The Biggest Winners And Losers Of 2016 NBA Free Agency

With 2016 NBA free agency winding down, here’s a look at the league’s biggest winners and losers.

Just 16 days ago, the 2016 NBA free agency period kicked off. A little over two weeks and about 100 contract agreements later, free agency is all but over. There are still a few stragglers to sort out, but for the most part, we know the general lay of the land for the 2016-17 NBA season.

The question is, which cards changed to which hands? Which powers rose and fell in each conference? And did anything happen this offseason that can prevent another Finals rematch between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017?

While that last one seems inevitable, there are still plenty of big winners and losers to cover from this summer’s free agency, especially in an offseason featuring a historic cap jump from $70 million to $94 million.

Title contenders were assembled and demolished. Middling teams rose to prominence and fell into decay. Bottom-feeders brightened their future and slipped deeper into darkness. Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers from 2016 NBA free agency.

Next: Winner: Brooklyn Nets

Winner: Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets probably would’ve been even bigger winners had their offers for Tyler Johnson (four years, $50 million) and Allen Crabbe (four years, $75 million) not been matched by their respective teams, but it was still a fairly successful offseason for new general manager Sean Marks.

Adding some backcourt depth like Johnson or a young 3-and-D wing with potential like Crabbe would’ve been nice, but at the very least, Brooklyn forced Miami and Portland’s hands in paying up for their services.

To be honest, Marks’ ability to turn chicken s**t into chicken salad should be commended more than anything else. For a team that has no draft picks until Star Wars: Episode IX comes out and little appeal to prospective free agents, bringing in Jeremy Lin on a three-year, $36 million contract was an absolute steal.

Lin probably shouldn’t be the starter on a team that wants to be competitive, but he had a tremendous year with the Charlotte Hornets as sixth man and makes the Nets way more interesting as Linsanity returns to New York.

Trevor Booker is a solid veteran on another super cheap contract, and Justin Hamilton is an intriguing seven-footer who can shoot — the exact quality Marks targeted all summer as he made Johnson and Crabbe more lucrative offers.

A haul of Lin, Booker and Hamilton isn’t sexy, especially after the Nets traded Thaddeus Young for the draft pick that became Caris LeVert, an injury-prone combo guard/rookie. This team is still going to be terrible in 2016-17, but Marks proved himself to be competent at the very least, which is a significant step in the right direction.

Next: Loser: Miami Heat

Loser: Miami Heat

Quick inventory: Over the last two weeks, Pat Riley and the Miami Heat missed out on the summer’s best free agent, lost the greatest player in franchise history, lost two other starting wings and emerged with only Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson.

Yikes.

To be fair, even securing a meeting with Kevin Durant was significant. If KD wants to meet with your team, you set everything aside to meet with him. But with Riley prioritizing him and Whiteside over Dwyane Wade, the three-time champion and franchise star reached his breaking point.

Riley never met with Wade and reportedly wouldn’t offer him the third year Flash wanted on his deal. That kind of pride cost the franchise its star player, and even if overpaying for Wade at age 34 might have stunted the next phase of Heat basketball a la Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, there’s no doubt that losing the face of the franchise is a massive blow to morale and fan support.

Missing out on KD and losing Wade in the process hurts, even without Flash’s bloated contract on the books. Now throw in the fact that Luol Deng and Joe Johnson accepted other offers in the meantime and the Heat will be heavily investing in a Goran Dragic-Hassan Whiteside pairing.

Miami should have plenty of cap space next summer, and Riley will probably be aggressive in putting it to good use. But for now, the Heat are notable losers in this offseason.

Next: Winner: Golden State Warriors

Winner: Golden State Warriors

I mean, duh. You get the crown jewel of the summer’s free agency, 99.9 percent of the time you’re going to be a winner. Adding a former MVP and future Hall of Famer still in his prime to a 73-win team that should’ve won the NBA Finals is a terrifying prospect not only for 2016-17, but for the next half decade or so.

The Golden State Warriors now have the two players who won the last three league MVP Awards, they’ve got a perfect replacement for Harrison Barnes on the wing who can be plugged into an already deadly system, and somehow, Klay Thompson is now their fourth best player.

https://twitter.com/BalIersA/status/754315991287496708

The Dubs had to shed quite a bit of depth to get there, renouncing Barnes and Festus Ezeli, trading Andrew Bogut for peanuts and watching Marreese Speights and Leandro Barbosa sign elsewhere.

But Golden State also did a decent job replenishing that depth and replacing Bogut in the starting lineup, acquiring one of free agency’s biggest steals with Zaza Pachulia, who agreed to a deal worth a measly $2.9 million.

Pachulia is a serviceable defender and rebounder, and though he’s nowhere near Bogut’s level as an all-around player, WHO THE HELL CARES? THEY GOT KEVIN FREAKING DURANT.

Guys like the newly re-signed Ian Clark and James Michael McAdoo, not to mention rookies Damian Jones and Patrick McCaw, will need to hold their own in expanded roles, but the Warriors have quite possibly the most lethal lineup in NBA history.

Whenever you add a top-3 player to another top-3 player and assemble a five-man group deserving of names like the “Apocalypse Lineup,” you probably won the summer.

Next: Loser: New York Knicks

Loser: New York Knicks

If the New York Knicks were competing for the 2011 NBA championship, they’d be the hands on favorites. Unfortunately, they’re about six years too late. (I’ve made this joke many times on Twitter to the chagrin of Knicks fans everywhere, but I won’t stop now. It’s just too damn funny, and still 100 percent accurate.)

On the one hand, the Knicks will probably be a better team next year, and they may even make the playoffs. Derrick Rose is an upgrade over the withering Jose Calderon and the unprepared Jerian Grant, Joakim Noah could still be good if he’s healthy, Brandon Jennings provides backcourt depth and those Courtney Lee and Lance Thomas signings should be celebrated.

But a mixed bag like that ignores the last few years of injuries that have befallen Rose, Jennings, Noah AND Carmelo Anthony. Giving Kristaps Porzingis playoff experience sooner rather than later is a good thing, but signing some of these aging, injury-prone players to longer deals sacrifices flexibility for some delusion of Eastern Conference Finals grandeur.

The Knicks traded away the best player involved in the Derrick Rose trade by shipping off Robin Lopez too, since Rose is a shell of his former self these days.

Maybe he can rebuild his stock in one year in New York. Maybe Noah will go back to being the top-5 MVP candidate he was a few seasons ago. Maybe Jennings will light up the Garden off the bench, maybe Melo will mesh with another ball-dominant guy like Rose, and maybe Lee will be the glue that keeps it all together.

But that’s an awful lot of maybes for these Knicks, and even if the win total goes up next season, it’s been a poorly kept secret everywhere but Phil Jackson‘s office that New York needs to just trade Melo for younger assets and draft picks to rebuild around the Zinger.

Next: Winner: Utah Jazz

Winner: Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz are the sexiest team you probably won’t want to actually watch in 2016-17. Don’t get me wrong, they’re going to be a playoff team and a top-4 seed could even be in play depending on how well/healthy things go.

You just won’t want to watch that stifling defense hold opponents to 90 points a game every night, especially now that they’ve added depth and found their long-awaited upgrade at point guard.

In a pre-draft three-team trade, the Jazz shipped off the No. 12 pick and brought in George Hill, a proven veteran whose defense and efficient three-point shooting will bolster the starting lineup and ease the pressure on Dante Exum, who will be playing his second season after missing the 2015-16 campaign with an ACL tear.

Not only does Exum have a positive mentor in Hill, but the Jazz as a whole can learn a lot from still effective veterans like the newly acquired Boris Diaw and Joe Johnson.

Johnson lit opponents up playing for the Heat in the latter half of the season, while Diaw brings championship experience, versatility and the San Antonio Spurs culture to the table. General manager Dennis Lindsey should probably start getting a hell of a lot more credit than he’s received for this balanced and deep roster he’s assembled.

Looking around the West, the biggest pests on the Warriors’ path to a title might be the Spurs, Clippers…and this Utah Jazz team.

Next: Loser: Chicago Bulls

Loser: Chicago Bulls

When the Chicago Bulls traded Derrick Rose away, they were committing to the Jimmy Butler era and a rebuild. They were going to build a solid core around their 26-year-old star, allowing the ball to be in his hands more and, ideally, flank him with shooters that fit in better with head coach Fred Hoiberg‘s offensive schemes.

So what the f**k is the front office doing bringing in Rajon Rondo and a 34-year-old Dwyane Wade?

I get the justification. The Bulls needed a replacement for Rose — who brought in a quality starting center in Robin Lopez via trade — and Rondo was one of the best remaining options. Wade marks the return of a hometown hero, he’ll help sell tickets, he’s still pretty darn good and he could even help with recruiting in free agency down the road.

But at what cost? Wade and Rondo have both seen their fair share of injuries, and Chicago doesn’t exactly have a sterling track record when it comes to that sort of thing. And even if they do stay healthy, a Rondo-Wade-Butler trio might be the league’s most incompatible Big Three.

Rondo needs the ball in his hands to be successful, and though he shot a career-high 35.8 percent from downtown last year, this career 28.9 percent shooter from deep probably can’t be counted upon to spread the floor.

Ditto for Wade, who shot an abysmal 15.9 percent from three-point range last season and has a career mark of 28.4 percent. Even Butler, who shot 37.8 percent from distance two seasons ago, has a career mark of 32.8 percent. Oh, and Wade and Butler just so happen to play the same position. Good times!

Maybe Rondo will recapture some of his old magic playing on a team that actually matters in the league-wide scope. Maybe Wade will have another flashback season, and maybe they’ll somehow make it work despite a blatant lack of perimeter touch.

But that will require both Wade and Rondo to do something they haven’t done in years — give a damn on the defensive end — while also sacrificing touches to the guy who should be the team’s alpha dog. Best of luck with that.

Next: Winner: Boston Celtics

Winner: Boston Celtics

Draft night was a bit of a disappointment for the Boston Celtics, even for fans who were onboard with taking Jaylen Brown at No. 3. But general manager Danny Ainge put that cap space to work, hauling in one of the summer’s best free agents and being one of the finalists in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes.

Though Isaiah Thomas‘ powers of persuasion (and Tom Brady’s!) weren’t enough to pull it off, the Celtics still managed to support an already strong core with an ideal fit in Al Horford. Best of luck scoring on a top-5 defense that just added one of the league’s most underrated interior defenders.

Horford doesn’t put up big numbers, but his range will help spread the floor for Boston’s penetrators. Keep in mind, this is a guy who shot a respectable 34.4 percent from three-point range last season despite multiplying his career-high number of three-point attempts per game by six…at age 30.

Brad Stevens is the wunderkind of the NBA head coaching ranks, the Celtics didn’t have to give anyone up to add Horford and they’ve still got flexibility and future assets to add a superstar if the opportunity presents itself.

The Celtics probably shouldn’t hold their breath on landing a Blake Griffin or a Russell Westbrook this summer, but with Horford joining the party, they may have launched themselves into the conversation of “biggest threat to Cleveland in the East.”

Next: Loser: Los Angeles Lakers

Loser: Los Angeles Lakers

Let’s start off with a couple of caveats in defense of what the Los Angeles Lakers did this summer.

For starters, the Lakers had to spend their money somewhere. They’ve still got a solid youth movement going on between Brandon Ingram, D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle and Larry Nance Jr., and nothing they did this summer changes that.

Luol Deng will be a tremendous locker room presence for a Lakers team that badly needed one last year; Timofey Mozgov addresses the 5-spot with a mobile, rim-protecting center; the Clarkson extension was a downright steal; and getting Jose Calderon for next to nothing added some backcourt experience and depth.

HOWEVER.

Giving Timofey Mozgov $64 million over four years is still a massive overpay, even under the new salary cap. It’s not just the dollar signs that are eye-popping, but the length of the contract makes no sense for a team that will eventually need a superior long-term option at the center spot.

Deng is still a useful player and will be a positive presence in the locker room, but he’s also being drastically overpaid. Again, the Lakers had to spend their money somewhere, but another four-year contract for a 31-year-old is not a great look.

Clarkson’s contract was a total bargain, but adding Jose Calderon and then re-signing Marcelo Huertas seems like a completely unnecessary measure for a backcourt that’s already crammed with Russell, Clarkson, Nick Young and Lou Williams.

Combine all of this with a complete inability to even land a meeting with this summer’s marquee free agents and it was a fairly underwhelming offseason outside of the draft. The Lakers didn’t need superstars this summer; if anything, they should have been avoided with the focus being on a total, youth-driven rebuild.

But the storied history of this franchise can no longer hide the fact that this is a very bad/young team, and even with money to blow, giving four years to an elderly swingman and a center coming off a major year of regression is not ideal. For now, “how the mighty have fallen” feels appropriate.

Next: Winner: Detroit Pistons

Winner: Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons might have been the Utah Jazz of the East in terms of an under-the-radar summer where they addressed some major areas of need. You have to give Stan Van Gundy credit: In hardly any time at all, he’s built this team in his image and assembled a very promising core.

Aside from the expected Andre Drummond extension, which ensures Detroit’s cornerstone is around for the long haul, SVG went about supplementing the Pistons’ core with depth, interior presence and perimeter shooting.

Though you’d hardly call Ish Smith a marksman, he addresses a very clear need at the backup point guard spot that was occupied by the house elf Dobby Steve Blake. Having that kind of speed and facilitation out of the backup spot is a great find, especially at the bargain price of $18 million over three years.

Van Gundy also capitalized on Jon Leuer, a stretch-big who quietly had a great 2015-16 season with the Phoenix Suns. Leuer can knock down threes (38.2 percent last year), rebound and make fundamentally sound plays that he never was able to display in his time in Memphis.

Finally, adding Boban Marjanovic gives Detroit some much needed frontcourt depth behind Drummond. Even better, Boban is a fairly efficient free throw shooter (76.3 percent) who can come in and knock down a few freebies when other teams resort to Hack-A-Drummond.

The Pistons aren’t Eastern contenders, but with a promising core locked in, Drummond on the rise and some quality depth filling out the roster, there’s no question Detroit enjoyed a solid offseason.

Next: Loser: Dallas Mavericks

Loser: Dallas Mavericks

It’s not fair to put the Dallas Mavericks in the “loser” category, especially since they’re a team capable of winning a playoff series next spring. In fact, they’ll probably be an even better version of this year’s team that nobody thought would make the playoffs and then stole a game from a vastly superior Thunder team.

However, as nice as some of the supporting pieces are for Mark Cuban and company, this is just another case of putting duct tape and glue on pipes that have long needed the attention and care of a trained professional.

On the bright side, landing a young, underrated, versatile forward like Harrison Barnes is a great way to replace Chandler Parsons. Re-signing the upside of Dwight Powell makes sense, Deron Williams will return on a manageable deal, Seth Curry was a great find for depth, the Mavs got a top-10 center in Andrew Bogut in a trade for peanuts and Dirk Nowitzki got a long overdue pay day.

But as happy as all that sounds, here’s the reality: The Mavs once again struck out on all the marquee free agents, only landing Barnes and Bogut after the Warriors had scored Kevin Durant. Another somber note: Nowitzki’s career will likely end in another first or second round playoff defeat.

To some, this conclusion to a Hall of Fame career is far more preferable to the alternate dimension where Cuban decides to bottom out last summer, tank for a higher draft pick and let Nowitzki fly the coop to chase another title down by the Bay.

But isn’t it kind of unsettling that a guy who took pay cut after pay cut to keep the team competitive is now (indirectly) the cause of the Mavs entering a Kobe-Lakers type finish to their historic partnership?

As Cuban continually trips over himself to give Dirk a shot at the playoffs, the Mavs strike out on star free agents and have trouble actually building for the future post-Nowitzki. Nobody should complain about the pay day, but by trying to keep the team competitive year after year with these short fixes, the Mavs have dug themselves quite a hole for the day when Dirk hangs up his jersey.

Barnes has defensive versatility and three-point shooting, and he’s far better than he showed in the Finals at age 24, but he also struggled immensely at times with the Warriors while being the (wide open) fourth or fifth option. His progression from role player to main contributor will be key to how we view this summer years down the road, especially after signing that massive $95 million deal.

The Mavs do have some youth, and it feels wrong to call a bonafide playoff team one of free agency’s “losers.” But losing out on Hassan Whiteside deprived Dallas of a center for the future, and at the end of the day, the Mavs’ ceiling at the tail-end of Dirk’s career is a second round playoff team yet again.

Next: Winner: Memphis Grizzlies

Winner: Memphis Grizzlies

With a healthy Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Zach Randolph, the Memphis Grizzlies are still a very good team. The problem is that didn’t happen often last season, but at least grit-n-grind will get another shot at annoying the rest of the league with an improved core in 2016-17.

Conley signed the largest contract in NBA history, but bringing him back is just the beginning. The first domino in that whole equation was Chandler Parsons agreeing on a four-year, $98.5 million deal that addressed a definitive position of need on the wing for the Grizz.

Like Gasol and Z-Bo, Parsons has questions to answer about his health. He’s missed 70 games through the first five seasons of his career, including 37 over the last two years. At what point does the injury-proneness overshadow the shooting and scoring he’ll bring to the table?

This could be an issue for Memphis’ aging Big Three, with Conley re-signed on a five-year deal this summer and the 31-year-old Gasol signed to a five-year deal last summer.

That being said, the Grizzlies kept their man and managed to add a very talented wing who can play the 4 in small-ball lineups. Memphis may never use him that way with the frontcourt they have, but having a little flexibility never hurt anyone.

If Parsons can stay healthy, this summer will be celebrated as the moment grit-n-grind became truly dangerous. But for a team whose core was running out of steam, at the very least this move will inject some forward momentum for another crack at being Western Conference dark horses.

Next: Loser: Orlando Magic

Loser: Orlando Magic

Three letters could sum up what the Orlando Magic have done since the calendar flipped to 2016: W, T and F.

While it’s no secret that management has wanted the Magic back in the playoffs sooner rather than later, the promising foundations of such a young core weren’t given the proper time to develop together. Now, some of the team’s most promising cornerstones are gone.

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Before the trade deadline, the Magic still had Tobias Harris, Victor Oladipo and a useful veteran in Channing Frye. They traded Harris away for Brandon Jennings (gone via free agency) and Ersan Ilyasova (gone via the Serge Ibaka trade). Then they dealt Oladipo — along with the No. 11 pick — for Ibaka, a rim protecting stretch-4 who declined in both areas next season.

Orlando’s overnight shift from youth development to win-now mode is baffling, though you can hardly blame general manager Rob Hennigan for fighting for his job. Still, even with the Evan Fournier extension and Oladipo’s departure freeing up minutes for Mario Hezonja, it was one head-scratching move after another in Orlando this summer.

The D.J. Augustin overpay. That massive $15 million salary for Jeff Green, even if it’s only for one year. Adding Bismack Biyombo on a humongous new deal to a frontcourt that already has Ibaka, Nikola Vucevic, Jeff Green and Aaron Gordon.

And of course, there’s the infamous Ibaka trade that saw Orlando deal away one of its most promising players, a lottery pick and the last piece received in the Tobias Harris deal. Ibaka is a great player, but will he be the piece that actually leads Orlando to the postseason?

Only time will tell, but the pressure is on Orlando to fight for a playoff spot and ensure the front office didn’t trade away all that potential for nothing. Incidentally though, that may still be the case, since this current roster tops out as a first round playoff exit.

Next: Cleveland Cavaliers

Winner: Cleveland Cavaliers

For the defending champs, keeping the core together was the biggest objective for the summer. Other than Matthew Dellavedova, a non-essential piece, the Cleveland Cavaliers accomplished that task and more or less will be bringing the whole gang back for another go-round in 2016-17.

Will that be enough to take down the revamped Warriors? Probably not. But the Cavs also supplemented some of their depth in a few cost-effective moves. Turning Milwaukee’s four-year offer sheet on Delly into a sign-and trade was pure genius, but that was just the beginning.

The Cavs also re-signed Richard Jefferson to a two-year, $5 million deal, which is a bargain for a player who was able to step into the starting lineup in the Finals and help take down the mighty Dubs.

Then there was the Mike Dunleavy trade, where LeBron James‘ team helped facilitate Dwyane Wade’s move back to Chicago. Dunleavy couldn’t stay healthy last year, but he’s a fiery (and sometimes dirty) competitor who can knock down threes at a 40 percent.

Between that floor-spacing and his penchant for hitting people in the nuts that would make Draymond Green proud, Dunleavy could be useful in a Warriors rematch. The signing of Chris Andersen helps negates the loss of Mozgov, who was all but eliminated from the rotation by season’s end.

The Cavs didn’t make any splashy moves like the Splash Brothers’ franchise did, but they didn’t have to. They’re the defending champs until they’re not the defending champs anymore, and by bolstering the edge of the rotation, they made sure a possible rematch next season won’t be completely one-sided.

Next: Loser: Oklahoma City Thunder

Loser: Oklahoma City Thunder

We close with the most obvious loser of 2016 NBA free agency: the team that did everything in its power to keep its greatest player, but lost him anyway.

At the end of the day, you can’t blame Kevin Durant for turning his back on a title contender to join a vastly superior one, even if the Oklahoma City Thunder were oh-so-close to knocking off the Dubs in the Western Conference Finals.

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If it weren’t for Klay Thompson’s 41-point detonation in Game 6 of that series, we might be talking about how KD and Russell Westbrook led the Thunder to their first ever championship (no, I don’t count the Seattle SuperSonics’ accomplishments here).

Instead, the Thunder had to watch as the team they nearly bested went on to lose the title after leading the series 3-1, just as OKC did. Then they had to watch their superstar and best shot at a championship go and join that very same team.

For KD, it was the best basketball decision, which is scary for the future of the Thunder. What if Russ decides similarly next summer when he hits free agency? There have been talks about trading Westbrook now and building from the ground up once again to avoid another scenario where the superstar leaves the organization empty-handed.

Those talks feel premature, especially after the Thunder just got a nice package of Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and Domantas Sabonis for Ibaka. Making such a move to strengthen the roster for KD stings following his departure, but a backcourt of Westbrook and Oladipo could be all kinds of fun.

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The Thunder aren’t down and out by any means, and watching the Russell Westbrook Show every night will be delightful. But OKC’s best shot at a title ended in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, and ever since then, the Thunder have been crushed by a never-ending stream of demoralizing dominoes.