Lowe: The 7 most underdiscussed NBA teams this offseason

The meat of the NBA offseason is over. Most of the discussion has centered around the New York Knicks, Paul George and the Philadelphia 76ers, the end (for now) of the LA Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers standing pat, the crowded tank race, the Oklahoma City Thunder loading up and aprons. So many aprons.

Here are seven teams that have gone underdiscussed this offseason — each with critical storylines and moves yet to play out.

WEST POWERHOUSES, PAST AND (MAYBE?) PRESENT

Golden State Warriors

OK, I’m cheating; no one ignores the Warriors. But the offseason focus has been on the legend who left and their new All-Star target. Let’s assume the Warriors don’t acquire Lauri Markkanen or any equivalent player. What is this team — with Klay Thompson and Chris Paul gone, and a slew of new role players in De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield?

If he’s healthy, Melton has a chance to start — though I’d guess the most likely starting five is Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, and Draymond Green. The Wiggins-Kuminga combination found its rhythm in smaller lineups with Green at center; the Curry/Wiggins/Kuminga/Green quartet finished plus-115 in 403 minutes. Starting this way forces Green to open at center and leaves two traditional bigs — Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis — fighting for backup minutes.

That’s the price of starting Kuminga. Any combination of Kuminga, Green and a paint-bound center cramps Golden State’s spacing beyond the point where even Curry can save it. The roving gravity of the Splash Brothers could make almost any lineup work. Thompson is gone, and Hield is the only elite shooter Golden State added. Curry and Hield make for a potent combination, but the cost would come on defense. Podziemski and Melton offer better two-way balance.

It’s time for the Warriors to start Kuminga and see if the youth movement can explode in time to salvage the back end of Curry’s career. His extension negotiations could get spicy if Kuminga’s team gets the feeling his role might fluctuate again.

Regardless of who starts, the Warriors’ rotation could feature six (mostly) non-shooters in Kuminga, Green, Anderson, Gary Payton II and the two centers. Any three-man combination of those six is a no-go. Some two-man combinations won’t work. Anderson is a snug fit for the Warriors’ read-and-react beautiful game; the Anderson-Green duo is intriguing — the two serving as mirror-image screener/playmakers on opposite sides of the floor.

It’s a good team, probably a hair better than last year’s 46-win outfit — though similar in that there is a jumble of solid players, but too big a chasm between Curry and whoever is No. 2.

The Warriors feel like an afterthought now — the embers of a dynasty — but winning 46 games in the West is nothing to scoff at. There is no shame in Curry riding out his career as a Warriors lifer on good, interesting teams. Few one-team stars chase championships in their twilight. That’s not how it works. If you crave the fairy-tale ending, know it already happened — two years ago, in the Warriors’ improbable fourth title run and Curry’s first Finals MVP.

The team as presently constituted could make the playoffs, perhaps even win a round. Anything beyond that feels unlikely.

The question the Warriors must ask themselves is whether acquiring Markkanen makes them true contenders now, which would justify sacrificing a significant chunk of their future. The specific price is paramount. The combination of Kuminga, Podziemski and major draft capital — unprotected picks and swaps — is too much. Even that same package with Moses Moody in Podziemski’s place could edge past the Warriors’ breaking point. Moody is ready to assume a larger role.

Let’s posit the teams intersect at one of Kuminga and Podziemski, some salary filler (likely Payton) and most (if not all) of the Warriors’ available first-round picks and swaps. That is still a fat slice of Golden State’s future, but it’s probably the only realistic means of adding the type of player to give Curry some chance of going deep into the playoffs again.

The starting five could be Curry/Podziemski/Wiggins/Green/Markkanen. If Kuminga is left over, the Warriors could start big, with Kuminga in Podziemski’s spot — or demote Wiggins in favor of a smaller player such as Melton or Moody. The bench would be well-stocked.

That team is undeniably better, especially on offense. Markkanen would enable lineups that surround the Curry-Green fulcrum with shooting and playmaking — without sacrificing size. Somewhat slower paint-bound centers — including Nikola Jokic and Rudy Gobert among contenders — would have fewer places to hide, and more territory to cover.

Markkanen’s one-on-one scoring would give Golden State a bailout option for possessions when the beautiful game runs dry.

Markkanen is a so-so passer; it would take him time to adapt to Golden State’s whirring movement. But shooting is the great equalizer. The more space everyone has, the easier the reads are. Markkanen would provide Curry a new kind of pick-and-pop tool and trail into easy 3s behind Green’s mad dashes. He could even defend some centers to spare Green.

Markkanen would fit with either Golden State center, and even slide to small forward. Adding one ace shooter would relieve a lot of the team’s current lineup crunch.

When you ask rival executives and coaches whether that team would be a real contender, the responses are all over the place. I’m slightly skeptical, though I see the vision. The timeline could be tight too. That team winning two or three playoff series depends on Curry and Green retaining their current levels of play into their late 30s. Wiggins would have to catapult close to his 2022 level. Young guys would need to pop — now. Melton’s back would need to hold up.

Even if this theoretical team is merely a long shot — and I could well be wrong about that! — maybe a long shot is worth it if the alternative is a legend having no shot.

These are the hardest decisions — if this Markkanen dalliance, or another like it, ever becomes actionable.

Memphis Grizzlies

I keep hearing how the first four seeds in the West belong to the Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. The Phoenix Suns tend to be mentioned next, followed by lamentations about the conference’s aging California lions.

Did everyone forget about the Grizzlies? The Thunder probably sit in a tier of their own in terms of regular-season projections, but the Grizzlies — presuming Ja Morant can stay on the floor — should vault right back into the mix for a top-4 seed.

The Grizz finished No. 2 in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 before injuries and Morant’s 25-game suspension derailed them. The Morant/Desmond Bane/Jaren Jackson Jr. trio is a regular-season wins machine. In Morant’s absence, both Bane and Jackson stretched their offensive skill sets to their outer limits. That chipped away at their efficiency, but the experience will help with Morant back to restore the hierarchy.

Marcus Smart should be the fourth starter, and can run the show when Morant sits — replacing Tyus Jones there. With the final starting spot, the Grizz can go smaller (Santi Aldama), giant (Zach Edey) or somewhere in the middle (Brandon Clarke). They could even use multiple starting lineups depending on the opponent.

Edey might prove ready to start, but there is some merit to letting him mash reserve units — many of which will not feature the kind of pick-and-roll marksman who might trouble Edey on defense. Regardless, the Grizz can still get Edey plenty of minutes setting brick wall screens for Morant.

Two of those three bigs will join Smart on bench units, though I’m curious to see how the Clarke/Edey combination functions on offense — though they should bombard the offensive glass. Vince Williams Jr. was a revelation, shooting 38% on 3s and flashing some snazzy playmaking. GG Jackson II is the ceiling-raiser — an all-court scorer who can feast in transition and make plays as a screener in the pick-and-roll.

Jackson II needs to recalibrate his game — focusing more on defense and connective passing — to play next to Memphis’ core starters. He’s an enticing player, but he’s also the kind of overeager young scorer who could lose the trust of the coaching staff if things go haywire.

The deeper bench is more of a question mark depending on whether the Grizzlies can re-sign Luke Kennard. John Konchar is always ready, and Jake LaRavia finished last season with a bang. Ziaire Williams is still here … for now.

Williams represents one of the Grizzlies’ moon shots at that coveted 3-and-D wing. Justise Winslow was the other, and Memphis might have been first to blow up the Brooklyn Nets’ phone lines about Mikal Bridges at the 2022 trade deadline.

Memphis still has all of its own first-round picks, plus some extra swap rights thanks to the Phoenix swaps-on-swaps-on-swaps Ponzi scheme. With Jackson on a declining contract and Morant having fallen short of the supermax, the Grizz have some wiggle room to pounce when the time is right — either by trading for another expensive player, or using the full midlevel exception (or maybe both).

LIKELY TANKERS

Portland Trail Blazers

Between 1977 and 2019, the Blazers finished below .500 in just eight seasons. This franchise and fan base are not accustomed to being bad for long.

The Blazers will be bad by design ahead of a loaded 2025 draft headlined by Cooper Flagg. (If excitement for Flagg was at a 10 out of 10 last month, his performance on the USA Select Team elevated it to 14 out of 10.) As of now, they will not have cap space in the summer of 2025 for some Houston Rockets-style injection of veteran talent around this raw young core. If Portland is bad again in 2025-26, that will mark five straight seasons of deep lottery basketball. The front office might have the patience for that. Does ownership? Do the fans?

The first two lottery seasons are not really at the feet of this front office. It was hard to imagine the Damian Lillard era petering out in 27- and 33-win seasons. Injuries ravaged the Blazers. Past trades robbed them of draft capital. They tried straddling two paths at once, but ended up sinking to the bottom before they were ready.

The losing netted Scoot Henderson, Donovan Clingan and Shaedon Sharpe alongside Anfernee Simons. It’s unclear if Simons, Henderson and Sharpe will ever be able to play huge minutes together — particularly with Deni Avdija on the wing after a bold draft-night trade. Avdija is a perfect complementary player if he keeps shooting and making enough 3s, and he’s 23 on a declining contract that will have huge trade value. The Blazers gave two first-round picks for him — including Bub Carrington — but depending on Carrington’s development, the deal could work out for everyone.

Both Simons and Henderson need the ball — Henderson most of all given his wobbly jumper — and that trio figures to struggle on defense. But it’s premature to write off any outcome.

For now, only two are likely to start — and I’d bet on Sharpe and Simons, with Henderson easing into the season as a backup. Sharpe should grow into an awesome all-around offensive player. His decline in shooting last season — 40.6% overall, 33% on 3s — is a little troubling, but the Blazers were a mess.

Avdija, Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton fill out the starting five. Henderson can lead a bench mob featuring Matisse Thybulle, Toumani Camara, Jabari Walker and Clingan — with Kris Murray, Dalano Banton, Robert Williams III and Duop Reath pushing them. (The Blazers have too many centers and will inevitably explore trades for Ayton and Williams. They should look to off-load Grant too, but the length of his deal could make him harder to move.)

That’s a representative NBA team. The quartet of Sharpe, Simons, Grant and Ayton played only 51 minutes last season. Henderson showed flashes of sophisticated pick-and-roll creation after returning from an ankle injury, but he’ll only unlock so much of that as long as defenders duck every screen — daring him to shoot.

Simons is a dynamic 2.5-level scorer — his finishing at the rim is so-so — who can really shoot and bumped up his playmaking. He has two years left on a nice contract, and looms as one of the league’s most interesting trade chips. Trade machine enthusiasts have long directed Simons to the Orlando Magic, but he’d be a really interesting fit with the San Antonio Spurs — who need shooting and have the defensive infrastructure to protect Simons.

Flipping Simons would hurt Portland now but beef up its quiver of trade assets. They trail some of the league’s other rebuilding teams in that regard. The Blazers may not care given their record using cap space, but it will be hard for Portland to open real flexibility in the summer of 2026 with both Simons and Ayton on the roster.

The 2025 draft could change everything for Portland. Even so, the Blazers will need to strike at some point in free agency or with a trade. For now, there is some fun young talent here.

Detroit Pistons

If the Blazers are worried about being bad for too long, let me introduce you to the Pistons. Detroit has won 30% or fewer of its games in five straight seasons; two more tank jobs could mean seven straight and maybe 13 seasons of 40% or lower winning percentages in the past 17. Oof.

Trajan Langdon replaced Troy Weaver atop Detroit’s front office, and new leaders sometimes ignore the rubble of their predecessors — dismissing it as a sunk cost. Langdon could regard this more as Year 1 of his rebuild; the high-risk/high-reward selection of Ron Holland at No. 5 overall might be evidence of that mindset.

Detroit fans might be fine with that, though it doesn’t quite dovetail with the timing of the team’s contracts. Cade Cunningham cycles onto a max contract in 2025-26, and both Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren will be extension-eligible in a year.

I remain a firm Cunningham believer. It’s hard to find guys with his combination of size, craft and vision. He’s 22 and has played only 138 games. This will basically be his third NBA season given he missed almost all of 2022-23 — Year 1 for both Duren and Ivey.

Those three have not played enough together within a functional ecosystem to draw any firm conclusions.

How new coach J.B. Bickerstaff crafts his rotation will reveal a lot about Detroit’s medium-term approach. Cunningham and Duren are locked as starters. Tobias Harris probably is too given his status and contract. If priority one is maximizing Cunningham — and it should be — it’s hard to see Bickerstaff starting both Ivey and Ausar Thompson in what would be a youth-and-Harris lineup. There isn’t enough shooting around the Cunningham-Duren pick-and-roll.

Going all shooting in those two spots — maybe Malik Beasley and the very solid Simone Fontecchio — marginalizes the youth movement. The best mix might be starting Thompson and sliding Ivey into a reserve role where he can run second units — something Monty Williams, Detroit’s recently deposed head coach, did not do nearly enough.

Thompson’s shooting is a huge issue — he made 21 3s last season — but he’s a switchable defender with good feel as a passer and cutter on offense. He’s a voracious rebounder. There’s something here, and the Pistons should try to bring it out soon.

Ivey can orchestrate bench-heavy units featuring some veteran shooting, Holland, Isaiah Stewart and maybe Paul Reed if Bickerstaff wants to play Stewart some at power forward. (I’d prefer him as backup center.)

Ivey and Cunningham can still share the floor for 10-plus minutes per game in that setup. That is not what the Pistons envisioned. Ivey’s poor shooting and overall freneticism has made for an awkward fit alongside Cunningham. Could they figure that out? Sure. Ivey is only 22.

But most youth movements have some roster casualties (we’re not counting Killian Hayes), and Ivey might be one. In that scenario, the Pistons would obviously prefer to deal from a position of strength — with Ivey playing well. That moment may have passed. If it hasn’t — if Ivey clicks — that is good for the Pistons but might complicate their decision-making.

Duren is a keeper — a rim-running menace with a burgeoning face-up game and some passing chops. His interior defense is one make-or-break variable in Detroit’s rebuild. He’s off-kilter, but he’s only 20 — with the will and physical tools.

The Pistons have all the cap flexibility they need. If Ivey doesn’t pan out, they might end the season still searching for a viable second option after Cunningham. But there is talent here — and if the lottery gods smile upon them, the Pistons could have something big cooking.

MAYBE BETTER THAN THEY WANT TO BE?

Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets won 43 games in 2021-22 with LaMelo Ball leading a go-go offense that propped up Charlotte’s porous defense. That team had more experience: Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, P.J. Washington Jr., Mason Plumlee.

But Ball is almost 23 now, and if he can stay healthy, the Hornets have the outlines of a team that might punch above its weight. Miles Bridges is a common denominator between those two teams — a running mate for Ball in transition, and a useful secondary scorer who can switch on defense when he dials in. The Hornets must explain why they were so eager to re-sign Bridges on a three-year, $75 million deal — and against whom they were bidding — after Bridges pleaded no contest to a felony domestic violence charge.

Brandon Miller looks like a foundational two-way player. Mark Williams should reclaim the starting center spot if he’s over his back issues. He’s a lob threat with potential as a rim protector.

Josh Green, swiped from Dallas in the six-team (!) Thomspon-centered trade, could fit nicely as a fifth starter. That would return Grant Williams to a backup role alongside Nick Richards, with some combination of Reggie Jackson, Vasilije Micic, Cody Martin, Tre Mann and Nick Smith Jr. as perimeter backups. There are minutes for 18-year-old Tidjane Salaun, but the Hornets are deep enough to bring him along slowly.

Interior defense and rebounding could be rickety. Before ankle injuries torpedoed his season, Ball showed more patience prodding the paint, changing pace, and either attacking the rim or looking for more productive passes. That is Ball’s pathway from carnival act to serious, winning player. He should become a better finisher at the basket as he ventures there more. He’s tall and smart enough to be at least an average defender — if he cares to be.

Ball is 6-7 with genius vision and a reliable 3-point shot. That is rare — all of that wrapped into one 22-year-old. If he channels his skills the right way, Ball could become an All-NBA-level star.

Since Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin took over the team, the Hornets have taken the long view — off-loading veterans for future picks. What happens if they win more than expected over the first 50 games? Would they move veterans in hopes of boosting their lottery odds?

What if Ball plateaus and Miller explodes? Would Miller become the focal point of all team-building decisions? What would that mean for Ball?

There is a lot of mystery — and a lot of potential.

Toronto Raptors

Seldom has a non-glamour team given up three very good players — including two All-Stars, and one All-NBA honoree — before any of them even turns 30, and not as part of a coordinated tank job.

The Raptors let Fred VanVleet walk last year. In a span of 19 days last season, they traded OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam for a combination of young-ish veterans and four valuable draft picks. Toronto spun one of those picks into one more youngish veteran (Ochai Agbaji) and a backup center (Kelly Olynyk) older than all three of the beloved homegrown players they had just jettisoned. And before any of that, the Raptors made a win-now deal by flipping a lightly protected first-round pick to the Spurs for Jakob Poeltl. (That pick became Rob Dillingham.)

Step back, and the array of deals resembles one of those blurry Magic Eye photos. Maybe it snaps into focus if you gaze at it just right. Maybe it’s just a mish-mash.

The Siakam/Anunoby/VanVleet trio is earning about $121 million combined this season, and the first two are beginning long-term deals. Keeping all three alongside Scottie Barnes, Poeltl and a supporting cast would have pushed the Raptors well into the luxury tax and possibly toward the second apron. Keeping just two could have landed Toronto under the tax, but the Raptors clearly concluded such a team would not have been able to compete at the top of the East. They might have worried those veterans would not carry much trade value on new contracts.

But why not bottom out and play for Victor Wembanyama? Probably because they already had bottomed out — in the season of 2020-21, when the injury-riddled Raptors relocated to Florida and lost their way to Barnes. The Raptors have since tried to thread the needle of getting younger and financially leaner while remaining at least semi-competitive as Barnes ascends.

This places a ton of pressure on Barnes and Immanuel Quickley — the jewel of the Anunoby trade from Toronto’s perspective. Those two will earn about $71 million combined in 2025-26, and showed some nice early chemistry — including in pick-and-rolls in which either could work as screener or ball handler. (Quickley’s five-year, $175 million deal sounds like an overpay, but it’s not. It stays flat year over year, and will amount to something like 17% of the cap in 2027-28.)

Poeltl and RJ Barrett hold two other spots in a small-ish starting five. In a limited sample — almost 200 minutes — that foursome blitzed opponents by about 14 points per 100 possessions without Siakam, per Cleaning The Glass.

The fifth spot will be an open competition between Gradey Dick, Davion Mitchell, Bruce Brown, Agbaji — and maybe even rookie Ja’Kobe Walter, taken with one of the selections Toronto received for Siakam. The team probably hopes Dick earns the job, and though he shot poorly at summer league, his all-around play in Las Vegas combined with his solid shooting as a rookie bodes well for him opening the season as a starter.

That would give Toronto a pile of solid guards and wings off the bench to play alongside Olynyk. Those lineups could play out as small too unless Chris Boucher snares more reserve minutes. Jonathan Mogbo, the No. 31 pick, is a wild card there. Barrett has played some backup power forward, and Barnes can slide there if the Raptors stagger minutes so that one of Barnes and Quickley is always on the floor to orchestrate. The Olynyk/Poeltl double-big look can work in certain matchups.

The Raptors own all their future first-round picks outright, and regained full control of their 2025 selection once they conveyed their 2024 pick to San Antonio. When that happened, you would not have blamed some within the Raptors for wondering if they might be in position for another one-year dip ahead of the Flagg draft.

Given the steps several bottom-feeders have taken — and others might yet take — that appears to be a very, very long shot. This team projects as too good for that, but also not very good. They may finish No. 9 or 10 by default — the East play-in tournament should be renamed the Default Bowl — but they are looking at a back-end lottery pick.

The path back to a conference finals-level team is murky, though that’s not permanent or all that serious an issue today. The Raptors trail the Pacers, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers among East teams waiting for age and payroll issues to bust up the conference’s powerhouses. They might not have meaningful cap room until the summer of 2027, when Barrett’s deal expires.

That contract represents an interesting pivot point. Barrett was very good for the Raptors: 22 points on 55% shooting, including 39% on 3s. Was that real? Just as they did with Anunoby, the Raptors have to decide whether Barrett is part of their core on Barnes’s timetable. If they are wary of Barrett’s next contract, they might want to get ahead of it sooner.

Really, this is about Barnes. The Raptors are banking on him becoming a superstar. He is already an All-Star at 22, and his size and skill set carry the potential of all-around superstardom. But there is a big gap between semi-regular East All-Star and foundational superstar of a great team. Even if the Raptors are hopeful, no team wants to bet everything on one player bridging that gap. Let’s see how they build this out.

THE ATLANTA HAWKS

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks took the ideal middle ground after leaping to No. 1 in the lottery: using the pick on a high-wattage prospect in Zaccharie Risacher, and then trading whichever of their star guards — Dejounte Murray in the end — netted the fattest return. They didn’t get overexuberant trading youth or picks for short-terms wins. They couldn’t bottom out since the Spurs control their first-round picks through 2027, so they recouped decent value flipping Murray.

With Trae Young still on board, the Hawks can develop their youth while treading water around .500. And yet now that they’ve walked that path, the end result feels uncertain and perhaps unsatisfying. Getting their picks back by trading Young to San Antonio would have made for a clean teardown ahead of the 2025 and 2026 drafts. The Spurs’ and Lakers’ interest in Young has cooled in recent months, sources said, but such doors never close shut.

As is, Young at 25 could be the oldest member of a potential starting five featuring Dyson Daniels, Risacher, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu. Johnson is 22 with All-Star potential. He and Risacher could develop into an explosive, complementary pairing at forward. Young could lead a fun, up-tempo team that might be ready to peak by the middle of his prime.

Don’t put that starting five in pen. Clint Capela is still here, in the final year of his contract — and on the trade market, sources said. De’Andre Hunter surely wants to start. Daniels’ shaky shooting could make him wonky fit in an off-ball role next to Young. That said, Daniels is a natural in a fast-paced system, and his secondary playmaking — and that of Johnson — could get Young easier looks as Atlanta works to diversify its offense. Daniels is an elite defender, and Atlanta needs those around Young.