NBA offseason winners and losers: Kings raise floor with DeMar DeRozan deal; Lakers’ summer had been a bust

As the NBA offseason continues to die down, we’re running out of big names, especially now with the Kings bringing in DeMar DeRozan in from Chicago on a sign-and-trade. We’re all watching the Lauri Markkanen rumors. We’ll see what, if anything, comes of that. 

Until then, we’re in evaluation mode for what we’ve already seen with the information we have available to us at this moment. With that in mind, below are the offseason winners and losers. Understand this is a fluid list. Things can change quickly. But here’s how it looks at the moment. 

Winner: Sacramento Kings

Our Sam Quinn slapped the Kings with a D- grade for the sign-and-trade that netted them DeMar DeRozan from Chicago while sending, most notably, Harrison Barnes and a 2031 pick swap to the Spurs (Sam is not alone in his pessimism). I’m going to push back on that, however, but not necessarily because I don’t agree with the critiques. 

It’s true that DeRozan is about to turn 35 and the Kings signed him through his age-37 season at over $25M a year. That could age badly. It’s also true that DeRozan, a ball-stopping isolation scorer, doesn’t exactly fit Sacramento’s more motion-based offense, nor does he help an already porous defense. 

All that said, this is the Kings that we’re talking about. They’ve missed the playoffs 17 of the last 18 years. We can’t look at every big-name roster addition through the same “Does this make them a contender?” prism. In the context of the Kings, they had a little honeymoon period after they traded for Domantas Sabonis and took the Warriors to seven games in the 2023 playoffs, but that level of success has now become expected, and in the Western Conference, if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. 

DeMar DeRozan is better than Harrison Barnes. It actually can be that simple. 

You can lose organizational momentum pretty quickly. Sacramento didn’t make it out of the Play-In Tournament this past season, and ownership has been pretty clear about expecting to win right now. That’s not always the best approach. The Atlanta Hawks…


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Author : Brad Botkin

Publish date : 2024-07-07 20:34:28

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