The Offseason's Eight Most Interesting Teams
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jwoo
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The Offseason's Eight Most Interesting Teams
After letting my brain recharge for like a month I got the itch to make some original SLN content (key word: original) and with the longest draft in SLN history now over and it being a very slow Monday, here we go.
I've been scouring over the league pretty closely over the past week as I was trying to figure out my Fultz trade and offseason plans. Here are the teams I think are most interesting to follow moving forward this offseason, with interesting being subjective but loosely equivalent to "I think these teams need to do something." They are as follows in no real order but categorized logically.
Hard Capped Competitors
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavs had a very splashy season that netted Hoff GMOTY. The question now is how does he sustain that, considering he has eight players making $84m or so. From a logical overhead perspective, one of Jonathan Isaac, Aaron Gordon or Jaylen Brown probably has to get traded if Dallas wants to make this operation more sustainable, which in two cases requires the tough task of finding a landing spot for an older star due a lot of future money.
If the goal is to win the title next year, then maybe Hoff can skirt that and turn Duncan Robinson and Jose Alvarado into a cheaper bench. If the goal is to win around Luka long-term and not have to blow this up before the old guys decline, then I think you probably make moves on the front foot and remain open to dealing a big name. Hoff has the GMOTY extension available but traded literally every non-player asset he had to put himself in this position. I'm very curious where the Mavs go from here and what type of view they take in terms of going all-in now versus trying to compete more consistently for the duration of Luka's contract.
San Antonio Spurs
These guys won the title last year and then, surprise! LeBron said he's back for more, and put Jordo squarely in hard cap hell.
I don't think this will require drastic action from the Spurs — all he has to do is send Poeltl or Wiseman into someone's cap space — but I am curious as to how active Jordo will be after the legendary accomplishment of winning a title with the Dick and Ball backcourt. My question is more about the long-term sustainability of this roster and what Jordo can/will do to prolong that. Ball, Dick and McDaniels are all under contract and LeBron has to eventually retire which would make way for Derik Queen's likely extension after this coming season.
Which brings us to KAT, who is expensive but single-handedly destroyed us for most of the Finals — in terms of raw talent he's one of the best players on the market right now. Generally trades have been slow but I think he's someone who should draw a lot of interest from GMs who are paying attention especially.
If Jordo wants to run it back with a team that has a very real shot at making the Finals again, he can — but this could also be an opportunity to move for financial flexibility if the right buyer emerges. Overall I think it wasn't discussed enough how sustainable the Spurs' current build is/can be moving forward and I'm curious what buttons get pushed here with most of the principle players still under 30.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Mantypas got my vote for GMOTY after the Cavs had a very impressive turnaround thanks in large part to his trades and the emergence of the More Affordable But Only Sort Of Debatably Better Thompson Twin. They have eight roster players and will recall enough talent from the NDL to field largely the same team, with no critical FA departures pending. The question is where Cleveland goes from here — do they push to get even better while Andre Drummond and Jalen Brunson are still giving them top-line production, or is the move to leverage some of that financial flexibility with those expirings to bring in a younger and/or more financially controllable stud or two?
The Cavs' weakness last year was their subpar offensive attack, something that probably had to do with playing Brunson and Anthony Black together as well as their bigs shooting a bit too much. The big variable here is AJ Dybantsa — if he develops into a top starter level player on his rookie deal it solves some issues. My guess would be that he's worth his likely rookie max, but at some point the Cavs also need to let him loose.
All this creates some interesting trade possibilities if Manty wants to tinker with what he's got. Black and Thompson are obviously keepers and Dybantsa should be one, and the fact all three are under team control for a while (RFA pending) should give Cleveland some leeway to find value for their older guys and play around with the build of the roster now that they are off the hook for the tank clock. Can they improve on last season, and how soon?
Vancouver Grizzlies
Josh unfortunately forgot to use his GMOTY extension which has put him in an unenviable position of needing to offload Blake Griffin and Cason Wallace. The good thing is that there's enough cap space out there (and a meh enough free agent class) that he should be able to pay someone to eat salary. The bigger question is what the ceiling of the roster is as constituted: there's a very solid starting five here as well as some useful depth, but 33-year-old Jabari probably isn't the guy who's going to get the Grizz over the hump.
With Goga and Jabari on big expirings, some nice younger players on the roster with Daniels Kon and Ware and also some future stuff to trade, I'm curious whether the Grizz will get more aggressive to try and up the ante as they chase the Spurs in the division. This is a team I think should probably be buying once they solve their financial situation, as it's going to be incrementally harder to build as the younger guys all hit their second contracts. This feels like a good window for Vancouver to keep upgrading and maybe buy the risk of a more expensive older star if it gets them over the hump.
They're Out of Tank Years
Miami Heat
The Heat tried to buy a year early but just missed the cut for last year's playoffs, putting their backs against the wall this season as they work to reset their tank clock. Scoops has a few more of his own picks, including this year's, so he should be able to use them constructively given the circumstances. However, the bigger problem is that Miami has no bird rights players after accepting all of their free agents — giving the Heat very little extra salary to play with and currently only holding $60m or so in payroll.
That situation makes this a little more complex than your standard "go buy some stuff" angle. The Heat should be trying to grow their salary pie with any deals they do as a baseline. Considering his pick this year doesn't have a ton of value to him, I'd be dangling that primarily to try and get as many quality cheap players as possible. I do like a lot of the pieces Miami has, especially the guys on smaller contracts, and I am a fan of Sengun and Montero as solid starters (and a nice fit together from a turnover perspective).
Would guess the move here is now to try and use Otto Porter's salary to go and get more stuff and take in money? The Heat are probably two solid players away from 41 wins but it's a situation that will require some creative navigation from here to actually work. Super curious what they do.
Utah Jazz
Similarly to the Heat, the Jazz need to hit 41 wins this year. Lucky for them they are in the West, but some real work on this roster is going to be in order for Ralph to make it click. Utah does have bird rights guys and a lot of money to play with under the hard cap, so the obvious solution here is probably signing huge expirings and making yourself a landing spot for whichever expensive stars/talented players hit the market using the ability to take in salary as a lever. Sabonis is a good piece to start with and FVV is still fine. But the Jazz really need some of these younger draftees to have big TCs to have a chance at turning this around organically.
Utah should be able to do stuff in the trade market with some extra picks on top of their own and the ability to target more or less anyone they want as long as they don't clash with Sabonis. But it's probably going to require more hands-on management than we have seen from this organization in a while. Interested to see how they move forward and try to get over the hump.
Should They Sell?
New York Knicks
Nav gets his picks back after this season and traded away Killian Hayes to the Nets for some asset value, which makes Ben Simmons his current starting point guard. That sentence makes me think New York is headed towards a teardown or at least a restructure around Jalen Green and Mo Bamba. That would seem to make either the legendary Myles Turner or the less-legendary Simmons available just thinking logically, with Hayes out the door. It would be easy enough to move one or both of those guys, accept being somewhat middling this season while trying to make the playoffs and then moving into a rebuild from there.
The thing is that the Knicks were still really good last year and have the talent to stay good. So the other option here is going to trade for a point guard, presumably using Turner or Simmons' money. Would it make sense for the Knicks to become a buyer for a different higher-priced PG like DLo or Lonzo Ball? Could there be a Tyus Jones reunion? The point guard market hasn't been the best in recent years, with most competitive teams already holding star PGs, so who knows. It's never been Nav's style to rebuild for long, but as the Turner era approaches an eventual close, moving the franchise player for value now could make sense.
Washington Bullets
Notorious for never levering himself at any cost (except the one time he did and he won the title, duh) Wes has all his own picks and is at an inflection point with his roster. Tyrese Maxey is expiring, Anthony Edwards has two years left, neither player will come with a re-signing advantage, meanwhile Michael Porter is making a gajillion dollars and Anthony Davis is 35. The Atlantic has no tankers right now and there are teams out there that need talent; Wes has that to offer and the timing for a rebuild coming off a playoff berth makes a lot of sense...even his role players like Okafor and Skal are affordable and very solid.
Teams like Utah and Miami that need to win now probably need to take a hard look at Porter, who's only going to get harder to trade as time goes on. Maxey is also a good fit in a lot of places due to his smaller salary and history of cheap re-signs. Edwards has name brand value and is still good if not amazing. If this were me I'd be looking at the rest of the division and working to find value for most or all of these guys before someone else starts to sell first — I'm not sure there is a player available that gets the Bullets all the way back into contention this second before the contract risk comes into play.
***
I could probably find another team or two to talk about here but I need to go live my life. Get those FA bids in and thx for reading
I've been scouring over the league pretty closely over the past week as I was trying to figure out my Fultz trade and offseason plans. Here are the teams I think are most interesting to follow moving forward this offseason, with interesting being subjective but loosely equivalent to "I think these teams need to do something." They are as follows in no real order but categorized logically.
Hard Capped Competitors
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavs had a very splashy season that netted Hoff GMOTY. The question now is how does he sustain that, considering he has eight players making $84m or so. From a logical overhead perspective, one of Jonathan Isaac, Aaron Gordon or Jaylen Brown probably has to get traded if Dallas wants to make this operation more sustainable, which in two cases requires the tough task of finding a landing spot for an older star due a lot of future money.
If the goal is to win the title next year, then maybe Hoff can skirt that and turn Duncan Robinson and Jose Alvarado into a cheaper bench. If the goal is to win around Luka long-term and not have to blow this up before the old guys decline, then I think you probably make moves on the front foot and remain open to dealing a big name. Hoff has the GMOTY extension available but traded literally every non-player asset he had to put himself in this position. I'm very curious where the Mavs go from here and what type of view they take in terms of going all-in now versus trying to compete more consistently for the duration of Luka's contract.
San Antonio Spurs
These guys won the title last year and then, surprise! LeBron said he's back for more, and put Jordo squarely in hard cap hell.
I don't think this will require drastic action from the Spurs — all he has to do is send Poeltl or Wiseman into someone's cap space — but I am curious as to how active Jordo will be after the legendary accomplishment of winning a title with the Dick and Ball backcourt. My question is more about the long-term sustainability of this roster and what Jordo can/will do to prolong that. Ball, Dick and McDaniels are all under contract and LeBron has to eventually retire which would make way for Derik Queen's likely extension after this coming season.
Which brings us to KAT, who is expensive but single-handedly destroyed us for most of the Finals — in terms of raw talent he's one of the best players on the market right now. Generally trades have been slow but I think he's someone who should draw a lot of interest from GMs who are paying attention especially.
If Jordo wants to run it back with a team that has a very real shot at making the Finals again, he can — but this could also be an opportunity to move for financial flexibility if the right buyer emerges. Overall I think it wasn't discussed enough how sustainable the Spurs' current build is/can be moving forward and I'm curious what buttons get pushed here with most of the principle players still under 30.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Mantypas got my vote for GMOTY after the Cavs had a very impressive turnaround thanks in large part to his trades and the emergence of the More Affordable But Only Sort Of Debatably Better Thompson Twin. They have eight roster players and will recall enough talent from the NDL to field largely the same team, with no critical FA departures pending. The question is where Cleveland goes from here — do they push to get even better while Andre Drummond and Jalen Brunson are still giving them top-line production, or is the move to leverage some of that financial flexibility with those expirings to bring in a younger and/or more financially controllable stud or two?
The Cavs' weakness last year was their subpar offensive attack, something that probably had to do with playing Brunson and Anthony Black together as well as their bigs shooting a bit too much. The big variable here is AJ Dybantsa — if he develops into a top starter level player on his rookie deal it solves some issues. My guess would be that he's worth his likely rookie max, but at some point the Cavs also need to let him loose.
All this creates some interesting trade possibilities if Manty wants to tinker with what he's got. Black and Thompson are obviously keepers and Dybantsa should be one, and the fact all three are under team control for a while (RFA pending) should give Cleveland some leeway to find value for their older guys and play around with the build of the roster now that they are off the hook for the tank clock. Can they improve on last season, and how soon?
Vancouver Grizzlies
Josh unfortunately forgot to use his GMOTY extension which has put him in an unenviable position of needing to offload Blake Griffin and Cason Wallace. The good thing is that there's enough cap space out there (and a meh enough free agent class) that he should be able to pay someone to eat salary. The bigger question is what the ceiling of the roster is as constituted: there's a very solid starting five here as well as some useful depth, but 33-year-old Jabari probably isn't the guy who's going to get the Grizz over the hump.
With Goga and Jabari on big expirings, some nice younger players on the roster with Daniels Kon and Ware and also some future stuff to trade, I'm curious whether the Grizz will get more aggressive to try and up the ante as they chase the Spurs in the division. This is a team I think should probably be buying once they solve their financial situation, as it's going to be incrementally harder to build as the younger guys all hit their second contracts. This feels like a good window for Vancouver to keep upgrading and maybe buy the risk of a more expensive older star if it gets them over the hump.
They're Out of Tank Years
Miami Heat
The Heat tried to buy a year early but just missed the cut for last year's playoffs, putting their backs against the wall this season as they work to reset their tank clock. Scoops has a few more of his own picks, including this year's, so he should be able to use them constructively given the circumstances. However, the bigger problem is that Miami has no bird rights players after accepting all of their free agents — giving the Heat very little extra salary to play with and currently only holding $60m or so in payroll.
That situation makes this a little more complex than your standard "go buy some stuff" angle. The Heat should be trying to grow their salary pie with any deals they do as a baseline. Considering his pick this year doesn't have a ton of value to him, I'd be dangling that primarily to try and get as many quality cheap players as possible. I do like a lot of the pieces Miami has, especially the guys on smaller contracts, and I am a fan of Sengun and Montero as solid starters (and a nice fit together from a turnover perspective).
Would guess the move here is now to try and use Otto Porter's salary to go and get more stuff and take in money? The Heat are probably two solid players away from 41 wins but it's a situation that will require some creative navigation from here to actually work. Super curious what they do.
Utah Jazz
Similarly to the Heat, the Jazz need to hit 41 wins this year. Lucky for them they are in the West, but some real work on this roster is going to be in order for Ralph to make it click. Utah does have bird rights guys and a lot of money to play with under the hard cap, so the obvious solution here is probably signing huge expirings and making yourself a landing spot for whichever expensive stars/talented players hit the market using the ability to take in salary as a lever. Sabonis is a good piece to start with and FVV is still fine. But the Jazz really need some of these younger draftees to have big TCs to have a chance at turning this around organically.
Utah should be able to do stuff in the trade market with some extra picks on top of their own and the ability to target more or less anyone they want as long as they don't clash with Sabonis. But it's probably going to require more hands-on management than we have seen from this organization in a while. Interested to see how they move forward and try to get over the hump.
Should They Sell?
New York Knicks
Nav gets his picks back after this season and traded away Killian Hayes to the Nets for some asset value, which makes Ben Simmons his current starting point guard. That sentence makes me think New York is headed towards a teardown or at least a restructure around Jalen Green and Mo Bamba. That would seem to make either the legendary Myles Turner or the less-legendary Simmons available just thinking logically, with Hayes out the door. It would be easy enough to move one or both of those guys, accept being somewhat middling this season while trying to make the playoffs and then moving into a rebuild from there.
The thing is that the Knicks were still really good last year and have the talent to stay good. So the other option here is going to trade for a point guard, presumably using Turner or Simmons' money. Would it make sense for the Knicks to become a buyer for a different higher-priced PG like DLo or Lonzo Ball? Could there be a Tyus Jones reunion? The point guard market hasn't been the best in recent years, with most competitive teams already holding star PGs, so who knows. It's never been Nav's style to rebuild for long, but as the Turner era approaches an eventual close, moving the franchise player for value now could make sense.
Washington Bullets
Notorious for never levering himself at any cost (except the one time he did and he won the title, duh) Wes has all his own picks and is at an inflection point with his roster. Tyrese Maxey is expiring, Anthony Edwards has two years left, neither player will come with a re-signing advantage, meanwhile Michael Porter is making a gajillion dollars and Anthony Davis is 35. The Atlantic has no tankers right now and there are teams out there that need talent; Wes has that to offer and the timing for a rebuild coming off a playoff berth makes a lot of sense...even his role players like Okafor and Skal are affordable and very solid.
Teams like Utah and Miami that need to win now probably need to take a hard look at Porter, who's only going to get harder to trade as time goes on. Maxey is also a good fit in a lot of places due to his smaller salary and history of cheap re-signs. Edwards has name brand value and is still good if not amazing. If this were me I'd be looking at the rest of the division and working to find value for most or all of these guys before someone else starts to sell first — I'm not sure there is a player available that gets the Bullets all the way back into contention this second before the contract risk comes into play.
***
I could probably find another team or two to talk about here but I need to go live my life. Get those FA bids in and thx for reading
Last edited by jwoo on August 11th, 2025, 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SourKittles
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The Offseason's Eight Most Interesting Teams
MPJ situation very interesting.
Great article jwoo! Good follow-up to this weekend's pod
Great article jwoo! Good follow-up to this weekend's pod
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mantypas/CavsCzar
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The Offseason's Eight Most Interesting Teams
Ah yes, the MABOSODB Thompson Twin - he is my hero
FOR THE LAND - believe!
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