The Winners And Losers Of 2024 NBA Free Agency

The Winners And Losers Of 2024 NBA Free Agency

you might have noticed an NBA free agency this year just looked a little bit different seemed like there wasn’t as much activity seemed like the numbers were lower there were players that typically wouldn’t have left their incumbent teams like Paul George and kcp that did but one thing that has not changed about NBA fre agency is we always have some winners and some losers let’s start on the positive side here with the Oklahoma City Thunder I think they’re absolutely a winner of free agency and arguably the biggest winner of free agency not only did they bring in Isaiah hartstein who we’re going to talk about but they also were able to bring back Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe on very cheap deals they had them opt out of their team options and then sign them each to fouryear deals that are going to be really good values over the next couple years for a team that is going to need some values on the margin because this team is going to get very expensive very quickly once some of the younger guys get new extensions but the big one for me obviously you can count the Caruso tradeit in their offseason but for free agency specifically I think people were underrating just how big of a deal it is that they got Isaiah hartstein because before last year it’s not like he was this big time rotation player he’s kind of a journeyman he’s very good and he’s exactly what Oklahoma City needs there’s some criticism out there in terms of well he doesn’t provide floor spacing he’s not going to be able to shoot and everybody that OKC plays except for giddy last year shoot can shoot and create and do a bunch of stuff that is true but the thing that people were underrating and missing about hardstein is he is a very good passer and he’s a pretty good in between finisher in the lane as well and I think OKC is going to be able to figure out a lot of different ways to use that to their advantage and they just needed this kind of a body type like yes they could have gotten Clint capella Maybe Jared Allen but they needed a guy that was bigger stronger and could play alongside Chad and hartstein certainly is that guy there are going to be games where he plays 20 to 25 minutes and it’s going to seem strange that OKC just paid that guy $90 million over three seasons but if you look at the contract a little bit further it’s been reported that that last year is actually either a team option or a non-g guaranteed year and that’s really important for OKC because for the next two seasons the roster is still going to be pretty cheap but when that third season comes up it’s going to be Chad extension time Jaylen Williams extension time those deals are going to kick in and at that point if they found a better solution at the fiver or they just want to save some money have some more flexibility the hartstein contract can be off the books at least reportedly so it’s not just the player that they’re adding and I think hartstein is going to be very good but it’s the structure of the deal as well that is an absolute win for Oklahoma City and arguably after the Caruso Edition you could certainly say that OKC is the favorite in the west and potentially in the entire league to win the title next year outside of maybe Boston going over now to the losers side this one’s pretty obvious there’s no scario in which the Clippers are not losers for losing Paul George and free agency you can talk about the contract you can talk about the second apron you can talk about how expensive the roster would have been the lack of success with kawaiian Harden there kawaiian PG there and then the injury issues between all three of the stars that they have they’re all aging all this stuff that’s all fine but they were willing to give Paul George a three-year Max which would have put them in the second apron which would have continued to put them on this timeline over the next three seasons of counting on kawhai PG and hard to be healthy they didn’t want to do the fourth year and because of that they lose a guy that is still an all-nba cow player despite the fact that he’s 34 years old for nothing and there is never a situation in which you lose a player of the caliber of Paul George for nothing and you’re not a loser in free agency back over to the winner side now is one that again I think people are underrating and it is the Dallas Mavericks now they had a bit of an interesting free agency period because as a part of the Klay Thompson sign in trade uh they got rid of Josh Green they also dumped Tim Hardway Jr’s contract they lost Derrik Jones as well to the clippers but I like the guys that they brought in Quinton Grimes was brought in as a part of that Hardway Junior trade again not technically part of free agency but I think that Klay Thompson and na Marshall are going to be awesome for this team clay at 3 years 50 million we just talked about this yesterday you can look at the list here that average annual value is really really low for a guy in clay that yes isn’t the same Defender that he once was isn’t the same shot creator that he once was but is still an outstanding shooter and he’s going to get more efficient even in this in this system uh in Dallas I think because Golden State just lacked the kind of perimeter creation to get clay open shots that is going to be uh there’s going to be plenty of that in Dallas so I love the move for them I love the value for them I think bringing someone in that is a a starter for them this off was offseason was perfect considering they didn’t have a ton of flexibility and I think Naji Marshall is going to be good too it sucks that they’re losing Derrick Jones but Naj Marshall if he can sustain the shooting from last year is a better three-point shooter than Derrick Jones and and less hot and cold and that’s something that they needed in that series against Boston that was a lack of three-point shooting and they’re going to be a little bit worse defensively um especially if you know Klay is out there starting alongside Kyrie and Luca that’s a bit of a uh struggling defensive unit I would say but they’re able to figure that stuff out last year I think they’ll be able to figure that stuff out this year and adding more shooting to the team given their assets that they gave up given the contracts they gave to these guys is an absolute win for Dallas the next one we can kind of do at the same time for a loser and a winner uh the loser side of that is Denver losing kcp and the winner side of that is Orlando getting kcp it’s a threeyear $66 million deal and Denver tried to to bring kcp back ultimately there was just a little bit more money out there for him than they were willing to pay and they feel confident in guys like Christian Brown some of these other guys they’ve drafted over the last couple of seasons to be able to replace what kcp provided for them the problem is KC kcp provided a ton of durability he was always playing and he can guard and shoot and those kinds of guys at the level that kcp is at they’re hard to come by and especially if you’re a contending team like Denver to just lose that guy for nothing there’s no way that that is a good thing for them just like the Clippers they’re trying to pay attention to the second April they’re trying to pay attention to their overall payroll and they feel like it’s worth the risk to see if some of these younger guys that are making much less than $22 million a year can uh figure out how to replace that but that’s a big if we saw how the loss of Bruce Brown impacted this team and they’re trying it again now with kcp now granted they’ve been successful in the past losing guys like Jeremy Grant and then bringing in someone like Aaron Gordon on a good contract so maybe they’ll be able to figure out that they still have yic they’re absolutely still contenders but just like losing Paul George for the Clippers just losing simil like kcp for nothing is never a good thing and for Orlando there were maybe more exciting options for them out there they had a meeting with Paul George Klay Thompson was out there for them but kcp is kind of perfect for them because he’s not going to get in the way at all offensively he’s going to guard shoot he’s going to play a ton and he’s perfect within their starting lineup uh they added some other guys as well throughout the offseason that I really like but the guy that I really want to pay attention to here for them is kcp I don’t mind the number at all because their roster is still pretty inexpensive over the next couple of Seasons they bring back Jonathan Isaac on a deal as well that a lot of people like I think this was absolutely a fantastic off season for Orlando and they positioned themselves to once again be kind of in that top four top five mix in the Eastern Conference and as fron and Paulo continue to get better maybe even more than that let’s stay on the winter side here San Antonio bringing in Chris Paul is just absolutely brilliant it’s a one-year $1 million deal uh you don’t really know if you know what Chris Paul is going to be able to provide to you in terms of being out there a ton but when he is there is going to be extremely helpful to the young guards that they have going to provide some competency to that back court the onoff numbers for Chris Paul are still very strong when he plays and him alongside W is going to be awesome but the other part of this as well is that is an extremely tradable contract it is underneath some of these exceptions some of these teams get it’s not going to be difficult for a team to trade for Chris Paul in the middle of the year if for example San Antonio is not that good at the deadline and a team out there needs point guard help a team like Minnesota a team like even Dallas or something like that having someone like Chris Paul available for trade on such a cheap deal was brilliant for San Antonio and even if he’s on the roster for the entire season is still going to be very helpful if he is healthy in the losers section here I think there are going to some be some people defending this one and that’s fine Chicago giving Patrick Williams 5 years 90 was a little strange now granted he’s still extremely young I think Patrick Williams is like 22 years old like he’s still extremely young considering he’s been in the league for a few seasons and if he ends up improving this is great value I just don’t think Patrick Williams does that much for you other than guard a little bit and he just hasn’t improved at all so to project some kind of improvement over the next handful of seasons to be worth the contract they just paid him I’m not really buying into there’s still going to be that upside and that potential but it almost feels like they just gave like kind of what Josh Jackson was the first couple years in a league a fiveyear 90 million extension Patrick Williams is a little bit better than that but I just don’t love the idea of bringing you know attaching yourself to a guy like this attaching yourself to a contract like this when you should presumably be rebuilding now you never know it could be great value in a couple years it could be a decent trade asset for them certainly I didn’t want them to just lose Patrick Williams for nothing but I felt like maybe there was a sign and trade scenario for them out there something like that 5 years 90 feels like a lot for Patrick Williams one other one in the losers section is just teams that didn’t do anything so Milwaukee and Miami are the two teams listed here there are other teams around the league as well but these two teams are ones that I keeping an eye on now granted they didn’t have a ton of opportunity to to sign guys right like Milwaukee made their big move last off season by trading for Damen Lillard they’ got expensive players all over the roster Miami same thing they’ve got expensive players everywhere they’re trying to figure out their own Jimmy Butler situation but when you look at the rest of the East when you look at Orlando and of course Boston’s coming off winning the title Philly adds Paul George uh the Knicks add Mel Bridges there’s other teams throughout the conference that just added players it almost seems like the conference is kind of passing each of these teams by which is just never a scenario that you want to be in and even though there weren’t great chances for them to add guys they there was no sign and trade aggressiveness there was no hey let’s shake up the roster in anyway and I’m I’m just kind of keeping an eye on those two teams in terms of like if they get to the trade deadline and they’re five games over 500 or something and the rest of the conference is way above them do we start to look at this offseason as the point in which they basically decided it’s just not worth it to continue to improve the teams and of course for Milwaukee that is a massive deal in terms of the future of Giannis and for Miami they’re also worried about the future of Jimmy Butler so two other seem to keep an eye on there as we talk about the winners and losers of free agency this year

2024 NBA free agency was certainly interesting… so lets talk about The Winners And Losers Of 2024 NBA Free Agency featuring Klay Thompson, Paul George, KCP, and more!

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