I'll do more specific deep dives into the interesting teams, but let's start with the big picture. Which teams are buyers and sellers this offseason and who will be the biggest moving pieces?
Sellers
These are the teams that I expect to be bailing on their valuable assets:
- Celtics: Even before Tatum's horrible injury, there was Last Dance talk around this old expensive roster. I think they'll use this year to get the roster more aligned with Tatum's timeline. That likely means moving on from Horford, Holliday, and Porzingis for salary savings and promising young players.
- Bucks: With Dame injured and the roster being both old and not very good, they'll be putting Giannis on the auction block, as well as anyone else with trade value. They aren't tanking, though, unless they can get their picks back.
- Phoenix: They desperately need to turn KD into assets that will be valuable in the future. The situation may even be bleak enough that they look to move on from Booker.
- Memphis: A badly injured superstar and a roster that probably isn't good enough anyway, means it's time to sell the parts that don't quite fit and look to get back on track after next season.
Buyers
These are the teams looking to add high-end talent:
- Houston: They had a great season, but lack a true number one player. Fortunately for them, they have a ton of draft picks and promising young players.
- San Antonio: They also have a ton of assets and are ready to build a competitor around Wemby and Fox.
Both
These teams are pretty good, but they probably need to make pretty big roster tweaks:
- Cavs: The two-big lineup looked too big against the Pacers. They probably need to move either Garland or Allen for another good player that fits the roster needs better.
- Minnesota: Randle looked good for most of the playoffs, but Randle and Gobert aren't the right frontcourt for Ant.
- Lakers: I'm not sure who they should part with, but they need a center.
Run it back
These teams don't need to do more than small tweaks around the edges, either because they're close already, they're developing a young promising roster, or there's just not much they can do:
- Detroit
- New York
- Indiana
- OKC
- Golden State
???
I don't know what they need to do, but they need to do something:
- Clippers: Kawhi and Harden went as far as they're gonna go, but I doubt anyone wants to give up assets for either of them.
- Philly: Hahahahaha!
- Orlando: Great defense, miserable offense. Something's gotta give
- Dallas: Are they trying to win now or build around Flagg?
- New Orleans: They have way too much talent to be as bad as they've been.
- Denver: They looked great against OKC, but it seems like they need more around Jokic. Is MPJ worth anything as a trade asset, though?
Who cares? They suck
Everyone else
Let me know what you're looking at this offseason.