NBA Draft picks are taking the court in Las Vegas Summer League, and for the most part, most of the impact free agents have found their next home. But there’s still one LeBron James-sized domino to fall, and that could impact the outlook for a few teams.Has your favorite team gotten the help it needed in the draft and free agency? The Athletic asked its NBA staff for their assessments of summer transactions, from the draft to free agency to coaching hires. Here are the grades our writers assigned for the work done so far.Atlanta Hawks: BIt’s been a relatively quiet offseason, as the Hawks aren’t drinking the “we beat the Knicks twice” Kool-Aid and understand they’re still a work in progress. Notably, Atlanta drafted a true point guard in Kingston Flemings, filling an organizational need with the best player available with the eighth pick. Trading for Aaron Wiggins was a great way to use a trade exception to get free (and needed) wing depth, while one-year deals for CJ McCollum and Jock Landale keep things stable without overcommitting. Still to be determined: the fates of Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga. — John HollingerBoston Celtics: C-Credit Brad Stevens for the guts to make a big move. Still, after the best season of Jaylen Brown’s career, the Celtics’ return for him was puzzling. They also filled a major hole with the Mitchell Robinson acquisition and added a trusted pro in Mike Conley, but Boston’s future will hinge on whether Stevens made the right call on the Brown trade — and on what moves come next. — Jay KingMemorable moments from Jaylen Brown's 10 seasons in BostonBrooklyn Nets: BThe Nets did well to professionalize their team this offseason. Julius Randle is a capable and productive forward who can assume lead playmaking duties, and with Michael Porter Jr, the Nets now have two legit 20-point scorers. They’re still light everywhere, but they shouldn’t be the easy choice for the league’s worst record team next year. We’ll see if Mikel Brown Jr. was the right choice at No. 6 in the draft, but at least Brooklyn added potential high-level young talent to its core. — Mike VorkunovCharlotte Hornets: B+Despite being the story of the second half in the NBA, the Hornets didn’t fall for their own hype. They traded away arguably their best player for Naz Reid, an unprotected 2033 first-rounder and three pick swaps. The Hornets then re-signed Coby White to shore up the guard position and traded Miles Bridges for another unprotected first and two bench players who should be rotation help. Charlotte should enter the season deeper than it ended the last one after adding two top-20 draft picks. The Hornets certainly miss Ball, who was supremely important if you look at the on/off splits, but White should mitigate the pain. Charlotte now has a trove of draft assets that rivals any team and can make them a player if any star hits the market, or just to take big swings. But this offseason oriented the Hornets around Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller and moved on from Ball and Bridges. — Mike VorkunovChicago Bulls: BThe new Bulls’ regime tipped off its rebuild by making the obvious choice in selecting Caleb Wilson with the No. 4 pick in the draft and filled out their desired template by selecting Dailyn Swain at No. 15. No complaints with the first round. They didn’t eat bad contracts and net future assets like some hoped, but instead used their abundant cap space to facilitate flexible contracts with archetypes (Norman Powell, Nic Claxton, Zach Collins) that should also theoretically help the development of the rebuild in the short term. Not an immaculate offseason, but it’s deserving of an exhale considering the last regime. — Joel LorenziCleveland Cavaliers: IncompleteIf they end up getting LeBron James in free agency, it’s an A-minus, even if there isn’t an easy fit on the roster for him. If LeBron goes elsewhere, we’re looking at a D+ for a grade. The Cavs are trying to get under the aprons the best they can, but getting better doesn’t happen without LeBron. — Zach HarperDallas Mavericks: AThe Mavericks hired Masai Ujiri to run their front office in May and brought on Dusty May as their coach in June. Those were big decisions, which I think Dallas got right. I’m optimistic about May’s chances of transitioning from college to the NBA. The Mavericks also added two big men — Morez Johnson Jr. and Santi Aldama — with very different skill sets. Johnson has the chance to be a defensive monster, and Aldama is a proven stretch 7-footer. It would have been nice to see Dallas do more to upgrade its backcourt, but I think the Mavericks are moving in the right direction. — Christian ClarkDenver Nuggets: D-If they end up keeping Peyton Watson, it’ll probably be a C. But this team is replacing Jonas Valančiūnas with Marvin Bagley III, and the Nuggets don’t have a replacement for Tim Hardaway Jr. For now, they’re back to having depth issues. — Zach HarperPeyton Watson is a restricted free agent, and his future is still unclear. (Isaiah J. Downing / Imagn Images)Detroit Pistons: B-The Pistons are no strangers to marginal improvements around their roster, and this offseason is shaping up to be similar. Signing power forward John Collins was Detroit’s biggest move yet, but they traded Isaiah Stewart and Caris LeVert and lost starter Tobias Harris to free agency. Acquiring Isaiah Joe will undoubtedly help with shooting. But unless the Pistons are betting on internal growth of Ausar Thompson and Daniss Jenkins, coupled with Ebuka Okorie, there will certainly still be a need for another ballhandler who can create for himself and others. — Hunter PattersonGolden State Warriors: CIt’s basically the same team right now as the team that finished 37-45 last year aside from rookie Yaxel Lendeborg. Fans are frustrated, but the reality for Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy is that he remains confident that this team can be better than what it showed last season as it waits for Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody to return. There’s still a chance LeBron appears and that would change the tenor of the summer, but Warriors fans should expect more of what they saw last season with this aging core. — Nick FriedellHouston Rockets: B+Houston has been very efficient with new deals. Getting Marcus Smart on a two-year, $13 million contract and Bogdan Bogdanović on a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract helped solidify the Rockets’ bench. Even with some shooting inconsistencies, Smart should be an excellent fit for Houston’s rugged, defensive-first mindset. Tari Eason’s five-year, $81.5 million contract was easily one of the best deals handed out this summer. Getting a top-tier wing defender in his mid-20s on a contract that pays him about $16 million per year is a flat-out bargain. The only thing that stops me from giving the Rockets an A is that they had to salary-dump Dorian Finney-Smith and the $13.3 million he’s owed this season, just one year after handing him a four-year, $53 million contract last summer. The three second-round picks Houston sent to Charlotte were a reasonable price. But it’s bad business to have to actively get out of a contract so soon after handing it out. — William Guillory
From LeBron to Giannis: Grading every NBA team’s offseason moves so far
There's still one LeBron James-sized domino to fall, and that could impact the outlook for a few teams.











