Sports
7 NBA Teams That Blew It This Offseason – Bleacher Report
While the 2023 NBA offseason isn’t technically over, we’ve got a pretty good idea of which teams won the summer and which ones simply didn’t do enough.
These are the latter, the franchises who either messed up the draft, free agency or trades or have chosen the path of mediocrity, which in the NBA, is the worst path of all.
Yes, a Damian Lillard or James Harden trade could change things, although neither appear to be particularly close. As it stands, these are the seven teams that blew it this offseason.
After winning 43 and 41 games the past two years, the Hawks look like they’ll once again finish in the middle of the East after not really doing much this summer.
Dumping John Collins’ contract on the Utah Jazz for a 2026 second-round pick was a huge disappointment, even if Collins’ role had declined each of the few years. When Trae Young and Dejounte Murray were on the floor with Collins last season, the Hawks had a net rating of plus-3.3. When the two star guards played without Collins, this number fell to minus-7.4, or a 10.1-points-per-100-possessions swing.
The additions Atlanta made were minor. Patty Mills is 35 and Wesley Matthews will turn 37 in October. Rookie Kobe Bufkin could be good in time but shot just 33.3 percent overall and 13.8 percent from three in Summer League at Las Vegas. Asking him to contribute to a playoff team this year may be a stretch.
We don’t have clarity on the futures of Onyeka Okongwu or Saddiq Bey yet either, as neither have signed rookie extensions to this point and Clint Capela is still blocking Okongwu’s path to a starting job.
The Hawks have to hope that a full training camp with Quin Snyder (who went 10-11 after taking over the job last season) will make a true difference.
For now, there’s more questions than answers in Atlanta, a team that still looks like a .500 squad again this year.
The Big 3 in Chicago of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević didn’t work two years ago after Lonzo Ball was lost to knee surgery and once again fell flat with Ball sitting out the 2022-23 season.
Despite two years of evidence, the Bulls front office still decided to re-sign Vučević to a three-year, $60 million contract and keep LaVine and DeRozan. The trio will earn a combined $86.5 million this season, yet had a net rating of plus-0.7 last year in 3,334 total possessions.
If mediocrity is what this franchise wanted, then mission accomplished.
Finding a pass-first point guard who can defend to take Ball’s place as the new starting floor general should have been a must, yet a Jevon Carter signing was the best Chicago could do. Carter is a fine rotation player, but he’s not going to push this team into the playoffs.
After three years we still don’t really know what Patrick Williams will be or what kind of contract extension he could sign before the season begins. The Bulls’ best trade piece, he could have been the key to getting a point guard upgrade and maximizing the current trio.
There’s also no clarity of DeRozan’s future, as the six-time All-Star is heading for unrestricted free agency next summer. Trading him this offseason may have been best for both parties, especially since Chicago owns the rights to its 2024 first-round pick after surrendering their 2023 first to the Orlando Magic via the Vučević trade.
The Bulls are headed towards the play-in tournament once again, with no real hope of internal improvements to be made.
The Clippers could be a top-5 seed in the West again, although a relatively quiet summer is giving the teams behind them a real chance to catch up.
This team is only getting older and more expensive, with a roster projected to cost over $300 million in salary and luxury tax. Kawhi Leonard is 32, Paul George is 33 and Russell Westbrook will turn 35 in November. Players like Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris Sr., Robert Covington and Mason Plumlee are all 32-to-34 years of age as well.
Simply wishing for a healthy roster may not be enough anymore, either.
The core of Leonard, George and Westbrook had an uninspiring net rating of plus-1.8 together, with the Clippers offense dropping by 6.4 points per 100 possessions (15th percentile) with Westbrook on the floor. The point guard position isn’t settled by any means with Westbrook re-signing, and a potential James Harden trade may only complicate the locker room chemistry given the desire by both veteran guards to split after playing just one season together with the Houston Rockets in 2019-20.
Tyronn Lue is one of the best coaches in basketball, although he and the Clippers were unable to come to terms on an extension this summer, meaning he’ll likely become a coaching free agent in 2024, per Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes. L.A. needs to keep Lue on the sideline, even if it means resetting the coaching contract market. Not getting a deal done was a disappointment.
The Clippers have a solid roster, but with so many teams set to potentially leapfrog them (Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans), there wasn’t enough done this summer to even guarantee a playoff spot in 2023-24.
It’s easy to forget that the Sixers’ offseason began with them firing Doc Rivers in an effort to please James Harden and convince him to want to stay.
Of course, this move was done in vain given Harden’s persistent desire to leave, even with Nick Nurse how at the helm.
Harden and the Sixers need each other. Philly isn’t going to get equal value in terms of pure talent back in a trade, and Harden has a real shot at a title here playing with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris. With a new clause in the CBA stating that the Sixers can block Harden from entering free agency in 2024 if he doesn’t report to training camp within 30 days, we’re headed for an ugly battle between player and organization unless a deal gets done.
Outside of the Harden fiasco, the rest of the offseason has just been OK. Patrick Beverley is 35 and a non-factor on offense. Danny Green is 36 and is a borderline rotation player at this stage of his career. Mo Bamba is interesting, but Philly will be his third team since the start of last season after he averaged just 3.7 points in 9.8 minutes following a mid-season trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
This, combined with the losses of Georges Niang and Jalen McDaniels in free agency, have led to a disaster of an offseason for the Sixers unless the Harden saga ends on a positive note.
The Damian Lillard band aid continues to be slowly peeled away instead of getting ripped off, as we’re now 11 weeks removed from his initial trade request.
Everything about this situation this summer has been messy. From the Blazers claiming they wanted to build a winner around Dame only to draft a point guard in Scoot Henderson at No. 3 overall, to agreeing to give Jerami Grant $160 million just a day before Lillard’s request was revealed, mistakes have been made all around.
There should have been a firm line drawn in the sand at the beginning of the offseason, with a true deadline to make a decision about what was best for both parties. Had the Blazers agreed to trade Lillard before the draft, there could have been more and better offers available. Had Lillard made his request known before free agency, Portland wouldn’t be on the hook to pay Grant $36.4 million in his age-33 season.
Lillard should eventually get traded before the start of the season, but what about the rest of the Blazers’ veterans? Grant (who’s not eligible to be traded until Dec. 15 now) and Jusuf Nurkić are stuck on a rebuilding team when they should have been moved earlier this summer.
Portland could eventually come out of this alright if Lillard fetches a hefty return and they can deal Grant and Nurkić by the February trade deadline en route to a top pick in the 2024 draft.
For now, this has been a messy, chaotic and uncomfortable offseason for everyone in Northwest Oregon.
Is Toronto still trying to win after signing Jakob Poeltl and Dennis Schröder this offseason? Or is the team inevitably headed towards a rebuild after losing Fred VanVleet and with Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby set to become unrestricted free agents next summer?
Apparently, not even the Raptors know.
After parting ways with head coach and 2019 championship winner Nick Nurse, Toronto pegged Memphis Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajaković as their new leading man. As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski wrote, however:
“The Raptors wanted a coach whom they believed could coach a contending team should the franchise stay on its current path with veterans, or a rebuilding roster should they eventually transform the roster to younger players and draft assets, sources said.”
Watching VanVleet walk out the door for nothing was crippling for the franchise, and giving Poeltl four years and $78 million was kind of a must after trading their 2024 first-round pick and more for the veteran center.
Even if the Raptors wanted to rebuild, they’ve now forced themselves to be really bad in order to keep their next first-round pick (top-six protected) or else the selection goes to the San Antonio Spurs.
This is now a team with no real direction, no long-term security from some of its top stars and potentially no first-round pick.
Choosing to rebuild instead of winning 35-40 games a year in the middle of the East was the right choice by Washington, although the franchise chose to change the paint colors and swap out a sink when they should have completely torn everything down to the studs.
The meager Bradley Beal trade return wasn’t the fault of this front office, and turning Chris Paul’s expiring contract into Jordan Poole and a future first-round pick should age nicely. Even if Poole is set to make $128 million over the next four years, his numbers are going to pop this season as a leading man. Getting Tyus Jones for Kristaps Porziņģis when he could have left in free agency was by far the best move of the summer for the Wizards.
With that being said, why stop where they did?
Re-signing Kyle Kuzma to a four-year, $90 million contract may not make him all that attractive as a trade candidate. Giving him a 15 percent trade kicker was just silly as well, especially since he’ll almost certainly be on the market by Christmas.
There’s still way too many veterans on this roster to be the worst team in the NBA, something the Wizards should be shooting for. Jones could help a number of teams at point guard (hello, Chicago Bulls!) while Delon Wright, Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala, Landry Shamet and Kuzma now sit around and wait to be dealt.
This should have turned into a complete rebuild this summer, not a halfway attempt at one.