It feels too early to name team winners and losers in the NBA offseason with the potential trades for Damian Lillard and James Harden still hanging out there .
The Lillard trade talks are moving slowly toward a three- or four-team deal. League sources told NBC Sports the seemingly slow pace of a Heat/Trail Blazers trade is due to the complexity of it and getting everyone a win: Portland doesn’t want to keep Tyler Herro in any deal (they already have Anfernee Simons, a similar player on a similar contract), the Blazers also would like to send out Jusuf Nurkic in the trade (three years, $54.4 million still owed), and while the Nets have the picks to be the facilitating third team they want to send out Ben Simmons in the deal (two years, $78.2 million) and nobody is terribly interested in taking him back. Harden’s trade is held up in part by teams like the Clippers waiting to see how the Lillard situation shakes out.
While those trades have not gone through, some teams have made themselves better, or a little worse, so far during free agency. Here is a list of the biggest winners and losers:
(Note: There is no Portland or Philadelphia on this list as losers for their stars asking out, only because we don’t know the returns yet. While Portland’s franchise talisman Damian Lillard asked to be traded, they had the fifth-worst record in the league last season so drafting Scoot Henderson and getting rebuilding blocks may not be the losing play.)
While the Lakers made the Western Conference Finals a season ago, the Denver Nuggets swept them out of the playoffs and showed Los Angeles there was another gear it needed to hit. The traditional Lakers way to find that gear is to sign another star — and one wanted to come to Los Angeles in Kyrie Irving. He was sitting courtside at Lakers playoff games.
The Lakers are free agency winners because they ignored that instinct and built wisely with quality role players around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. In free agency the Lakers re-signed Austin Reaves (to the max they could offer, four years, $56 million, but that’s below market value), re-signed Rui Hachimura (three years, $51 million), re-signed D’Angelo Russell (two years, $37 million, and he gets a player option on the second year), signed Gabe Vincent as a free agent (three years, $33 million), signed Taurean Prince (one year, $6 million), and took good minimum fliers on Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish.
LeBron James liked it.
These Lakers are a better version of the team that just made a run to the Western Conference Finals — a deep, versatile, and big roster. While I’m not sold that the peak of these Lakers is better than the peak of the Nuggets or Suns (and maybe not peak Grizzlies or Warriors, either), this is a team built for the playoffs that could be a real postseason threat next April and May.
WINNER: Phoenix Suns
Phoenix went all-in with the Bradley Beal trade , creating a big three with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. They still have Deandre Ayton (despite trying to trade him for depth, teams were not interested at $30 million a season for the center), and add returning point guard Cameron Payne and the Suns were already at nearly $169 million in salary. They could only bring in minimum contracts.
The Suns nailed those minimum contracts: Eric Gordon, Josh Okogie, Damion Lee (technically Lee and Okogie got 20% early Bird bumps from the minimum, but still are basically minimum deals), Yuta Watanabe, Keita Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks, and Chimezie Metu. That’s a solid bit of work with guys mostly worth more than the minimum taking a little less to chase a ring.
We’ll see how it all comes together for new coach Frank Vogel, if he can get Ayton to be a quality drop-back center, and if Beal and KD can stay healthy, but the Suns have the pieces to be a real threat to Denver at the top of the West.
Speaking of which…
LOSER: Denver Nuggets
Still basking in the glow of winning a title , Denver is not some huge loser this summer. The core of players from their title run — Nikola Jokić, Devin Booker, Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — will be back and still at their peak. Denver will be the deserving title favorite when next season starts.
However, losing Bruce Brown and Jeff Green hurts — those are quality role players who played vital playoff minutes. Brown took the big payday — two years, $45 million — from the Pacers, while Jeff Green got $6 million to jump to Houston.
Christian Braun and Peyton Watson will be asked to step up into larger roles. The Nuggets brought back Reggie Jackson and DeAndre Jordan. The bottom line is the supporting cast in Denver is a little worse, and while maybe that will not matter sometimes the margins do at the biggest moments.
Cleveland has their big four locked in: the backcourt of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, the front court of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen (even though the Cavs reportedly tested the trade market for Allen).
Where the Cavaliers needed help was the wing, and shooting from the three. Enter Max Strus (four years, $63 million) and Georges Niang (that three-year, $26 million for Niang may seem high, but he’s a natural fit for them as a shooter, and Mobley/Allen cover up his defensive flaws). Those are quality pickups at a position of need. The Cavaliers look poised to take a step forward next season and could be a big threat in the East.
When Toronto lost Kawhi Leonard for nothing in free agency the sting of that departure was barely noticed as the Raptors raised their first-ever banner to the rafters. When Kyle Lowry left for nothing, it was easy to say he was declining as Fred VanVleet was improving, so it was not much of a loss.
Now Fred VanVleet has walked out the door for nothing — signing as a free agent in Houston for three years at the max, $130 million — and it’s worth noting that all these losses for nothing are adding up. The Raptors’ roster is getting thinner and thinner, an
There are still teams calling the Raptors and checking on the trade availability of Pascal Siakam, league sources told NBC Sports (Toronto has shot down calls about OG Anunoby). So far there’s been no action by Toronto, and it feels like they missed their window to contend with this group or flip them into the next era of the team. Maybe they have a surprise move left, but the Raptors are still in limbo.
