Not all "A's" are created equal.
Over the first month of NBA free agency, which opened on June 30 and has nearly wrapped up in terms of important contributors, I've handed out 17 A grades for quality moves big (Paul George moving from the LA Clippers to the Philadelphia 76ers, the first current All-Star to do so in free agency since 2019) and small (the Clippers signing Nicolas Batum back from Philadelphia using their biannual exception).
Because an A is already full points on a 4.0 scale, I don't award any A+ grades. Still, there are shades of A. To differentiate the best of the best moves made so far in free agency, I've ranked all 17 of those As from best to worst based on three criteria:
-- The number of other teams which would have made the same move, given the opportunity
-- The long-term risk and reward of the contract
-- Creativity required to make the move happen
The latter factor is particularly key to this list. The Los Angeles Lakers re-signing LeBron James, or extensions for Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), are obviously great moves but not necessarily ones that required a lot of strategy. So I'm awarding bonus points for deals like the Sixers signing Caleb Martin and the San Antonio Spurs signing Chris Paul using unlikely incentives to make the best use of their cap space.
With that in mind, let's look back on the A grades from best to worst.