The NBA’s balance of power is shifting.
The Houston Rockets added former MVP Kevin Durant to a young core. The Boston Celtics dismantled a recent champion. The Milwaukee Bucks sliced into their future, waiving Damian Lillard and signing Myles Turner, to satisfy their present.
These moves were on the radar.
The Atlanta Hawks’ adding to a competitive roster earned them praise. They swiped Kristaps Porziņģis from the Celtics and somehow snagged an unprotected 2026 first-round pick from the New Orleans Pelicans to move down just 10 slots in the draft.
But the Hawks’ decisions, all the way down to their one-year contract with Luke Kennard, are on the radar.
The Orlando Magic flipped four unprotected first-round picks for Desmond Bane, an acquisition that adds much-needed shooting and facilitating to a team with hopes of a deep playoff run. They re-upped former No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero on a max contract.
These, too, are on the radar.
Yet, some seemingly smaller transactions have stayed out of the public eye. With the juiciest parts of the NBA offseason behind us, here are five under-the-radar moves that deserve more attention:
Oklahoma City’s extensions
In an age when teams often hand out all they can in extensions for high-level former first-round picks, the Thunder went in the other direction.
The defending champs are loaded with talented players who are yet to become expensive. But once salaries for Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren blow up, once the money for reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander grows even larger, once other up-and-comers like Cason Wallace command contracts commensurate with their production, every extra dollar will matter.
The Thunder are thinking ahead.
They inked Gilgeous-Alexander to the largest contract they could this summer but stopped short in rookie-scale extensions for Williams and Holmgren. Either of those players could have demanded everything — not just the 25 percent max for which they were eligible, but also the “Rose Rule” provision, which states that they would become eligible for the 30 percent max if they made All-NBA, won MVP or won Defensive Player of the Year in 2025-26.
For example, the Magic could not avoid this with Banchero, who re-upped on a five-year extension that projects to be worth $239 million and ends in a player option. As of now, Banchero’s starting salary would be 25 percent of the cap. However, it could increase to 30 percent, making the deal worth $287 million over five years, if Banchero were to garner any of those accolades during the upcoming season.
Compare that to the Holmgren and Williams deals.
Holmgren’s is a straight 25 percent max: $239 million over five years with no player option.
Williams’ included slight escalators, though not all the Thunder could give. As of now, he’s set to earn the 25 percent max. If he makes Third Team All-NBA next season, as he did this past year, it bumps to 26 percent (upping the deal to $249 million over five years). If he makes Second Team, it increases to 27 percent ($258 million). If he makes First Team, wins MVP or gets Defensive Player of the Year, then he jumps to the full 30 percent ($287 million).
Of course, the Thunder would be thrilled to pay Williams an extra $48 million if he became one of the league’s five best players.
Otherwise, they protected themselves from situations that have hurt other teams, ones when an All-Star-caliber performer but not lead guy slides onto the last spot of All-NBA and ends up hampering his team with a contract that’s too large for it to stomach.
Oklahoma City is set for the future in every other way — with players and draft picks. Now, it’s handing out its most important contracts responsibly, too.
The Duncan Robinson signing
It took no more than six seconds for Detroit Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham to form a connection with his former sharpshooter, Malik Beasley. From the onset of last season, Cunningham would swerve around pick-and-rolls only to notice the bench scorer open in the opposite corner. The point guard would fling a cross-court pass to Beasley’s chest, and Beasley would nail a 3-pointer.
He hit more than 300 long balls, a career high, in 2024-25 — in part because he got hot and never cooled off, and in part because of the man who fed him.
Cunningham has become one of the NBA’s best at creating stand-still 3s for his teammates. Robinson is about to experience this firsthand.
The Pistons lost three veterans who were essential to last season’s surprise success: Beasley, Dennis Schröder and Tim Hardaway Jr. Robinson, along with Caris LeVert and a healthy Jaden Ivey, will help replace them.
The contract, which will pay him $16.8 million in 2025-26 but is guaranteed for only $2 million the following season and is non-guaranteed in the third year, gives Detroit flexibility. The Pistons did well on the margins this summer. Even losing Schröder to the Sacramento Kings gained them an asset, creating a large trade exception after Detroit turned the move into a sign-and-trade.
The Pistons will play various lineups with at least two non-shooters, which turns Robinson’s jumper into an integral new piece — and will put his potential chemistry with Cunningham or Ivey under the spotlight.
Cunningham tossed 12.1 passes that led to 3-pointers per game last season, fifth in the NBA, according to Second Spectrum. Beasley, meanwhile, took nine catch-and-shoot 3s per 36 minutes. Someone will absorb that volume.
Ivey will likely step in as a co-facilitator next to Cunningham and a lead ballhandler of the second unit. LeVert does more of his work off the bounce. Robinson, a 42 percent shooter from the corners, is the leading candidate to fill the spot-up void.
The Norman Powell coup
Part of Powell’s trade to the Miami Heat plastered itself on the radar. The LA Clippers parted with him to make room for Bradley Beal, who the Suns agreed to buy out this week, paving the way for Beal to head to Southern California. The deal swapped out a scoring guard for a position of need, an underrated power forward in John Collins, who will fit well with the Clippers.
But the Miami portion of the trade is worth examining, too.
Powell’s production dipped after the return of Kawhi Leonard this past season, but had he been eligible for the award, he could have emerged as the Most Improved Player favorite. He scrambled around off-ball screens more than ever, curling around pindowns to open up 3-pointers and create momentum downhill.
The Heat traded for Norman Powell, who had his best season last year, for two little-used veterans. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Meanwhile, the Heat just landed him for less valuable veterans — Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love — and zero draft picks.
Powell’s future is a question mark. His contract expires after this season, and considering he averaged an efficient 21.8 points in 2024-25, he could require a raise, a damning proposition in today’s NBA economy. But the Heat noticed a trend in acquiring him: Scoring guards aren’t going for much on the open market.
Just look at the aforementioned Pistons. Last summer, Beasley received only $6 million for one year. Hardaway was instant offense in Detroit this past season but signed with the Denver Nuggets this summer for the minimum. Miami recognized Powell was available and capitalized. It may have lost Robinson this summer but it also added shooting — not just with Powell but also with Simone Fontecchio, who it received in the Robinson sign-and-trade.
Indiana Pacers trade for Jay Huff
The Pacers’ center spot is a mess after Turner departed in free agency. The organization has high hopes for Isaiah Jackson, who it re-signed to a three-year deal, but Jackson remains inexperienced and is coming off an Achilles tear. A team that’s only a month removed from an NBA Finals run is now without two of its most important players for the upcoming season: injured All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton and Turner.
A dry free-agent class provided no worthwhile replacements for the two-way center who bolted for a four-year contract with the Bucks. The Pacers had to get creative.
Enter former Memphis Grizzlies backup Jay Huff, for whom Indiana traded a 2029 second-round pick and 2031 second-round swap.
Huff journeyed between the ends of NBA benches and the G League over his first few professional seasons. He finally found a home in 2024-25, though he vacillated in and out of the Grizzlies’ rotation. But when he played, he showed he may deserve more time.
In some ways, Huff is like Turner, whose skill set is even more notable than his skill level.
Turner offers scheme versatility on defense, can protect the rim and can shoot 3-pointers well enough that opponents can’t leave him open beyond the arc. He’s one of the rare non-All-Stars who fits that description.
Huff’s mannerisms resemble nothing of Turner’s. His resume is a long way off. But he blocks shots, carves out space on the boards and can blast teams from long range.
He drained more than 40 percent of his 3s last season. He’s not a tremendous individual rebounder, but he uses his 7-foot-1 frame similarly to how Turner uses his more nimble one. Turner doesn’t corral rebounds himself often but he will block opponents out, allowing teammates to scamper in and recover missed shots.
The Grizzlies mastered that technique last season, specifically with their two mammoth centers, Zach Edey and Huff. They finished first and second, respectively, in the league in successful boxout rate, according to Second Spectrum.
Huff won’t match Turner’s production or even his minutes, but he can provide relief for a team in desperate need of a big man. The Pacers risked little to acquire him. He has three more cheap seasons on his contract. And if he hits as a capable rotation player, he’ll be one of the better value adds of the summer.
The Washington Wizards’ quest for cap space
The Wizards are stacking tiny, little positives on top of one another: A Cam Whitmore acquisition here, a Malaki Branham addition there. Washington is adding on the margins — though its biggest move of the summer was the subtraction of two players.
In what eventually morphed into a three-team trade, the Wizards sent Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the 40th pick in this year’s NBA Draft, Micah Peavy, to the New Orleans Pelicans for CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and the Chicago Bulls’ 2027 second-round pick.
The move wasn’t about the players. It was about the money.
McCollum and Olynyk, who the Wizards later flipped to the San Antonio Spurs for Branham, Blake Wesley and a second-round pick, are on expiring contracts. Meanwhile, Poole and Bey combine to make $40.5 million in 2026-27. That means with one move, the Wizards shed approximately 25 percent of next season’s projected salary cap from their roster. They did so by removing one player (Poole) who makes more than his market value and another (Bey) who hasn’t played in an NBA game since March 2024.
Getting off of undesirable money in today’s marketplace, where teams worry about tax payments and aprons galore, is not normally this smooth.
The Wizards are creating flexibility at every angle. They have mastered trade exceptions (TPEs). They looped the Whitmore trade into the New Orleans one, which allowed them to maintain an extra TPE. When they dealt Olynyk to the Spurs, they didn’t just acquire a couple of former first-rounders still in their early 20s, guys who seem to have flamed out in San Antonio but are worth a try on a rebuilding squad. They also slid Branham into a previous trade exception and Wesley into the biannual exception to create another, significantly larger trade exception worth $13.4 million.
If a team needs to dump money during the season, the Wizards will be one of its first calls.
Washington projects to enter next summer with more than $100 million in cap room. And no, that doesn’t mean the Wizards, who are bound for the bottom of the standings once again in 2025-26, will hunt for stars. But it means the team now has malleability it hasn’t had in a decade.
It has three respected veterans — McCollum, Marcus Smart and Khris Middleton — on bulky, expiring contracts. If the Wizards want to use their 2026 cap space before the summer, they can exchange any to all of those three for players on multi-year deals, receiving sweeteners, such as draft picks or young players, as a thank you.
If they take that strategy, chances are they will receive a better piece than the 40th pick in return.
(Top photo: Jesse Johnson / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)