What Every Team Must Fix During 2025 NBA Offseason
Optimism runs in heavy supply during the NBA offseason.
While a lot of that is tied to the ideas of fresh starts and new beginnings, there's also the opportunity to do something better than before.
That's because every team—from top-shelf contenders to bottom-feeding ping-pong ball-watchers—has a problem in need of fixing. And every team can entertain the idea that it is capable of being fixed over the upcoming summer months.
Let's soak up some of that optimism while identifying the one thing each franchise is hoping to iron out this summer.
Atlanta Hawks: Finding a Lane
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Back in April 2023, Kevin O'Connor, then with The Ringer, brought word that the Hawks ownership had given their front office "the green light" to consider Trae Young trades.
Two years later, the scoring guard continues to elicit trade speculation.
That's partly because he has proved tricky to build a winner around, but it draws more from the fact that Atlanta's commitment to him remains unclear. And it's not just surrounding Young, but the focus of the entire franchise is tricky to pin down.
The Hawks have managed to piece together an intriguing young core, but when they moved Bogdan Bogdanović and De'Andre Hunter at the deadline, they gained established veterans and financial flexibility—not first-round draft picks.
Atlanta enters this offseason in need of organizational alignment. If the goal is to win with Young, who's extension-eligible, then the talent base needs beefing up.
If the aim is to prioritize the young players such as Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels and 2024 top pick Zaccharie Risacher, then Young is one of several veterans who should be shopped in search of roster-building assets.
Boston Celtics: Their Untenable Finances
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In early May, ESPN's Shams Charania told The Pat McAfee Show that "the rest of the league is bracing for some level of change to come to the Celtics roster this offseason."
The timing of that report feels significant since it came before Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles and before Boston's hopes of a successful title defense were extinguished by the New York Knicks.
In other words, the Celtics were thinking about cutting costs while chasing a second consecutive ring. Imagine the kind of things they might be pondering now. Boston, which is probably out of the 2025-26 title race long before it starts thanks to Tatum's absence, is looking at roughly $500 million in salary and luxury-tax costs. The juice can't possibly be worth the squeeze at this price.
So, changes clearly are coming, but how big could Boston go?
NBA insider Marc Stein reported the Celtics are "more apt" to move Jrue Holiday than Derrick White and that Kristaps Porziņģis is considered "the most movable Boston vet" due to his expiring deal.
But Holiday, who turns 35 in June, has declining numbers and an escalating contract cost, and Porziņģis can't seem to stay on the floor. Will they drum up the kind of interest that wouldn't require the Celtics to sacrifice assets to get them off the books? Or might Boston need to subtract even more notable players to get the finances in order while still being positioned to compete once Tatum returns?
Brooklyn Nets: Extracting Value
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While the Nets played the same 82 regular-season games as everyone else, they arguably accomplished as little in those contests as anyone.
First-year coach Jordi Fernández impressed, but when your head coach is your clear breakout star, that probably isn't a good sign for your roster.
Speaking of which, what exactly is this group? Nic Claxton and Cameron Johnson might be the closest things Brooklyn has to building blocks, but both have become regulars on the rumor-mill circuit.
Cam Thomas is perhaps the most intriguing young player on the roster, but he's a restricted free agent and might be too much of a one-note contributor to keep around.
The Nets, you've surely heard, have the league's most flexibility this offseason with roughly $50 million in cap space. They need to make that matter, which won't be easy when this free-agent crop has already been picked apart by early extensions.
Still, Brooklyn has to make the money work, either by finding the right free agents (young restricted free agents seem most preferable) or by using this flexibility to take back undesirable contracts while adding enough draft assets to be properly compensated for "renting out" the cap space.
Charlotte Hornets: More Creation
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The Hornets were bad at just about everything this season, but their offense was especially abysmal. They landed 29th in offensive efficiency and were only one spot higher in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Losing LaMelo Ball for nearly half the season didn't help, but Charlotte's franchise face wasn't exactly elite when he played. His 40.5 field-goal percentage and 33.9 three-point percentage were both personal worsts, and his 4.0 turnovers per 36 minutes were the second-highest of his career.
The Hornets need a better (and more available) version of Ball, but they also need more creation around him. No one else averaged even four assists per outing, and of the five players who averaged double-digit shots, only rim-running center Mark Williams converted 44-plus percent of his field goals.
Chicago Bulls: Raising the Ceiling
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In May 2021, Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas told reporters: "We will not settle for mediocrity here."
His team has basically defined the term ever since. Over the past four seasons, Chicago is exactly 164-164 with an average scoring margin of minus-0.5 points per game.
The Bulls have at least trudged toward a rebuild in the past year with trades involving Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. But those deals didn't send Chicago spiraling toward the bottom or restock the shelves with roster-building tools.
In fact, the only first-round pick added in any of those trades was their own 2025 selection, which previously had top-10 protection on it. Chicago, naturally, landed No. 12 at the lottery, because that's how the treadmill of mediocrity normally operates.
The Bulls need to stop this cycle. They have to make the kind of dramatic deal that allows them to win bigger now or later (almost certainly the latter). Nailing that No. 12 pick is paramount, and re-signing Josh Giddey at the right price is probably sensible, but more must happen to brighten the future.
If that means fielding trade offers for anyone not named Matas Buzelis, so be it. Karnišovas has to heed his own words.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Increasing, or at Least Maintaining, Depth
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What appeared for a long time to be a best-case-scenario kind of season for Cleveland unraveled in near-worst-case-scenario fashion.
It's not just that the Cavaliers were knocked out of the second round for the second consecutive season, the issue was the manner of their dismissal. Injuries impacted nearly every member of their core, meaning the big-picture questions about the team's playoff viability went unanswered.
Maybe that brought this group more time, as it doesn't sound like wholesale changes are coming. That might be just as well, since adjustments would be difficult to make given Cleveland's shortage of assets and finding itself on the wrong side of the second apron.
If the Cavs are running it back with their primary players, though, they have to build the best possible roster around them. And that might mean just doing what it can to keep support contributors in place.
Reserve guard Ty Jerome is the biggest free-agent flight risk, so if he takes the money and runs, Cleveland will have to scour the bargain bin in search of a reserve playmaker with a reliable perimeter shot.
Dallas Mavericks: Covering for Kyrie
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Dallas' wildest offseason dream already came true, when the Mavericks miraculously cashed in their 1.8 percent chance of winning the top pick and therefore the right to select Cooper Flagg.
That's an obviously massive win, but it doesn't check off the top item on the summer to-do list.
That one requires finding a capable replacement for Kyrie Irving, who still faces a lengthy layoff after suffering an ACL tear in early March. Spencer Dinwiddie and Dante Exum are unrestricted free agents. Brandon Williams' next season as a full-time rotation player would be his first. Jaden Hardy seemed to fall out of favor with the coaching staff.
In other words, this question almost certainly won't be answered in-house. Not entirely, anyway. In a perfect world, Dallas would add someone (via trade or free agency) who can pilot the ship while Irving is out and maintain a helpful role upon his return.
Denver Nuggets: Nikola Jokić's Supporting Cast
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The Nuggets bear the resemblance of a title contender. Maybe that's due to the presence of Nikola Jokić, whose "Best Player on the Planet" title should remain even if the MVP award goes elsewhere. Perhaps it's due to the other familiar faces still around from this team's 2023 title run.
Dig a little deeper, though, and it's clear Denver doesn't have enough. Jamal Murray still hasn't ascended to All-Star status. Michael Porter Jr. remains frustratingly inconsistent. And a bench unit that has gone under the microscope every time a rotation regular exits in free agency proved the least productive of every conference semifinalist.
"We played for so long in such a way, it's hard for guys to step up against really good teams," Jokić told reporters following Denver's exit. "We cannot ask for somebody who didn't play more than 20-30 games to jump in and expect them to be good. It definitely seems like the more the rotation and a longer bench, those are the teams who are winning—Indiana, OKC, Minnesota."
Fortifying the bench is a must. Giving Jokić a bona fide backup is years overdue. Yet, the Nuggets need to ask themselves whether that would be enough. Because they might have enough question marks around their most prominent support pieces to consider deals involving Porter or even Murray.
Jokić's prime will only last so long, so Denver must exhaust every resource it has to maximize what's left of it.
Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham's Co-Star
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Cade Cunningham's first playoff trip was, by and large, a smashing success.
Sure, you might want better shooting rates (42.6/17.9/83.3) and fewer turnovers (5.3), but it's hard to knock a 23-year-old first-timer for flirting with nightly triple-doubles (25 points, 8.7 assists and 8.3 rebounds).
His biggest issue—and Detroit's overall—was the lack of a true No. 2 option. The closest candidates were Tobias Harris, previously regarded as having one of the NBA's worst contracts, and Malik Beasley, who was playing for his sixth team in nine NBA seasons.
Perhaps a healthy Jaden Ivey could have changed the conversation some, but probably not enough. He may have broken out this season, but he still didn't average 18 points and had little separation in his assists (4.0) and turnovers (3.0).
If the Pistons hope to probe deeper in their next postseason run, they need a more reliable and ignitable second star.
Golden State Warriors: Support Scoring
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With the Warriors' offensive system being meticulously crafted around Stephen Curry, it was little surprise to see them struggle mightily without him. That said, their inability to get a single playoff win without him suggests they probably didn't have enough to win big even if they had kept him upright.
Jimmy Butler struggled to consistently summon his "Playoff Jimmy" form. Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody endured frigid shooting spells. Draymond Green and Gary Payton II, who weren't logging minutes for their scoring punch, couldn't slip into the normal cracks given the club's spacing issues. And while Jonathan Kuminga made his mark when he was emergency-called back into the rotation, that hardly feels worth mentioning when the restricted free agent appears on his way out.
The Warriors' model for competing at a high level includes ferocious defense and Curry's brilliance at the more glamorous end. They'll need a deeper offensive menu to make it all work, though. This was a mediocre attack this season (16th in efficiency), and it's hard to see their championship dreams becoming a reality unless or until that changes.
Houston Rockets: A Franchise Focal Point
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It's hard to identify the single biggest driving force behind Houston's ascension to a 52-win No. 2 seed.
The Rockets' dominant, disruptive defense and the relentless culture created under coach Ime Udoka first come to mind, but there's also Alperen Şengün's All-Star emergence, Fred VanVleet's tone-setting, Jalen Green's shot-making, Amen Thompson's everything-but-scoring-ing and...well, you get the idea.
What's far simpler is finding the reason why the Rockets couldn't extend their playoff journey past the opening round. They didn't have the requisite star power to handle basketball's brightest lights. When they needed a timely bucket to stop a scoring skid or put away an opponent, they didn't know where to turn.
That shouldn't be the case next season. Not when their asset collection is rich enough to not only fill that void but also still leave enough on the roster for the incoming elite to like their championship chances.
They're said to find the idea of a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade "most intriguing," per The Athletic's Kelly Iko and Sam Amick, but the specifics of a blockbuster trade for a star are less important than the simple fact that a megadeal must get done.
Indiana Pacers: More Defensive Protection
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The Pacers may well be en route toward dispelling the long-held belief that defense wins championships. Their defense is far from special (14th in efficiency during the regular season, ninth in the playoffs), but they keep burying opponents under a barrage of buckets.
Maybe there's an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" argument for not questioning this formula, but it still feels fair to assume Indiana wouldn't want to be quite so reliant on its offensive outbursts. Because if the plan is simply to win nightly races to 120-plus points, that puts an incredible amount of pressure on the shot-makers to consistently shred nets.
And it's possible this offseason could make point-prevention even more difficult for the Pacers depending on how Myles Turner's free agency plays out. While it sounds like he's staying put, nothing is ever a given until pen meets paper.
If he does return, it's worth noting that sacrifices might need to be made elsewhere, unless this historically tax-averse organization is suddenly willing to pay that price (spoiler alert: it won't be).
Los Angeles Clippers: More Firepower
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An expectation-crushing campaign may have given the Clippers a new lease on life. Turns out, the Kawhi Leonard-James Harden duo might be every bit as potent as the Leonard-Harden-Paul George trio ever was.
But if the aim is to give this talented twosome more cracks at the crown, this offense needs more scoring punch. Despite having three 20-point scorers, L.A. landed just 15th in offensive efficiency. And only one of those 20-point scorers sustained that level during the postseason (Leonard).
A stingy defense can only carry a club so far in the modern NBA. All four conference finalists fielded top-nine offenses this season; only two cracked the top 12 in defensive efficiency. The Clippers' core is set, but they could use more shot-makers and self-sufficient scorers around it.
Los Angeles Lakers: The Center Position
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Some of these teams require careful consideration to pin down their biggest offseason fix. The Lakers are not one of them. I mean, we all watched the playoffs, right?
Turns out, creating an Anthony Davis-sized hole on the interior and never bothering to fill it can create some massive problems in the low post.
"In general, it's very clear...that this team and this roster needs more size and needs a center position," Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka told reporters. "That's a very clear and obvious byproduct of trading potentially the best big in the league to Dallas to get a point guard. ... We know we need a big man."
It wouldn't be shocking to see the Lakers double-down on this position over the summer. That's how big of an issue they have at the big-man spot. Plus, it would help if they could find different centers to fill different roles, like a rim-runner to crush lob passes from Luka Dončić and a stretch-big to keep the middle of the floor clear for LeBron James to attack.
Memphis Grizzlies: The Wing Rotation
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Unless the Grizzlies opt to break up the Ja Morant-Desmond Bane-Jaren Jackson Jr. trio—not impossible, but seemingly unlikely—they should soon fire up their annual search for a two-way contributor on the wing.
Snagging Jaylen Wells with last year's 39th pick was a step in the right direction, but Memphis needs more to feel better about its forward rotation. And that's true even if the Grizzlies find the necessary funds to bring Santi Aldama back in restricted free agency.
They'll have a standing need for wing shooters as long as Morant is their centerpiece and probably always have a need for lanky wings, too, since Morant isn't tall and Bane has (relatively) short arms. Adding another player as good as Wells would be big for this club, and somehow sniffing out an upgraded version could be the move that gets Memphis back into championship contention.
Miami Heat: The Overall Attack
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The Heat have been hurting on the offensive end for years now. And for all the feathers Jimmy Butler rubbed the wrong way during his prolonged departure, it's not like their offensive outlook improved when he was effectively swapped out for Andrew Wiggins.
Tyler Herro just authored the best campaign of his career, and it still didn't really move the needle for Miami's offense. In fact, the Heat ranked just as poorly in offensive efficiency as they did during the season prior (21st each time).
The challenge for this front office is that Miami could use a little of everything: more scoring, sure, but also more playmaking, shooting, creation and finishing.
The question is whether the Heat should try to scratch several itches by finally bringing in their next whale, or if they should take a more patient approach while retooling the roster in hopes of eventually rejoining the championship chase.
Milwaukee Bucks: The Discourse Around Giannis Antetokounmpo
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It might be generations before the Bucks ever get their hands on another supreme talent like Giannis Antetokounmpo. So, for all the chatter around his apparently uncertain future, Milwaukee can and should do everything in its power to keep him.
Now, the reason there's so much speculation is that the Bucks don't have many obvious paths toward improvement. Their roster lacks upside. Their finances lack flexibility. Their potential trade offers lack coveted draft picks or prospects.
Still, the Bucks need to find something to foster more good will with the Greek Freak. It might require more risk-taking on the trade market or some bargain-bin luck, but anything that makes Antetokounmpo feel remotely better about a future in Milwaukee would be a massive win for the franchise.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Covering Any Gaps Created in Free Agency
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Anyone in and around the Timberwolves organization can be, should be and certainly is fully focused on their playoff run for a couple of reasons. First, winning big is super fun, especially for a franchise that has hardly ever enjoyed success like this. Second, there might be some not-so-fun moments lingering in their near-future.
That's because the depth that has driven a not insignificant part of this success almost certainly won't be around much longer. Three key members of Minnesota's eight-man rotation are either ticketed for free agency (Nickeil Alexander-Walker will be unrestricted) or are likely to pave a path there (Naz Reid and Julius Randle both hold player options for next season).
And the same cap crunch that previously motivated Minnesota to move on from Karl-Anthony Towns will likely squeeze the roster once again. Maybe the Wolves will scrounge up the funds needed to keep two of the three, but all three being back in the Gopher State seems unlikely. So, Minnesota will have to pool the few resources at its disposal to replace (at least) one key member of its rotation.
New Orleans Pelicans: Interior Defense
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Identifying team needs for a team that is never whole is, admittedly, almost impossible. The Pelicans had six players average 27-plus minutes this season (including Brandon Ingram, who was traded at the deadline); only two of them made more than 31 appearances.
Finding a miracle fix to their seemingly unending medical woes would be the dream outcome for New Orleans' offseason, but that can't work as even a cop-out answer here. The question revolves around finding tangible, correctable problems, which puts the Pelicans' paltry interior defense front and center.
New York Knicks: Finding More Reserves Who Thibs Will Trust
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Are we really going to use the "Tom Thibodeau plays his starters too much" angle in 2025? In a word: yeah.
The collective workload of New York's first five feels like a team-wide temptation of fate. All five Knicks starters ranked among this season's top 25 in minutes per game. As a whole, New York's opening group logged 940 minutes together (not counting the playoffs). That not only easily paced the Association, it almost doubled the floor time of this season's third-most used lineup (the Pistons starters who played 491 minutes together).
While clearly a lot of this stems from Thibs' coaching philosophy, maybe the front office could get him to rethink things by giving him more reliable reserves than, say, streak-scorer Cameron Payne and rebounding specialist Precious Achiuwa. That might be wishful thinking, but something needs to change with these seemingly untenable workloads.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Volume Shooting
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This one is a little nitpicky, but there are only so many "problems" to diagnose with one of history's greatest teams. (Of course, that might all need revising in a few weeks if the Thunder fall short of their championship goals due to inconsistent support from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's sidekicks, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren.)
Collectively, Oklahoma City was a good perimeter shooting team this season. It averaged the sixth-most made threes (14.5 per game) and shot the sixth-best percentage from range (37.4). Individually, though, there aren't a lot of quantity-plus-quality shooters on the roster who demand constant attention from opposing defenses.
Isaiah Joe might be the only one, honestly. Lu Dort has shot it well the past two seasons, but his track record as a shooter is shaky. SGA and Williams are capable shooters, but they often do their best work when attacking downhill—all the reason to try improving the spacing around them.
Orlando Magic: Perimeter Scoring
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Only Orlando's decision-makers know why this issue hasn't been addressed yet. Although, they have at least tried to find some passable perimeter shooters, like spending a 2023 lottery pick on Jett Howard or throwing $66 million at Kentavious Caldwell-Pope last summer. Unfortunately, Howard's been unable to crack the regular rotation, and Caldwell-Pope just had his worst shooting season in a half-decade (1.5 makes on 34.2 percent).
The reality is, though, those moves were never going to be enough. Because as much as Orlando needs shooting, it really needs scoring and creation from the backcourt, too. This offense, which has ranked outside the top 20 in efficiency every season since 2011-12, isn't just a specialist shooter or two away from being competent.
That's why the Magic are always listed among logical landing spots any time a decent-or-better scorer reaches the trade market. Hopefully for their sake, this summer is finally when those discussions actually manifest into a full-fledged deal.
Philadelphia 76ers: Frontcourt Depth
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After a season as disappointing as the 76ers just delivered, everything feels possible.
Having said that, this would be an awful time—market value-wise—to consider dealing either of Joel Embiid or Paul George, so the most likely scenario for this summer would see Philly once again trying to build the right supporting cast around its stars.
That effort should get a special focus along the backup frontcourt spots. The need for reliable reserves behind Embiid are obvious given his ongoing availability issues, and they'll be magnified if Andre Drummond declines his $5 million player option to head elsewhere. And while the Sixers hope to bring Guerschon Yabusele back, his unrestricted free agency could get pricey.
Phoenix Suns: Clarity with Kevin Durant
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Ever since the Suns "blindsided" Kevin Durant by including him in trade deadline talks, a summer split has felt like a forgone conclusion for the high-scoring swingman. However, NBA insider Jake Fischer recently cautioned that a Durant deal isn't set in stone.
If Phoenix legitimately hopes to move forward with Durant, there are probably some fences to mend first. Even if he understands the business aspect of discussing deals, he might feel as if he holds enough stature to be kept in the loop. As Durant later told Draymond Green on his podcast, "I want my career to end on my terms, that's the only thing."
And while the Suns haven't won much of significance bringing Durant and Devin Booker together, it's still understandable why they might want to make another wager on their talent. Or, if not, Phoenix should rip the Band-Aid off this summer, find the best possible offer for Durant and try to reshape this roster around Booker.
Portland Trail Blazers: Parting with the Obvious Trade Candidates
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While Portland's path forward isn't clear, a few things regarding this roster clearly are.
One, Jerami Grant has given the Trail Blazers all of the utility he had to offer them. His transition from Damian Lillard's sidekick to valued veteran locker room presence has been commendable, although his contract and age always made for awkward fits once Lillard left. And now that Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija have emerged as clear-cut building blocks, it seems obvious their development demands that Grant be removed from the frontcourt rotation with a trade that hopefully fetches another asset or two.
The other is that the Blazers have no business keeping this many bigs on the roster. Having four centers is already overkill, but it feels like borderline front-office malpractice given how many win-now teams need a center. Plus, this congestion just limited Donovan Clingan, last summer's No. 7 pick, to fewer than 20 minutes per night—an unforgivably low number on a lottery team.
Sacramento Kings: A Bigger Window
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For reasons known perhaps only to them, the Kings placed a healthy wager on Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine forming a high-level competitor in the fully loaded Western Conference. To the surprise of no one else, that wager went bust. Sacramento posted a losing record and a middling net rating, then dropped its only play-in game (by double digits) to a Mavericks team missing Kyrie Irving.
The Kings, who've managed to unravel the momentum they generated during their beam-lighting breakout in 2022-23, might already need a substantial shift toward something else. While there's no telling if Sacramento's ownership could stomach a full reset, there are rumblings that the Kings will at least "gauge the trade market" on DeRozan, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.
Dealing DeRozan and having an otherwise quiet offseason would solve nothing. More significant changes are needed, either to beef-up the roster around Sabonis right now or to stockpile assets for the post-Sabonis era. Win-now intentions without win-now talent cannot be the guiding principle any longer.
San Antonio Spurs: Shooting Shortage
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The Spurs have a generational talent in Victor Wembanyama, a dazzling downhill attacker in De'Aaron Fox and a horde of ascending young players around them. They also have a pair of lottery picks in the upcoming draft (Nos. 2 and 14), meaning more talent is on the way.
What they don't have, though, is a lot of shooting from distance. They take a ton of threes (seventh-most attempts), they just don't make enough of them (35.7 percent, 20th). That's probably not going to change regardless how the Spurs handle the No. 2 pick, too, since the presumptive pick, Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, has a questionable outlook as a shooter, and the most logical trade candidate attached to it, Giannis Antetokounmpo, seldom launches from long range.
Because Wembanyama is already such a unique offensive weapon and Fox is such a blur with the basketball, San Antonio is already poised to stretch opposing defenses uncomfortably thin. Add more shot-makers to the mix, though, and maybe this offense goes from intriguing to invincible.
Toronto Raptors: A Building-Block Big
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Slowly but surely, this Raptors core appears to be coming together. Brandon Ingram still needs to prove he can stay upright, and Toronto's coaching staff could stand to coax more shooting out of this roster, but it's rather simple to see both what the Raptors are trying to do and how this could work.
It's also pretty obvious Toronto needs more on the interior. Chris Boucher is headed to free agency now, and Jakob Poeltl is on course to reach it next summer. Those also happened to be the oldest members of the Raptors' rotation.
Even if there's interest in a new deal for Boucher or a longer partnership with Poeltl, the Raptors should focus on finding a longer-term plan in the low post.
Utah Jazz: Growing the Talent Base (Now or Later)
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Few teams fared worse at the lottery than the Jazz, whose 65-loss season yielded only the No. 5 pick. That should be high enough to get them a decent prospect, but it won't send an obvious centerpiece to Salt Lake City.
And that's a particularly pressing issue because there isn't an obvious centerpiece there now. Lauri Markkanen holds that designation in stature, but the disconnect between his timeline and that of the rest of this roster makes his future with the franchise murky at best. Maybe some would argue the title belongs to Walker Kessler or even Keyonte George, but the former provides little offense and the latter struggles with inefficiency.
Given the lack of blue-chip talent, Utah's rebuild feels behind schedule. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does suggest the Jazz could carry this tank job into next season (and maybe beyond). Before the bad luck on lottery night, Sarah Todd reported for the Deseret News that players felt they might "be shipped out to get more future assets" if the Jazz didn't grab a top pick. With that fate now sealed, Utah should be turning over every stone in arm's reach in pursuit of better roster-building tools.
Washington Wizards: Adding Offense to the Rebuild
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While the Wizards find themselves in the infancy stage of their rebuild, they have started collecting some building blocks and establishing an identity. There's already plenty to like about the long-term outlook of a core featuring Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, AJ Johnson and Tristan Vukčević.
The thing is, most of what you'd like about this group involves the defensive end. There, the Wizards are all limbs, energy and endless hustle. Glance over at the offensive end, though, and suddenly this same core is lacking: creation, spacing, playmaking and general scoring.
That's not too worrisome for now, but it might be if Washington still looks so one-sided coming out of this summer. The Wizards hold three picks in this summer's draft (Nos. 6, 18, and 40), and their investments at the talent grab should be made with their league-worst offense in mind.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.
