The biggest winners and losers of 2017 NBA free agency

Winner: Houston Rockets

As the rest of the league takes shelter, the Houston Rockets proudly walked into the void, looked up at the hellfire raining down around them and heroically raised two middle fingers. Most teams are content to take the patient approach, but with James Harden submitting some historically great seasons, it was time to make more moves to capitalize on the prime of his career.

Aside from that eye-popping extension for the Beard himself, GM Daryl Morey pulled off the power move of the summer by executing a trade for Chris Paul. Though it cost Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and a first round pick, the Rockets now have perhaps the two best facilitators in the NBA on the same roster.

There are questions about how CP3 and Harden will mesh, since both are ball-dominant players, but under Mike D’Antoni, there’s too much basketball intelligence for it to not work. Throw in the defensive improvements that will come from P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute and Clint Capela‘s internal growth, and few teams had a better summer than Houston.

Loser: San Antonio Spurs

When Pau Gasol opted out of his $16.2 million player option to give the San Antonio Spurs salary cap flexibility, the league braced itself for what power move would come next. Unfortunately for the team that was once Golden State’s greatest threat, it never came.

There were no Chris Paul or Kyle Lowry power plays, nor was there a LaMarcus Aldridge trade. Instead, the Spurs re-signed Patty Mills and an aged Manu Ginobili, landed Rudy Gay and Joffrey Lauvergne, lost Jonathon Simmons to a completely manageable deal and wound up re-signing Gasol for nearly the same amount he opted out of ($16 million).

Expecting the Spurs to pull off home run after home run every year is unfair, but they also did nothing to close the gap on the Warriors. Meanwhile, their biggest Texan rival did. Maybe we’re underestimating Kawhi Leonard, but San Antonio arguably got worse as the Warriors somehow got better.