Damian Lillard wasn’t a top-five pick. Tobias Harris wasn’t a lottery pick. Khris Middleton wasn’t even a first-rounder.
Their bank balances won’t know the difference soon.
Free agency opened Sunday with more than $2 billion in deals getting struck in the opening hours — and that’s even without Kyrie Irving officially joining Brooklyn, as has been expected, or any word from Kawhi Leonard about his future plans to either stay with NBA champion Toronto or move elsewhere.
Lillard agreed to a $196 million, four-year extension with Portland that will kick in for the 2021-22 season. Harris is staying in Philadelphia for $180 million over the next five years and Middleton gave Milwaukee a bit of a discount in agreeing to a $178 million, five-year deal — $12 million shy of what he could have commanded.
Even injuries couldn’t derail the spending.
Kevin Durant announced that he’s leaving Golden State and joining Brooklyn on a $164 million, four-year deal — even though he’ll miss next season with an Achilles injury and could have gotten $221 million for five years from the Warriors. And Kristaps Porzingis, who hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since Feb. 6, 2018 because of a knee injury, will sign a $158 million, five-year contract to stay with Dallas.
All deals were confirmed to The Associated Press by people with direct knowledge of the agreements, all speaking on condition of anonymity because the NBA moratorium prevents new contracts from being signed until noon Eastern time on Saturday.
“From the trade to the Sixers in February, through the regular season and playoffs and now on to free agency, this contract is a culmination of so much in my life and basketball career,” Harris wrote in an essay published on ESPN.com. “It’s also a new beginning.”
There were a lot of new beginnings Sunday.
Jimmy Butler agreed to a four-year, $142 million deal that will send him to Miami. Butler — a close friend of retired Miami guard Dwyane Wade — made clear to the Heat that he wanted to be in Miami, and over the next three hours the basic framework of a trade was worked out. Miami is sending Josh Richardson to Philadelphia and Goran Dragic to Dallas to make the Butler move happen.
Irving and Leonard remained on the market, at least technically in Irving’s case, after the initial flurry of free agency — and even with their deals still not closed, nine players agreed to contracts that will be worth $100 million or more. Lillard, Harris, Middleton, Durant, Porzingis, Butler, Kemba Walker ($141 million, four-year deal with Boston), Al Horford ($109 million, four years from Philadelphia) and Nikola Vucevic ($100 million, four years with Orlando) were the big early winners, with more likely to come.
The 76ers moved quickly to add Horford, once the parameters of the Butler trade to Miami were complete.
Point guards did particularly well, and will likely keep doing well.
Lillard, Irving (when he gets his $141 million for four years from Brooklyn, as expected) and Walker guaranteed themselves nearly a half-billion dollars. Terry Rozier left Boston for Charlotte — essentially the swap for Walker — on what will be a $58 million, three-year deal that will be completed via trade. Ricky Rubio also cashed in, getting $51 million for three years from the Phoenix Suns and restricted free agent D’Angelo Russell was believed to be a target for both Minnesota and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Meanwhile, the Leonard watch continued with no hints from his camp. The NBA Finals MVP and now two-time champion will meet with the Raptors in the coming days, Toronto coach Nick Nurse said.
Nurse didn’t say where the Raptors will be seeing Leonard, but said the NBA champs believe they “have a really good chance” to keep him.
“I think he had a tremendous year,” Nurse said at an event in Jefferson, Iowa, near his hometown. “I think it’s a great place. You guys can see our fans and ownership is great. Our front office leadership is great, his teammates. You know, everything went well for him to re-sign. And probably mostly, on top of that, would be his health. He was a guy that missed a whole season, and he had a good, healthy year and played his best basketball in the playoffs.”
In other key deals Sunday:
— Indiana is set to acquire 2017 rookie of the year Malcolm Brogdon from Milwaukee and sign the shooting guard to a four-year, $85 million deal.
— Harrison Barnes, as expected, is remaining in Sacramento on what will be a four-year, $85 million contract.
— The Pacers lost forward Bojan Bogdanovic to the Utah Jazz, which agreed to pay the forward $73.1 million over the next four years.
— New York, with Knicks fans hoping for a shot at Durant, is signing Julius Randle to a $63 million deal.
— Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose will sign a two-year, $15 million contract with the Detroit Pistons.
— San Antonio kept Rudy Gay on a two-year, $32 million deal, and added veteran forward DeMarre Carroll on a two-year, $12 million deal.
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AP Sports Writer Luke Meredith contributed to this report.
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Lillard gets $196M, 4-year extension with Portland, and NBA spending spree begins
Lillard gets $196M, 4-year extension with Portland, and NBA spending spree begins
- Kevin Durant leaving Golden State and joining Brooklyn on a $164 million, four-year deal
- Jimmy Butler agrees to a four-year, $142 million deal that will send him to Miami
Canelo, Crawford arrive in Saudi Arabia to promote the ‘Fight of the Century’
- The pair will fight in Las Vegas in September
RIYADH: Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez and Terence Crawford, two of boxing’s finest, arrived in the Saudi capital on Thursday.
The pair, who are set to fight in September, are in the Kingdom to kick off a promotional tour on Friday for the much hyped clash.
The media event will be at Bakr Al-Sheddi Theater in Boulevard City, in Riyadh.
The showdown between two of the biggest names in the sport has been billed as the “Fight of the Century,” and is being organized by Riyadh Season.
The undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez, who boasts an impressive record of 62 wins (39 by knockout), will face off against his opponent Terence Crawford, a four-division and two-weight undisputed champion, who enters the ring with a perfect record of 41 wins and no losses, including 31 knockouts.
The press conference will be the first stop of a media tour, which will include stops in New York at Fanatics Fest on Sunday, before concluding next Friday in Las Vegas — the host city for the blockbuster fight on Saturday Sept. 13.
Lionel Messi scores on free kick to lift Inter Miami over Porto
ATLANTA: Lionel Messi connected on a free kick in the 54th minute to propel Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over FC Porto in a Group A match of the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday afternoon.
After Porto struck first on Samu Aghehowa’s penalty kick in the eighth minute, Marcelo Weigandt assisted on Telasco Segovia’s game-tying goal in the 47th.
Miami found its second goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half against Porto goalkeeper Claudio Ramos as Messi scored on the 68th free-kick goal of his illustrious career.
Each team netted their first goals of the tournament after Miami tied Al Ahly 0-0 on Saturday and Porto suffered the same result against Palmeiras on Sunday.
After VAR review confirmation, it was determined that Miami’s Noah Allen committed a tripping penalty in the box against Joao Mario, leading to Aghehowa’s penalty goal that was deflected by goalkeeper Oscar Ustari and in for the game’s first goal in the eighth minute.
Aghehowa, 21, had 19 goals in 30 Primeira Liga matches for the Portuguese side this past season.
Miami knotted the score at one less than 90 seconds into the second half, as Weigandt’s cross into the center of the box was finished by Segovia, who fired in the equalizing goal past a sprawling Ramos.
Miami then continued its great start to the second half, as Porto’s Rodrigo Mora’s foul led to Messi’s successful free kick — perfectly placed in the top right corner in the 54th minute.
World No.1 Sinner shocked in Halle second round by Bublik
- Earlier world number three Alexander Zverev rallied from a set down to see off Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and advance to the quarter-finals on grass in Halle
HALLE WESTFALEN, Germany: Defending champion Jannik Sinner lost his second-round match on grass at Halle on Thursday to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, the Italian’s first tournament since his French Open final defeat.
The world number one fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to the 45th-ranked Bublik for the 23-year-old’s first defeat to a player ranked outside the top 20 since the summer of 2023.
A few days before his defeat to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the title match at the French Open, Sinner had easily dispatched Bublik in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, dropping only six games.
On Thursday, ten days before Wimbledon, Bublik claimed his second victory in six ties against Sinner.
The Kazakh will play Tomas Machac in the quarter-finals after the Czech beat Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-3 earlier in the day.
Earlier world number three Alexander Zverev rallied from a set down to see off Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and advance to the quarter-finals on grass in Halle.
The 28-year-old German won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) against the 46th-ranked Sonego and next plays another Italian, Flavio Cobolli for a place in the semifinals.
A finalist in Halle in 2016 and 2017, Zverev recorded his fifth victory in as many meetings with Sonego, a year after beating him at the same stage of the same competition.
Sonego took advantage of his only chance to break in the first set at 4-3. The German struggled throughout to break his opponent’s serve.
Zverev dug deep in the second set, leading 5-4, to win the set before dominating the tiebreak in the final set.
Argentina’s 63rd ranked Tomas Martin Etcheverry also reached the quarter-finals after a three-hour duel against fourth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6).
The Argentine saved two match points in the tiebreak of the deciding set to set up a meeting with Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
Coco Gauff loses in Berlin in first match since French Open title, turns attention to Wimbledon
- Gauff had a bye to the second round at the grass-court tournament, a warmup for Wimbledon
- “It was a tough one today but happy to be back on court,” she wrote on her social media
BERLIN: Newly crowned French Open champion Coco Gauff was stunned on her return to action Thursday, losing to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-3 at the Berlin Open.
The second-ranked Gauff, who won at Roland-Garros less than two weeks ago for her second Grand Slam title, amassed 25 unforced errors and seven double faults in her loss to Wang.
Gauff had a bye to the second round at the grass-court tournament, a warmup for Wimbledon.
“It was a tough one today but happy to be back on court,” Gauff wrote on her social media accounts. “Tried my best to adjust with the quick turnaround but it wasn’t enough. As always, I’m learning as I go so I hope to do better next time.”
The 21-year-old Gauff added that she is “excited to get some more practices in to be ready for Wimbledon,” which starts June 30. She has not made it past the fourth round at the All England Club.
Wang, ranked No. 49, said she would have been pleased just with the first set Thursday, considering the level of her opponent.
“After I won the first set, I just told myself ‘OK let’s take a minute and enjoy this, I’m playing the French Open champion, and I won the first set,’” she said in her on-court interview.
“No matter how the second and third go, I was like, ‘OK let’s just enjoy it for a second,’” said Wang, who will face Paula Badosa in the quarterfinals. “I’m really happy with how I played today. I was serving good and putting a lot of pressure on the return, especially second-serve return.”
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka finished off Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6 (6) in a match that was suspended Wednesday after one set because of a slippery court.
Sabalenka had lost to Gauff at the French Open final and later apologized to the American for making “unprofessional” comments after the Paris title match.
Sabalenka will meet 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals.
Palmeiras ease past Al Ahly in Club World Cup
- The match was suspended in the 63rd minute because of a weather warning
- Victory took Palmeiras provisionally top on four points
EAST RUTHERFORD, USA: Palmeiras drew first blood in Club World Cup Group A with a 2-0 victory over Al Ahly on Thursday in New Jersey.
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami face Porto later on in the group’s other clash after two goalless draws in the first round of fixtures.
The match was suspended in the 63rd minute because of a weather warning, with players and fans at the MetLife Stadium instructed to “take shelter” because of a nearby storm.
Palmeiras were leading by two goals at the time, with a Wessam Abou Ali own goal sending the Brazilians ahead in the 49th minute before Flaco Lopez doubled their lead on the Egyptians 10 minutes later.
Victory took Palmeiras provisionally top on four points, with the other three sides level on one point each.
It was the third match at the tournament affected by adverse weather at the tournament.
On Tuesday Mamelodi Sundowns game against Ulsan HD was suspended just before kick-off for just over an hour due to a weather alert.
Then on Wednesday RB Salzburg’ s match against Pachuca was suspended in the second half for 97 minutes because of a storm.
Palmeiras, led by talented youngster Estevao Willian, who is set to join Chelsea, played well but were held by Porto in their opening clash.
Al Ahly kept them at bay in a tight first half, in which English referee Anthony Taylor sent off Palmeiras midfielder Raphael Veiga for a foul on Ahmed Zizo, before overturning his decision following a VAR review.
Palestinian striker Abou Ali headed Anibal Moreno’s free-kick into his own net to hand Palmeiras the lead.
Lopez finished coolly for the Brazilians’ second after Mauricio played him through on goal.
After the suspension of around 45 minutes for the weather warning, Palmeiras played out the remainder of the match comfortably without risking their advantage.
South American sides have come into the tournament strongly, in good condition given they are in the middle of their domestic seasons, and have stayed unbeaten to this point.
