Draymond Green, Kyle Kuzma staying put as NBA free agency opens

Kyle Kuzma doubled his salary in Washington, and Draymond Greenensured that Golden State’s championship core stays together.

Free agency in the NBA got off to its traditional fast start onFriday night, with Kuzma agreeing to a $102 million, four-year dealwith the Wizards and Green getting a new contract that’ll pay him$100 million over four seasons with the Warriors.

Both of those deals — first reported by ESPN and subsequentlyconfirmed to The Associated Press by people with knowledge of thenegotiations — got done shortly after the 6 p.m. EDT time start tothe offseason player movement window. Kuzma had opted out of acontract that would have paid him $13 million in Washington thiscoming season; he’ll now average $26 million over the next fouryears after scoring 21.2 points per game this past season

Green staying put keeps him alongside Stephen Curry and KlayThompson with the Warriors, where they have won four titles overthe last decade. He opted out of a $27.6 million contract for thiscoming season, and now is under contract for more years.

The reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets lost a free agent theywanted to keep, with Bruce Brown agreeing to sign with Indiana, aperson with knowledge told AP. ESPN reported it was a two-year dealworth $45 million.

There was simply nothing the Nuggets could do to compete withthat offer — they could only offer Brown $7.8 million for thisseason. Brown will average nearly three times that much over thenext two years.

CAP NUMBERS

Shortly before the 6 p.m. window opened, the NBA confirmed thefinancial particulars for the coming season.

The salary cap that goes into effect Saturday will be $136.021million — the highest in league history, as expected. The tax levelis $165.294 million.

All teams will have to commit at least $122.418 million insalaries for the coming year. The first apron level is $172.346million, the second apron has been established at $182.794 million,the midlevel for non-tax teams is $12.405 million, for taxpayers itis $5 million, and the room mid-level is $7.723 million.