We’re almost a full month into Free Agency and somehow Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are still Nets, Russell Westbrook is still a Laker, DeAndre Ayton is a Sun for the long-haul and Donovan Mitchell is still a Jazz (Jazzman? Jazzer?)…Donovan Mitchell still lives in Utah.
Those dominos will all inevitably fall. Maybe soon, maybe we’ll still be seeing Kyrie photoshopped into Laker jerseys in February. So, instead of twiddling our thumbs and refreshing Woj and Shams’ Twitters in anticipation of trades that may never come, now is the perfect time to dive into preseason content.
Full team previews & win total picks will be coming in September but, first, let’s take a more narrow view of every team’s most impactful addition.
That addition isn’t necessarily the most talented or even the best value, but the player who I expect will have the largest impact (positive or negative) on that team’s win total this season.
Let’s get started with the defending champs and the Pacific Division!!
Golden State Warriors – Donte DiVincenzo
The Warriors didn’t have a full-on Disease of Me summer exodus after winning their fourth title in eight years, but they did lose quite a bit of talent along the margins of their roster.
Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II played the seventh and eighth-most minutes of any Warrior in the playoffs last season and both left in free agency to Toronto and Portland respectively. The expectation is for Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody to inherit more prominent roles in Year 2, but signing Donte DiVincenzo was a perfect addition.
This is as low-risk, high-reward as it gets. If DiVincenzo can get back to the player he was in Milwaukee pre-injuries, then the Warriors got two seasons of a starting-level guard for less than $5 million a year (plus however many tens of millions Joe Lacob will owe in Luxury Taxes).
If DiVincenzo can’t find that form, then the Warriors have the luxury – no pun intended – of pivoting to Moody. Count me as an optimist, though.
He shot so poorly to start last season that the Bucks dumped him at the deadline for Serge Ibaka and a couple of future 2nds but, after arriving in Sacramento, DiVincenzo quietly shot nearly 37 percent from three on 5.8 attempts/gm. He’s also a plus defender and has the basketball IQ to succeed off-ball in the Warriors’ system.
Everything he did well in Sacramento should come that much easier after moving two hours west. I have a strong suspicion DiVincenzo is next in the long line of guys the league is left wondering “How the hell did the Warriors get him so cheap“?
LA Clippers – John Wall
The last time Wall played more than half of a season, Russell Westbrook was the MVP, Jimmy Butler was a Bull and Tim Duncan hadn’t retired yet. It’s been a minute.
I have no idea what Wall has left in the tank. In theory, adding a player who was an All-Star the last time he was healthy is as low-risk as the Warriors signing DiVincenzo but the Clippers have much less of a safety net.
Point guard play has been an issue for the Clippers ever since they traded Chris Paul. Reggie Jackson’s renaissance has been huge but Wall is the only other true PG on the roster with NBA experience.
The Clippers have been able to piecemeal point guard responsibilities from Paul George, Terance Mann and Nicolas Batum in the past, but a true floor general who can get you into the offense is crucial.
Remember their offensive collapse against the Nuggets in the Bubble? The Clippers had an AST% of just 56.7 in that series which would have been 28th in the league last season.
Maybe point guard play is more of a 16-game concern than an 82-game one. The Clippers have the deepest roster in the league and, if their stars are healthy, they should compete to win the West. If this is a true title contender, though, I think Wall will have a bigger role to play than many expect.
Los Angeles Lakers – Thomas Bryant
Dare I say, I kinda like the Lakers offseason.
Lonnie Walker IV and Troy Brown Jr. were nice gambles on young wings. Damian Jones and Juan Toscano-Anderson were good minimum pickups with potential for rotation minutes. The true upside swing, however, was getting back a player they waived four years ago.
Thomas Bryant has been a really effective NBA player when healthy. The caveat, of course, is that he’s rarely healthy.
Bryant hasn’t played a full season since 2019 and has appeared in just 83 games over the last three years. In those games, he’s averaged 11.5 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 37.7 percent from three. The Lakers would take that production in a heartbeat. Especially that floor-spacing which has a chance to really move the needle.
Everyone except Anthony Davis knows AD is a center. He doesn’t want to play the five full-time and, at this point, it’s foolish to think he’ll change his mind. If forced to play another big next to him, Bryant is a pretty easy fit.
No one is credibly comping Bryant to pre-Achilles DeMarcus Cousins, but the style and fit comparisons make a lot of sense. Bryant can play on the perimeter and space the floor for Davis on offense while hiding defensively on the less threatening frontcourt opponent.
While Bryant isn’t a playmaker and struggles to shoot off the dribble, any floor spacing he can provide is worth its weight in gold. Opening up the floor for LeBron, AD and (most importantly) Westbrook is step one to a successful Laker halfcourt offense and Bryant is progress in that direction.
Phoenix Suns – Dario Saric
Yeah, I’m cheating with this one. Saric technically wasn’t a roster addition but he also was out for all of last season and there’s zero chance I was going to bullshit my way through a Damion Lee preview.
Saric was a crucial piece in Phoenix’s Finals run in 2021. He was Ayton’s primary backup and gave the Suns a floor-spacing, offense-first center option. That was a dimension they lacked last season and is something that would have certainly helped when their offense got bogged down against Dallas.
Saric is a career 35.7 percent 3PT shooter, a capable interior scorer and an excellent rebounder. His mid-range game comes and goes but has had success running a two-man game with Chris Paul as both a roll man and popper.
Saric was already slow laterally before his injury and I suspect that may have gotten worse over the last year and a half. His defense is a glaring hole in his game but I still see him as a clear value-add overall.
So much remains unknown about the Suns heading into this season. Was the playoffs collapse a blip or the beginning of an unraveling? Is this a title contender or is it only a matter of time before they end up in Jazz firesale territory?
If the answer to those questions is Option A, Saric is going to play a major role in that bounce back.
Sacramento Kings – Kevin Huerter
The obvious pick here was Keegan Murray and, of course, the fourth pick is a major addition; but, just in regards to the 2022-23 season, I expect Huerter to have a bigger impact.
After a breakout sophomore season pre-Bubble, Huerter stagnated a bit in Atlanta. He showed signs he might’ve been growing into a starting-caliber guard but never took those steps as Atlanta pivoted their identity completely to Trae Young.
Just look at Huerter’s per-game’s for the last three seasons. The plateau is obvious.
Even before the Hawks traded for Dejounte Murray, it was clear Huerter had become the odd man out of Atlanta’s rotation. He and Bogdan Bogdanovic check off a lot of the same boxes and Atlanta decided to prioritize the more proven playoff scorer.
I think the Kings got value buying low on Huerter. I love his fit with Domontas Sabonis and he takes some offensive burden off De’Aaron Fox’s shoulders. Like DiVincenzo before him, I think we’re going to look up after the season and realize Huerter quietly had a really solid year in Sacramento.
I’m skeptical his production will translate to wins but, we are talking about the Kings after all. I’m not expecting miracles.
Pacific Action 
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