Breaking down latest free-agent deals: Cavs have bargain in LeBron
— -- Welcome, officially, to NBA free agency. Where is everybody? While Thursday was the first day players could sign with teams, nearly all the best players on the market have already been locked up. That includes the top free agent available, who wasn't really available, and the most prominent player ever to change his mind during the league's moratorium period. There have been plenty of other signings over the past two days. Let's take a look at what they mean.
Player movement | Free-agent tracker | Elhassan: FA Big Board 
LeBron James
Team: Cleveland Cavaliers (re-signed)
Contract: Two years, $47 million
What it means: LeBron James is the best player in the NBA. At minimum, based strictly on on-court value he's worth nearly double his maximum $23 million salary for next season. (My estimates peg his fair salary at about $44 million.) He was never leaving Cleveland this summer, and signing a one-year deal with a player option for 2016-17 allows him to hit the market again and make nearly $30 million.
What's next: The two remaining free agents from my top 35 projections at the start of free agency are both Cavaliers: J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson. Adding Mo Williams and having Brendan Haywood's non-guaranteed contract to use in a trade gives Cleveland some alternatives should Smith's contract demands become unreasonable. It's unlikely anyone else will sign Thompson to an offer sheet at this point, meaning the threat of signing the qualifying offer and becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer is his only real leverage.
DeAndre Jordan
Team: Los Angeles Clippers (re-signed)
Contract: Four years, $88 million
What it means: I wrote at length Wednesday night about the implications for the Clippers of Jordan changing his mind and re-signing with the team after originally committing to join the Dallas Mavericks.
What's next: The Clippers' attention now turns to dealing with their reserve free agents. They can pay Austin Rivers up to $3.1 million, the amount of the fourth-year option on his contract that the New Orleans Pelicans declined before sending him to the Clippers. L.A. has early Bird rights on Glen Davis and Hedo Turkoglu, both of whom should be back.
Enes Kanter
Team: Portland Trail Blazers (offer sheet)
Contract: Four years, $70 million
What it means: The Blazers surprised the league by using some of their enormous stockpile of cap space to make Kanter the first restricted free agent to get an offer sheet, giving him a four-year max deal. It's hard to see how Kanter would fit the Blazers, who have already added three young big men ( Ed Davis, Mason Plumlee and Noah Vonleh) to holdover Meyers Leonard. And it's hard to argue that Kanter is a good value regardless of fit. In large part because of his poor defense, which makes him a below-replacement player by ESPN's real plus-minus, I project him as worth just $21 million over the next three years. So the best outcome for Portland is probably the Oklahoma City Thunder matching this contract.
What's next: The Thunder have until Sunday to make their decision, and it may not be a difficult one. GM Sam Presti told The Oklahoman the team has planned to match any offer, and nothing has changed. But maxing out Kanter will be costly, since this deal would push Oklahoma City well into the luxury tax. By my estimate, the Thunder would pay $23.7 million in tax this season if the roster remains as is. Oklahoma City would have the opportunity to cut that bill by moving players such as Perry Jones and Steve Novak.
Mirza Teletovic
Team: Phoenix Suns
Contract: One year, $5.5 million
Sonny Weems
Team: Suns
Contract: Two years, $5.8 million
Ronnie Price
Team: Suns
Contract: One year, $1.5 million
What it means: The Suns spent the past 48 hours rebuilding the depth they lost clearing cap space to sign Tyson Chandler and make a run at LaMarcus Aldridge. The big score is Teletovic, whom Phoenix signed shortly after the Brooklyn Nets withdrew his qualifying offer. Perhaps the best remaining big man on the market, Teletovic can give the Suns the floor spacing from the power forward spot that now-departed Marcus Morris provided. Weems returns to the NBA after four seasons starring in Europe, the past three for Russian power CSKA Moscow. While he was an effective secondary playmaker, Weems' 2-point percentages were unspectacular, and the translation from Euroleague to the NBA takes a big chunk out of them. And at 29, Weems is on the wrong side of the aging curve, so he might struggle to beat out Phoenix's young guards for minutes. Price offers a veteran presence at the point and was surprisingly good last season for the Lakers.
What's next: Before they officially re-sign point guard Brandon Knight, the Suns could still spend about $5 million and then use the room exception on Weems. With the rotation getting relatively crowded and 13 players under guaranteed contract, along with non-guaranteed guard Jerel McNeal, Phoenix may let that opportunity pass.
Jeremy Lin
Team: Charlotte Hornets
Contract: Two years, $4.3 million
What it means: As perhaps the best point guard left on the market, it's stunning Lin couldn't do better than Charlotte's bi-annual exception. But the Dallas Mavericks' interest may have dried up when they realized they weren't getting Jordan -- Lin signed quickly thereafter -- and the Hornets got him at a great price. Lin doesn't seem like an ideal fit in Charlotte. Since he's most effective with the ball in his hands, Lin may not be able to play extended minutes next to starter Kemba Walker. He'll work better with a second unit built around Lin pick-and-pops with Frank Kaminsky and Spencer Hawes.
What's next: By using their bi-annual exception to sign Lin, the Hornets retained their non-taxpayer mid-level exception. After a busy summer, the biggest need for Charlotte is probably a defensive-minded big man off the bench to supplement offensive-minded Hawes and Kaminsky.
Justin Holiday
Team: Atlanta Hawks
Contract: Two years, TBD
What it means: Having lost DeMarre Carroll to a four-year, $60 million offer from the Toronto Raptors, the Hawks needed to go out and find the equivalent of Carroll two years ago. Holiday makes some sense in that mold. The lanky Holiday isn't as big as Carroll, but he's a willing defender with long arms who can guard either wing position. Like Carroll pre-Atlanta, Holiday hasn't yet proven he can fill the "3" part of the "3-and-D" equation. He shot just 32.1 percent from beyond the arc last season in Golden State and posted a sub-.500 true shooting percentage. Still, for the money the Hawks weren't likely to do much better, and with a little development as a shooter Holiday could be a bargain.
What's next: If Atlanta is using the room exception to sign 2014 second-round pick Walter Tavares, the Hawks' roster -- now at 14 players -- is just about complete. Things get a little more complex if Atlanta wants to use cap space to sign Tavares for more than two years, which would require the Hawks to trade a reserve to make room.
Drew Gooden
Team: Washington Wizards
Contract: One year, $3.3 million?
What it means: A year removed from playing for the veteran's minimum and less than two removed from being out of the league entirely, Gooden parlayed his strong postseason run into a nice raise. While this deal has been reported as a one-year contract for $3.3 million by David Aldridge, former Nets executive Bobby Marks notes on Twitter that can't technically be true. The Wizards must use Gooden's early Bird rights to re-sign him for more than the minimum salary, and early Bird contracts must be for at least two years, so Gooden likely has a non-guaranteed second season on the deal.
What's next: With 15 players under guaranteed contract, Washington's roster is complete. The remaining order of business for the Wizards' front office is broaching a possible contract extension with shooting guard Bradley Beal, which wouldn't have to be completed until Halloween.
Luis Scola
Team: Toronto Raptors
Contract: One year, $3 million
What it means: The Raptors replaced one former Pacers power forward ( Tyler Hansbrough) with another. On a one-year deal, Scola is a good value. He'll particularly help Toronto on the defensive glass, a weakness last season, and can provide more ability to stretch the floor than Hansbrough. Scola is also a better small-ball center option because he can protect the rim adequately in that role.
What's next: The Raptors still have a sliver of cap space ($2.3 million) available before signing Bismack Biyombo, using the room exception. Toronto could use that to sign second-round pick Norman Powell to a contract of longer than two years and still have some left over to add a 15th player to the roster.
Wayne Ellington
Team: Brooklyn Nets
Contract: Two years, $3 million
Willie Reed
Team: Brooklyn Nets
Contract: One year, $0.8 million
What it means: The Nets have been filling out their bench on the cheap, a process that continued with two more additions Thursday. Ellington got $1.5 million, essentially splitting the taxpayer mid-level exception with previous signing Shane Larkin. That's a great price for Ellington, who might even be an upgrade on departed Alan Anderson, who got $4 million for one year from the Washington Wizards. Brooklyn also signed D-League standout Reed, who has yet to appear in an NBA game, to a contract that is $500,000 guaranteed, according to a report by Aldridge. Reed has a chance to emerge as the backup to Brook Lopez in the middle.
What's next: With 18 players under contract, the Nets are almost surely done signing players. Five of those have partial guarantees or no guaranteed money, including Reed. Besides waiving players, Brooklyn may also be able to pare its roster by trading veterans to cut its luxury-tax bill, something GM Billy King indicated at Thursday's media conference is in the team's plans.
Gerald Green
Team: Miami Heat
Contract: One year, minimum
What it means: Green's rough 2014-15, when he was dropped from the Phoenix Suns' rotation midseason, cost him in free agency. He ended up taking a significant pay cut on a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum, though that was surely motivated in part by the opportunity to play in Miami. If he stays in Erik Spoelstra's good graces, Green should be able to rebuild his value playing off the bench for the Heat.
What's next: Miami's next order of business may be trimming its own luxury-tax bill. Veterans Chris Andersen and Mario Chalmers may be available to teams willing to take them into space or trade exceptions.
Raul Neto
Team: Utah Jazz
Contract: Three years, $2.7 million
What it means: The Jazz are bringing Neto, a 2013 second-round pick, over from Spain. His translated ACB performance projects as slightly better than replacement level next season. Still just 23, Neto has time to develop into a quality backup point guard on an affordable contract and will give Utah a different look at the position than incumbents Danté Exum and Trey Burke.
What's next: The Jazz still have more than $10 million in cap room, presuming they hang on to backup forward Trevor Booker, whose contract is guaranteed for only $250,000 through July 15. Utah only would have moved on from Booker to make a big splash, and nothing has materialized as yet. Neto may not be the last player the Jazz bring from the ACB to the NBA, as they could also sign German center Tibor Pleiss after acquiring his rights at the deadline.
Lance Thomas
Team: New York Knicks
Contract: One year, $1.6 million
What it means: Acquired midseason, Thomas proved one of the Knicks' most reliable players down the stretch, executing the team's triangle offense and competing defensively. That combination has kept Thomas in the NBA for four seasons, and another looks likely after New York was willing to offer him more than the veteran's minimum to return. Despite his virtues, the Knicks should hope they don't need many minutes from Thomas, who rated substantially below replacement level.
What's next: New York might be able to clear enough cap space to sign one more player for more than the minimum salary by waiving Ricky Ledo, whose contract is non-guaranteed. Beyond that, the Knicks will have their room exception to fill out a roster that has 11 players under contract.
Luke Babbitt
Team: New Orleans Pelicans (re-signed)
Contract: Two years, $2.5 million
What it means: Babbitt has been a useful, if limited reserve the past two seasons in New Orleans because of his shooting ability. He shot 51.3 percent from 3-point range last season, tops of any player with at least 100 attempts. While that won't continue, Babbitt's 40.3 percent career mark is plenty good enough to keep defenses honest. Babbitt still doesn't have a position defensively, so it's tough to play him extended minutes, but he's worth a bit more than minimum salary.
What's next: The Pelicans have about $10 million to spend while avoiding the luxury tax and have 11 players under contract. Their next priority will likely be backup point guard Norris Cole, a restricted free agent.