The transfers have been closed in the 2021/22 NBA season. There will be no more. The limit was on this past February 10, in which few exchanges have been closed. Beyond that, in two different aspects, are the possibility of signing short contracts and the fight for the important players that are ruled out after this market closes, but that will be another matter. The following lines offer an analysis with some of the winners and losers of the NBA for what has been done in the last dates of the market. Everything is to unseat the Bucks from the throne of the League. An exciting competition awaits until June and what happened (and, in the same way, what did not happen) in the market should have a significant impact on the future of the course. That’s how you saw it AS…
NBA Market Winners
· Serge Ibaka. The Hispano-Congolese center was locked in a body that was not his. At the Clippers he attempted an assault on the championship ring for the second time with a squad in which his place was assured, but the back injury killed him and Tyronn Lue has felt more comfortable with low lineups with Morris or Batum playing fake center Serge has had a hard time finding minutes since he came out of medical leave. The irregular season of the Los Angeles team, together with the fact that Paul George has also fallen to join Kawhi Leonard in the infirmary, made it a sweet thing that Ibaka could leave, an opportunity that he saw with good eyes. He has contributed wherever he has gone, his skills have improved becoming a threat inside on the boards and outside with 3-pointers, he is still 32 years old and can contribute. He has received a gift from heaven: make it to the team that defends the title. And be careful, the Milwaukee Bucks also win, not just the player. Budenholzer’s men were looking for that inside piece they hadn’t had since Brook Lopez had to stop playing earlier in the season. Ibaka can fulfill perfectly in that gap. He is a firm candidate to equal Pau Gasol as the Spaniard with the most NBA titles, two, and to make the Bucks repeat at the top.
· Goran Dragic. He expected a departure from the Raptors, where he did not want to play. He tightened the rope with a lot of left hand, asking for a time out from the team and staying in shape while an offer arrived, and they have sent him to some Spurs where the most logical thing is that they grant him freedom. Murray, Walker or Vassell are enough for what Popovich wants even if other outsiders like Forbes or White have come out. The Slovenian already has his sights set on the franchise in which he wanted to finish last summer if he did not return to Miami, where he has resided in this long wait. According to US media reports, the Dallas Mavericks will be his fate if he is cut by the San Antonio Spurs. Meeting with Luka Doncic after that memorable memory of the EuroBasket five years ago with Slovenia draws attention to a Dragic who, despite going somewhat unnoticed, is one of the best European players of the last decade in the American league.
· Charlotte Hornets. Little but good. They wanted to remove Ish Smith despite her connection to the city of Charlotte, since she is from there, but with Ball and Rozier, another game director was not needed. What they longed for was a center. He has spent three or four years with them. It is his weakest position, with Clifford first and with Borrego now. For their market it was difficult for someone good to arrive for a long time, so they will stay with Montrezl Harrell. A man of good numbers and hyperactivity, errors in defense, shouting and power, he will only be in the remainder of the campaign. They will not get bored even if it is only for a few months, in case he does not renew when the market reopens. He was the missing piece and, in a happy team that shamelessly bets on offense, Harrell can give them one more point in the fight to move up the standings.
· Phoenix Suns. They have also done the right thing and with that they are clearly winners. Having recovered Ayton, with McGee in good shape, having found a Biyombo on point, it didn’t make sense to have Jalen Smith waiting no matter how well mannered he might be. Johnson, Bridges and Crowder also ate up minutes when Monty Williams played low. He is only 21 years old, he is from the future, but the Suns go with a knife between their teeth to take that precious ring. They can’t wait. In the transfer of Smith they take Torrey Craig, a player with whom they can make a big dent in defense against high-voltage rivals. Champions are made from soldiers like these. The other boy they take, in another agreement, is Aaron Holiday: artillery also outside the perimeter.
· Harden y Simmons. It’s actually a question. Harden and Simmons? Both. Only one. Or none. It’s unpredictable. The point of view of the players, being so clear that it is a victory for both, is what tips the balance towards the positive of this year’s mega transfer. Nobody knows about the future. Here are two time bombs, the bad ones. Simmons has dodged his team to leave. Harden, through the back door, has asked to leave at the first exit he has seen on the road. The bearded man’s cohesion problems go to Philadelphia, where he will coincide with someone who doesn’t walk with little girls: Joel Embiid. The Australian, who continues to lack the ability to show how good he is in big games, will face Durant and Irving. Ben’s devaluation has helped Matisse Thybulle not have to be included in the package, an important defensive weapon for what Rivers will need to do with the roster. Losing Andre Drummond is not a stroke; Seth Curry hurts more. The two leave with Simmons. Nash will now have to manage a battery of shooters, with the also oceanic Mills and the still injured Harris, to join the two superstars. But if there is something that also, still in a spectrum of theory and not of practice, contributes this transfer to the two groups, it is hope. They have been reactivated. The Nets are not up to the task and the Sixers were going to have a problem when it came to fighting in the playoffs. Now the two have the attention of the whole world, not only in an Eastern Conference that can be bloody, and they are two candidates to also bring together some quality signing that is presented in the coming weeks.
NBA Market Losers
· Dallas Mavericks. It seemed that they would focus on placing the contract of Tim Hardaway, injured, and it was Kristaps Porzingis who has to take the exit door. It was what they wanted to do in the summer and now was the time. He has earned the directors, the new Nico Harrison and the veteran Mark Cuban, to see that the team worked in the games in which the Latvian did not play to assess the possibility of transferring him. But of course, what they have received is the perfect example of how devalued the former Sevilla Basketball player was. Long contract and too little physical stamina. What they have taken for him is the same but multiplied by two, hence little is understood. Davis Bertans is absolutely nullified since he signed a mega-contract that he hasn’t come close to with what he’s done on the track, he may be a tall shooter but he’s shorter than Porzingis and is on par with Porzingis’ 3-point shooting percentages. There is no illusion. Nor with a Spencer Dinwiddie who the serious injury he suffered in 2020 has turned upside down and whom the Wizards wanted to remove from the roster for, as it was leaked, going his own way and not remembering the good player he was on the Nets. The salary space that they will have in the summer has made the renewal of Dorian Finney-Smith already remembered and that it can be tightened to achieve Jalen Brunson’s despite Detroit’s interest, but Brunson is making a season so that Dinwiddie and , Possibly, Dragic will absorb his possessions, already few for which Luka Doncic decides. A nonsense.
· Boston Celtics. They have slimmed down the campus in a perhaps worrying way. Derrick White is a nice addition. The problem is the architecture they have made to get there. Good trade with the Magic for two injured players, Dozier and Bol, but Richardson, Schröder, Langford and Kanter have also left. The signing of Theis does not change much in an interior in which Robert Williams has already taken control along with Al Horford. Depth is lost and Richardson, questioned about his contract and his malpractice, could wake up at any moment. Schröder was a coveted piece, they took a risk for him in the summer by signing him for little money and they have not made that success profitable. There will only be two generators with the ball, Tatum and Brown. The balance is more negative than positive.
· Portland Trail Blazers. McCollum’s departure gave them the opportunity to have Nickeil Alexander-Walker. That they wanted to renew Simons in the summer as a reward for his performance is great, but you can’t just dismiss a player who also has scoring ability. They are not very Catholic in that aspect and it will be necessary to see if the main person in charge of it, Damian Lillard, continues in the project. Norman Powell also flew. It is not possible to grasp what the strategy is, whether an aggressive or prolonged reconstruction over time. They are not positioning themselves well for one thing or the other. The franchise is close to being put up for sale, there is an interim president after the firing of Neil Olshey, you have to get it right and the market for the Trail Blazers is already tough to attract talent.
· Domantas Sabonis. For him, the time with the Pacers was going to come to an end, but appearing on a dilapidated team like the Kings is a penance he may not have deserved. There is no spirit in the Californian squad to face a fight to enter the top ten and opt for the series for the title. Without the triples that Hield made or the imbalance that he caused in the rivals, Haliburton will have to be. Fox’s style, moreover, does not marry anywhere with that of Domas. He will have the team keys, but he is not going to open any secret doors with them.
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