The NBA’s free agency frenzy has come to an end. A lot of players have moved around and in the end, there were a lot of winners and losers. The biggest loser is the Eastern Conference, which is now significantly weaker than the West. That was already the case but we saw the likes of Paul Millsap, Paul George and Jimmy Butler head west, which will only increase the imbalance.
Nonetheless, let’s take a look at the teams that were the biggest losers in NBA free agency this year (four of them come from the east).
New York Knicks
The Knicks again looked like losers. Phil Jackson was dumped and while many people pointed the finger of blame at him, whoever is running the team now just signed Tim Hardaway Jr. to a $71 million contract. In other words, nothing has changed.
Remember that the Knicks drafted Hardaway Jr., then traded him away for Jerian Grant, then traded Grant for Derrick Rose. And then the Knicks passed on Rose so that they’d have the cap space to sign Hardaway Jr.
They still don’t have a veteran point guard, they still haven’t moved Carmelo Anthony and they still don’t have depth. What a mess.
Miami Heat
The Heat had been hoping to land Gordon Hayward. Instead, they’ll be paying Dion Waiters and Kelly Olynyk $102 million over the next four seasons. While that sounds harsh, the key for the Heat was to add something and they really weren’t able to do so. They missed on Kevin Durant last year and whiffed on Hayward and Blake Griffin this year. They’re missing the top-end talent they so desperately crave.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers were likely heading for rebuild anyway but they were stripped away of whatever they had. With Paul George forcing their hand, they dumped him. However, they should have worked more efficiently to get more. All they got in return was Victor Oladipo, who has a pretty bad contract, and Domatas Sabonis, who looks like a bench player at best so far. The Pacers also watched Jeff Teague walk out the door along with C.J. Miles and then they waived Monta Ellis.
One of the few additions they made was Darren Collison, a player that they didn’t want to keep a few years ago. The Pacers are going to be one of the worst teams in the NBA next season.
Cleveland Cavaliers
For all of the talk about the moves that Cavaliers would make, nothing came to fruition. That’s simply because they don’t have any assets that anybody else wants. Sure, there was talk of Kevin Love for Paul George, but excuse the Pacers – or anyone else – for not wanting anything to do with Love and his humongous contract. And nobody wants Iman Shumpert or J.R. Smith. The Cavs missed out on George and Jimmy Butler, and pretty much anyone else.
And don’t forget that Chauncey Billups politely declined their offer to become their next general manager – a position that is still vacant. They’ve made no impact additions and that’s a big concern when you factor how much better Boston got.
New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans were pinned between a rock and a hard place, and signed Jrue Holiday to a five-year, $125 million contract. That essentially wrapped up the team’s offseason as they didn’t have the financial flexibility to do anything else. While it makes sense, in some regards, one has to wonder how much worse the Pelicans would be had they passed on Holiday and offered $60 million over three years to Jeff Teague. Probably not much worse for wear.
Holiday has missed at least 15 games in four straight seasons and he’s never played in an All-Star game either. That’s a lot of money to pay for an average starter. Because of that, the Pelicans weren’t able to get anything else done, which means it’s just Holiday, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins for one more year. Considering how strong the West is, the Pelicans very likely won’t be in the playoffs.
The 2017 NBA futures are out. It’s been a wild offseason already, but keep an eye on the betting lines as they move around at Diamond Sportsbook! Get the latest NBA betting lines right here.
