Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, Brooklyn Nets Are NBA's Biggest Winners After Trades, Free Agency

The 2019 NBA offseason sure has not disappointed. Free agency is only a week old, and we’ve already had the wildest summer in league history.

Five of the eight All-Star free agents have changed teams, and two All-Stars were traded. Three other players that competed in the 2018 All-Star Game signed with new teams this past week.

All of that should add it up to one of the most competitive seasons in NBA history. The league is seemingly wide open with at least 10 teams viewed as legitimate contenders to win the 2020 NBA Finals.

After so much player movement, let’s rank the biggest winners of the NBA offseason.

1) Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers easily had the best summer of anyone, going from the No.8 seed in the West to NBA title favorites. Los Angeles stunned the league late Friday night by acquiring both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, adding the NBA’s best two-way wings in one fell swoop.

The price the Clippers paid the Oklahoma City Thunder for George was a massive one—five first-round picks, Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—but it’s a deal Los Angeles had to make. L.A. essentially traded for both George and Leonard, since the 2019 NBA Finals MVP probably wasn’t going to the Clippers unless they added a second star.

By adding arguably the league’s best player and the player that finished third in regular-season MVP voting, the Clippers should compete for championships for the next several years.

2) Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn’s title window probably doesn’t open until the 2020-2021 season, but they couldn’t have asked for a better summer. While the Clippers didn’t make their splash until free agency was nearly a week old, the Nets wasted no time, agreeing to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on June 30.

Replacing D’Angelo Russell with Irving might only make Brooklyn marginally better next year, though there’s no disputing that Irving is the much better player. Durant looked like the NBA’s best player before he got hurt in the playoffs. Even if he doesn’t quite return to that level when he comes back from his ruptured Achilles in a year, the combination of Durant, Irving and Brooklyn’s young core could make the Nets the best team in the East.

The Nets didn’t simply sign two of the top three free agents: Brooklyn kept Durant and Irving from joining their cross-town rivals, making their offseason that much more of a success.

3) Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers have to be included on this list, even if they suffered a similar fate to the New York Knicks, watching the city’s second team lure away their top free-agent target. Unlike the Knicks, the Lakers did add a superstar this offseason, becoming a championship contender in the process.

Maybe the Lakers should’ve found a way to trade for Anthony Davis without giving the New Orleans Pelicans so much draft capital, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’ve got the NBA’s best duo for next season. LeBron James will be a top-five player if he stays healthy. Davis is only a season removed from being voted third in both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year voting.

The Lakers could use more depth, but with Danny Green and Kyle Kuzma also on the roster, James and Davis have a real shot to lead L.A. back to the finals.