Winners And Losers Of The NBA Offseason

The NBA season is just a day away, and now that the dust has finally settled and we know how all of the teams are going to look going into the first week of games, we can see exactly how each team’s offseason has gone. This is anything from moves to draft picks to even injuries to players, as those all impact how each respective team will look, both in the long and short term.

Just a quick disclaimer, this is not every team, just some interesting teams that have gotten better, worse, or who look interesting and we’ll have to keep an eye on to start the season.

Winner: Philadelphia 76ers

Heading into this offseason, the Sixers had only two players on guaranteed deals: Joel Embiid and Paul Reed, though Maxey was a restricted free agent. This meant that they had a lot of cap space, including enough to sign another max player to pair with their MVP and last year’s MIP winner, the most in the league, and they absolutely capitalized on it. Yet again, Daryl Morey was able to work his star player magic and convince Paul George to leave his hometown of LA and head east to compete for a championship in Philly. While there is absolutely room for scrutiny, especially with the injury concerns that come with PG (he has already hyperextended his knee in preseason, though this shouldn’t keep him out for too long), Embiid can now play with a superstar-level wing; his first since Jimmy Butler half a decade ago. While this was the splashiest move, by no means was this the only impactful one for the Sixers. They were also able to pry Caleb Martin (a player who nearly won Eastern Conference Finals MVP just a year and a half ago) away from Miami. Though there were some slight efficiency issues last year compared to the previous one, Martin was often the second best player on that Miami team and showed just how impactful he can be to winning in the 2023 playoffs. In addition to other interesting adds, like Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Reggie Jackson, as well as Jared McCain in the draft, the Sixers were also able to resign some key members of their team, including Kyle Lowry on the veteran minimum and Kelly Oubre Jr, who was often the third best player on the team both offensively and defensively and was able to bother Jalen Brunson in their playoff series. With a starting line up of Maxey, PG, Oubre, Martin and Embiid, as well as an improved bench, it is hard to call the 76ers anything but winners in this offseason despite the injury concerns.

Loser: Los Angeles Clippers

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the LA Clippers. Heading into the offseason, we knew that there was the possibility of Paul George leaving, especially since he hadn’t signed a contract extension in the months leading up to it like Kawhi Leonard had. Once it was clear that the organization and George didn’t see eye to eye on contract negotiations, however, the most head-scratching part of the whole ordeal was that they didn’t even really attempt to sign-and-trade him in order to recoup some value (especially after what they gave up for him). There were rumors that Warriors had interest in bringing him in, and reports said that they were willing to part with one of their younger assets in order to make it happen. Once they cut Chris Paul’s contract a day before free agency, it was clear that this was not going to happen (apparently because they wanted draft picks PLUS Moody AND Kuminga), but it still makes no sense that they didn’t make more of an effort to not lose him for nothing. The rest of their offseason wasn’t bad, I like the addition of Derrick Jones Jr to replace PG and provide an athletic, defensive-minded presence for Leonard and especially Harden, who they WERE able to resign. Trading away Westbrook wasn’t a bad move either, as that relationship seemed as though it had run its course and Kris Dunn had a nice couple of seasons in Utah, so that’s a move that I like for them as well, and Cam Christie is a decent player to take a flier on from the second round of the draft (if you have a good development team). The other main reason that they are losers of this offseason is that just a few days ago, we received word that Leonard will be out indefinitely to start the season due to knee inflammation, apparently after reaggravating it following an Olympics camp. The additions were decent, but when you essentially lose both of your players to start a season, that makes you pretty big losers.

Winner: New York Knicks

Even before the most recent blockbuster trade (the first time in a while I’ve been shocked by a move), the Knicks were firmly in the wins category. Following arguably their best season of the 21st Century, the Knicks were able to resign OG Anunoby (following a growing concern that they would be outbid by a team I will talk about later) and finally made what we thought was their big, all-in move: trading away 4 unprotected first round pics, an unprotected swap, a protected Bucks pick, and Bojan Bogdanovic for Mikal Bridges, finally bringing together all of the best players from those championship Villanova teams (Brunson, Bridges, Hart, DiVencenzo). Losing Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency and Mitchell Robinson to injury for part of the season hurt, but there was faith that the Knicks would still be a good team with those 5 players plus Julius Randle, Miles McBride and some other interesting players. Then came a move that shocked the league: the KAT Trade. Basically out of nowhere, the Knicks acquired Karl-Anthony Towns in exchange for Randle, DiVencenzo, and a lottery protected pick from the Pistons. There are debates on which forward is the better player, but there is no doubt that the addition of Towns provides better spacing than Randle. Additionally, the infrastructure that the Knicks built up at the forward position should be able to shore up the shortcomings Towns has defensively and allow him to shine as the team’s second or third option on any given night. And as good as DiVencenzo is, it was unclear exactly how much time he was going to get, especially with such a big clog at the wing position between Anunoby, Bridges, and Hart and the amount of playtime that coach Tom Thibodeau gives his best players. The Knicks made meaningful additions to last year’s team, a team who could have made the Eastern Conference Finals were it not for injuries, and now they at least have a chance at competing with the Celtics this upcoming season, so to me, they are obvious winners.

Loser: Minnesota Timberwolves

On the other end of the KAT Trade, we have the Timberwolves. I like the move for them a lot less. The good news is that Towns’ spot can easily be filled by Naz Reid, who closed several games last year in the playoffs in the former’s spot. To me, though, the rest of the team doesn’t make that much sense. I have a lot more questions than I have answers for them. Who will end up being the starter at the four spot? Will it be Reid, or will it be Randle, who I think would be a massive detriment to the offensive scheme of Minnesota due to his inconsistent outside shot. How much will DiVencenzo play, and where will he play? He’s a SG, but he’ll likely have to play more as a forward, facing off against players like Jaylen Brown, Michael Porter Jr, and Jalen Williams, which all seem like a pretty big mismatch, and there is only so much that Gobert can do. The bigger issue for me, though, he doesn’t really fill the primary need for this team, that being a primary/secondary playmaker when Edwards is off the court. Conley can be this in spurts, but is pretty old and inconsistent at this role. Maybe DiVencenzo can add some additional playmaking and infuse the team with more energy when Edwards is off the court, but this is something that we’ll need to see. Additionally, I love their picks. The fact that they were able to trade up to early in the first round and grab Rob Dillingham could be massive for the team in the future (same with the lack of a big cap hit from Towns a few years down the line), but for this upcoming season they look worse than they did last year, in my eyes.

Winner: Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder finally did what so many NBA fans have wanted them to do for a few years now and made massive moves. Early on, before free agency even began, they traded away the piece that made the least sense with their big 3 (Shai, J Dub, and Chet) in Josh Giddey in exchange for one of the best role players in the league, Alex Caruso without having to attach any draft picks (I’ll go over the other end of this trade in a later section). Then later, in what was a more predictable move, they were able to sign Isaiah Hartenstein away from his previous home of New York. This one is particularly big, as it allows the Thunder to actually have some Center depth instead of only Jaylin Williams and also allows more lineup options, as Chet and Hartenstein can play together due to their complimenting skillsets (though we’ll have to wait to see it, as Hartenstein broke his hand in preseason and will be out for at least a month and a half). That’s not even mentioning the fact that the team brought in two new rookies (one being an impressive overseas point guard who could be impactful next year when he returns from an ACL injury) and was able to resign two of its most impactful role players, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins for somewhat value deals. The Thunder are looking like one of, if not the best team in the West, and they should be a lot of fun to watch.

Loser: Atlanta Hawks

I don’t know what to do about the Atlanta Hawks. On one hand, I do think that they improved a bit, at least in terms of chemistry. The Trae Young/Dejounte Murray backcourt was not working, so it’s for the best that the two were separated. On the other hand, they made almost no other moves. They added a #1 overall draft pick in Zaccharie Risacher, who in theory fits a need of this team, that being competent wings, but we don’t really know exactly how impactful Risacher is going to be immediately. Getting back Dyson Daniels will be interesting and should provide Trae better support defensively, but besides that the team looks just like it did the past few years (just without Murray) and most of the East has improved this offseason. There’s hoping that your young players take a jump (like we’ve all been hoping for from Onyeka Okongwu for the past 2 years now and did see from Jalen Johnson last year), and then there’s thinking that you can do exactly what you did over 3 years ago at this point when every other team has improved but you. The Hawks are in the latter category.

Winner: Houston Rockets

Leading up to draft night, there was some speculation that the Rockets would take Donovan Clingan at the 3 spot after Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr went 1 and 2 respectively. As someone who has been actively watching the Rockets for about a year now, I thought this was a terrible idea. Such a move would likely mean that they would move Alperen Sengun, a player who finished 3rd in MIP voting and who arguably deserved an All Star spot due to his impact to that team both offensively and defensively. People call him “baby Jokic” for a reason. Additionally, the pick that they made instead, Reed Sheppard, seems to be a better fit and showed his potential in Summer League, averaging 20 points, 4.75 rebounds, 5.25 assists, 2.75 steals, and 1.25 blocks in 4 games. Sheppard is absolutely someone to keep an eye on. Additionally, Amen Thompson has been showing in camp and preseason that he could be a starter. With the right pick and significant player development on the rise, the Rockets have to be a winner for me.

Loser: Chicago Bulls

I call them losers, but they finally did what they should have done a year and a half ago: blow it up. It was just way too late. All of their trade pieces lost value as the year went on, and they ended up getting pennies on the dollar for all of them. Take Alex Caruso for example. Reports from a couple years ago said that some teams interested in him were willing to part with two first round picks, an absolutely massive haul for his level of player. With Caruso now on an expiring contract heading into the year, the Bulls ended up getting just Josh Giddey for him. Now, Giddey is not a bad player, and he should have some opportunity to prove himself in a now rebuilding situation, but Giddey is not two first round picks. To a contender, he’s not one first round pick due to his somewhat limited skillset. This shows a clear level of asset mismanagement. He’s not the only one though. DeMar DeRozan was also finally traded, though since it was a sign-and-trade, the asset value was low for him and the Bulls ended up receiving only Chris Duarte and a couple of second round picks. Again, this is likely significantly lower than what they could have gotten for him last year or even at the trade deadline. The rest of the offseason went decent; Matas Buzelis is an interesting pick that could easily pay off, and Lonzo Ball is finally healthy again (we’re rooting for him!). But with how little the team got for DeRozan and Caruso (and the fact that Vucevic and LaVine are essentially seen as negative assets due to the size of their contracts), they have to be one of the biggest losers of the offseason.

Winner: Rebuilding Teams

There are a lot of interesting moves made by teams currently seen as rebuilding, and this year seems to be the year to make it happen with a couple of seemingly stacked draft classes coming up, so I’ll go through these quicker than the previous sections

Brooklyn Nets

Trading Mikal Bridges for the haul of draft picks is massive for the Nets, and now that they have control over all of their picks, their rebuild can officially begin. This year is a good year to see what you have with Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas and either keep or trade them depending on what’s best for the team. The tanking for Cooper Flagg has begun.

Detroit Pistons

Firing Monty Williams might’ve been the smartest thing the Pistons have done since drafting Cade in the 2021 draft. It’s been a rough few years, but the new coaching staff is working on the jump shots of several of the younger players (Ivey’s been shooting well in preseason), and with Fonteccio and new additions Malik Beasley and Tobias Harris, the team has more spacing around Cade than ever, making this a possible year for the young player to have a breakout.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs might not even be a rebuilding team with Victor Wembanyama at the helm, but they finished low last year. The presence of veterans such as Harrison Barnes and especially Chris Paul is likely the biggest part of this, especially with newly drafted Stephon Castle. Devin Vassell received surgery for an injury sustained at the end of last year and will likely be out until at least November, which could slow the team down a bit, but I think the Spurs are going to at least make the Play-In Tournament this year, if not outright make the playoffs.

Washington Wizards

It’s going to be a rough few years, but at least the Wizards are embracing it. Trading Deni Avdija for an additional pick in this year’s draft (Bub Carrington) and Malcolm Brogdon, as well as taking Alex Sarr #2 overall could both be big pickups for the future of this Wizards team, though the Jonas Valanciunas signing surprised me a bit. Maybe they want him as a mentor to Sarr?

Other Moves

There are several other teams that made significant moves, but we’ll have to wait and see the effectiveness of those moves. Teams like the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks lost important members of their starting lineups (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Derrick Jones Jr respectively), but gained additional pieces that could shore up some issues that they had (Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric to deal with bench depth and Klay Thompson to help with shooting around Luka and Kyrie). The Warriors went through a thorough retooling after Klay left, and I’m curious how impactful the additions of Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield, and De’Anthony Melton will be. And the Kings, of course, added DeRozan, but how much will this impact the Western Conference playoff race?

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this basketball content and are looking forward to the start of the NBA season!