Well, we're through the first night of the NBA's 2025 free agency period (on the East Coast, at least) and there's been some pretty decent activity, though it took a little longer than usual for the ball to get rolling. 

If you haven't been keeping up with all the action, you can scroll through our live blog that has been running all day or check out our free-agent tracker, which has all the deals so far, updated with the reported terms. 

With that, let's get to the winners and losers so far in the early stages of 2025 NBA free agency. 

In one stroke, the Rockets weakened an opponent (the Lakers) and strengthened their own squad by signing Finney-Smith to a four-year, $53 million deal. Big win. Finney-Smith fits any team, especially the Rockets and their two-way identity -- adding to what will remain an elite defense and an offensive attack that is now led by Kevin Durant. 

Houston has also added Capela on a three-year, $21 million deal, providing elite center depth behind Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams. Those are three entirely different big men -- Capela the rim-rolling rim protector, Adams the Goliath rebounder, and Sengun the skilled scoring All-Star. 

That gives them premium lineup versatility with two-big, one-big and even no-big lineups with the super-long group of Durant, Finney-Smith, Smith Jr. (whom they re-signed on a five-year, $122 million deal), Tari Eason and Amen Thompson. 

To summarize, the Rockets basically replaced Green with Durant and Brooks with Finney-Smith, then added Capela on top of it. This was already the West's No. 2 seed and they got significantly better. The Rockets are ready for liftoff. 

The Hawks are doing work this summer. They started by trading for Porziņģis, giving Trae Young a stretch center with which he can do major damage in the extra space that sort of combo creates. 

Then the Hawks swindled the Pelicans on draft night, trading down from the 13th pick to No. 23 where they took Asa Newell (another in a suddenly impressive stable of long, athletic defenders).

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Colin Ward-Henninger

On top of that, they picked up the Pelicans' unprotected 2026 first-rounder -- which could be extremely valuable as it is actually the better pick of the Bucks (who could really stink) and Pelicans -- for their troubles. 

And now they have pulled off a sign-and-trade for one of the real free-agent prizes in this admittedly pretty thin class in Alexander-Walker, who was deservedly coveted by a lot of teams as an ace perimeter defender and 3-point shooter who broke out for a Timberwolves team that has made consecutive conference finals appearances. 

Add to that Kennard, a 43% 3-point shooter who will space the floor considerably next to Young and Porzingis. Take a look around, and the Hawks have pretty expertly outfitted their roster in almost perfect support of Young, providing him the perimeter defense he needs to insulate his deficiencies on that end. 

With Dyson Daniels, last year's No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson on the perimeter, Atlanta can seriously defend around Young, and all those guys are capable secondary playmakers as well, which will be an awesome dynamic off Young's gravitational pull. 

Atlanta watched what the Pacers just did in the Eastern Conference and said: Why not us? And you know what, why not the Hawks? This is suddenly a damn good team, and they probably aren't even done as they have executed all of this while remaining under the tax line and still have access to almost $10 million in a Traded Player Exception from the Dejounte Murray deal. Seriously, the Hawks are flying high. 

Loser: Los Angeles Lakers

• Key additions: Jake LaRavia
• Key losses: Dorian Finney-Smith

Listen, I like LaRavia. He's a solid player and comes at a fraction of the price of Finney-Smith, but when LeBron James' agent says his client wants a "realistic" chance to win a championship and all you've done is swap LaRavia, who a lot of casual NBA fans have probably never heard of, for Finney-Smith, you haven't done jack. 

Plus, the Lakers still don't have a center. So what, we're all sitting here waiting on the big Deandre Ayton signing? Stop traffic for that one. You can talk yourself into whatever Ayton upside you want, but the guy is going into his eighth season. He's not going to become some gem. Whoever the Lakers get at center, they are begging for an NBA scrap (unless it's Al Horford, in which case that's a real get and we can reevaluate). 

Now, the Lakers are clearly prioritizing flexibility moving forward. They're hanging onto their draft picks and will have a ton of cap space next summer if LeBron is gone, which looks increasingly likely -- whether he retires or is playing for another team. But the guy they would've most obviously targeted with that 2026 cap space, Jaren Jackson Jr., just signed a five-year, $240 million extension with the Grizzlies.

So now Rob Pelinka is saving for 2027 when he has no idea who, if anyone significant, will even be available when he has Luka and LeBron right now? From ESPN:

Though Finney-Smith was a popular locker room figure and helped the Lakers to a 14-6 record in the 20 games he started in the regular season, L.A. exercised discipline in its negotiations to preserve cap space for 2027, when the team expects to have space to sign a max-salary free agent.

In the end, this is just a dud first day of free agency for the Lakers. It can get better. They can look to trade for, say, Herb Jones, which would go a LONG way. In fact, if they get Jones, they might actually flip into a winner. But for now, it's Loserville for the Lakers. 

We were always headed for a bit of a Boston gutting this offseason, but it hits different when it actually happens. Counting Jayson Tatum, who's likely to miss all of next season as he recovers from a torn Achilles, Boston will enter the 2025-26 season down three-fifths of its championship starting lineup (Porziņģis wasn't starting in the Finals -- it was Horford -- but you get the point). 

Add to that Kornet (who signed with San Antonio) and possibly the aforementioned Horford (who is being pretty heavily linked to the Warriors) and things are looking pretty thin in Beantown. Boston still might look to flip Simons, too, as they continue trimming salary. 

This might be a nice little gap year for the Celtics, who have been in three of last four conference finals and two of the last four Finals, and the relative rest could pay dividends all over the organization down the road. But the bottom line is they have lost major players, might be losing another in Horford, and so far the replacements aren't exactly inspiring. Any minute, Neemias Queta might be their starting center. 

Winner: Memphis Grizzlies

Perhaps the biggest news of the day was Jackson Jr. staying with Memphis on a five-year, $240 million extension. That was not a guarantee. The Grizzlies were limited in how much they could offer Jackson but managed to get themselves into a cap position to offer him the max, avoiding the nightmare scenario of his becoming a free agent next summer when the Lakers could be armed with max space. Massive win. 

One of the possible casualties of creating the cap space to extend Jackson was thought to be Aldama, who was a target for a lot of teams, but they get him back, too. Another big win. 

Finally, the Grizzlies add maybe the league's best backup point guard in Jerome, poaching him from the Cavs. Jerome is kind of awesome. He'll do more than spell Ja Morant. He could be a legit crunch-time player.

Losing Bane hurts, but Caldwell-Pope is a reasonable replacement and the Grizzlies got four first-round picks back on that deal. That means cheap depth moving forward, or a hell of a package for another trade -- or trades. Love what the Grizzlies have done. 

The Nuggets finally found a way to get off Porter Jr.'s contract, sending him to the Nets along with Denver's 2032 first-round pick for Johnson, who is a monster addition in the Nikola Jokić ecosystem. And they get Brown back on a vet minimum deal, too? 

Brown's departure was the beginning of Denver's bench clearing after the 2023 championship, and though he hasn't really played much meaningful basketball over the last two seasons, which he's spread across three teams, we know he thrives in Denver's setup as a cutter, creator, physical finisher and energy defender.

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Johnson, meanwhile, is every team's dream. He's one of the best movement shooters in the league, coming off screes and relocating with great spatial sense, hitting 39% of his 3s last season on over seven attempts a game. With the way Jokić feels the floor and distributes accordingly, that's going to play big time. Terrific opening day for the Nuggets. 

I had big hopes for the Pistons, who were reportedly in play for Nickeil Alexander-Walker and/or Santi Aldama. They didn't get either of those guys and had to settle for LeVert, who's fine, but whatever. We'll see what the Pistons do from here. There's talk of the Schroder deal turning into a sign-and-trade for Malik Monk, which is definitely worth watching. Jaden Ivey coming back is basically an addition to last year's team. 

But as far as true additions? Detroit hasn't been able to score the guys they were reportedly eyeing, and on top of that they might be losing Malik Beasley, who's currently at the center of a gambling investigation. Not great so far for Detroit. 

• Key additions: Desmond Bane, Tyus Jones
• Key losses: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony

Just as I like the Memphis side of the Bane deal, I also think the Magic were justified in paying such a steep price for a non-All-Star player. Bane is exactly what the Magic need offensively. He can shoot the lights out and create in a bunch of different ways. He's just a tough guy to deal with. Orlando has an elite defense and needed to add some legitimate scoring punch to have a chance in a wide-open Eastern Conference. 

But Bane isn't a point guard. He can do point guard things, but for the Magic, getting Jones, who started for Phoenix but will likely come off the bench in Orlando, solidifies a lot of those minutes with a standardized point guard presence. Jalen Suggs will be back in the starting lineup and Orlando's defense figures to be nasty again, only this time with an offense to go with it.