{"id":40496,"date":"2021-08-24T14:22:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T08:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/?p=40496"},"modified":"2023-08-27T19:16:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T13:46:19","slug":"who-were-the-big-winners-and-loses-of-the-nba-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/who-were-the-big-winners-and-loses-of-the-nba-offseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Were the Big Winners and Loses of the NBA Offseason?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From free agency and the draft to negotiating deals privately, the magic of the NBA doesn\u2019t stop even after the court action halts for the season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahead of the new campaign, which is scheduled to kick off on October 19, each NBA franchise<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been a blur of activity<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as they look to cling on to their best players, add fresh blood, and get their roster in place ahead of the new term.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, some franchises have a better time of the offseason than others, so to mark your card ahead of the 2021\/22 season, here\u2019s a look at who has performed the best \u2013 and worst \u2013 in their off-court negotiations.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The Big Winner \u2013 Brooklyn Nets<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not content with a run to the Eastern Conference semi-finals last season, the Brooklyn Nets have gone all-out to improve on that effort in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Johnson, Patty Mills and Blake Griffin have all been recruited, and that trio will add depth and reliability to Brooklyn\u2019s star-studded roster.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xCzrx9vp3hQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keeping Bruce Brown could also prove to be a masterstroke\u00a0but, above all else for the Nets, ensuring that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant are still around to add their undoubted class in James Harden\u2019s first full season in New York is the biggest piece of offseason work of all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The loss of Jeff Green will hurt to some extent, but there\u2019s no doubt that the Nets will head into the new campaign stronger than they exited the last. It\u2019s little wonder that they are favorites in the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NBA betting on bet365 Championship odds<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Making Moves \u2013 Phoenix Suns<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beaten NBA Championship finalists last term, the Phoenix Suns also recorded a .0708 regular season ratio \u2013 that was in a division that included the Lakers, Clippers and the Warriors, which was an extraordinary achievement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In that sense, they didn\u2019t need to do too much tinkering with their roster, Chris Paul, who once again showed his unbelievable talent in the postseason games, has been retained despite the vultures circling \u2013 that is essential to the Suns\u2019 hopes of going one better in 2021\/22.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JMLP_M0nbFc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other key youngsters, plus Cameron Payne, were retained, and questions over roster depth were answered with the signings of JaVale McGee and Landry Shamet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With no major losses to speak of, an already-excellent Suns franchise has been bolstered in the offseason period \u2013 could they kick on this season?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>It\u2019s Now or Never \u2013 La Lakers<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given that they were the pre-season favorites with the sportsbooks ahead of the 2020\/21 season, the Lakers\u2019 whimpering exit from the play-offs at the first hurdle would have hurt their pride immensely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their reaction has been to assemble one of the oldest rosters in the NBA, and while that brings experience to the court, it also means creaking bones in what is a long old campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LeBron James and Marc Gasol are both 36, and they will be complemented this term by new signings Russell Westbrook (32), Kent Bazemore (32), Wayne Ellington (33), Dwight Howard (35), Trevor Azira (36) and Carmelo Anthony (37).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The older you get, the more susceptible you are to injuries and fatigue, and while there\u2019s no doubting the class of this Lakers roster, its longevity has to be called into question. Within a couple of seasons, a complete rebuild will be necessary \u2013 it\u2019s now or never for Frank Vogel\u2019s men, and that brings pressure in itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With all things considered, will the Nets be getting their hands on the NBA Championship trophy for the first time?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From free agency and the draft to negotiating deals privately, the magic of the NBA doesn\u2019t stop even after the court action halts for the season. Ahead of the new campaign, which is scheduled to kick off on October 19, each NBA franchise has been a blur of activity as they look to cling on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40496"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73179,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40496\/revisions\/73179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oracleglobe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}