NBA free agency 2026: Early winners and losers, including LeBron James, the Celtics and unpredictable star guards

We are approaching 48 hours into 2026 NBA free agency, and a lot has happened.

Kawhi Leonard is a Toronto Raptor again. LeBron James is no longer a Los Angeles Laker. Giannis Antetokounmpo is on the Miami Heat. Jaylen Brown is no longer a Boston Celtic.

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Should we go on? LaMelo Ball is a Minnesota Timberwolf. Ja Morant is a Portland Trail Blazer. The Lakers spent $70 million in salary cap space, much of it on Walker Kessler.

Our heads are spinning. We can imagine how you feel. So, we’ve sorted it all out for you in our annual look at the early winners and losers of free agency, starting in Los Angeles …

(Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

WINNER: Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and narratives

Shoutout, storybook endings.

The Los Angeles Clippers traded seven-time All-Star, two-time Defensive Player of the Year and future Hall of Fame forward Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for two-time All-Star Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and a collection of draft picks. It marks a reunion between the 2019 Finals MVP and the franchise he led to the championship that season.

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The Raptors needed go-to scoring and leaned into the guy who averaged 30.5 points (on 49/38/88 shooting splits), 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 39.1 minutes a game throughout four rounds of the 2019 playoffs. Granted, we’re seven years and several iterations of the Raptors removed from that era, but Leonard remains one heck of a basketball player, and Toronto again has constructed a team around him to compete (especially on defense).

It is Leonard’s health we worry about, especially after everything his right leg has been through, especially at the age of 35 and especially for the cost of $50 million annually.

But Leonard, when on the court, is one of the league’s most terrifying two-way players, capable of completely taking over games on both ends of the floor, and he gives them a shot that Ingram did not. That’s worth the cost. It’s worth the risk. And it’s worth the story.

As for narratives, does it get better than LeBron James choosing “complete happiness” over the Los Angeles Lakers? The 41-year-old surely could have secured…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-free-agency-2026-early-winners-and-losers-including-lebron-james-the-celtics-and-unpredictable-star-guards-182704098.html

Author : Ben Rohrbach

Publish date : 2026-07-02 18:27:00

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