thelesterlee
So I wrote the 50 NBA Players Who Could Be on a New Team LAST YEAR and I was right about most of them but I think that says more about the league than my ability to predict the future. Regardless, let’s run it back
Here are 50 NBA players who could be on new teams next season:
Star tier
1. Joel Embiid: It’s fascinating that Embiid and James Harden were teammates a couple years back considering they are the same exact player—two perennial MVP candidates capable of being the best basketball player on the planet on any given night and having no idea how to get to the NBA Finals.
At a certain point, the Embiid/Philly relationship will end. Badly. You cannot continue to build around a player who, year after year, spends more time in hospitals than basketball courts.
Not sure if Embiid requests out or if the Sixers try to maximize Tyrese Maxey’s prime and pair him with a less ball-dominant big man but Embiid could be looking for a new physical therapist as he rehabs his inevitable injuries in a different city.
2. Giannis Antentokoumpo: The vibes are atrocious in Milwaukee. Multiple coaches were fired before all 82 games were played. Asking Doc Rivers to come in and fix your team chemistry is like asking Joan of Arc to teach fire safety.
Giannis is signed through 2027 but as he heads into his 30’s, I could see Giannis wanting to experience another American city, away from Dame’s weird, divorced ass.
3. LeBron James: Where will LeBron spend the final year of his career? He’s waited for his son to make the NBA. He may finally rest. Just oneeeee more year traveling the country with Rui fucking Hachimura. LeBron should be playing golf at a country club I can’t even afford to park at but instead, he’s waiting to play with his son (who may not even be good enough to play in the league).
But that doesn’t need to happen in LA. Especially if LeBron actually wants to win one final championship with Bronny for the perfect storybook ending that would be impossible with the Rob Pelinka/Jeanie Buss/Kurt Rambis’s weird wife regime.
4. Paul George: I believe Paul George is staying in Los Angeles to do his lame-ass podcast with his lame-ass friends BUT he’s rumored to be going to all 30 franchises so I imagine PG will be answering a ton of phone calls this summer.
5. James Harden: Harden unlocked a new level of excellence for the Clippers offense this season. And then the playoffs started and he did what he does best: he dominated the first couple of games and then as the series progressed, started playing like someone called him right before tip-off and said “If you do anything remotely positive for your team, all of your loved ones will disappear”. But plenty of teams need the regular season success he provides so he’ll once again have an unbelievable January and forget how to dribble by Mother’s Day.
6. Karl-Anthony Towns: The Timberwolves went to the Western Conference Finals. This is the best season in the franchise’s history. But NBA teams are always looking to improve their rosters and if anyone in that starting 5 is gone, it’s the guy everyone on the team avoids getting stuck alone in the weight room with.
7. Kevin Durant: Kevin Durant has ties to no city. He is a mercenary created in a lab to get buckets on any hoop across the nation. Why would he stay in Phoenix?
Every Suns game felt like the starting 5 just met moments before the game began. How many times do you think Durant and Devin Booker hung out outside of the games? Less than zero?
8. Devin Booker: The Suns are in shambles. We may look around at the end of the summer with Bradley Beal as the final member of the Suns Big 3, playing with a bunch of future first-round draft picks and like, Grayson Allen.
9. Zion Williamson: This may be the final time the Pelicans can get a huge return for Zion. This man’s body cannot last an entire NBA season. New Orleans should build around Herb Jones, Trey Murphy and whoever they get for Zion. I just hate what this trade would do for local restaurants. Zion was singlehandedly making chefs rich. Chefs and sex workers. New Orleans is about to face their own Great Depression.
10. Damian Lillard: We’re all hyper-aware of how little Dame wanted to be sent to Wisconsin. And we’re also hyper-aware of how strange the Bucks 2023-24 was and with the oldest roster in the NBA, I could see Milwaukee quietly trying to get younger and collect draft assets while getting toxic personalities out of the locker room.
Star-adjacent tier
11. Jimmy Butler: Pat Riley could not wait to shit on Jimmy Butler when the season ended. Jimmy Butler’s time in Miami may be coming to an end.
12. Zach LaVine: I have never seen a guy quit on a team as many times as Zach LaVine has. Lavine has been in Chicago since 2017. He’s been an irrelevant, coach feuding, injury-prone afterthought.
He was 22 when Minnesota traded him to Chicago. He’ll be 29 this upcoming season. It’s time to part ways.
13. DeMar DeRozan: Honestly, I want DeMar to stay in Chicago with Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso coming back to re-form their little squad from a couple seasons back but DeMar will be 35 next season. Go get a ring somewhere.
14. Trae Young: Trae almost dragged the Hawks to the Finals in 2021 and the team hasn’t come close since. He’s coming off a 25 points and 10 rebounds a game season and at 25 years old, Trae could electrify a new organization into true contention. Or he’s too little and has a shitty personality. Shrug.
15. Brandon Ingram: With Zion out, Brandon Ingram led New Orleans to get swept by OKC in the first round. I’m an Ingram fan but this year’s tourney exposed the limitations of his game while also revealing what he can provide to a team in a more limited role.
AARP tier
16. Russell Westbrook: Every time I think Russ’s career is over, he randomly has a month where he’s one of the most impactful players in the NBA so as much as I would love to throw dirt on one of the most blatant stat-padding sociopaths in the league, he’ll land on his feet somewhere and get the least meaningful triple-doubles anyone has ever recorded.
17. Klay Thompson: I want so badly to make fun of how washed Klay is but he actually finished the season doing pretty well so congrats to him for stealing a contract he does not deserve. He is about to make an entirely new fan base pissed as he bricks 3’s and counts the number of rings Steph Curry won for him.
18. Draymond Green: Draymond’s main character syndrome turned the back half of his career into this strange series of dirty plays followed by crybaby rants about how much of a victim he is, concluding with him taunting all of the players he attacked when they weren’t looking every time he gets in front of microphone which is faaaaaaaar too often.
Draymond Green sucks at basketball, podcasting, and TV broadcasting yet we all keep pretending he doesn’t.
19. CJ McCollum: You ever forget CJ’s still in the league? Yea, me too.
20. Gordon Hayward: Following the Thunder’s elimination from the playoffs, Gordon Hayward said he was ‘disappointed’ by his reduced role. He played 43 minutes in the postseason. Took 3 shots. Maybe you didn’t play because when you were on the floor, you weren’t playing.
Cleveland Cavaliers tier
21. Donovan Mitchell: The Cavs will be the main characters of the offseason. Shout out to Donovan Mitchell—who has found ways to let it be known since his arrival, he cannot wait to leave Ohio without ever actually directly saying it with his chest (or wearing a sweatshirt with his message printed on it).
22. Darius Garland: The world was Garland’s until Donovan Mitchell showed up and took it from him. Mitchell and Garland never really learned how to play nice together and the Cavs only looked great when one was off the floor. Let Donovan have the lovely city of Cleveland. #FreeDarius.
23. Jarrett Allen: This two big-man system doesn’t work. Personally, I love how weird it is. The AD/Boogie Cousins New Orleans Pelicans are one of my favorite teams ever but Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley just don’t make sense next to each other without either player having a jump shot outside of the paint.
24. Evan Mobley: Remember when people said he was the next Tim Duncan and almost handed him a Defensive Player of the Year trophy he didn’t deserve? He’s fine. And young enough to improve but with expectations that large and production nowhere near the hype, a change of scenery could actually unlock whatever potential y’all see.
25. Caris LeVert: Blow up the Cavs, man.
The Sad Big Man tier
26. Julius Randle: It sucks that Julius Randle couldn’t be involved in the Knicks playoff run after blowing out his shoulder and it sucks even more how good the team looked without him and how great they could be if they took his salary spot and gave it to a far superior player than Julius—whose terrible decision-making, shot selection and overall effort would have prevented the Knicks from getting their 50 wins this year.
27. Lauri Markkenen: I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve already written about how a Lauri trade could land a championship contender their final title piece.
28. Kyle Kuzma: Kuzma has said all the right things about how much he wants to establish a culture in DC or whatever but this organization is like, 7-8 years of perfect moves away from being competitive.
29. Pascal Siakam: This postseason, Siakam is balling out of his mind to the point where he may have better suitors outside of Indiana. I don’t know what’s important to Pascal. Maybe living in Indiana is cool for him. I doubt it.
30. Jonas Valincuinas: I wish Kansas City had a team so he and Travis Kelce can have some Natalie Portman/Kiera Knightley Princess Amidala switcheroo situations.
Budding Stars tier
31. Jalen Green: Perhaps it’s more affordable to raise a new family in income-tax-less Texas but with Draya’s AARP checks, Jalen can play anywhere. I don’t think it’s a coincidence he played his best ball after Alpreun Senguin was injured but I still believe Houston would be an overall better squad if they built around the gigantic Turkish kid.
32. LaMelo Ball: The Hornets are officially Brandon Miller’s team—not that LaMelo can’t be a key supporting character but he’s barely been healthy enough for anyone to know what he’s truly capable of so perhaps a new environment—and strength and conditioning program—can get LaMelo back onto his All-Star trajectory.
33. Cade Cunningham: For a no. 1 overall pick, Cade Cunningham sure doesn’t affect NBA games anywhere near as much as he should.
34. Franz Wagner: Franz just went 1-for-15 in a Game 7. Ew. Paolo Banchero isn’t going to make it out of the first round playing with the new Playoff P. Perhaps a new team can buy Franz low after that disgusting Game 7 performance.
35. Immanuel Quickley: I just watched OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam leave the Raptors and look like All-Stars. I don’t know what’s going on in Toronto but we must protect Immanuel Quickley from that stench of ordinariness. A future star awaits.
I Think You Should Leave tier
36. Tobias Harris: In the final game of the Philadelphia 76ers 2024 season, an elimination Game 6 with his squad desperately in need of someone to step up and aid the limping Joel Embiid—Tobias Harris scored ZERO (0) points.
37. Josh Giddey: Giddey got a weird case, why is he around?
38. D’Angelo Russell: D-Lo will never be a consistent NBA scorer and that’s okay. Most guys aren’t. We just don’t talk about them every day because they’re not being relied upon by LeBron James.
Let D’Angelo Russell score 20 one night and 5 the next on a team no one watches. LaMelo Ball for D-Lo who says no? (I already know who says no but you get my point. Russell is very Charlotte-y).
39. Malik Beasley: You love to see your role players step up when your star goes down. Giannis went down right before the playoffs. Beasley scored 0 points in Milwaukee’s Game 3 loss. Then he scored 2 points in the Game 7 they lost. You should go.
40. PJ Tucker: Time to hang ’em up, Peej.
Change of Scenery tier
41. Lonzo Ball: Shout out to whoever donated Lonzo those knee ligaments. The basketball world is better with Lonzo playing in it. Just, uh, not for the Bulls. I’m pretty sure someone in Chicago’s front office told Stephen A. Smith that Lonzo couldn’t even stand out of a chair. Fuck the Bulls.
42. Mikal Bridges: The Brooklyn Nets almost tricked me into believing Ben Simmons and Mikal Bridges were some deadly 1-2 combo when in reality, Ben Simmons is one injury away from being a paraplegic and Mikal Bridges lives under a staircase hoping Leon Rose will show up one day and transport him to the magical realm of Madison Square Garden.
43. Buddy Hield: Like literally every single Sixers role player outside of Cam Payne, Buddy Hield didn’t quite make it to the playoffs this year but unlike most of them, I don’t think Buddy sucks.
44. Nic Vucevic: Big Vuc is good for the least important 18 points and 10 rebounds every single night. I don’t know where he’d have a real impact but I certainly know the Bulls cannot do anything until Box Man’s salary is off their books.
45. Jonathan Kuminga: Kuminga essentially had to beg to play over the decaying skeleton of Klay Thompson. If the Warriors are more focused on parading out the 2022 World Champions than winning anything in the future, Kuminga should get a fresh start elsewhere instead of leaving in their shadows.
46. Jusuf Nurkic: Whatever Phoenix tried to do did not work. Nurkic is a valuable center who can help a team in need of size like the Oklahoma City Thunder.
47. Kelly Olynyk: Something, something, Utah Jazz. blah blah.
48. Jordan Clarkson: If I’ve noticed one thing in these playoffs, it’s how so many bench players are terrified of dribbling and shooting.
49. Michael Porter Jr: The Denver Nuggets tried to run it back without making any real upgrades to the roster and got swallowed by the Timberwolves with Porter Jr forgetting how to shoot a basketball.
I recognize he probably had a lot of his mind balancing the NBA PLAYOFFS with an atrocious podcast and a family full of comic book villains but maybe it’s time to take his career to another city.
50. Dejounte Murray: Dejounte is going to look back at his last two seasons in Atlanta as a total waste of his prime. For whatever reason, he and Trae were oil and diry hot dog water together.
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Who’s changing teams? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee. Let me know which nba players on new teams we’ll see in 2025.
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