10 NBA Teams That Still Need Work After Free Agency

The 2024 iteration of NBA free agency isn't technically finished, but it may as well be.

Outside of defense-first swingman Isaac Okoro, the latest player tangled in the thorns of restricted free agency, there aren't many interesting unsigned players left on the market. All major moves that were going to happen in free agency already did.

It's time to take stock of the Association, then, and see which clubs are coming out of this portion of the season with remaining roster holes to fill.

It made sense for the Hawks to pivot away from the Trae Young-Dejounte Murray backcourt given the lack of return on that pricey investment.

It would have made a lot more sense, though, if it was clearer what the Hawks are now pivoting toward.

Murray's exit could have sparked a mass exodus out of Atlanta with the franchise focused on finding long-term assets. That didn't happen. Young is still around, along with Clint Capela, De'Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanović and Onyeka Okongwu. Those are all solid-or-better players who presumably would drum up interest among win-now shoppers if the Hawks ever hit the rebuilding trail.

Instead, the organization once again appears trapped in the middle: too good to bottom out but not nearly good enough to contend. There isn't so much a specific hole on this roster as there is a general lack of direction.

Speaking of confusing clubs wedged into the Eastern Conference's midsection, what's going on with the Bulls?

Sure, they (finally) sort of shifted things forward by dealing away both Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan this summer. Yet they somehow managed to do so without getting a single first-round pick in return. They also didn't find new homes for either Zach LaVine or Nikola Vučević.

This roster isn't atrocious, but it underwhelms from virtually all angles. Even the excitement around Coby White, last season's silver medalist in Most Improved Player award voting, is muted a bit given the real risk of him losing touches to newcomer Josh Giddey, who stunningly arrived as Chicago's lone compensation in the Caruso trade.

We still don't know who Patrick Williams is, other than a $90 million player apparently, or where the Bulls plan to turn to replace DeRozan's production. But, hey, at least Matas Buzelis had a few fun moments in summer league.

Another offseason, another key contributor lost from Denver's 2022-23 title team. Last summer, it was Bruce Brown (and, to a lesser extent, Jeff Green). This time, it was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whom the Nuggets lost to the Orlando Magic on a three-year, $66 million deal despite holding his Bird rights.

Denver had been stockpiling young, cost-controlled talent for a while in preparation of subtractions like this, but that doesn't mean the young players—specifically, Christian Braun and Peyton Watson—are suddenly ready for substantial role expansions. Watson has struggled to summon any kind of offensive consistency across his first two NBA campaigns, while Braun's previous work as an energizer doesn't necessarily prepare him to fill KCP's steady-as-a-rock three-and-D shoes.

Plus, if Braun and Watson are elevated, who fills in the cracks behind them? Russell Westbrook is around, but he's set to take the role vacated by Reggie Jackson. Are any of Julian Strawther, Hunter Tyson or Jalen Pickett ready for regular minutes?

The Nuggets have a slew of questions about their young core—questions you frankly rarely associate with a heavyweight title contender. Just a few years back, Denver had the league's best starting lineup and a steady supporting cast behind it. Now, the Nuggets have opened themselves to skepticism regarding both units.

For all of the early draft picks Detroit has made in recent years, the Pistons' young core has been almost devoid of long-distance shooting. Choosing to spend the No. 5 pick on Ron Holland, who wasn't being mocked that high virtually anywhere, did nothing to address that issue.

"I feel bad for Cade Cunningham," one evaluator told ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo. "They've been rebuilding for years even though they never planned on it, and this pick signals they might need to blow up the roster and start over again. I just don't see how [Holland] plays with Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey and all their other young guys."

Detroit at least managed to bring in a couple of veteran spacers. Free agency delivered Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley. Tim Hardaway Jr. was salary-dumped onto the Pistons. All three sport career three-point connection rates of 36-plus percent.

From a macro view of the Motor City, though, these are merely placeholders. All could be long gone by the time this group is ready to compete (whenever that happens). The Pistons need young shooters in the worst kind of way. You'd just never know that by how often they've spent premium picks on non-spacers.

Stephen Curry's sibling-in-splash, Klay Thompson, is gone. More importantly, Curry's championship-caliber co-star has yet to arrive—and it's entirely uncertain where (or if) the Warriors will find that player.

Golden State needed a substantial upgrade to rejoin the championship race. It was the 10th seed in the Western Conference and a double-digit-point loser in the play-in tournament. Even coach Steve Kerr admitted, "There needs to be some change."

The Warriors have reworked portions of their supporting cast. Thompson, Chris Paul and Dario Šarić have taken their talents elsewhere. De'Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield have arrived. The Dubs look different, just not dramatically so.

Until they make their major splash—the latest whispers out of Salt Lake City cast doubt on a Lauri Markkanen exchange—they'll struggle to be as much as an afterthought in title talks. If that outlook doesn't significantly improve, it's fair to wonder how much longer Curry and the Warriors will feel they are right for each other.

Possibilities seemed endless when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George joined forces on the Clippers back in 2019. But five years and four playoff series losses later, George is now gone from this group, and L.A. hasn't found a replacement co-star for Leonard.

Well, not unless you're generous enough to attach that label to a past-his-prime James Harden, who suited up with Leonard and George last season but still couldn't steer the Clippers beyond the opening round.

L.A. should be decent next season, which should have this club buried beneath the Western Conference's congestion of really-good-to-great teams. Who knows how often Leonard will suit up? Who knows how much scoring slack Harden can pick up? Neither inquiry looks super encouraging at the moment.

The Clippers need another needle-mover to make real noise in the West. That or they need to start thinking about their next chapter.

There were times when it seemed this offseason could get interesting in Laker Land. Interesting enough, even, to potentially put this team in the championship chase, which would have been quite the accomplishment considering they were tied for 12th in winning percentage and 19th in net efficiency rating last season.

When a quiet trade deadline came and went in February, Lakers lead executive Rob Pelinka cited the opportunity to take "a greater or bigger swing" during this offseason. And when LeBron James was negotiating his new deal, he was reportedly open to leaving a sizable chunk of cash on the table if the team could add an "impact player."

Despite the big talk, the Lakers have done almost nothing to this point beyond hiring JJ Redick as head coach and drafting Dalton Knecht and Bronny James. Their only free-agency shopping has occurred in-house, and their involvement in the trade market hasn't reached beyond the rumor mill.

That means essentially all of the needs they carried into this summer—a third star, shot-creation, shooting, perimeter defense—will remain with this club entering the next campaign.

While the Heat have #culture'd their way to a few deep playoff runs in recent years, they've always felt one perimeter shot-creator away from a championship breakthrough. And unless you're super bullish about Terry Rozier, who was more fine than phenomenal following a January trade to South Beach, they're still missing that player.

There was talk of Miami going whale-hunting this summer, but nothing ever materialized.

Externally, they added Kel'el Ware and Pelle Larsson at the draft and Alec Burks in free agency. Internally, they paid a few of their free agents but not Caleb Martin or Delon Wright, both of whom latched on with direct competitors in the East (the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively).

The Heat either think they have enough to climb the conference ladder or couldn't see a clear enough path to contention to justify the cost. The former feels entirely optimistic for a team that's been a play-in participant each of the past two seasons. The latter makes you wonder what kind of future (if any) the franchise will have with Jimmy Butler, who's slated for free agency after the 2024-25 season.

It felt like the Pelicans were headed toward major changes this summer. And in some ways, they've materialized.

New Orleans paid a premium to pluck Dejounte Murray out of Atlanta. The Pelicans also let starting center Jonas Valančiūnas walk in free agency. They even traded away his backup, Larry Nance Jr., in the Murray deal.

Still, this feels like a team in transition. There have been plenty of trade talks surrounding Brandon Ingram, but they haven't sparked an actual transaction yet. CJ McCollum has sparked a few trade rumblings, too, but he's also still a Crescent City resident. The plan to upgrade at center has yet to come to fruition, as the starting spot could come down to veteran journeyman Daniel Theis and rookie Yves Missi.

The hole at the 5 spot is glaring and worrisome, and the forward rotation feels too crowded if Ingram is actually sticking around. There are almost certainly more moves for this front office to make.

There were, admittedly, a lot worse ways for this summer to play out than how things actually went for the Suns. For a club with no maneuverability and a glaring void at point guard, walking away with both Tyus Jones and Monte Morris feels like the greatest kind of good fortune.

Saying that, this offseason did little to alleviate the major concerns about this club's depth. Or about its flexibility at the 5 spot. It's hard to complain about spending minimum money on Mason Plumlee, but he doesn't exactly up the team's defensive versatility.

The Suns only just assembled the Devin Booker-Kevin Durant-Bradley Beal trio last summer, but you already wonder about its viability. There is a ton of injury risk and not a lot of defense within that core.

This is also a hugely expensive roster that has Phoenix well above the second apron and restricted with almost any kind of player movement. The Suns say they're in an enviable position, but once you look past the sizzle of their three stars, you worry about the substance of this squad as a whole.