2019 NBA Off-Season - Kevin Durant And Kyrie Irving To Brooklyn Nets Reaction

NBA Basketball’s free agency period began last night at 6PM EST sparking chaos as teams came to agreements with players and contracts were negotiated. That’s right, F5 season is upon us, and as all of the trades and signings continue to be reported by NBA insiders, I will keep refreshing my feeds to keep up with the latest deals. One of the biggest winners so far in this year’s free agency is the Brooklyn Nets. Much to many Knicks, Celtics, and Warriors fans dismay, both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have made verbal commitments to join Brooklyn’s young and impressive team, signing for contracts of 4-year, $164M and 4-year, $141M respectively in early July. Brooklyn also made their free agency splurge even sweeter by getting DeAndre Jordan to commit to a 4-year, $40M deal made possible through KD and Irving taking minor pay cuts. There’s a lot to talk about here.

First are the direct ramifications of the trade. The Brooklyn Nets have agreed to send all-star guard D’Angelo Russell to the Golden State Warriors on a 4-year, $117M deal. The Golden State Warriors plan on signing Splash Brother Klay Thompson onto a 5-year, $190M deal, and traded Finals MVP Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies to clear up cap space to do so. The future will be very interesting for the Warriors, and matchups between GSW and Brooklyn will be must-see basketball.

Unfortunately Kevin Durant got hurt, as we all know, in the 2019 Finals and isn’t expected to come back to play by the time the 2019-2020 season rolls around. Hopefully this will give Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan enough time to settle into the New York spotlight, develop chemistry, and figure out how to get wins with their new group of teammates. Once Kevin Durant returns to action a year later, I will be expecting the Brooklyn Nets to be a top 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, especially if Kawhi Leonard leaves the Toronto Raptors in favor of the Los Angeles Lakers, which is looking more and more likely every hour. I do find it interesting that Kyrie Irving is teaming up to form a super team of his own after defiantly leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to go lead a team of his own only to be humbled by his experience in Boston. Irving is a clutch and extremely talented player, but it seems that he needs good team chemistry to thrive and stay mentally fit to win big games, otherwise seemingly losing passion in the game.

I’m very excited for the coming days of free agency, and this is just one of the many moves that have even happened so far. It’s all getting a little hard to keep straight; Jimmy Butler is a member of the Heat, D. Rose a Piston, JJ Redick a Pelican, Kemba Walker a Celtic, and so on. The 2019-20 season of NBA Basketball will be fascinating for a number of reasons, but until then, I will continue to analyze and react to off-season shockers and Woj Bombs as they happen. Stay tuned.

2019 NBA Off-Season - Anthony Davis To Los Angeles Lakers Reaction

Onto the next one. Less than 48 hours after the Toronto Raptors were crowned our 2019 NBA Champions in their Game 6 defeat of the Golden State Warriors, attention shifted to the first major off-season move of what I expect will be many more to come. That move, of course, is the trade between the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers which sends Anthony Davis to California in exchange for essentially every single Laker except for LeBron James himself. That’s right, in exchange for the Brow, the Magic-Johnson-free Lakers decided to package Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and 3 first-round draft picks (including this year’s #4 overall) to the Pelicans, who are likely to select Zion Williamson first overall during Thursday night’s NBA Draft. The acquisition and pairing of AD with LeBron seem logical for LA, but in this post I will be analyzing the trade and explaining why I think that Los Angeles gave up too much depth to justify it, and why it may end up hurting them in the long run.

Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Josh Hart are all young and promising players. I’m not going to go as far as Lavar Ball often does when describing his son’s talents, but I expect him to develop into a solid starting point guard if he’s able to avoid injuries as his career continues. Brandon Ingram has been called the “next KD” which I think may be a stretch to some degree, but it’s entirely possible that Ingram will one day develop into an all-star level player especially if surrounded by other young talented players. Josh Hart and the 3 first round draft picks (WAY too many, in my opinion) are unknowns to me, but at the very least I expect one of those four players to at least benefit the Pelicans’ depth. In return for this haul, the Lakers acquired superstar Anthony Davis. While I’m excited to see Davis play alongside LeBron James on a nightly basis, I’m worried about the Lakers’ lack of depth now that the deal is done. The way that the Lakers handle free agency this offseason is going to dramatically shape their future for the next 3 to 5 years, and I think going after another superstar like Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, or Jimmy Butler this summer would be a mistake. While Golden State was able to find success and win championships with a star-studded roster, that was only possible with a talented bench who could get buckets every night to take the load off of their superstars. They were unable to win it all this year as their bench proved to be insufficient and injuries shook the foundation of their super-team. The Lakers may run into the same fate if they try to acquire another superstar. I also do not like the prospect of removing young players and draft picks. It may be a harsh reality to some, but LeBron is aging, won’t be in the league forever, and has a supermassive contract which eats up cap space to acquire depths and shooters to surround the new best backcourt in the Western Conference and possibly the NBA. LAL seems to be convinced they can win a championship next season, but I am doubting that as of right now. On the other hand, I think that the New Orleans Pelicans will be a force to be reckoned with in a few years, and would be even more of a threat sooner if they were in the Eastern Conference (they’re in Louisiana, why aren’t they anyway?).

I completely expect Kenan Thompson to give us Lavar Ball’s reaction to the trade as soon as SNL returns.

I’m already caught up in F5 season as I sit on NBA threads refreshing to see if there are any new developments in trade talks or free agency. I have a feeling that this will be a very eventful off-season as we approach a new era of NBA Basketball. All of the happenings around the league will be covered and analyzed right here on this blog, so stay tuned if you geek about this stuff as much as I do. Also - is ‘Big Baller Brand’ even a thing anymore? RIP to anyone who bought those $495 sneakers Lonzo released a couple of years ago.