The 15 Most Important Moves of the NBA Offseason

The NBA is arguably as competitive as it's ever been, and now the offseason is just as much of a season itself at this point, with teams constantly making moves and fans persistently keeping up on their Twitter feeds. This summer has been particularly eventful, with moves that don't just include changes to rosters, but extend to the business of the sport, the television coverage and more. Yes, a superstar arrival out east has created a new big three, and several teams that made deep playoff runs have made additions to their rosters that will make them even more formidable. But a team is debuting a new arena after decades of sharing, and unless there are some last minute changes, this will be our last year watching the most important crew of commentators that the NBA has ever seen. Check below for the fifteen biggest offseason moves for this upcoming NBA season.

15. Thunder acquiring Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso

The Oklahoma City Thunder were one of the NBA’s most well-rounded teams last season, becoming the youngest number one seed in league history. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second in MVP voting. Chet Holmgren made All-Rookie First Team and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting. Jalen Williams enjoyed a breakout season as a dependable scorer in his sophomore season. Luguentz Dort continued his role as one of the league’s best wing defenders, finishing just two votes behind Jrue Holiday for the final All-Defensive team spot. All season, the only real weakness that the team suffered from was size down low — width, not height. The team addressed that by adding Isaiah Hartenstein, the 7-foot and 250-pound center whose heart had the Knicks one game away from the Eastern Conference Finals. Adding All-NBA defender Alex Caruso from the Chicago Bulls for Josh Giddey only adds to the defense and somewhat hilariously makes the 30-year-old vet the oldest player on the roster. OKC has the wings that can pester a Finals competitor like Boston, the size to get them second chance points and defensive stops, and a superstar who can take over games whenever he wants.

14. Knicks acquiring Mikal Bridges

After decades of underwhelming prospects, last year’s New York Knicks finally saw a team that rewarded their die-hard fan base and big city market presence. Led on the court by top five MVP finalist Jalen Brunson and coached by Tom Thibodeau, the team took on the tough, hard-nosed identity of its two generals and were a game away from making the Eastern Conference Finals. This summer, the team took their next step forward by snatching Mikal Bridges from their Brooklyn Nets neighbors, acquiring one of the better 3-and-D wings in the league. What’s even better is that Bridges will be reuniting with his old college teammates, and even though the short lived "Nova Knicks" won't be fully formed anymore, that’s chemistry and camaraderie that you can’t teach.

13. Los Angeles Clippers open the Intuit Dome

After decades of sharing basketball stadiums with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers will begin this fall’s NBA season at the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Many basketball fans have maintained that LA will always been the Lakers’ town, but Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is ready to put that to the test. The new 18,000-seat arena features a 40,000-square-foot halo board above the court, a new training facility, a sports medicine facility, and a reported 63,000 square feet of retail space. Hopefully, the team can put up similarly impressive numbers.

12. Pistons getting new President of Basketball Operations

The Detroit Pistons historic losing streak last season wasn’t just heartbreaking because of the team’s place in the annals of NBA record books, or even because of how it contrasts with the team’s gritty, defensive-minded championship history. It sucked because going into last season, fans felt that they had a lot to look forward to: Cade Cunningham had recovered from injury and wowed onlookers at Team USA scrimmages, big man Jalen Duren was a budding double double machine, and their young core was rounded out by athletic guard Jaden Ivey and versatile rookie wing Ausar Thompson. New President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon hopes to make the most of that talent, and his moves so far have been promising. He’s hired Cavaliers’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff to lead the team, and he’s added veterans like Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Malik Beasley to surround Cunningham with shooting. If Cade has the All-Star leap that he’s capable of, the Pistons could make some much-needed progress this season.

11. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum’s respective Olympics snubs

No matter how much players pledge to maintain their hunger after winning an NBA championship, it’s usually easier said than done. Between the trudge of an 82-game season and preserving energy for key moments in the playoffs, it’s easy to lose your edge. But both of the Boston Celtics’ superstars have something to fight for as each of them were snubbed in their own way in the Olympics. Jaylen Brown was confusingly not selected for the team, despite winning the MVP in both the Conference Finals and the NBA Finals. Tatum made the team, but there were multiple games in Paris that Coach Steve Kerr left him off of the floor altogether. The last thing reigning NBA champions need is motivation — and fortunately for the Boston Celtics fan base, both of these players are likely to prove their naysayers wrong on the court.

10. Hawks trade Dejounte Murray to Pelicans

Sometimes a move isn’t about who goes, it’s about who stays. The Hawks made a superstar level investment into Murray, sending three first round picks and a pick swap to the Spurs in the summer of 2022. Now, two disappointing seasons later he’s gone, with two much worse draft picks than the Hawks initially sent out coming back to them. While the trade is the Hawks giving up on the Murray-Trae Young pairing it’s also them leaning into Trae and the three years left on his massive contract. They’ve surrounded Ice Trae with size, lob threats and young guns hoping to maximize one of the most polarizing superstars in the sport.

9. San Antonio Spurs sign Chris Paul

Victor Wembanyama took the NBA by storm last season, with a Rookie of the Year campaign that was accented by outstanding numbers and “I’ve never fucking seen that before” clips surfacing from his games every other week. But the Spurs were a bad squad, no way around it — and many viewers felt like Wemby’s teammates seemingly neglected their supernatural prodigy. The team’s free agent acquisition this offseason should put that last issue to bed. Chris Paul isn’t only one of the best facilitators in NBA history, but one of its fiercest competitors and most uncompromising commanders on and off the floor. The Spurs may not be expected to make a deep playoff push yet in such a competitive Western Conference, but with Wemby’s quick developments and the leadership tandem of Greg Popovich and CP3, they’ll definitely be an exciting team to watch.

8. Kings acquiring Demar Derozan

Demar Derozan has always been one of the NBA’s most dependable scorers, consistently putting up 20-plus points per game wherever he goes. So after three seasons with the Chicago Bulls in Eastern Conference purgatory, it’ll be exciting to see him with a competitive team in the Sacramento Kings. The Kings are probably still one major move away from real title contention, but they were already one of the league’s most exciting teams with the their All-Star duo DeAaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. Demar going back to play in his home state will give the team another deadly scorer and veteran leadership to make them a tough out in the playoffs.

7. Lakers hire JJ Redick

The only thing that the Los Angeles Lakers love as much as winning is celebrity — and their new head coach JJ Redick has as much star power as a rookie coach has in recent memory. He was one of the most accomplished players in university history at Duke, finishing his college career as top scorer in the history of the ACC, JJ finished a 15-year NBA career as one of most efficient three-point shooters in league history. And since leaving the league in 2021, he’s shown a sharp analytical mind for the game that has even impressed basketball savant LeBron James, famously collaborating for their X's and O's focused podcast, Mind The Game. But Redick has never coached at any level beyond youth sports, and he has a lot on his plate: championship expectations for a squad that just suffered a first round exit, managing LeBron and his son Bronny playing on the same team, and a press corp that’s just as relentless as the Western Conference the team competes in.

6. Rockets stand still on Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun

The Rockets could have bought in on their young core in a major way this offseason, offering extensions to their two homegrown talents like the Pistons, Raptors, Cavaliers and Magic did to theirs. Cade Cunningham, Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley and Franz Wagner all signed five-year, $224 million rookie extensions with their respective teams early on in free agency. They still have until October 21st to offer those same extensions to Sengun and Green, but the fact that they never came is telling enough. If both players enter the season on lame duck contracts not only do they become intriguing trade options around the league, but it’s a message from the organization and head coach Ime Udoka that there is still more to be earned as the Rockets aim toward contention this season.

5. Dallas Mavericks acquiring Klay Thompson

The Dallas Mavericks weren’t at the top of many lists to make the NBA Finals last season, especially after the team missed the playoffs altogether the year before, but with the elite one-two punch of Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving made it happen anyway. This season, they’ll have another all-time great joining the team: Klay Thompson, whose historic career with the Golden State Warriors came to a sad end this summer. Klay had an up and down year last season, as one does at 34 years old, but he slots in perfectly next to Luka's deadly drive and kick game and the synergy between the three biggest names in Dallas should make them one of the most lethal offenses in the league as they seek another trip to June.

4. Knicks and Timberwolves exchange Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns

In the most fascinating trade of the offseason, two contenders decided to substantially shake things up. Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle both had similar places on their teams: gifted, All-NBA caliber big men who have arguably underachieved with the rosters that had them. So despite both of them reaching new peaks with those teams last season, each of their front offices decided to part ways with their own players to take a flier on the other. The Knicks receive a gifted shooter who is an improvement over free agent loss Isaiah Hartenstein and continue to open up the offense. Minnesota gets to dump a massive contract under the restrictive new certified bargaining agreement rules, welcome another talented forward, and add an elite 3-and-D wing depth with DiVincenzo. Each team is likely confident that they have what they need to make the jump to the NBA Finals; we'll see who actually gets the closest.

3. New television deal for NBA

The NBA announced this summer that its decades-long deal with TNT is ending, and that it’s instead entering agreements with Disney, Comcast, and Amazon. That means that this is the final season of the foundational NBA On TNT broadcasts and its 19-time Emmy winning Inside The NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith. And in the 2025-2026 NBA season, nationally-televised games will be split between Peacock, NBC, ESPN, and Amazon. The only reason this isn’t being ranked higher is because we won’t see the impact for another year, but it’ll still be a lot to get used to. Nevermind the affect the new influx of cash the $76 billion 11 year deal will have on the salary cap. Remember, the last time a new TV deal hit the league it caused the cap spike that allowed the Warriors to sign Kevin Durant. The current CBA added provisions for this exact scenario, maximizing a cap spike of any given year at 10%, but there will be ramifications and teams will find ways to use the newfound cash to their benefit.

2. Adrian Wojnarowski retires

As much as the phrase “end of an era” is overused, it actually applies when it comes to the surprise retirement of reporter Adrian Wojnarowski. In today’s 24/7 sports media cycle, there was rarely any substantial NBA news that would break without Woj reporting it first. His relationships with agents and his relentless sleep schedule made his Twitter timeline the target for every fan, and the image of him typing into his phone was the subject of every meme that signified a move was coming. But with Woj retiring from the gruesome around-the-clock schedule for the dream job of being the general manager of the basketball team at his alma mater St. Bonaventure, we’ll have to look elsewhere for our NBA scoops.

1. 76ers acquiring Paul George

The last 10 years have seen the Philadelphia 76ers as one of the most frustrating teams in the NBA, full of promising starts inevitably squandered by poor health and bad luck. But this summer they acquired the shiniest free agent in the league: nine-time all-star Paul George. He’s the best pickup that the team could have possibly made, an elite two-way wing who shouldn’t interfere with either the paint dominance of perennial MVP finalist Joel Embiid, or speedy point guard and reigning Most Improved Player Tyrese Maxey’s dribble drive madness. The 76ers haven’t even gotten past the second round with Embiid, and there aren’t many excuses left for a team with this much talent on the floor. Fortunately, Playoff P has his share of elite postseason performances — let’s just hope that Embiid’s injury history doesn’t hinder him the way that Kawhi Leonard’s did with the Clippers.