Again, while some of these losses weren’t products of the Free Agent Bonanza exactly, none of them would have occurred without its reality looming in the background. In no particular order, the biggest losers of the 2017 Free Agency period were the Pacers, the Jazz, and the Clippers. Oh, and the Knicks are going to be just terrible, but details aren’t really required to explain that.
The Pacers lost two-way great Paul George. They got Victor Oladipo and some huge, bruising East European guy in return, but yeah, they still lost Paul George. And although you have to give Kevin Pritchard some props for being unwilling to tank a couple of seasons, their acquisitions Oldadipo, Sabonis (that’s his name), and Darren Collison pretty much ensure that the Pacers stay in the purgatorial middle of the pack for the rest of eternity.
DeAndre Jordan is a nice player, maybe a borderline great one. Doc Rivers is a great on the floor coach and motivator. But any long-term plan that hinges on the constant availability and dominance of oft-injured (and other stuff) Blake Griffin is unlikely to turn out well. As ugly as things got with him and the whole nepotism situation with Austin Rivers etc, the loss of Chris Paul is devastating.
Lastly, the Utah Jazz lost Hayward and got nothing in return except for a lot of complaining and finger pointing. That can’t be good. Jerry Sloan phone home?
