NBA Free Agent Winners and Losers

Like everyone else, I have many opinions of which teams won and lost in free agency The Los Angeles Lakers looked like the biggest winner last year with the signing of LeBron James. Due to injuries to James and much of his supporting cast, the team fizzled mid year and again did not make the. playoffs The nice part was they did not give up any of their young team other than D'Angelo Russell to trade for a pick and letting Julius Randell go in free agency.

This off season started with a bang as the Lakers wanted Anthony Davis the most and had the most young assets to deal. Unfortunately they gave up too much as not only did they trade 3 young talents in Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart, but they also gave up too many draft picks. The trade was salary cap suicide as they were forced to get rid of more players to clear cap space to sign more free agents. It might pay off if they are able to get Kawhi Leonard, but who will they play with?

Kawhi Leonard

I think everyone is offsides with their thoughts on Kawhi Leonard. He may join LeBron and Davis with the Lakers, but I think we are going to hear something that nobody is talking about. Leonard might sign with OKC Thunder to play with fellow Los Angeles neighbors Russell Westbrook and Paul George. He might "take his talents to South Beach" to play with Jimmy Butler. I am quite sure he is not going to Brooklyn or New York.

Brooklyn Net - Losers by Signing Winners?

Brooklyn lost D'Angelo Russell who was an All Star his first year with the team. But they signed Kyrie Irving who is a not savvy veteran. Come on! He couldn't win until LeBron came back to the Cavs, failed to help the Celtics and actually hurt the Celtics. But Brooklyn signed Kevin Durant... who suffered a torn Achilles heel. The only good news that came from Durant tearing his Achilles in the play offs is it didn't happen during the next regular season which would have been a huge let down for any team that would have signed the best player in the world. I understand that if Durant comes back this season, he can bring the butts to the seats. A championship is out of the question, especially with Kyrie leading the ship to the bottom of the East.

New Orleans Pelicans

Of course the Pelicans got better this off season. They have the best player coming

from the draft in 20 years with Zion Williamson. They traded a player who wanted to leave in Anthony Davis and received 3 strong young players in return. As long as Lonzo Ball can build on his improvements from the past season and stay healthy, Brandon Ingram is able to recover from his life threatening condition and Josh Hart can remain to play like Josh Hart, the Pelicans could go all the way!!! Well maybe, but why not? They also signed JJ Reddick who could fix Lonzo Ball's shot. That might be a stretch, but couldn't hurt. They also have draft picks from the Anthony Davis trade that should benefit them for years to come. I would say the Pelicans are the biggest winners in the off season.

Orlando Magic

The Magic made the playoffs for the first time since Dwight Howard left. That trade was similar to Anthony Davis in the way the Magic piled up players and picks for years. Unfortunately Nikola Vucevic is the only player that panned out from that trade, but unlike Dwight, he was happy to resign with the Magic as a free agent this year. The best 6 man of the year should have been Terrance Ross who immediately resigned with the Magic as a free agent. Michael Carter-Williams was a nice mid-season free agent addition who also resigned with the Magic. Aaron Gordan extended his contract last year and the Magic have some great pieces with MO Bamba and they just signed Portland's free agent Al-Farouq Aminu which will be a nice addition. Hopefully Markelle Foltz turns to provide solid play with the Magic this coming season. I might be partial, but I think the Orlando Magic had the 2nd best off season in the NBA this year because they retained the quality players that took them to the playoffs and added a couple of nice ones for the future.

New York Knicks

The Knicks drafted the 2nd best player in the draft in RJ Barrett. They also signed Julius Randell as a free agent. They made some moves during the past season that did not make sense, but they have not made sense for years ever since trading their team away for Carmelo Anthony. I would like to think they will do better this year, but just don't see it happening given what they traded away last season.

Dallas Mavericks

I figure if I was going to mention the losing Knicks trades, we might as well mention the winner from the Knicks trades and that is the Dallas Mavericks. They drafted well in the past seasons and traded for injured, young talent. I think Dallas will be a nice contender this coming season especially with the return of JJ Barres and Seth Curry free agent resigning.

Conclusion

The LA Lakers won and lost by getting Anthony Davis who wants to play with LeBron James, but lost by trading away too much talent. Losing Lonzo Ball might be a gain much like when the Dodgers traded Puig this past off season and removed that distraction. I didn't mention the Warriors or a number of other teams that didn't really make any substantial changes, but should be better with experience, but could be hurt with more injuries.

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