What is the best offseason signing of each NBA contender so far?

Every NBA team has its own expectations once the draft has passed and free agency is arriving, most don’t get exactly the player they hoped for, but all of them reshape their rosters with the intention of being better next season and getting closer to a championship and their own Larry O’Brien trophy.

Eastern Conference

Boston Celtics

This season runner-ups have not stayed put, as they addressed their rotation by trading for Indiana’s Malcolm Brogdon, an All-Star guard that will presumably be their sixth man and help anchor their backcourt next to DPOY Marcus Smart and Derrick White.

Atlanta Hawks

After a disappointing season and an early playoff exit, Trae Young’s team decided to retool and go for it by trading three first-round picks for Spurs’ All-Star guard Dejounte Murray, whose athleticism, defense and ball-handling will allow Young to rest more and play off-ball in his quest to get to the top of the East.

Brooklyn Nets

A team in shambles after Kevin Durant asked for a trade out of Brooklyn, but they have still got business done before they end up trading KD and probably Irving as well. They re-signed Nic Claxton for 2 years and $20 million, and they traded their 2023 first round pick to Utah in exchange for Royce O’Neal.

Philadelphia 76rs

After trading for James Harden this past spring, Daryl Morey’s quest to recreate the 2018 Houston Rockets plus Embiid goes ahead by bringing back P.J. Tucker in a $33 million for 3 years contract and Danuel House in a two year deal. They will soon re-sign James Harden to a long-term deal.

Toronto Raptors

The 2019 champions continue their retooling around Pascal Siakam and Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes by getting some veteran help in Otto Porter Jr with their Mid-Level Exception and Thaddeus Young, both of whom will complement the frontcourt game of the Canadian team.

Milwaukee Bucks

After their very close exit in seven games against the Boston Celtics, and just a year after their championship, Antetokounmpo’s team understood that they are still just a couple of breaks away from another NBA Finals. They just re-signed pieces of their rotation as Bobby Portis and Jevon Carter, before adding Australian wing Joe Ingles in a $6.5 million one year deal.

Miami Heat

The Eastern Conference Finalists are positioned as one of the teams Durant is interested in ending up with, but as Pat Riley figures out how to come up with the best offer for the former MVP, they have re-signed some ancillary pieces such as G Victor Oladipo and C Dewayne Dedmon.

New York Knicks

After a year that did not go how they expected, the Knicks front office under Leon Rose decided to stop chasing the biggest stars such as KD or Irving and improve Coach Thibodeau by signing a solid guard in Jalen Brunson. They hope that Brunson can replicate the success he had next to Luka Doncic and make his new teammates better as he lives up to his 104 million contract during the next four seasons.

Chicago Bulls

Retaining Zach Lavine is the team’s biggest move after a year that saw both unexpected success at the beginning of the season and awful losses once Lonzo Ball got injured and DeRozan’s energy started to diminish. Next year will be a test for this team’s core, once they are all healthy and after having added another interior presence in Andre Drummond.

Western Conference

Golden State Warriors

The champs had some tough decisions to make given their difficult financial situation on how to offer the best team possible to Stephen Curry for another year, which they have done by resigning Kevon Looney, letting Otto Porter Jr walk and adding free agent guard Donte DiVincenzo in a two year deal.

Dallas Mavericks

Losing Jalen Brunson is a blow to the team’s hopes to go back to the Western Conference Finals next season, but the additions of Christian Wood, in a trade with the Rockets, and Javale McGee should give them a more potent frontcourt to battle the likes of Jokic or Davis.

Los Angeles Lakers

Kyrie Irving might end up back next to Lebron, Westbrook may be shown the door, but until any of those moves get done the Lakers have kept their way of revamping their roster around LBJ, signing a lot of Klutch clients to minimum or close deals, such as Lonnie Walker IV.

Phoenix Suns

The biggest suitors for Kevin Durant haven’t made a lot of moves yet, as they try to come up with the assets for a good enough offer to present to the Nets. Until then, no free agent signings are as important as the negotiations they have opened with Sean Marks and with their own free agent and former number one pick DeAndre Ayton.

Minnesota Timberwolves

New ownership, new goals. Under Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, the Wolves have gone all in by getting top Denver executive Tim Connelly and trading for multiple DPOY winner Rudy Gobert, changing future picks for a chance to get an impressive frontcourt next to Karl Anthony Towns as Anthony Edwards keeps improving and reaching star status in the league.

Utah Jazz

Trading away their big man and defensive anchor in Rudy Gobert was just one of the moves they had to do given this season’s bitter end. The tension between the french man and star guard Donovan Mitchell could not be sustained any longer, so Utah entered another phase after long-time coach Quin Snyder also decided to step aside. We’ll see how they retool around Mitchell in the next weeks and months.

Memphis Grizzlies

Ja Morant and their core of young talented players granted them tremendous success in 2022, so as their rebuild works just as planned the Grizzlies offseason plan was just to double down on their own ways, resigning Tyus Jones for two years at 15 million per season. The loss of Jaren Jackson Jr with a stress fracture will make them have to add another interior presence before the season starts.

Denver Nuggets

A season marred by injuries to Jokic’s two biggest co-stars, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr, did not change the plans of the franchise. They gave their two-time MVP the biggest NBA contract ever at $264 million and will run it back once again.

Portland Trail Blazers

While rumors swirl around both adding another star in Durant or losing their own if franchise icon Damian Lillard does end up demanding a trade, the Blazers got coveted Warriors free agent Gary Payton II for three years and $28 million and re-signed C Jusuf Nurkic for $70 million.