NBA Insider Stephen Kimball
Free Agency is underway, and some of the biggest names have made their moves, and many teams have started thinking smarter completing sign and trades. The dominant teams losing big players are just swapping with other teams to make up for the loss.
The Warriors are the first team to do this as they made a sign and trade agreement with the Brooklyn Nets as D’Angelo Russell is now a member of the Golden State Warriors. Russell decided to sign a 4-year 117 million max contract, the only way they made room is by trading Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies to create cap space it is unknown if they will cut him immediately but if he is, contending teams with little cap will be pursuing him. Russell helps the Warriors stay as a top contender with a line up of Stephen Curry, D’Angelo Russell, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and potential Kevon Looney. This will make the Warriors a heavy threat in the Western Conference, but no longer the top contenders as other Western teams are stacking their teams. As the Blazers the team the Warriors met in the Western Conference are loading up as they added guard Mario Hezonija to add depth and shooting; they also added Hassan Whiteside after trading away Mo Harkless and Meyers Leonard. This will give Portland a strong center while Jusuf Nurkic is recovering from injury, allowing Portland to stay in a top seed and potential to go all the way to the Finals.
Continuing with the Western Conference the New Orleans Pelicans added sharpshooter J.J. Reddick from the 76ers to give themselves a needed shooter and veteran presence that would have been missing with such a young team. The Pelicans also grabbed EuroLeague PF Nicolo Melli who could be a good piece as the Pelicans lacked depth. The Sacramento Kings have been quietly adding to their young core as they retained Harrison Barnes, added Trevor Ariza to back him up adding more defense as well. Also adding Corey Joseph, and Dewayne Dedmon for more depth as the Kings are striving to make the playoffs. The Utah Jazz added Bojan Bogdanovic, as they are building around the talents of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Moving from the Jazz is PG Ricky Rubio, signing with the Phoenix Suns pairing with young star guard Devin Booker. This could also help Deandre Ayton’s growth in the center roll playing with a pass-first guard. A Curry is also on the move as Seth will rejoin the Mavericks after a good year in Portland to play alongside Luka Doncic and recently extended Kristaps Porzingis.
The Lakers have been quiet but added sharpshooter Troy Daniels; he is the perfect player alongside Lebron as he can just spot up and hit open threes. Now that Kyrie, Durant, D’Angelo, and Butler are off the table the Lakers will need to put complete focus on signing Kawhi Leonard. If they sign Leonard, they will have to fill the rest of the roster with minimum players, but they view it as worth it to have a big three of Lebron, AD, and Leonard. This could make them the favorite to win the NBA finals but only if they are able to convince Leonard that joining the team is his best move. It might be the smart choice for Kawhi as the Eastern Conference has only become tougher with all the free agency moves.
Starting with the winners of free agency so far the Brooklyn Nets as they have added Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Deandre Jordan, and Garrett Temple. Kevin Durant may not play next season, but with Kyrie and Deandre it makes them a top team in the East, this can make conference play even more interesting than last year. If Durant could even come back by the playoffs, it could make the Nets the dark horse team to win the finals. The Nets have certainly bounced back from being the bottom of the conference a few years ago and with all these moves have hurt many teams in the Eastern Conference. Such as the New York Knicks; as they have to settle for major loses without landing Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving, or Kevin Durant. They now settle for Julius Randle, Reggie Bullock, Taj Gibson, Elfrid Payton, Bobby Portis, and Wayne Ellington. These are players they hope can help the development of RJ Barrett and Dennis Smith Jr.
Moving on from the Knicks the 76ers have been quite busy as they decided to ship Jimmy Butler to the Heat in a sign and trade getting Josh Richardson and draft picks in return. Along with this, they were able to sign Tobias Harris for under the max which cleared up enough space for the team to add Center Al Horford. Making the 76ers a different team with a focus on the big men instead of guard play; it could work out for the 76ers as no team would have an answer for the matchups that a Simmons, Richardson, Harris, Horford, Embiid. As mentioned the Heat acquired Jimmy Butler making him the successor to Dwyane Wade, the marriage could be perfect as Butler will now have his own team that will build around him. The Heat are rumored to also be moving Goran Dragic in this trade and sign which would mean that the Heat are fully changing their team.
Another team going through changes is the Boston Celtics as in the sign in trade with Irving are also sending away Terry Rozier to Charlotte but will be getting Kemba Walker. They also added Enes Kanter as the Celtics will be looking to get back to a top seed in the East with Kemba running the show instead of Irving. Since Kemba will be coming in, they decided to send Rozier to the Hornets so they wouldn’t lose him without getting anything in return. The last major team to make moves were the Indiana Pacers as they traded for Malcolm Brogdon and Jeremy Lamb to add to Victor Oladipo. This will make the Pacers contenders for the top seed in the East.
Free Agency will continue to be interesting as Kawhi hasn’t signed and many players are waiting for him to decide where to go. Keep coming back for more articles as I will continue to write as fast as free agency moves.
