Despite signing Shaquille O'Neal to a $100 million deal, Miami had the flexibility to engineer a trade that rejuvenated its attack. John Biever
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The NBA free-agent signing period officially began Tuesday, and while news of most of the signings had been revealed weeks ago, the Heat and four other clubs (the Grizzles, Celtics, Jazz and Hornets) sent waves throughout the league with a deal that involved 13 players. Miami, which had earlier in the day signed Shaquille O'Neal to a new five-year, $100 million contract, acquired Jason Williams and James Posey from Memphis in exchange for Eddie Jones, as well as Antoine Walker from the Celtics.

Elsewhere, things went as previously reported. Larry Hughes bolted the Wizards for Cleveland, and Bobby Simmons left the Clippers for Milwaukee. And top free agents Ray Allen (Sonics), Michael Redd (Bucks) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Cavs) didn't officially sign on the dotted line, but they were expected to do so shortly.

That wasn't all.

Suns guard Joe Johnson was on the verge of being dealt to the Hawks in a sign-and-trade, provided some procedural issues don't get in the way, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim was headed to New Jersey in a sign-and-trade as well. And in an interesting development for Chicago, the Hawks made no offer to restricted free agent Eddy Curry (whom they had actively recruited), meaning the 6-foot-11 center might be headed back to the Windy City after all. Elsewhere, the Mavs continue to dangle Michael Finley rather than let him go through the new "amnesty" provision.

With all the movement just getting under way, it's somewhat premature to evaluate how teams have come out of this year's free-agency period. After all, there is still a lot of business left to be conducted. But with that caveat in mind, here's a quick rundown of the top winners and losers so far:

Winners

NEW JERSEY

Key additions/retentions: Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jeff McInnis, Cliff Robinson

Despite having no salary-cap room, president Rod Thorn filled his team's biggest hole at PF with an All-Star caliber veteran in Abdur-Rahim. He then added McInnis and re-signed Uncle Cliffy to give them two seasoned vets off the bench. Along with holdovers Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, New Jersey looks to be a top Eastern contender.