NBA free agency winners and losers: Hawks and Rockets soar while Lakers stall | NBA

IIt is a secular agreement among fans and analysts of the NBA to arrive at premature conclusions about a week in free agency, and although it is from me to move away from tradition. So here are the very first winners and losers in the NBA musical chairs of this season, so far:

The winners

Atlanta Hawks

I am old enough to remember when a team of Hawks led by the young Trae made the final of the Eastern Conference there are a few seasons. Since then, their decrease in the status of competitor has been steep: the experience Dejounte Murray came and came, and the commercial gossip around Young are not stronger. But this season is clearly different and this is largely due to an offseason of Bangin of the Atlanta Front Office. In a way, they convinced New Orleans’ Pelicans to abandon an unprotected first round choice next year just to set up 10 lean places in the project (!! more on this subject later), and overthrowed players without consequences Térance Mann and Georges Niang for Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard. Almost overnight, they have become one of the deepest east teams. And they were already on something last year, with the overall choice of Zacharie Risacher, the most improved player Dyson Dyson and and the defensive candle Jalen Johnson, who returns from an injury. This is the best blow that Trae Young has ever had real noise in a weakened Orient.

Denver Nuggets

The Kroenkes, who own nuggets, could never be accused of being fast and loose with their money. Last week, Josh Kroenke raised his eyebrows when he has flown away with casualness the idea of ​​negotiating the best player on land Nikola Jokić if the team’s tax bill has become too steep. But credit where it is due: Denver has a great off -season. They unloaded Michael Porter Jr’s contract of the aging type (as well as a first unprotected first round in 2032, a bridge they cross when they get there) in exchange for the Buzz Cameron Johnson magnet, a much better adjustment next to Jokić and the one who earns almost half. They also brought Bruce Brown Jr back to a minimum veteran agreement, an absolute flight for a player they cruelly missed during his companion stay around the League. A bizarre last minute reversal by Jonas Valancunas, who would have fallen from the signature with Denver to return to Europe, caused a brief overview. But all in all, are the Nuggets from “are they really about to waste the Jokić bonus?” to “competitor in good faith” in a few days.

Houston Rockets

No one has a better summer than the Rockets. After a laudable season which saw them emerge as surprise n ° 2 of 2 in a stacked West conference, and without a real superstar, the head coach Ime Udoka obtained an appointment of the well-deserved coach of the year. They entered the offseason with a young, deep and exciting (but always imperfect) list, and a blatant need for a clipper and a closer offensive. Enter Kevin Durant. Houston won the future renowned temple by only abandoning the Jalen Green in charge of questions, the Mercurial Dillon Brooks and the modest capital of the project. They did not stop there. The Rockets kept Fred Vanvleet, added the Capela Clint Capela rescue center and quietly hung a 3-D Dorian Finney-Smith of the Lakers wing. Now they are exactly where any team wants to be: deep, balanced and started to face the defending champion Thunder.

Losers

New Orleans Pélicans

Self -awareness is one of the most precious skills in life, especially when managing the NBA front office. Pelicans, it seems, are rare. They opened the off -season by exchanging Jordan Poole (?) unprotected 2025 Pick of first round to increase only 10 places in this year’s draft (from n ° 23 to n ° 13 to be specific). For those who keep trace at home: there is no reason to believe that New Orleans will even be a game team in a Western conference in charge next season, not to mention the qualifying series, and this choice they abandoned could easily end up as the number 1 overall (especially if the injury bug continues to afflict them). This means that there is a non -zero chance that the Pelicans have just given the rights to the generational perspective AJ Dybantsa … for the privilege of setting up 10 slots in a project where they already had two first rounds. Madness.

Milwaukee Bucks

Listen, we all made desperate decisions in a panic mist to prevent someone from leaving. It is fundamental for the human condition. But the extent to which the bucks are completely and fully cooked when Giannis Antetokounmpo, 31, requires a profession, a result that feels more inevitable day by day, cannot be overestimated. When Damian Lillard and his $ 56 million salary fell indefinitely with a break from Achilles this spring, Milwaukee panicked and understandable. But to give up and stretch Lillard means $ 22 million in dead money … every year For the next five years. And they did this to create a space to sign Myles Turner, who replaces the veteran of departure Brook Lopez. Turner is a solid starting center, of course, but barely a needle engine enough to raise the essentially identical list of a loser in the first round to the glory of the championship, and certainly not a value of almost $ 50 million Milwaukee will now pay between his salary and the acquisition of Lillard. Panic instinct is understandable. The results could prove to be catastrophic.

LeBron James and Luka Dončić

From the point of view of the front office, the Lakers go up high. The team has just been selling for a record of $ 10 billion to the Dodgers controlling the owner Mark Walter and, for the moment, at least, they still have the jewel of the crown of one of the most unbalanced professions in the history of the NBA on their list. But for the said Crown Jewel, Luka Dončić, and his childhood idol who has become teammate Lebron James, the prospects are not so pink. The range of society from Land Land is that it favors future flexibility on winning movements, but it looks like a ridiculous vanity. To start, when will the last time go back to a real game changer really reached a free agency instead of signing the maximum and asking for a job later? And LeBron, now 40 years old and leaving a season where he finished sixth in the MVP vote and made the second All-NBA team, clearly does not correspond to this long-term chronology. Even Dončić, at 26 years old and entering his peak, does not have time to wait. Yes, they technically addressed their blatant hole in the center by adding Deandre Ayton on a takeover, and Jake Laravia was a nice low-cost pick-up at the front. But after losing the nearby friend and the key contributor to Dončić, Dorian Finney-Smith in a free agency, would not have been very good, there are still serious holes in this list. And few signs the front office feels an emergency to fill them. Dončić and James deserve better.

Honorable mention

Indiana Pacers fans

Since a match of a championship and one of the most exciting young teams in the league to look at the one -year barrel without Tyrese Haliburton and to watch the 10 -year -old veteran, Myles Turner, walking freely due, allegedly, to the reluctance of Pacers’ property to go to the luxury tax. It was a few weeks difficult to be a fan of the Pacers, and they have my most sincere sympathies.