Matthew Mathias

Sports Editor

Mcm5909@psu.edu

The NBA offseason always has the potential to play a pivotal role in how the next year of basketball plays out. Some teams hit the lottery with their signings while others similarly strike out and make no progress towards upgrading their team. These are some winners and losers of the NBA offseason showing who has improved with their signings as well as who needs some serious roster work.

The first winner of the offseason is going to have to be the Miami Heat. The Heat did well in free agency to hold on to pieces that they wished to develop, including the likes of guard Duncan Robinson. However, they also found a way to acquire six-time All-Star guard Kyle Lowry from the Toronto Raptors. Along with that, they also signed some versatile defensive players with addition of P.J. Tucker, who won a championship with Milwaukee last season and Markieff Morris. While both players are great on ball defenders, they also can shoot the ball from the outside with relative efficiency.

Lastly, the Heat’s Victor Oladipo dealt with injury all season since coming from the Houston Rockets early in the 2020-2021 season. However, he is expected to be back and healthy with the team this year as they re-signed Oladipo to a one-year contract. All in all, the Heat were able to make a well-rounded roster heading into the new season

A loser of the NBA offseason would be the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans lost a good developing player in Lonzo Ball to the Chicago Bulls this offseason and didn’t do much to make up for his departure. They did sign DeVonte Graham from Charlotte as well as Jonas Valanciunas from Memphis, but these middle of the road players won’t help Zion and Brandon Ingram compete in an already loaded western conference. All NOLA fans can hope for at this point is for Zion to sign his rookie contract extension and for the Pelicans to pursue another lottery pick in the upcoming draft following this season.

The next winner of the offseason is the New York Knicks. The Knicks made a splash in free agency signing All-Star point guard Kemba Walker at a relatively cheap price. However, the Knicks did overpay a few players just to keep the core of their roster together. This includes the likes of Derrick Rose, Nerlins Noel, and Alec Burks, who the Knicks deem valuable to their bench. They also signed Evan Fournier  to a 4 year deal worth $73 million. The Knicks were forced out of the playoffs last season by Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, so the Knicks will be shooting for a little further of a playoff run this year. As the Knicks try to stay relevant, they will face a strong eastern conference and will certainly have to compete with the best of them.

The Dallas Mavericks are the next loser of this past offseason. While the Mavs do have an absolute stud in Luka Doncic, they haven’t really done much to surround him with talent. The Mavs tried to bring in Kristaps Porzingis as they hoped he would be another superstar calibre player to go alongside Luka, but he hasn’t turned out to be what they had expected. Instead, they held onto Tim Hardaway Jr. in the offseason and signed Reggie Bullock to a deal. Nothing about these signings is going to have an impact on the success of the Mavs this coming year. Once again, Doncic is going to have to put the Dallas Mavericks on his back if they wish to have success this year.

The biggest winner of the NBA offseason absolutely has to be the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls seem poised to compete with the likes of Milwaukee and Brooklyn as they made some seriously aggressive moves this past summer. The centerpiece of the franchise, shooting guard Zach Lavine, has really come into his own over the past few years as a scorer. He averaged just over 27 points a game last year. From there, the Bulls went out and surrounded Lavine with DeMar DeRozen from the San Antonio Spurs as well as Lonzo Ball from the New Orleans Pelicans. Both guards will shape the Chicago backcourt into a seriously versatile offensive threat. Besides that, last season the Bulls went out and got Nikola Vucevic, an elite center in the NBA. The windy city of Chicago is looking ready and willing to make a push for the best team in the east coming up this season.

The final loser of the offseason has to be the Portland Trailblazers. There were many rumors about star guards Damien Lillard and CJ McCollum potentially being moved over the past several months. However, not only did neither of them move away from the team, but Portland all together failed to really add much to their roster from the large pool of free agents that existed. This coming year may be the final straw for Lillard as his greatness has yet to reap any championship benefits. With a clutch and talented player as Lillard on a team, you would only hope to build around him in order to best give that franchise a chance to win a title. This, however, seems like it may never happen in Portland.