Winners

Brooklyn Nets

The winner of the Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant sweepstakes was always going to be the winner of free agency. However, the fact that it was Brooklyn who took both instead of splitting one with their rivals across the river makes it all that much sweeter. Sean Marks according to Nets expert Rob, “deserves a statue outside of Barclays”. Couldn’t agree more. In just three years and change, Marks has transformed the Nets from the laughingstock of the league to a serious title contender, as soon as Kevin Durant returns from injury. He did something the other team in New York couldn’t do for 20 years, attract top-level talent to the league’s biggest market. Hands down winner of Day 1.

Philadelphia 76ers

The 76ers were certainly at a crossroads this offseason and they delivered. After giving up a ton – protected 2020 Philly first, unprotected Miami 2021 first, two seconds and Landry Shamet –  for Tobias Harris, letting him go for nothing would have been devastating. They surely paid the price but kept their man at 5 years, $180 million.

While losing Butler was always a possibility, Philadelphia was able to capitalize here as well. Instead of letting him walk for nothing, the 76ers were able to get Josh Richardson out of the Miami Heat in a sign-and-trade. Then using the remainder of their cap space were able to sign Al Horford to a 4 year, $109 million contract. A starting lineup of Ben Simmons, Josh Richardson, Tobias Harris, Al Horford and Joel Embiid packs an interesting combination of size, athleticism, scoring and defense.

The Sixers put themselves firmly back in contention in the East for this year, and years to come, on a day when they could have come up empty handed.

Utah Jazz

The prelude was the trade for Mike Conley, but on the first day of free agency they took care of the rest. The Jazz got possibly the best compliment to their roster available given their cap space when they landed Bojan Bogdanovic to a 4 year, $73 million deal. Bogdanovic had a breakout year for Indiana scoring 18 points per game and shot 42.5% from three. He’s a gritty player and great shooter who will compliment Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert perfectly along with Joe Ingles. To do this they essentially had to part ways with Derrick Favors, leaving a hole at power forward. They worked quickly to fill this void, obtaining the services of Ed Davis for 2 years, $10 million. A bargain bin price for a quality power forward. The Jazz are certainly contenders in the West after today’s moves.

Woj

Dominant performance as always. Might be an all-time record for transactions in a 6-hour period, this was a Woj carpet bombing.

The Boardroom Instagram Account

Zero shame in trying to garnish the brand with Durant’s free agent decision. It paid off, the Instagram account started the day with around 25k followers and as of the time of this writing has 216k followers.

Losers

New York Knicks

It wasn’t just that the Knicks lost out on Durant. We already knew they lost Kyrie and had a decent chance of losing out on Durant as well. It was the classless way in which they conducted themselves afterwards that made them the true losers of the day. Instead of taking the gut punch and moving onto the next round, Dolan and company felt it necessary to try and spin the events.

In a tweet from Ramona Shelburne, the Knicks apparently were not willing to offer Kevin Durant a maximum contract due to concerns about his Achilles. For not one second do I believe this is true. If so, why did we not hear about this in the run-up to free agency? The Knicks were scheduled to meet with Durant, or at least attend a conference call. Of course the “news” only comes out after Woj has already dropped the bomb that Durant is going to Brooklyn.

For a second, let’s just pretend it was true. Why not leak it leading up to free agency to save face? That way you can start to control the narrative early and manage expectations. Or, you know, don’t leak anything at all. Maybe it comes out at some point but there is nothing gained from slandering a big time free agent you just missed out on. It doesn’t play well around the league and for future free agents.

At worst an attempted spin that blew up in their face, at best a poorly timed truth.

To make matters worse, Steve Mills offered up an official apology – then updated it – to the fan base about their free agency, while finalizing deals with Julius Randle and Taj Gibson. If that doesn’t say “Welcome to New York” I don’t know what does.

Charlotte Hornets

After refusing to trade Kemba Walker for over a year, the Charlotte Hornets decided to low-ball their franchise cornerstone. Stephen A. Smith reported this, so take it with a grain of salt, but the offer came in at 5 years, $160 million. Far below the supermax deal of 5 years, $221 milion and a lower per annum deal than the 4 years, $141 million he ended up getting from Boston. They then proceeded to sign-and-trade for Terry Rozier while giving him a 3 year, $58 million dollar contract. A lot of money for an unproven lead guard who has yet to shoot over 40% from the field or score 12 points per game in his career. Yet again Charlotte has proved they have no clear cut plan.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers essentially needed another All-Star to attract Kawhi Leonard, and now almost all are off the board. In a feverish fury, the Clippers sat and watched as nearly every potential co-star went to other teams, including Jimmy Butler in a sign-and-trade to Miami. This all but puts them out of the running for Kawhi Leonard unless they pull off a mystery deal.

The Boardroom Instagram Account

In actuality, Woj threw a pass to himself off the backboard and dunked on The Boardroom. After giving them the original plug at 3:25 PM that Durant’s free agent announcement would be on The Boardroom insta account at 6 PM sharp, Woj gave into temptation and broke the story on his own Twitter account at 4:52 PM.