1 Word to Describe Every Team's 2025 NBA Offseason So Far
It's only been a few weeks since the 2025 NBA offseason began—and it may be months until rosters are complete ahead of the upcoming season. Every assessment, judgment and opinion needs context. An iffy transaction might not look so questionable once the rest of a team's moves are finished.
More trades, signings and shake-ups are coming.
This is a time when a little nuance is necessary. We should use caveats. Maybe even do some hedging if we're trying to be responsible about things.
But where's the fun in that?
Let's bounce around the league and describe each team's offseason to this point with a single word.
The one we'd use to describe this introduction is "done."
Atlanta Hawks: Giddy
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Maybe this isn't the absolute best word to describe the Atlanta Hawks' entire offseason, but it definitely captures how they must have felt when the New Orleans Pelicans gifted them a 2026 first-rounder with high-lottery upside.
The deal Atlanta swung on draft night, sending No. 13 to the New Orleans Pelicans for No. 23 and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick (most favorable of New Orleans or Milwaukee), was the most lopsided of the offseason. Combined with several acquisitions that could put the Hawks in the mix for a top-four spot in a wide-open East, Trae Young and Co. should be feeling pretty good about themselves.
Newcomers Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard will combine with 2024-25 starters Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu to give Atlanta a fantastic eight-man rotation. This group has elite shot creation, rangy defense, premium shooting and no shortage of versatility.
The Hawks might be chuckling their way to 50-plus wins with this remade rotation.
Boston Celtics: Bummer
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Jayson Tatum's torn Achilles got the wrecking ball swinging, and now the 2024 champs are rubble, a busted-up version of their former selves.
This was about money. Specifically, it was about trimming a salary and tax bill that would have eclipsed $500 million. As rallying cries go, "fiscal responsibility!" leaves a lot to be desired.
Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis departed in cost-cutting trades that got the Celtics out of the second apron and returned zero first-round picks. There will be no parade for this achievement.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White are still around, and maybe they'll be ready to re-team with Tatum on the next great iteration of the Celtics. That might not happen until Tatum is fully recovered in 2027 and, even then, it'll be hard for Boston to find the flexibility to re-tool the roster.
Maybe this second-apron and repeater-tax reckoning was always coming. But it still stings a little extra that Tatum's injury made this path the only one available.
Brooklyn Nets: Opportunistic
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It was clear before the offseason that the Brooklyn Nets were in a powerful position. The only team with significant cap space, the Nets basked in optionality.
They could throw offer sheets at restricted free agents, sign anyone on the unrestricted market, facilitate deals between other teams and absorb future picks by taking unwanted salaries into their cap room. Toss in a league-high five first-round picks in the 2025 draft, and Brooklyn seemed capable of anything.
In the end, the Nets didn't make any major splashes but instead took advantage of smaller opportunities wherever they arose.
Finding no draft-night trades to their liking, the Nets actually used all five firsts (one of which came attached to Terance Mann's salary) to collect a boatload of guards. Led by Egor Demin, Brooklyn now has a handful of candidates to run the offense.
Day'Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams got modest deals to stick around, and Michael Porter Jr. came aboard in a trade with the Denver Nuggets for Cam Johnson. The unprotected 2032 first-rounder Brooklyn snagged in the bargain was among the top assets to change hands this summer.
The Nets did a little bit of everything, capitalizing where they could and avoiding the temptation of a reckless swing.
Charlotte Hornets: Shrewd
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It's hard to recognize this version of the Charlotte Hornets, defined by patience and a willingness to make incrementally positive moves on a long timeline. For years, Charlotte chased immediate gratification, failing to build anything sustainable.
Top executive Jeff Peterson just keeps chipping away.
He dealt away Mark Williams (this time for good), wrangling the No. 29 pick and a 2029 first-rounder from the Phoenix Suns.
He landed Collin Sexton's expiring salary for Jusuf Nurkić's, but secured a second-rounder in the bargain. He snared two more future seconds for taking on Pat Connaughton's unwanted contract. He re-upped with Tre Mann on a three-year, $24 million deal that'll be tradable for positive value if Mann's health holds up.
Viewed separately, Charlotte's transactions don't inspire awe. Collectively, they illustrate a deliberate effort to vacuum up draft capital as part of a careful rebuild. This is exactly what the Hornets should be doing...even if it'll take a while to get used to.
Chicago Bulls: Stuck
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Unless you're convinced incoming trade acquisition Isaac Okoro is a huge upgrade over the outgoing Lonzo Ball, it's hard to see how the Chicago Bulls will improve on last year's 39 wins.
Organic growth from Matas Buzelis might make a moderate difference, but expected decline from vets like Nikola Vucević ought to balance things out on the bottom line.
Tre Jones is back, Josh Giddey almost certainly will be, too—only with a giant raise in restricted free agency. And that's pretty much it for Chicago, a team seemingly so satisfied with its middling position that it handed extensions to GM Arturas Karnisovas and head coach Billy Donovan.
When you can lock in a core that sometimes wins almost as many games as it loses, you've got to do it.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Prepared
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After winning 64 games during the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers ran into playoff trouble and bowed out disappointingly early. Every move they made this summer had to be about improving their playoff preparedness.
Lonzo Ball is a perfect example.
His health will forever be in question after two seasons on the shelf trying to mend a knee that simply wouldn't cooperate. Despite the risks, Ball could offer a far greater reward than Isaac Okoro, whom Cleveland dealt to the Bulls in a one-for-one swap. That's because Ball's elite connective passing, "can't leave him" spot-up three-point shooting and team defense will allow him to be on the floor in tough playoff matchups.
Okoro's suspect shooting constantly got him benched in the postseason, but Ball could conceivably be in the Cavs' closing lineups.
Ty Jerome was too expensive to keep, but by landing Ball, retaining sniper Sam Merrill for $38 million over three years and bringing back old pal Larry Nance Jr., the Cavs set themselves up to be more competitive in the games that matter most.
Dallas Mavericks: Visionary
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Nico Harrison had a hard time saying the right thing when he traded Luka Dončić, probably because there was no right thing to say. His decision to send out an in-prime superstar who'd just led his team to the Finals did not square with his plan to build a win-now roster.
The Dallas Mavericks already had one of those, and Dončić was the centerpiece. Even if concerns about the five-time All-NBA first-teamer's conditioning and defense were legit, Harrison failed miserably by not canvassing the league for better offers than the one he got from the Los Angeles Lakers.
The embattled GM did himself no favors after lucking into the pick that became Cooper Flagg, instead pretending as if that good fortune was part of a plan.
“Most importantly, I think, we’re in win-now mode, and we have a really good team, and Cooper adds to that," Harrison told reporters, "so I think the fans finally start to see the vision.”
The vision: Make a universally panned trade that sparks a fan uprising, lose enough down the stretch of a "win now" season to get decent lottery odds, hit the jackpot on a 1.8 percent shot at the top pick, select Cooper Flagg.
Either Harrison is an all-time gaslighter, or he's genuinely convinced that accidents are plans.
Denver Nuggets: Suspicious
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Cynics will see the Denver Nuggets' trade of Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick for Cam Johnson as cowardly cost-cutting, a roster-weakening concession designed to save ownership $34 million in salary over the next two years.
Optimists will see the move as a flexibility-magnifier, and they'll point to the unrelated acquisitions of Bruce Brown Jr. and Tim Hardaway Jr. as proof the Nuggets are actively trying to build out depth in support of another Nikola Jokić-led title chase.
Time will tell who's right. Denver will have to continue adding talent and using the modicum of wiggle room it created by offloading MPJ's salary. Fail to do that, and the cynics will win.
That said, there's a real argument that Johnson could outproduce Porter Jr. going forward, and that the current Denver team is clearly better than the one that finished last season.
The Nuggets improved themselves, but their big offseason trade might not have been motivated by all the right reasons.
Detroit Pistons: Lateral
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Duncan Robinson will be a solid stand-in for Malik Beasley if the results of a federal gambling investigation mean Beasley isn't back with the Detroit Pistons next year. Likewise, Caris LeVert will step in for the departed Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway Jr. in the backcourt.
Are the Pistons actually any better? Perhaps, but not by a ton. And any major steps forward will probably have more to do with Jaden Ivey returning and a cast of young players—Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren, Ron Holland II—improving than any offseason transactions.
In all, Detroit's moves feel a little underwhelming—especially coming off a strong first-round postseason showing against the New York Knicks. But it's hard to question an organization that tripled its win total last year. Clearly, the Pistons have faith in what they've built—although not quite enough to hand out extensions to Duren and Ivey just yet.
Golden State Warriors: Standoff
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Nobody swooped in with an offer sheet for restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, and the Golden State Warriors certainly aren't acting with any urgency to extend their hyper-athletic forward on a new deal.
The difference between this staredown and the one taking place between Josh Giddey and the Bulls is that it's not clear either the Warriors or Kuminga want a reunion. Jerked in and out of the rotation for most of his career because he doesn't consistently provide the defense, rebounding and awareness the Dubs want, Kuminga should be itching to depart.
Meanwhile, the Dubs may not be hankering for a Kuminga return at any price. If his dissatisfaction boils over, it could hurt the vibes on a team that has designs on contending.
Kuminga might be in limbo for quite a while.
Houston Rockets: Menacing
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The Houston Rockets won 52 games last year and used their predatory defense to push the four-time champion Golden State Warriors to seven games in the first round.
How much more might Houston achieve after an offseason that basically replaced Jalen Green with Kevin Durant, swapped out Dillon Brooks for Dorian Finney-Smith and added veteran Clint Capela to the center rotation? New upgrades aside, the Rockets project to improve on the strength of organic growth alone. Amen Thompson is poised for a leap. Reed Sheppard is a good bet to deliver on his 2024 draft promise in a larger role.
One other key player in that upside discussion, Jabari Smith Jr., also extended on a team-friendly five-year, $122 million deal.
Steven Adams is back on his own $39 million extension, Fred VanVleet took a pay cut and Houston secured Jae'Sean Tate, Jeff Green and Aaron Holiday on minimums.
Though they would have been viewed as a rising power in the West if they'd preserved the status quo, the Rockets elevated their profile over the summer. They're legitimate contenders now, capable of dominating defensively and in possession of one of the greatest offensive players of all time in Durant.
Look out, West. Houston is here.
Indiana Pacers: Lame
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So much for the Indiana Pacers paying the luxury tax for the first time since 2006.
Tyrese Haliburton's ruptured Achilles offered convenient cover for the Pacers, allowing owner Herb Simon to justify avoiding tax penalties on the grounds that his team couldn't contend without its best player in 2025-26.
Thriftiness allowed free agent Myles Turner to get away, as lowball offers that never exceeded $22 million per year, according to The Stein Line substack's Jake Fischer, weren't nearly enough to beat the Milwaukee Bucks' four-year, $107 million offer.
Indy could have trimmed salary elsewhere. It could have ducked the tax at the trade deadline. It could have just paid the relatively modest extra fee to keep one of the league's only floor-stretching, shot-blocking bigs—one who had just played an integral role on a conference champion.
At the very least, Turner could have been a valuable trade chip.
Instead, Indy got stingy. It shoved Turner out the door over a few million bucks, broadcasting to its fans that contention is cool but only if it's cheap.
LA Clippers: Upsized
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The LA Clippers struggled to survive when Ivica Zubac left the floor last season, losing 12.8 points per 100 possessions off their net rating whenever the breakout big man rested.
With signee Brook Lopez and trade acquisition John Collins joining the rotation, LA suddenly has one of the top frontcourts in the league.
Lopez and Collins both offer spacing, with the latter hitting 39.9 percent on a career-high 3.7 deep attempts per game last year. If the Clips want to keep an ace paint-protector on the court at all times, they can do that with Lopez relieving Zubac. If they want to space things out and switch, Collins is now a high-end option.
LA will still only go as far as James Harden and Kawhi Leonard's health allows, but there's no denying the improvements to what was once a weak set of reserve bigs.
Los Angeles Lakers: Noncommittal
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Luka Dončić is 26 years old, smack in his prime. Given conditioning concerns, it's also entirely possible the next five years will be worse than the five leading into 2024-25, each of which featured an All-NBA first team nod.
That's what makes the Los Angeles Lakers' apparent intent to take a gap year so strange.
LeBron James opted in because he couldn't agree on another one-plus-one deal, Austin Reaves hasn't gotten an extension and Dorian Finney-Smith walked away in free agency. The Lakers made additions in the form of Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia, but the pivot away from veterans seems strange. It's as if the Lakers view it as a certainty that, soon enough, they'll be able to land a player better than James to pair with Dončić, and that Dončić will regain his first-five-years form.
Neither is a sure bet.
The Lakers know James' days are numbered, and they should be wary of Dončić's trajectory. But this bizarre middle ground where they're not fully rebuilding and not desperately seeking immediate upgrades has them in noncommittal limbo.
Memphis Grizzlies: Active
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Well, the Memphis Grizzlies certainly didn't sit on their hands this offseason. In addition to trading away Desmond Bane, the Grizz swung a draft-night deal to move up for Cedric Coward, agreed to a $240 million extension with Jaren Jackson Jr. and quickly locked down restricted free agent Santi Aldama on a three-year, $52.5 million deal.
Oh, and Ty Jerome is here now. He'll add backcourt depth for just $28 million over three years.
That's a lot of transacting, but it's not clear Memphis is actually any better. It has more draft capital from the Bane trade, and Jackson's failure to make All-NBA means his extension is smaller than it otherwise might have been. Those are both positives, at least.
Still, the Grizzlies seem to have done a lot of shuffling for minimal gain.
Miami Heat: Optimal
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Before anyone overreacts, the Miami Heat did an optimal job under the circumstances. They couldn't realistically put forth the best offer for Kevin Durant, no other superstars became available and their payroll situation precluded major swings.
So to emerge from the first few days of the offseason with Norman Powell, Simone Fontecchio, potential draft steal Kasparas Jakucionis and a re-signed Davion Mitchell was about as much as the Heat could have hoped for.
Fontecchio will save them roughly $10 million in salary versus Robinson while giving the Heat more two-way punch, and Powell only cost Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson. That's a great price for a player who could have easily made an All-Star team last year, even if Powell is headed for free agency after this season.
Miami prefers to swing big, but this summer didn't provide the setup for a major move. Given their options, the Heat emerged with an impressive haul of talent upgrades.
Milwaukee Bucks: Desperate
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The Milwaukee Bucks had no good options when it came to Damian Lillard's remaining two years and $113 million. The multi-time All-Star was in line to miss all of 2025-26 with a torn Achilles, and the $50-plus million in dead money was going to make it impossible for an already thin Bucks team to build out a playoff-worthy rotation—let alone one that might luck into contention.
Their choice to waive and stretch Lillard, to pay him $22.5 million per year over the next five seasons, was beyond bold.
It was desperate.
Giannis Antetokounmpo started the offseason by broadcasting an intention to look for better landing spots, and the Bucks, as they have so many times, did all they could to convince him staying was the right call. The Lillard stretch created the room to sign Myles Turner, an ideal running mate for Giannis.
Milwaukee further compromised its future to improve its present as much as possible. On one level, that's admirable. If Giannis is staying, you go for it. On another level, continuing to put off a rebuild will only make the process longer and more difficult.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Measured
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The Minnesota Timberwolves would have needed a miracle to retain all three of Julius Randle, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker while staying under the second apron.
That they kept Randle and Reid while ducking that punitive threshold counts as a win, even if it's one that disappoints fans who wanted the whole gang back together for another playoff run.
Reid's five-year, $25 million deal rates as pricey. He's a tremendous offensive center but also a backup. Unless the Wolves have plans to move Rudy Gobert and hand Reid the starting gig (which seems unlikely given his defensive shakiness), the term "overpay" is going to apply.
Minnesota didn't make any egregious mistakes, though, and it deserves some credit for staying relatively expensive. That's what back-to-back conference finalists (with room to improve) should do.
New Orleans Pelicans: Suckers
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The Hawks' incredulous reaction to the New Orleans Pelicans offering No. 23 and an unprotected 2026 first-rounder to move up to No. 13 in the draft should haunt fans forever.
Per Shamit Dua's In the N.O. substack: "When one Pelicans executive made the call to Atlanta, the Hawks couldn’t believe what was actually being offered. Atlanta asked for clarification multiple times to confirm the unprotected pick was indeed part of the deal. ... But the Pelicans persisted and the Hawks got their steal."
New Orleans could have taken Derik Queen at No. 7 and kept the 2026 pick. It could have insisted on top-four protection in negotiations with Atlanta. Instead, it totally removed its safety net for this coming season. Considering the Pels won 21 games a year ago and dealt with a raft of injuries, they should have been well aware of the potential downsides.
Now, if Zion Williamson misses significant time for the third season in the last four, or if the Bucks crater, that pick could wind up at the very top of the 2026 draft.
New top executive Joe Dumars needed just a few weeks to turn New Orleans into the league's transactional laughingstock.
New York Knicks: Deeper
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New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown was always likely to lean on his bench more than Tom Thibodeau ever did. But it's worth wondering whether Thibs would have trusted his reserves more if he'd had better options.
In adding Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele, the Knicks gave Brown a pair of reserves worthy of major minutes.
Clarkson, 33, seemed to fade in Utah after winning Sixth Man of the Year in 2020-21. But who could blame him? The Jazz dismantled their roster shortly thereafter, leaving Clarkson to generate shots in low-stakes games against defenses heavily focused on stopping him. Even last year's disappointing 16.2 points per game would have been hugely helpful for the Knicks.
Yabusele brings bulk down low and real stretch (38.0 percent on threes) from the perimeter. He'll be an ideal complement to either Karl-Anthony Towns or Mitchell Robinson.
New York didn't have much flexibility, but it did as well as it could under the circumstances. Brown has weapons outside the starting lineup now, and the Knicks look better on paper than they did in their Conference Finals run last year.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Chill
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When you win the whole thing, you can relax.
That's what the Oklahoma City Thunder have done this offseason, secure in the knowledge that their current roster needed no upgrades and would probably get better on its own as it ages.
So the Thunder handed MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander his supermax extension without a fuss, and Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams also inked max rookie-scale extensions. OKC retained backup big Jaylin Williams on a three-year, $24 million bargain of a deal and inked Ajay Mitchell to a three-year, $9 million contract. The Williams move stands out as especially sharp.
Any downstream cost-cutting the Thunder have to undertake could involve Isaiah Hartenstein.
Williams' team-friendly deal insulates OKC against that potential downstream loss at center. Ditto for the selection of big man Thomas Sorber at No. 15 in the draft.
It was a quiet summer for the Thunder, who didn't need to do anything noteworthy to retain their status as title favorites.
Orlando Magic: Finally!
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It took at least a year longer than it should have, but the Orlando Magic finally addressed their need for backcourt spacing and shot creation.
Desmond Bane will handle the former, as the erstwhile Memphis Grizzlies guard brings a career-41.0 percent hit rate from deep to a team that set records for long-range futility in 2024-25. The Magic's 31.8 percent accuracy mark last year was the worst ever produced among the 91 teams that attempted at least 2,800 triples in a season.
Tyus Jones, game-manager, is also on board to keep the second unit turnover-free.
Orlando needed to make changes like these last summer, but it didn't add anyone of consequence after signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Bane and Jones are much more substantial upgrades in areas of need. Now, after finishing 22nd or worse on offense in each of the last five seasons, the Magic finally have some scoring punch to pair with what should be a top-five defense.
Better late than never.
Philadelphia 76ers: Precarious
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It's not so much that the Philadelphia 76ers' offseason moves were shaky on their own. It's that the Sixers' entire operation continues to depend on the health of Joel Embiid and effectiveness of Paul George.
So while drafting VJ Edgecombe, signing Jabari Walker and Trendon Watford and getting opt-ins from Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. are all break-even-or-better moves in isolation, they still feel a little shaky.
There's also a positional glut at guard here. Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Edgecombe and restricted free agent Quentin Grimes (still without a new deal) could compete for minutes, and it's not clear which pair makes the Sixers most dangerous.
Losing Guerschon Yabusele thins the frontcourt as well, putting even more pressure on Embiid and Drummond.
The Sixers could contend for a top-three spot in the East, or they could come undone like they did last season and land in the lottery. That chasm between best and worst-case outcomes will persist as long as Embiid is the focal point of the operation.
Phoenix Suns: Regretful
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In the end, the Phoenix Suns turned Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four unprotected first-round picks and a first-round swap into Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, Koby Brea, Daeqwon Plowden and two second-round picks.
For about 20 months in the interim, they also got to have Kevin Durant on a roster that went 85-79 and won zero playoff games across two seasons.
The Bradley Beal flowchart will be bleaker once Phoenix buys out the three-time All-Star, turning Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, four first-round swaps and six second-round picks into absolutely nothing.
Maluach is an exciting center prospect, new addition Mark Williams is a mid-tier starter if healthy and maybe the Jalen Green-Dillon Brooks combo will help the Suns threaten for a playoff spot in support of Devin Booker.
Overall, it's hard to avoid feeling like Phoenix wasted two years and a horde of draft picks for nothing.
Portland Trail Blazers: Ambitious
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The Portland Trail Blazers did some reaching this offseason, both in the draft when they grabbed 7'1" big man Yang Hansen 20 picks before anyone else would have and in the trade market by swapping out Anfernee Simons for Jrue Holiday.
The former move was a classic "we have to get our guy" gambit—perhaps unnecessarily risky but still potentially worthwhile. Portland clearly evaluated Hansen more favorably than anyone else and, well...sometimes you have to trust your convictions.
The Holiday trade was more of an announcement to the league, with the Blazers effectively saying they believe themselves to be playoff-bound.
Otherwise, why trade Simons for an older, more expensive player at the same position?
Portland did something similar last year in sending the pick that became All-Rookie second-teamer Bub Carrington to the Washington Wizards for Deni Avdija. Now, after closing last year on a mostly youth-led 23-18 surge, the Blazers are again putting an emphasis on present success.
Credit them for taking some swings.
Sacramento Kings: Wayward
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Beyond bringing back almost anyone who either used to work for or play for the organization, the Sacramento Kings don't seem to have a unifying plan.
If you exclude signing journeyman Dennis Schroder to start at point guard, the Kings' biggest offseason move was empowering Scott Perry, the executive who once signed a 40-year-old Vince Carter, a 36-year-old Zach Randolph and a 31-year-old George Hill in the same 2017 offseason. That was before leaving just a few months later as those veteran acquisitions grew frustrated on a go-nowhere team.
Perry presides over a head coach in Doug Christie that he did not hire. The roster is aging, short on defenders and coming off a dismal 40-42 season. De'Aaron Fox is gone, Domantas Sabonis could follow him out the door sooner than later and the whole "Bulls West" roster-construction plan leaves a lot to be desired.
Owner Vivek Ranadive has yet to empower the right people or stick to a plan for more than a couple of seasons. As has been the case for most of the last 25 years, Sacramento is adrift.
San Antonio Spurs: Patient
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If the San Antonio Spurs keep this up, they might be in for a change from patient to passive, with the latter having a slightly more negative connotation.
The Spurs have Victor Wembanyama, who might have been an All-NBA first-teamer last year if he'd stayed healthy. That doesn't mean it's time to recklessly go all-in on a championship chase, but it does create moderate urgency. Windows open and close quickly, and the Spurs can't assume their best shot to contend is way off in the future.
Luke Kornet, signed to a four-year deal that only guarantees him a little more than half of the full $41 million value, will be a major upgrade to the center rotation behind Wemby. Rookies Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant offer potential, if not necessarily win-now help in 2025-26.
And...that's pretty much it for the Spurs' maneuverings.
There's nothing wrong with being careful and not rushing into unnecessarily risky transactions. But San Antonio should probably get a little more active soon. Wemby is already good enough to justify accelerating the timeline by a year or two.
Toronto Raptors: Enamored
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Find yourself someone who loves you as much as the Toronto Raptors love Jakob Poeltl.
Former team president Masai Ujiri departed, but a management change didn't reduce Toronto's affinity for its starting center. Poeltl, an original Raps draftee reacquired for a first-rounder in 2023 after going to the Spurs in the Kawhi Leonard trade, got an extra three years and $84.5 million in new money added to the original four-year contract he signed in 2023.
Despite not being ticketed for free agency until the summer of 2027, Poeltl got serious security and a hefty raise. He'll be locked down through the 2029-30 season, earning $30.2 million in the last year of his new extension.
That's a massive (and probably unnecessary?) commitment to a center who might rank around 15th in the league at his position on a good day.
But hey, you can't choose who you love.
Utah Jazz: Calculated
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He's cleaned up the narrative since, but Ace Bailey initially seemed lukewarm on the idea of playing for the Utah Jazz. That was part of the reason he made for a risky choice on draft night. The other part: a wildly underwhelming season at Rutgers that suggested Bailey's considerable talent might not drive winning.
Utah was wise to look past those issues and bank on Bailey's upside.
The Jazz are somewhat unusual among the league's rebuilders. They entered the 2025 draft with nothing close to a cornerstone candidate on the roster after two straight years in the lottery. Bailey may come with a frighteningly low floor, but he had the highest ceiling of anyone left on the board when Utah picked at No. 5.
Smaller cost-conscious moves like trading John Collins, turning Collin Sexton into Jusuf Nurkić and buying out Jordan Clarkson were all fine. But the Bailey pick is the calculated risk that could pay off most handsomely for the Jazz.
Washington Wizards: Pouncing
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When they saw a team willing to take Jordan Poole's remaining two years and $66 million, the Washington Wizards leapt at the opportunity. In bringing back former Pelicans CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk, the rebuilding Wiz cleared $34 million from their 2026 offseason cap sheet, positioning themselves to have over $100 million in spending power.
If you thought this summer's Brooklyn Nets were power brokers, just wait until you see the Wizards wheeling and dealing a year from now.
Then, in another opportunistic move, Washington snagged Cam Whitmore from the stupidly deep Rockets, adding a scoring dynamo who might only be a regular rotation role away from averaging an easy 20-plus points per game.
Those deals ultimately morphed into one transaction, but they were originally separate instances of Washington seeing opportunities and jumping at them.
Dramatically increased flexibility and a high-upside prospect? Those are two very good things to exit the offseason with if you're a rebuilding outfit.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Salary info via Spotrac.
Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.
