On Wednesday night, we opened up a discussion on the best roster move of the offseason, from a team perspective. While the Lakers‘ signing of LeBron James was probably the single-most impactful move of the summer, other deals – such as the Warriors‘ signing of DeMarcus Cousins and the Nuggets‘ addition of Isaiah Thomas – received plenty of praise as well.
Today, we’re shifting our focus to look at the deals on the other end of the spectrum. Which roster moves were the worst of the offseason?
We can get a little creative here. If there’s not a single free agent signing or trade that stood out for you as awful, then a series of moves made – or not made – by a club could qualify for this “honor.” For instance, perhaps you weren’t a fan of the Rockets replacing Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute with James Ennis and Carmelo Anthony, even if none of those moves on their own are particularly egregious.
A handful of ESPN analysts weighed in on this question this week. Among their choices? The Wizards‘ offseason moves, including the signing of Dwight Howard; the Bulls‘ signing of Jabari Parker to a two-year, $40MM deal; and the Lakers‘ deal with Lance Stephenson.
Those are hardly the only candidates to qualify for the most questionable move of the summer. Perhaps you’re skeptical about Devin Booker‘s new five-year maximum-salary extension with the Suns, or particularly disliked one side or the other in the Kawhi Leonard/DeMar DeRozan mega-deal. Maybe one of the signings at the very start of free agency, such as the three-year deals the Pacers and Bucks gave Doug McDermott and Ersan Ilyasova, respectively, drew your ire.
Draft-night trades also qualify for this discussion, so if you hated the Hawks‘ move to pass up on Luka Doncic for Trae Young, or the Suns‘ decision to give up an unprotected future first-rounder to move up six sports for Mikal Bridges, let us know.
What do you think? Which offseason move do you think is the worst – or just your least-favorite – of 2018?
Knicks waiving troy Williams to sign Noah vonleh lol
They didn’t waive him just to sign Vonleh, though I will agree that waiving him was bad move
Kawhi trade for Toronto for a one year rental of him.
When LeBron retires, please don’t give him a job as a general manager!
?
I don’t get the universal hate of the Parker deal. It’s really I one year guarantee for the bulls. They have the money to spend and don’t take a long term commitment. But if he blossoms, then great
Yeah I agree. He’s definitely overpaid, but a one year deal (essentially) is hardly crippling. Plus since they’re rebuilding, they need good players and if Parker is healthy then no one doubts his talent.
I think matching the offer sheet for LaVine was the worst move that Chicago made, not signing Jabari.
If he blossoms then he goes into free agency. They aren’t going to win this year so it’s a no win scenario. Either he plays well and goes into free agency and then they’ll most likely have to max him out. Which most likely won’t be worth it.If he plays bad they just wasted cap space they could have used to obtain a pick.
If he blossoms then they pick up his option…
Exactly and they maybe the make the playoffs that year. Not much upside since it’s only 2 years and considering they won’t be good in those years.
Nope. There’s Not much upside for a franchise that’s been unable to secure superstar talent in the FA market over the past 20 years. Why on earth would they take a short term risk on acquiring a 23-year old with that level of potential when he’ll just become a FA again one day! How absolutely stupid of them.
If Jabari pans out they still won’t go anywhere. At best they are an 8th seed. Makes much more sense to take a first round pick instead of signing Jabari. A first round pick that’s cheap for 4 years is more valuable than paying Jabari 20 mill for 2 years.
Couldn’t disagree more. You’re squabbling over, best case scenario, a pick ranging from 15-20.
Teams get better in the NBA three ways. 1- They acquire multiple top5 picks (either by losing or by trade.) 2- They’re a destination city and strike it big in FA. 3- They take chances on young players with star potential who, for one reason or another, is available to them.
But no rebuilding team ever gets out of rebuilding by acquiring a pick in the 15-20 range.
So you take your chances on a potential rotational player because he’s inexpensive. I’ll take my chances on a guy who has star potential. And whether Parker reaches that lofty status or he gets injured again, It wouldn’t affect my thought process the next time a similar situation arises…
Because you win in the NBA with stars- not with inexpensive rotation players. And when you have a chance to acquire a player with that type of potential, you take it.
The Clippers have 17 guaranteed players, 8 guards. I assume their offseason is not over yet! AvBradley was probably signed to trade. But there will be some frustrated players until things sift out.
The Chis Paul deal will age the worst, however, the Rockets have to preserve their championship window so worth it in the short term. That being said, the Levine deal, Kyle Anderson and Illyasova deals jump out as the worst. Levine because he seems more suited as a 6th man with a suspect shot, Bulls had cap room and needed to keep return from Butler trade though. Anderson because he is a very average player and doesn’t jump out at me as a difference maker on either side of the ball. Illyasova because although his game is great for the modern NBA, as a stretch 4, he wasn’t great value. Going after Tolliver or Bjelica would have been a cheaper pick-up which, in-turn, might not have cost the Bucks Jabari.
I agree that maintaining their return for Butler was part of the reason the Bulls matched the offer for LaVine, but that’s just such a bad way to run a team. They should have cut their losses and moved on; they knew he was rehabbing an injury and was gonna get paid this offseason anyway. So that never really made a lot of sense to me.
Besides, getting the pick they used on Markkanen is already better than it seems like a lot of teams have gotten for stars. Dunn is a decent player too.
Agree, it could very well turn out as the worst, especially if his athleticism breaks down or his development plateaus in anyway. He still has some upside though, barring another injury. Markkenan makes that trade no matter what…Side tangent; The problem with that trade was that Butler felt like he wanted out of town in the first place. The Gar/Pax regime just creates turmoil and poor chemistry, too many examples of that with them being the only common denominator. As long as they make Reinsdorf the most money possible they wont be ousted even at the detriment to the team.
Would have loved the Mavs to go after Capela but Jordan is a great signing. 1yr deal to see how he fits. Low risk. They want to compete next year so the pick going to ATL isn’t high making the Doncic trade even better. Capela would have tied-up a lot of money and years. Might be worth it but they were probably gun-shy after Noel being they have similar skill-sets (I realize Capela is better but that may just be situational). Capela likely wouldn’t have taken a team friendly deal for the Mavs because not competing for a championship. Anyway far from worst deal.
Worst short-term decision in terms of opportunity cost:
Suns paying Ariza. Why? To take minutes from their plethora of young wings Jackson, Bridges and TJ Warren? Or to alienate Ariza like they did Dudley, Bledsoe and Chandler? Moronic.
Worst short term decision by a team that should be tanking? The unthinkable DeAndre Jordan deal. It’ll help them win a few more games but why!? Why not go for Capela then?!
Agree it was a strange way to spend 15mil but its a 1yr deal so doesn’t impact much, even for this year. I think the Suns wanted Ariza as a veteran mentor for those wings. Chandler to mentor the bigs. Haven’t heard of this alienation? Seems like those vets took most money available even if joining Suns was not the best situation for minutes or competing, they were aware of what they signed up for (Dudley included).
Would have loved the Mavs to go after Capela but Jordan is a great signing. 1yr deal to see how he fits. Low risk. They want to compete next year so the pick going to ATL isn’t high making the Doncic trade even better. Capela would have tied-up a lot of money and years. Might be worth it but they were probably gun-shy after Noel being they have similar skill-sets (I realize Capela is better but that may just be situational). Capela likely wouldn’t have taken a team friendly deal for the Mavs because not competing for a championship. Anyway far from worst deal.
There are many, ZLV, Jabari, Kyle Anderson, Rudy Gay, DJ, Ariza, Rivers, Gordon, Smart, Kawhi, Nurkic… & many more.
HA you know teams have to have players no matter what? Every signing/move can’t be a bad one.
A move is only truly bad if it keeps you from doing something better. Pretty much none of the one year deals qualify as bad because the teams wouldn’t have been able to do anything better with the space and it won’t effect them next year.
Melo, Lance, Jabari, Ariza, Howard, etc. all will be gone next year if they don’t work out. Their teams really didn’t have any better options either and you have to hit the salary floor.
The McDermott and Iylasova deals jump out at me, three year deals for replaceable skill sets. Not much upside there and a good chance that in a year or two those teams will need that 7 million.
LaVine deal is the biggest boom or bust. He could have the talent to make that deal look good but it could look real bad in a couple years if he doesn’t make the jump.
McDermott is the perfect deal. Excellent shooter just needs minutes and opportunity, really wanted Mavs to keep him. Also provides insurance if Pacers can’t keep Bogdaonovic next year.
Hands down LBJ to the Lakers. R.I.P. finals runs.