazers -- makes him an asset in Atlanta. He can run the offense himself, take a backseat to Johnson (the Hawks' assist leader after Young's departure) and help mentor a young point guard, if Atlanta goes that route with the No. 8 pick in this week's draft.
And while McCollum is well past his peak and will be 35 years old at the start of next season, his extension qualifies for one of my favorite sports aphorisms: There's almost no such thing as a bad one-year deal.
After making $30.7 million last season, McCollum's salary will drop to $21 million in 2026-27. That number maintains the Hawks' offseason flexibility, as ESPN's Bobby Marks wrote in his offseason guide that "Atlanta is in as good a financial shape as any playoff team." And it includes almost no downside, because the Hawks aren't committing to pay McCollum into his late 30s, when his gradual (thus far) decline should grow more pronounced.
June 20 & 21: Suns agree to deals to bring back two guards
G Collin Gillespie
Terms: Four years, $48 million
Grade: A-
G Jordan Goodwin
Terms: Three years, $19 million
Grade: B+
When I ranked the most underrated free agents of this class, Gillespie topped the list. He enjoyed a breakout 2025-26 season, averaging 12.7 points per game and sinking 40% of his 3-pointers. His 46% mark on catch-and-shoot 3s ranked third among 121 players with at least 200 attempts (behind Luke Kennard and Jamal Murray). And he rates well by advanced stats.
For Gillespie, who went undrafted out of college and played three consecutive seasons on a two-way deal before 2025-26, a $48 million pact represents life-changing money.
For Phoenix, Gillespie fills a much-needed role as a ball handler next to Devin Booker, who led the Suns with 6.0 assists per game but isn't the sort of playmaker who should dominate the ball on every possession. A four-year deal will cover the rest of Gillespie's prime (he celebrates his 27th birthday this week) and tie him to Phoenix at a fair price.
Goodwin is also a 27-year-old point guard, but he's a much more unorthodox player for the position than Gillespie: He's not a remarkable scorer or creator (though his improved 3-point percentage, up to 37% last season, is notable), but he's a strong defender and -- most remarkably -- an incredible offensive rebounder.
One of the most incredible statistics of last season is that the 6-foot-3 Goodwin ranked 15th among qualified players with a 9.4% offensive rebounding rate. All 14 players ahead of him were centers.
In a vacuum, the Suns did well to re-sign both Gillespie and Goodwin for reasonable rates.
The potential complication is how these deals affect the rest of the Suns' offseason plans, with starting center Mark Williams also due for a new contract as he enters restricted free agency. They entered the offseason just $18 million shy of the luxury tax line and $26 million shy of the first apron.
And although the Suns greatly exceeded expectations last regular season, winning 45 games with a feel-good group and landing the West's No. 8 seed, they were uncompetitive in a first-round sweep against Oklahoma City and don't have any clear pathways to greater contention. Is Phoenix content to run it back while also accepting the penalties that come with exceeding the luxury tax and first apron?