![]() ![]() They could only bring in minimum contracts. They still have Deandre Ayton (despite trying to trade him for depth, teams were not interested at $30 million a season for the center), and add returning point guard Cameron Payne and the Suns were already at nearly $169 million in salary. Phoenix went all-in with the Bradley Beal trade, creating a big three with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. While I’m not sold that the peak of these Lakers is better than the peak of the Nuggets or Suns (and maybe not peak Grizzlies or Warriors, either), this is a team built for the playoffs that could be a real postseason threat next April and May. ![]() ![]() These Lakers are a better version of the team that just made a run to the Western Conference Finals - a deep, versatile, and big roster. Certainly a tacit sign of approval from the L.A. LeBron James’ Instagram story on Saturday afternoon featured photos of all the players the Lakers made agreements with in the first day of free agency. While Portland’s franchise talisman Damian Lillard asked to be traded, they had the fifth-worst record in the league last season so drafting Scoot Henderson and getting rebuilding blocks may not be the losing play.) WINNER: Los Angeles Lakers (Note: There is no Portland or Philadelphia on this list as losers for their stars asking out, only because we don’t know the returns yet. Here is a list of the biggest winners and losers: While those trades have not gone through, some teams have made themselves better, or a little worse, so far during free agency. Harden’s trade is held up in part by teams like the Clippers waiting to see how the Lillard situation shakes out. League sources told NBC Sports the seemingly slow pace of a Heat/Trail Blazers trade is due to the complexity of it and getting everyone a win: Portland doesn’t want to keep Tyler Herro in any deal (they already have Anfernee Simons, a similar player on a similar contract), the Blazers also would like to send out Jusuf Nurkic in the trade (three years, $54.4 million still owed), and while the Nets have the picks to be the facilitating third team they want to send out Ben Simmons in the deal (two years, $78.2 million) and nobody is terribly interested in taking him back. The Lillard trade talks are moving slowly toward a three- or four-team deal.
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