Every year, free agency dramatically alters the NBA.
This offseason, Paul George signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, Klay Thompson landed with the Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade and DeMar DeRozan joined the Sacramento Kings.
Many teams improved their fortunes (and championship odds), but for the teams that missed out on the big-name free agents or lost key role players to other franchises, the coming seasons look less promising.
Here are three big-name teams that flopped in free agency:
Los Angeles Lakers
Usually, the Lakers have it easy. Stars typically want to play for the team because living in Los Angeles and playing out the star life of a famous basketball player are included in the deal.
But in the past few years, that allure has weakened. This summer’s free agency is perhaps the best example of that. Players aren’t chomping at the bit to play for a Lakers team that hasn’t lived up to expectations since its 2020 title and recently hired a new coach (JJ Redick) with no experience.
The Lakers missed out on their biggest free-agent targets (Thompson and DeRozan), then watched Taurean Prince sign with the Milwaukee Bucks. He might have been the Lakers’ most consistent three-point threat last season (39.6%).
The Lakers should still be a solid team in 2024-25. We know what LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and the role players can do. But we also saw the chasm of talent between Los Angeles and the Denver Nuggets in the first round of last year’s playoffs and the Lakers have done nothing this summer to shrink that gap between them and elite teams.
Denver Nuggets
Speaking of Denver, much of the basketball world is acting like the Nuggets’ window has closed because it lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic. That’s a slight overreaction given that the Nuggets still have the best player in the NBA (Nikola Jokic) and an elite cast of role players.
But it’s certainly not a good thing KCP walked. He filled his role perfectly in Denver (41.5% from deep in two seasons) and now the Nuggets must rely on youngsters Christian Braun and Peyton Watson to fill the void left in the starting lineup. Maybe they can replicate KCP’s production, but an already-thin Denver team just lost even more depth.
Denver doesn’t need to add more star power, but shoring up its bench was supposed to be priority No. 1. The Nuggets may have more moves to make, but team’s second unit somehow looks even more suspect heading into 2024-25 than it did during the past campaign.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks are acting like they have all the time in the world. Someone should tell them that’s not the case. Damian Lillard is 33 and if last season were an indication, is starting to slow down as an offensive hub.
Khris Middleton will turn 33 next month and injuries are starting to become a legitimate hindrance to his production. Brook Lopez is 36. The Bucks are old and the front office should be willing to take risks to surround Giannis Antetokounmpo with more high-level talent, but that didn’t happen this offseason.
The addition of Prince is nice, but the Bucks also lost sharpshooter Malik Beasley, making that signing is more of a lateral move than an outright improvement.
Outside of Prince, Milwaukee has been mostly silent in free agency and its two draft picks (AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith) are long-term projects. Is the franchise gearing for the future rather than focusing on team-building in 2024?
A franchise can do both, but it’s mighty difficult. The only thing standing between Milwaukee and consistent, deep playoff runs seems to be itself.