The Cavaliers‘ acquisition of Donovan Mitchell made their offseason the most successful of any NBA team, according to the league’s general managers. In his annual survey of the NBA’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 41% of the GM respondents picked Cleveland as having made the best offseason moves, while 59% chose the addition of Mitchell as the move that will have the biggest impact.
The Timberwolves and Jazz were on opposite ends of one of the summer’s other blockbuster trades, but the two clubs tied for second (along with the Sixers) in the GM vote for which teams made the best overall offseason moves. Minnesota’s trade for Rudy Gobert was the second-leading vote-getter for the offseason’s most impactful single acquisition, earning 31% of the vote.
The team viewed by the majority of GMs as the title favorite for 2023 didn’t earn any votes for having the best offseason. According to Schuhmann, 43% of the poll respondents picked the Bucks to win next year’s Finals, with GMs apparently betting on continuity in Milwaukee. The Warriors (25%), Clippers (21%), and Celtics (11%) also received votes.
Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:
- NBA general managers expect the Clippers – who will have Kawhi Leonard back – to be the most improved team in 2022/23. L.A. received 41% of the vote, with the Cavaliers and Pelicans at 17% apiece.
- The Celtics‘ trade for Malcolm Brogdon earned the most votes (28%) for the summer’s most underrated acquisition. The Sixers‘ signing of P.J. Tucker and the Clippers‘ addition of John Wall were the runners-up, with 14% each.
- Asked which team has the most promising young core, NBA GMs overwhelmingly chose the Cavaliers (41%) and Grizzlies (38%). The Pistons (10%) were the only other club to get multiple votes.
- NBA GMs view Magic forward Paolo Banchero as the best bet to win Rookie of the Year (79%) and also chose him as the 2022 draftee most likely to be the best player in five years (31%), narrowly edging Thunder big man Chet Holmgren (28%). As for the steal of the draft, GMs were split between Pistons big man Jalen Duren and Rockets forward Tari Eason (14% apiece), among many others.
- Mavericks star Luka Doncic was picked as the favorite to win MVP, earning 48% of the vote from NBA GMs. Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks came in second with 34%.
Everyone was so high on Jabari when they thought he was going 1-1.
Clippers are the new face of the NBA! Milwaukee WHO?!
You know, those guys who won the ring 15 months ago
Those Warriors youth are not ready
Warriors should keep Payton and trade Wiseman to a bad team for a future pick
Postpone the rebuild
Bit late for that
You can do
Wiseman for Payton and a future pick via third team who likes Wiseman
Huh? Why would Portland give up Payton for a future 2nd round pick. Besides, you are just destroying the rotation. It is obvious that Divencenzo and Wiseman have great chemistry. Do you want to get rid of Divencenzo for some weird reason?
Uhhh…The rebuild started the second Klay tore his Achilles. The rebuild is almost over, according to Steve Kerr. Why do you want to get rid of Wiseman so much? It doesn’t make sense from the Warriors point of view.
Hoops Rumors, just wanna ask when will the Free Agent Prediction Contest end? I thought for sure it was gonna end in the 27th of September. It’s been a week. Any update regarding to this?
Yes, the contest has closed. We had a glitch with one of the columns on the leaderboard that I’d been hoping to clean up before making an official announcement, but there’s been no progress on that since last week, so I’m not sure if it’s getting fixed or not. Either way, we should be sending out messages about prizes soon (congrats, by the way!)
Why do you think this site publishes three times as many articles per day as MLBRumors, even though baseball is in season?
Because Luke Adams and the others are studs and work around the clock.
I see that’s why, no hurries tho. Thank you for responding, been a fan since I’ve first saw this site, every post is detailed (e.g. Exhibit 10 deals) and everything that every hoop junkies want. Once again, THANK YOU!!!
Don’t sleep on the nuggets if they are healthy
These Executives still have not figured out that most of them are light years behind. Go Dubs!!!
Cavs had a tremendous off season. Unfortunately the East is much better these days. East is very deep this yr. An 8th seed could beat a 1seed. Better come focused to this yrs East playoffs.
Bucks, Celtics, Sixers, Heat probably top 4. Nets, Bulls, Cavs, Hawks, Raptors all could be top 4. If things work out for them. These 5 should be better in second half. As they come together as a team. Knicks make a trade. They will be in running for top 8.
Hornets also should be better. But have Bridges issue. Wizards will also be better. But need their young guys to step up. Pistons should be must see TV. Plenty of young talent. Magic also got plenty of young talent.
Deepest I’ve seen the East in Years. Injuries this yr will hurt you a lot. I expect Pacers to clean house. And build thru next yrs draft.
The Knicks have zero shot at the top 8. Maybe if they were playing in the WNBA but I doubt it.
Totally agree throbber.
Love this Cavs team! They’re young, talented, and all of them like each other! Not to mention they’re all good people too!
The Rockets are still a couple years away, but they’ll be a very fun team to watch, at least. The team really seems to like each other, as well. Hopefully that chemistry can expedite the rebuilding process a tad bit. Can’t wait to see Tari and Bari show some more of what they gave in preseason game one.
When was the last time the GM percentages correctly pick the title winner? Probably 2018.
It’s funny to see the Doncic for MVP narrative getting promoted everywhere now.
And GSW is 2nd to the Bucks in title chance %, but the Clippers are predicted to be the #1 team in the west.
As of right now, heading into training camp/the beginning of the preseason, I think this is the best team Milwaukee has had,and is the first time I have to pick them as the favorite to win. I knew they were winning when they were down 0-2 against Phoenix in the finals when phoenix lost Saric and stopped using Kaminsky, and played Ayton 38 minutes, while Milwaukee used Brook Lopez less and less…but this is the first time I could say that from this early in the season
That being said, I think there are a lot of similar level teams this year, and barring terrible coaching and injuries, it should be interesting to see who the bad teams actually are, as I would also have to expect a lot of close games to be deciding factors in seeding. These teams’ rotations also always end up being a lot different than would be expected with the teams they’ve built, so I expect that to be a big deal this year, matchup wise