Rumors are the currency of NBA summers, but swift moves by many major franchises have given special bite to 2015’s bark. DeAndre Jordan leaving Chris Paul and the Clippers for Dallas is probably the biggest move in the league, except that it might not even be the biggest move in Texas: the Spurs signed LaMarcus Aldridge. There are still high-profile free agents on the move, too, as contenders try to sure up their forces for what’s going to be another wide-open race in 2015-16.
For the pure basketball fan, there’s the unhappy case that much of the dealing is about salary caps and expiring deals — as much MBA as NBA. (Some fans dig this part, but…) World famous guard Jeremy Lin, a strong scorer and global sensation, will likely be a real help to Dallas or wherever he ends up. And word is Joe Johnson, an all-star and great player, could be taking the scoring burden off LeBron James in Cleveland… But Johnson is enormously expensive: he’d make more than LeBron pulling down $24,894,863 next season. He can put it with the $23,180,790 he made last year, averaging 14 points a game in Brooklyn. Only Kobe Bryant will make more this season.
