July 20th, 2019
Ever since Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors shocked the world to win their first NBA championship, the NBA an has had an eventful offseason to say the least. In about half a month, the landscape of the NBA has changed drastically and it is safe to say there is no more dynasty in the NBA. However, there are many notable dynamic duos that look to take the league by storm next year.
The free agency signing madness started on June 30th, when Kevin Durant joined forces with Kyrie Irving to take the Brooklyn Nets out of irrelevance and make them playoff contenders again. Durant signed a 4 year, $164 million deal and Irving signed a 4 year, $141 million deal; both deals are max deals. Despite the fact that Durant will miss almost all of next year due to injury, the Nets are still contenders in the East. The gates were busted open.
This was only one of several moves that happened in the early weeks of July. Another shocking move was Paul George moving to Los Angeles to play with the Clippers and he was able to recruit two-time NBA champion and reigning finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to play alongside with him. Kawhi signed a three year, $103 million deal with a player option to opt out before the third season. Paul George signed a 4 year, $137 million contract. Both are max deals. Kawhi told the Clippers if they could get Paul George, he would also become a Clipper. The Clippers gave up four unprotected picks in 2022, 2024, 2026 along with Miami’s unprotected first round selection in 2021 acquired in the three team deal that sent Tobias Harris to the 76ers. They also gave up a protected pick in 2023 that was acquired in the four team Jimmy Butler deal and two pick swaps in 2023 and 2025 as well as a pair of young prospects to bring in Paul George and subsequently Kawhi Leonard. All of a sudden, with this move, the Clippers are not the second best team in LA anymore. They might be better than the Lakers. Only time will tell. As unfortunate as it is for the Raptors to lose Kawhi Leonard; they won a championship with him, that was their only goal. The Derozan trade to acquire Leonard and Green was a huge risk because they could both leave after one year, but it paid off in the biggest way possible. The Raptors are hurt by the loss of Kawhi and Green but are 17-5 without him and have lots of young talent on the roster including Siakam, Anunoby, VanVleet, etc. As for the Clippers, acquiring a Paul George, a talented small forward and Kawhi Leonard, a shooting guard who is perhaps the best two-way player in the league, who can move the ball and shoot very well, it makes them championship contenders. Now Kawhi is close to his family and on a pretty talented team.
This was a very interesting and shocking move that created a ripple effect all across the NBA and was the catalyst for many other blockbuster trade in the NBA.
Also, the trades in free agency this year were wild before free agency actually even started on June 30th, when unrestricted free agents can sign wherever they want. The Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans were involved in a blockbuster deal in mid-June which sent Anthony Davis to the Lakers to play with Lebron James. In return, the Lakers agreed to send over Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three first-round picks – including the No. 4 overall in the 2019 draft, which turned into De’Andre Hunter, shooting forward from Virginia who was traded to the Atlanta Hawks. In return, the Pelicans got the eighth pick and drafted Jaxson Hayes, a center out of Texas, one of the Pelicans’ biggest needs along with power forward, which is why they drafted Zion Williamson first overall. The Lakers may have overpaid a little to acquire Anthony Davis, however it was necessary for the Lakers to get rid of many players on their roster to free up enough cap space to be able to offer another max contract to Anthony Davis while also still being under the salary cap and the luxury tax. They had a total cap, including dead cap space, is $120,745,716. They are $11,605,716 over the cap space or luxury tax of $109,140,000 but thanks to Larry Bird exception, Davis becomes a “qualifying veteran free agent” or "Bird Free Agent”. To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. Anthony Davis played the first seven years of his career with New Orleans and resigned with the Pelicans as a free agent multiple times. This allows the Lakers to avoid the luxury tax despite being over the salary cap. This shocking trade benefits both teams. The Lakers have a chance to contend for the title now, even in a talented western conference, with amazing talent like Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Demarcus Cousins, Danny Green amongst others and being in a good financial situation. Meanwhile, the Pelicans have lots of young talent like Zion Williamson, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Jaxson Hayes, three first-round picks and other draft picks in future years that if developed properly will benefit them in the near future.
As we talked about earlier, because the Thunder traded away Paul George, Russell Westbrook knew he could not win on his own, especially after not being able to win with Paul George by his side. Naturally, Westbrook demanded a trade and was shipped out to Houston to be reunited with James Harden and play alongside him. The Rockets sent Chris Paul, two protected first-round picks (2024 and 2026, both protected No. 1-4) and two pick swaps (2021 and 2025) to the Thunder for Paul George, league sources told ESPN. With their two superstars gone and with a numerous amount of draft picks over the next few years, everyone expects Chris Paul to be flipped from OKC to another destination (originally thought to be Miami but that isn’t happening anymore) because Chris Paul does not want to spend several years on a rebuilding team. Even with all the draft picks and young prospects, there is no guarantee they find another talent to replace the skills of PG and Westbrook, but in sports, nothing stays the same forever. Besides, they have a lot of draft picks, including a multitude of first rounders. There is a decent chance they draft someone good in the next few years but even if they do, he’ll have to develop. OKC will be in a rebuild for the next few seasons, but that’s sports. On the other hand, on paper, the duo of Westbrook and Harden will be amazing. Both can score points, move the ball, make plays, get rebounds and both are okay defenders, although I’d say Russ is better than Harden. The problem is, the Rockets now have two ball hungry guards on the back end of the floor at all times now; but they’ll be fighting over only one ball. This move could work, but it also might not. This will be interesting.
In a follow up of the Nets acquiring Irving and KD, the Warriors acquired D’Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade with the Nets, who are attempting to make cap space for their two super-stars. The Warriors are likely to trade Russell to the Memphis Grizzlies for a package centered around Robert Covington, an All-Defensive first team player in 2018. He only played 35 games before having surgery on his knee in early January, but in those games averaged 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds. He also makes less than $1 million annually and makes sense financially. The Warriors also traded all star defensive talent Andre Igoudala to the Memphis Grizzlies and got a few young guys in return, one of whom they waived.
In a four team deal, that involves the Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trail Blazers, 76ers shooting guard Jimmy Butler and Meyers Leonard from the Blazers went to the Heat. Heat center Hassan Whiteside was sent to the Trail Blazers. Josh Richardson, former Heat shooting guard will be a new member of the 76ers along with Al Horford, an ex power forward for the Boston Celtics who the 76ers signed on June 30th. The 76ers also resigned Tobias Harris. The 76ers have a lot of depth with Embiid, Simmons and these guys, expect them to be a force in the west. Although, they do need a bit of help at the point guard position. Simmons can;t shoot and he’s the only known player at the position. Finally, Maurice Harkless, a shooting forward for the Blazers and a future protected first round pick will be sent to Los Angeles to be playing on the Clippers. After all the smoke dissipated, Jimmy Butler signed a 4 year, $142 million dollar max contract the day free agency started on June 30th. Kawhi wanted to team up with Butler for the Clippers, but when he signed with the Heat, it looked like Kawhi would stay with the Raptors, but we all know how that turned out.
Another interesting and shocking move saw Kemba Walker - a long time Charlotte Hornet and quite possibly one of the best point guards they’ve ever had - leave the Hornets and sign a 4 year, $141 million max contract with the Celtics to replace the loss of Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Terry Rozier who signed a 3 year, $58 million deal in a sign and trade to play for the Hornets. I think Boston despite acquiring an amazing talent like Walker, they got worse from last year, but Irving was having trouble running a team without another superstar like Lebron James in Cleveland, so we’ll see. And last time Walker played for a New England team, he won a championship. And, undoubtedly, the Hornets got worse, especially with the loss of a franchise player like Walker.
Along with the Nets, the Lakers, Clippers and Pelicans were probably the biggest winners of this free agency. The biggest loser, though, was by far the New York Knicks. The epitome of mediocrity at their best, the Knicks did not earn the first overall pick, meaning Zion would not be playing at the Garden every night. Furthermore, they were late to the party, getting beat by their southern New York rivals in Brooklyn in the sweepstakes for KD and Irving. They haven’t had a first overall pick in the last 10 years despite always being close to - if not, are at - the bottom of the league standings. At least they have R.J Barrett, ex teammate of Zion, all star power forward out of Duke. Not to mention, most of the players the Knicks did acquire this free agency are power forwards. They have five, including Julius Randle, Kevin Knox, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson and Isaiah Hicks, all of whom they overpaid for. Meaning with all the roster spots filled and money spent on power forwards the rest of their positions are less than mediocre, mediocre at best. Have fun dividing minutes. Happy tanking Knicks.
There are still more trades to go over and talk about, but I believe I’ve talked about the most important ones. In conclusion, this year’s free agency has been one of the most wildest ones we’ve seen in the past few decades. All the trades and free agent signings combined with many players recruiting others to come play with others has been very interesting to watch and has restored balance in the NBA. There are no more super teams, not even the Warriors are a dynasty anymore, however, we do have several dynamic duos on plenty of teams in the Eastern and Western conferences. Not to mention, we have several teams that have been mediocre for the past few years in both conferences to be championship contenders such as the Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Pelicans, etc. I can’t wait for this upcoming NBA season.
