Teams That Failed Free Agency
For a while, it seemed like the Los Angeles Lakers were going to do a bad job in free agency, for the second time in a row. But, in the end, they managed to keep the damage within reason and assemble quite a good team for the upcoming season. Of course, they lost out on Kyrie, Durant, Kawhi and Paul George, which is quite bad, but they did manage to get Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins to LA.
Other teams, weren’t that lucky and can (almost) already forget about reaching the playoffs next year.
New York Knicks
This is an obvious one. For the entire season, everyone was convinced that both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, or maybe Kemba Walker would come to Madision Square Garden. But nothing proved less true. Walker signed with the Celtics, and Irving and Durant chose the Brooklyn Nets over the Knicks.
Once again, the Knicks have to think about what went wrong in free agency. Just a year ago, they had a very promising team with a young potential super star in Porzingis on their team, and the hopes of getting Zion. Then, Porzingis demanded a trade despite being injured, and the Knicks had to watch the Pelicans taking home Zion.
For now, the Knicks starting line-up could consist out of Dennis Smith Jr., Reggie Bullock, Kevin Knox, Julius Randle and Bobby Portis. To be fair, there are definitely worse starting line-ups in the league, but this isn’t one that will frighten the opponents.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets had high hopes of keeping Kemba Walker in the hive, but Walker thought otherwise. Kemba developed quite well the last few years, and he even managed to become an All-Star, but there never was any future for him there. He made clear he liked his time in Charlotte, but it was time for him to go to an actual contender. He was never going to get that chance with Charlotte, as they didn’t put in any effort the last few years to build a good team around their star.
But, without Kemba, the Hornets have no real firepower left on the squad. Of course, they did sign Terry Rozier, who has the potential to be a good point guard, but he’s no replacement for Walker.
