Offseason Preview

2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Milwaukee Bucks

June 13th, 2025 at 4:02pm CST by Rory Maher

After winning their first championship in 50 years in 2021, the Bucks had a strong showing in the 2022 playoffs, but their attempt at a title defense was foiled in the second round against Boston. Khris Middleton was sidelined for that entire series due to an injury, which turned out to be a harbinger of the team's postseason health issues to come.

Milwaukee went 58-24 and claimed the top seed in the Eastern Conference ahead of the 2023 playoffs. In the team's first-round matchup with No. 8 Miami, superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained a back injury early in Game 1, causing him miss the rest of that contest as well as the following two games. Antetokounmpo returned for Games 4 and 5, but he looked uncomfortable and was clearly not fully healthy. The Bucks were eliminated in five games, while the Heat made a surprising run to the NBA Finals.

To that point, Milwaukee’s front office had largely stuck with the same core roster and coaching staff that won the title two years prior. But the disappointing early exit, which saw the Bucks blow multiple leads late in games, led to major changes in the 2023 offseason, including firing head coach Mike Budenholzer and trading away their starting backcourt (Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen) and multiple draft assets to acquire Damian Lillard, Portland's all-time leading scorer.

Lillard's first season in Milwaukee was rocky, both in terms of his individual performance and the goings-on of the team. The Bucks fired their new coach -- Adrian Griffin -- despite a 30-13 start, then went 2-1 under interim coach Joe Prunty, but only had a 17-19 record with Doc Rivers -- Griffin's replacement -- at the helm.

Entering the 2024 playoffs, the Bucks had homecourt advantage in their first-round series vs. Indiana, but Antetokounmpo didn't play at all due to a calf injury, and Lillard missed a couple games as well due to a sore Achilles. They wound up being eliminated in six games by the upstart Pacers.

Milwaukee got off to a rough start in '24/25, going 2-8 in its first 10 games. But the Bucks steadied the ship to an extent over the course of the season, and finished with a nearly identical record as the season prior (48-34 vs. 49-33), setting up a first-round rematch with Indiana.

Unfortunately, Lillard was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right calf in late March. He made a very quick recovery, suiting up for Games 2 and 3 and playing surprisingly extended minutes considering the lengthy layoff. He didn't look anything close to his usual self though, and disaster struck in Game 4, when the seven-time All-NBA guard suffered a torn left Achilles tendon.

Despite a stellar showing from Antetokounmpo, the Bucks were eliminated in the first round for the third straight time, this time in five games.

Lillard is on a maximum-salary contract which is projected to pay him about $54.1MM in '25/26, with a $59.5MM player option for '26/27. He turns 35 years old next month and will likely miss all of next season.

The severity of Lillard's injury and Milwaukee's third consecutive first-round exit have led to rampant speculation about Antetokounmpo's future. While there has been no indication to this point that he'll end up requesting a trade, it also can't be ruled out in the coming months.

The Bucks' Offseason Plan

The Bucks are in a difficult bind this offseason. They have one of the greatest players in NBA history in the middle of his prime, a franchise icon who has finished no worse than fourth in MVP voting in each of the past seven seasons and doesn't turn 31 until December. Even without Lillard, Milwaukee should still be a playoff team in '25/26 as long as Antetokounmpo is healthy.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Detroit Pistons

June 12th, 2025 at 10:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2023/24 Pistons were one of the worst teams in NBA history. Detroit lost 28 games in a row in the first half and got off to a 4-39 start en route to a 14-68 overall record, which was the worst single-season mark in the franchise's 76-year existence.

The Pistons hadn't won more than 23 games in any of the four years prior to '23/24, but that 14-win showing in a season when they were supposed to take a step forward was an embarrassing low point that prompted an offseason overhaul during the summer of 2024.

Trajan Langdon replaced Troy Weaver as the head of basketball operations, while J.B. Bickerstaff took over as head coach just one year after Monty Williams received a six-year contract worth a reported $78.5MM. The Pistons' roster underwent some significant changes too, with Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley signing as free agents and Tim Hardaway Jr. acquired in a trade with Dallas, adding some veteran floor spacers to a team headlined by former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham.

It would be difficult to pinpoint which of those specific changes made the biggest difference in Detroit, given that they all worked out pretty much exactly as the club had hoped. Bickerstaff established a hard-nosed, defensive-minded culture, turning a roster that ranked 25th in defensive rating in 2023/24 into a top-10 unit in '24/25. He finished second in Coach of the Year voting.

The veteran acquisitions, led by Sixth Man of the Year runner-up Beasley, also helped turn things around for a Pistons team that had ranked 29th in the NBA in three-pointers made and 26th in three-point percentage in '23/24. Detroit still wasn't exactly raining down three-pointers like the Celtics, but the club improved its rankings in those categories to 20th and 17th, respectively.

Most importantly, with more space to operate on offense, Cunningham enjoyed a breakout year, establishing new career highs in points (26.1) and assists (9.1) per game, as well as field goal percentage (46.9%) and three-point percentage (35.6%). He earned his first All-Star nod, was named to the All-NBA third team, and was a finalist for Most Improved Player.

The Pistons' year-over-year improvement - from 14 wins to 44 - represented the sixth-biggest turnaround in NBA history and finally gave fans in Detroit a reason for optimism going forward. Even though they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, the two postseason wins the Pistons picked up against the Knicks were the most they'd gotten in a season since 2008, when they went to the Eastern Conference Finals.

This version of the Pistons is likely still a little ways off from another conference finals appearance, but it's extremely encouraging that the organization seems to have the right leaders - Langdon and Bickerstaff - in place and that a protracted rebuild is finally beginning to bear fruit. With several promising young contributors still on the rise and plenty of cap flexibility going forward, Detroit is well positioned to continue clawing its way up the Eastern Conference standings in the coming years.

The Pistons' Offseason Plan

Cunningham's breakout season represents a double-edged sword for the Pistons. As thrilled as they must have been to see the former top pick become one of the league's best guards at age 23, his spot on the All-NBA third team increased the value of his maximum-salary rookie scale extension by a projected $45MM. It will now start at 30% of the 2025/26 cap instead of 25%, adding nearly $8MM in extra salary to the team's cap for next season.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Los Angeles Lakers

June 11th, 2025 at 9:43pm CST by Luke Adams

The four seasons that followed the Lakers' 2020 title were relatively uninspiring for a team that featured two future Hall of Famers in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Los Angeles posted a total regular season record of 165-153 (.519) across those four years from 2020-24, missing the playoffs once and getting eliminated in the first round twice. Even in 2023, when the Lakers advanced to the conference finals, they had just a 43-39 record during the season and were swept out of the postseason by Denver.

While the end result of the 2024/25 season was another first-round playoff exit, there are a couple important reasons why it would be inaccurate to say the year was more of the same for the Lakers.

First, with the lone exception of the COVID-shortened championship season in 2019/20, L.A.'s 50-32 record was the best single-season mark the club has posted since 2012. The last time the Lakers won 50 or more games in a full 82-game season was when Phil Jackson was on the sidelines and Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum were on the roster.

Second, and more importantly, Luka Doncic became a Laker during the 2024/25 season.

Much of the discourse in the hours, days, weeks, and months that followed February's shocking Doncic blockbuster focused on what exactly the Mavericks were thinking when they traded away a popular five-time All-NBA first-teamer in his prime. But Dallas wasn't the only franchise whose trajectory was changed irrevocably by the decision. Instead of having James pass the torch in the coming years to Davis, who turned 32 years old in March, the club is set up to build around the 26-year-old Doncic for the next decade.

The acquisition of Doncic didn't turn the Lakers into legitimate championship contenders in the short term. After all, there will always be some growing pains when a ball-dominant star gets accustomed to a new situation halfway through the season.

Plus, the fact that they had to part with Davis - a star in his own right - and nixed a separate deadline deal for center Mark Williams due to concerns about his physical meant the Lakers had a serious dearth of frontcourt talent. It was an issue that came back to haunt them in the postseason, when the Timberwolves dispatched them in five games in the conference quarterfinals.

That sort of first-round playoff exit with the old roster would've created real angst in Los Angeles heading into the offseason, and we likely would've spent weeks or months speculating about how the Lakers could add another impact player this summer to take advantage of what little time they have left with LeBron. Instead, the high of the Doncic trade has lingered for months, significantly reducing the pain of that quick postseason ouster.

Sure, the Lakers need to address the center position and will explore additional roster upgrades before next season tips off, but it certainly feels like there's far less urgency to make a major splash in the short term now that one of the NBA's perennial MVP candidates appears poised to be in L.A. for years to come.

The Lakers' Offseason Plan

Although it's an issue that will have to be addressed later in the summer, ensuring that Doncic will, in fact, be a Laker for the foreseeable future figures to be a top priority for the front office. The star guard will technically become extension-eligible in July, but restrictions on his total years and dollars will remain in place until August 2, six months after the trade that sent him to Los Angeles. At that point, he'll be able to sign for up to a projected $228.6MM over four years.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Orlando Magic

June 10th, 2025 at 8:33pm CST by Rory Maher

From the 2012/13 season through 2021/22, the Magic were one of the worst teams in the NBA. They finished well below .500 in nine of those 10 years, and went just 42-40 in their one winning season ('18/19) during that decade-long stretch.

The Magic committed to a rebuild in '20/21 after being stuck in mediocrity for a few years, trading away Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Fournier. Orlando shrewdly drafted Franz Wagner eighth overall in 2021 with one of the picks it acquired for Vucevic, then got lucky in 2022, winning the draft lottery and selecting Paolo Banchero.

After going just 22-60 the year before Banchero was selected, Orlando made significant strides during his first two seasons, winning 34 games in his rookie campaign and compiling a 47-35 record and making the playoffs in '23/24. The team eventually lost its highly competitive first-round series vs. Cleveland in seven games.

Given their talented young core, seemingly college-like off-court chemistry, and a rock-solid defense, there was an expectation that the Magic would continue to improve again in '24/25. But that didn’t happen, as they finished 41-41 and had to advance through the play-in tournament to secure the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Orlando again lost in the first round, this time to the defending champion Celtics in five games.

There were a number of reasons why the Magic took a minor step back this season, with the most obvious being injuries to their best players. Banchero, Wagner and Suggs account for a huge chunk of the team’s offense, but the trio was limited to a combined 141 appearances and suited up together just six times. On top of that, Orlando's fourth-leading scorer, reserve big man Moritz Wagner, only played in 30 games due to a torn ACL.

The Magic actually had a strong run in the first third of '24/25 even after losing Banchero to a torn abdominal muscle in their fifth game, going 17-9 with Franz Wagner looking like a strong early contender to earn his first All-Star and All-NBA nods. Unfortunately, he sustained the same injury as Banchero in December, with older brother Moritz going down later that month as well.

While injuries were undoubtedly a major factor Orlando's .500 record, the end result was still disappointing.

Key offseason signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was unable to build much chemistry with his new teammates and had an underwhelming first season with the Magic. Role players like Wendell Carter, Jonathan Isaac and Cole Anthony took steps back. Second-year guard Jett Howard continued to receive sporadic minutes and largely struggled when he was on the court, despite being a late lottery pick -- 11th overall -- a couple years ago (he was selected with the second first-rounder the Magic received in the Vucevic deal).

Veteran guard Cory Joseph and rookie forward Tristan da Silva were forced into bigger roles than expected due to injuries, and while they acquitted themselves fairly well given the circumstances, it certainly wasn't something the team had planned for. Overall, things were a bit of mess, particularly on the offensive end.

But there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Magic’s future, especially if the front office is able to find the right combination of talent to surround their top players over the next several months. There’s a strong foundation in place in Orlando, which has a legitimate chance to be a contender in a depleted East next season with better luck and a few changes to balance out the roster.

The Magic's Offseason Plan

The first order of business for the Magic this summer is signing Banchero to a rookie scale extension. There’s really no drama with that decision — I fully expect him to get a five-year max deal with Rose rule language that could increase the value from 25% to 30% of the '26/27 salary cap if he meets certain performance criteria next season.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Los Angeles Clippers

June 9th, 2025 at 7:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The summer of 2024 represented the end of an era for the Clippers. Nearly five years after Kawhi Leonard committed to the Clippers as a free agent at the same time the team was finalizing a blockbuster trade for Paul George, the latter departed in free agency, accepting a four-year, maximum-salary contract offer from the Sixers that L.A. had been unwilling to match.

The version of the Clippers built around Leonard and George was a perennial championship threat when those two were on the court. However, that happened far less frequently than the organization had hoped, with one star or the other often sidelined due to an injury by the time the club was facing postseason elimination. During the five years the two L.A. natives spent together as Clippers, the team won just three playoff series -- and all of those victories came in 2020 and 2021.

So while the Clippers certainly weren't happy to see George walk for nothing in free agency last offseason, it did generate some new opportunities for a team that had spent the last four years operating in luxury tax territory and didn't have an NBA Finals appearance to show for it.

Getting George's contract off the books and getting out of tax apron territory opened up more roster-building avenues for the Clippers and allowed them to spread out some of the money they'd earmarked for George among several rotation players. The club brought in Derrick Jones using the mid-level exception, Nicolas Batum on the bi-annual exception, and Kris Dunn via sign-and-trade, creating the depth necessary to remain competitive during the first half of the season as Leonard recovered from a knee ailment.

Career years for Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell and an All-NBA performance by James Harden as the team's primary offensive engine fueled a strong season for the Clippers, who - even with Leonard limited to just 37 appearances - won more games in 2024/25 (50) than they did in four of their five years with George on the roster.

Unfortunately, L.A. drew a brutal first-round matchup against the Nuggets, who beat the Clips in seven games before going on to push the eventual Western champion Thunder to seven games in the next round. If the seeding had worked out a little differently and the Clippers had ended up on the opposite side of the bracket from the Nuggets and Thunder, would they have won a series or two? We'll never know for sure, but it's certainly possible. This was a good team without many obvious holes.

That's the good news for the Clippers entering the 2025 offseason. The bad news? Even with Harden and Leonard healthy for the postseason, it wasn't good enough to beat the best of the West, so the front office will have to find a way to make additional improvements this summer.

The Clippers' Offseason Plan

While Harden could decline his $36.4MM player option, become an unrestricted free agent, and sign with a new team, there has been absolutely no indication that's the direction he'll go this summer.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Miami Heat

June 7th, 2025 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

Many NBA general managers and team presidents speak in platitudes during their postseason and preseason media sessions, but when Heat president Pat Riley met with the press last spring and fall, he took the opportunity to directly challenge his players to improve their availability and to become better versions of themselves.

Some players responded well to Riley's candor. After being dubbed "fragile" by the longtime Heat president last May, Tyler Herro had a career year in 2024/25, making his first All-Star team and blowing away his previous career highs by appearing in 77 regular season games and averaging 23.9 points per contest.

Riley's remarks proved less inspiring for other key Heat players, however. Jimmy Butler, who was filmed during the 2024 playoffs claiming that the Heat would've beaten the Celtics if he were healthy, reportedly chafed at Riley's recommendation that he "keep (his) mouth shut," and was irked by Miami's unwillingness to give him the maximum-salary extension he sought, due to concerns about his injury history.

While Butler dismissed the idea that his relationship with Riley or the Heat was strained ahead of the season, the situation came to a head by December, with the star forward agitating for a trade out of Miami and earning three separate team-imposed suspensions for "conduct detrimental to the team" and "intentionally withholding services."

With Butler in and out of the lineup and trade speculation swirling around the six-time All-Star for weeks, the Heat actually weathered the storm pretty well. Miami was above .500 (25-24) at the trade deadline, and after sending Butler to Golden State for a package that included Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, and Davion Mitchell, the team was optimistic about finishing the season strong, having removed a major distraction from the equation.

Instead, it almost seemed as if the Heat's adrenaline wore off and they found themselves suddenly feeling the aftereffects of the drama that had engulfed the club for the better part of the season. Miami lost 17 of its next 21 games, and while the drop down the standings wasn't as precipitous as it could have been if the bottom of the Eastern Conference were a little more competitive, the Heat slid from sixth to 10th, which is where they ultimately finished the season despite reeling off a six-game winning streak in March and April.

The Heat subsequently made history twice in April, first by becoming the first No. 10 seed to make it through the play-in tournament to clinch a playoff spot, then by being on the wrong end of the most lopsided series in NBA postseason history. The playoff berth meant their first-round draft pick would be sent to the Thunder, which was perhaps a better outcome than the alternative -- if the pick had landed in the top 14 and stayed with Miami, the Heat would've owed an unprotected 2026 first-rounder to Oklahoma City.

With their '26 pick in hand, the Heat have more potential paths they could take this offseason and beyond. But tanking has been a rarity during the Riley era, so it's likely the front office will do its best in the coming weeks to figure out a way to turn this club - just two years removed from an NBA Finals appearance - back into a contender as soon as possible.

The Heat's Offseason Plan

Bam Adebayo is viewed as a long-term cornerstone in Miami, having taken over the title of team captain following Udonis Haslem's retirement. Herro, who had long been the subject of trade speculation as the Heat pursued stars like Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell in recent years, perhaps solidified his place alongside Adebayo with his breakout 2024/25 performance. But no one else on the roster should be considered entirely safe entering this summer.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Memphis Grizzlies

June 6th, 2025 at 9:13am CST by Luke Adams

After winning 56 games in 2021/22 and 51 in '22/23, the Grizzlies were decimated by injuries in '23/24, with nearly all of their starters and top reserves affected by a health issue at some point over the course of the season. Most notably, point guard Ja Morant, who served a 25-game suspension to open the season, was able to suit up for just nine contests before sidelined by a season-ending shoulder injury.

Entering '24/25, the Grizzlies had reason to believe that a bounce-back year was on tap. They weren't bringing back all the key elements of those 50-win teams -- forward Dillon Brooks had departed in 2023 free agency, point guard Tyus Jones had been replaced by Marcus Smart, and center Steven Adams was traded at the 2024 deadline. But their core of Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane was intact, and they'd developed some intriguing young talent - including Scotty Pippen Jr., Vince Williams, and GG Jackson - to help fill those openings in the rotation.

Through February 5, the day before the trade deadline, it looked like the Grizzlies had picked up right where they left off. The team went 35-16 to open the season and held the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Jackson was playing at an All-NBA level; Bane was having a strong year; the team had found a couple more quality youngsters in rookies Jaylen Wells and Zach Edey; Santi Aldama was having his best season; and while Morant hadn't quite regained his All-Star form or returned to full health, he was playing more often than not and was Memphis' second-leading scorer behind Jackson.

At that point, the Grizzlies made an interesting trade-deadline move, completing a three-team transaction that sent out Smart and Jake LaRavia and created more future spending flexibility for the team. In return, the club acquired Marvin Bagley and Johnny Davis, two players who wouldn't see regular minutes for a playoff team (Davis, in fact, never played for Memphis and was waived two weeks later).

While Smart's availability was inconsistent during his time in Memphis and LaRavia wasn't playing a major role, it was still unusual that the only trade-deadline move made by a No. 2 seed was motivated by future financial concerns and wouldn't help the team at all on the court. I don't think that's why things went south for the Grizzlies over the next couple months, but it wasn't exactly a vote of confidence from the front office in the team's short-term potential.

Memphis went 13-18 after the trade deadline, as a defense that ranked seventh until that point was just the league's 19th-best unit the rest of the way. The offensive drop-off was almost identical, with Memphis registering the fifth-best offensive rating prior to the trade deadline and the 16th-best mark after the deadline.

That second-half tailspin cost head coach Taylor Jenkins his job and nearly cost the Grizzlies a playoff spot -- a win in their second play-in game earned them the No. 8 seed and a matchup with the Thunder, who promptly swept them out of the postseason.

The Grizzlies have since retained former assistant Tuomas Iisalo, Jenkins' interim late-season replacement, as their permanent head coach and will at least enter the offseason with that newfound financial flexibility created by moving off Smart's multiyear deal in February. But for a team that won 21 more games in 2024/25 than it did a year earlier, it certainly feels like there are a lot of questions to answer this summer.

The Grizzlies' Offseason Plan

The top priority for Memphis this offseason will likely be working out an extension with Jackson, who has developed into one of the NBA's best rim protectors while coming into his own as an offensive weapon. But the team-friendly rookie scale extension that Jackson signed back in 2021, which expires in 2026, will complicate extension negotiations.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Atlanta Hawks

June 4th, 2025 at 4:38pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2024 offseason was an eventful one for the Hawks, with its share of ups and downs. The team was forced to admit defeat on its backcourt pairing of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, but got a pretty strong return when it shipped Murray to New Orleans. Atlanta also improbably won the draft lottery with the 10th-best odds, which is typically a huge boon for a franchise, but that lottery win occurred during a year without a consensus No. 1 prospect.

By the end of the summer, the Hawks were entering the 2024/25 season as a borderline playoff contender (oddsmakers projected them to be the ninth-best team in the Eastern Conference) and without control of their own 2025 first-round pick, which they'd sent to San Antonio years earlier in their original deal for Murray.

Being a non-contender that doesn't possess its own draft pick is, in many ways, a worst-case scenario for an NBA franchise. But while the Hawks ultimately did fall short of the playoffs, the path they took to get to that outcome - and the situation they find themselves in entering the 2025 offseason - provides more reasons for optimism than the franchise had a year ago.

Dyson Daniels, acquired from the Pelicans as part of the package for Murray, emerged as one of the NBA's very best perimeter defenders and took a significant step forward offensively at the same time, with new career highs in points (14.1) and assists (4.4) per game, as well as shooting percentage (49.3%) and three-point percentage (34.0%). Daniels nearly won two major end-of-season awards, taking home Most Improved Player honors while finishing as the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up.

Zaccharie Risacher, the prospect the Hawks settled on as their first overall pick last June, played rotation minutes from day one and finished the season strong, averaging 14.9 points per game on .518/.421/.716 shooting after returning from an adductor injury in late January. He was the second-place finisher in Rookie of the Year voting and was named to the All-Rookie First Team.

Onyeka Okongwu, the backup center behind veteran Clint Capela for the last few seasons, finally got the opportunity to take over the starting job in January and made the most of it, averaging a double-double (15.0 PPG, 10.1 RPG) with a .581/.362/.762 shooting line in his final 40 outings.

And while Jalen Johnson's season ended early due to a shoulder injury, the 23-year-old forward showed in the first half why the Hawks were willing to commit $150MM to him on a five-year rookie scale extension that will begin in 2025/26, averaging 18.9 PPG, 10.0 RPG, and 5.0 APG on 50.0% shooting.

It's a promising young core, and Atlanta will have another opportunity to add to it later this month. Although they didn't have their own first-round pick at No. 14, the Hawks received Sacramento's first-rounder one spot higher at No. 13 to close the book on the Kevin Huerter trade the two teams made back in 2022. Atlanta will also control a second first-rounder this summer, having received the Lakers' 2025 pick from New Orleans in last year's Murray deal. That selection landed at No. 22.

Given all that went right during what could have been a demoralizing year in Atlanta, it was a little surprising that the Hawks dismissed general manager Landry Fields shortly after their season ended. The search for a new head of basketball operations is ongoing, though there have been rumors that the team may simply bring in a senior advisor to work with newly promoted GM Onsi Saleh, rather than hiring a president of basketball operations who would be above him in the front office hierarchy.

The Hawks' Offseason Plan

Whether it's Saleh or a new hire who ultimately has the final say on roster decisions, the Hawks will have a fair share of them to make this offseason, including what the future holds for Young.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Sacramento Kings

June 3rd, 2025 at 9:01pm CST by Luke Adams

It was just two years ago that the Kings posted their best regular season record (48-34) in nearly two decades. That year's team snapped a streak of 16 straight years out of the playoffs, earned Mike Brown Coach of the Year honors, and introduced the phrase "light the beam" into the NBA lexicon.

The vibes were good in Sacramento entering the 2023/24 season, but a 46-win showing wasn't quite enough to make a second straight playoff appearance in a competitive Western Conference.

It was a step back, but only a small one -- the club stumbled more significantly in 2024/25, losing 19 of its first 32 games, which cost Brown his job and led to a trade request from star point guard De'Aaron Fox, who was sent to San Antonio ahead of February's trade deadline. The season ended with a sub-.500 record (40-42) and a blowout loss in the play-in tournament to a Mavericks team missing its top scorer and play-maker (Kyrie Irving).

Suddenly, a Sacramento squad that seemed to be on the rise two years ago is lacking a clear direction. Domantas Sabonis, a perennial 19 PPG scorer who is one of the NBA's best rebounding and passing big men, was as good as ever in '24/25, but there are significant questions about the supporting cast around him.

The Kings' top two scorers were Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, the former leaders of a Bulls team that routinely hovered around 40 wins in recent years. Malik Monk, the Sixth Man of the Year runner-up in 2024, saw his three-point percentage plummet to 32.5%. Keegan Murray, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 draft, took a step backward as a scorer and shooter in his third NBA season. And 2024 lottery pick Devin Carter, who had his professional debut delayed by shoulder surgery, wasn't able to provide consistent positive minutes once he got healthy.

The future in Sacramento doesn't look nearly as bleak in 2025 as it did during most of the team's postseason drought from 2007-22. But new general manager Scott Perry, hired last month after Monte McNair was let go, will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to turn the Kings into a title contender.

The Kings' Offseason Plan

The first issue Perry needs to address as he takes the reins in Sacramento is making sure Sabonis feels comfortable with the team's direction. The 29-year-old still has three years left on his current contract, so the Kings won't have to worry about his flight risk in the short term like they did with Fox, but the comments Sabonis made after the season ended weren't all that dissimilar to the ones Fox made a year ago.

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2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Chicago Bulls

June 2nd, 2025 at 7:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls have had just one winning season since 2016, and even that season - 2021/22 - was really all about an outstanding first half. The team opened the year by winning 27 of its first 38 games with Lonzo Ball leading the charge as a two-way dynamo at the point, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic providing the scoring, and Alex Caruso wreaking havoc on the defensive end.

Management in Chicago spent two-and-a-half years dreaming on that version of the Bulls, which never looked quite the same without Ball on the court. The former No. 2 overall pick spent those same two-and-a-half years trying to work his way back from knee problems that ended his '21/22 season early and threatened to halt his playing career for good.

Ball ultimately made his return to the court in the fall of 2024, but the Bulls had thrown in the towel on the previous iteration of their roster a few months earlier, having traded away key veterans like DeRozan and Caruso while acquiring a new point guard of the future in Josh Giddey.

The Bulls continued to tear down the 2021-24 version of their roster prior to February's trade deadline by sending LaVine to Sacramento in a three-team blockbuster, signaling that they finally appeared ready to launch a full-fledged rebuild. The club reacquired complete control of its 2025 first-round pick in the LaVine deal and took back Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, and Zach Collins, three veterans who had been having disappointing years with their previous teams and looked poised to lead a second-half tank job.

That's not how the final couple months of the season played out, though. The Bulls improbably went 15-5 to close out the year, earning a spot in the play-in tournament for a third straight spring. It was a cause for grumbling among many fans in Chicago, who had watched their team win 40 games in 2022/23 and 39 in '23/24 while ostensibly trying to contend. Those fans were excited about the possibility of leaning into the rebuild and securing a high draft pick in '24/25. Instead, the end result - a 39-43 record, a quick play-in exit, and a draft pick outside the top 10 - felt like more of the same.

But it wasn't quite the same. There were several promising developments during that unexpected hot streak late in the season.

Coby White looked like one of the NBA's best scorers, averaging 26.0 points per game on .505/.383/.902 shooting in March and April. Giddey showed why the Bulls were willing to give up Caruso for him, nearly averaging a triple-double (21.2 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 9.3 APG) while making 45.7% of his three-pointers after the All-Star break. Lottery pick Matas Buzelis earned a spot on the All-Rookie Second Team by putting up 13.3 PPG and 4.4 RPG on .491/.367/.806 shooting from February 1 onward.

Although the Bulls spent another year stuck in the middle, the fact that the front office has been willing to make major roster changes in the past year - and seems primed to continue making more - is a positive development for a team that was going nowhere fast at this time last spring. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the organization now appears focused on building a roster capable of contending in the future, rather than stubbornly sticking with one not equipped to contend in the present.

The Bulls' Offseason Plan

The No. 1 item on Chicago's offseason to-do list is figuring out what a new contract for Giddey looks like. The two sides reportedly engaged in rookie scale extension talks last fall, with the former Thunder guard said to be looking for a deal salary in the range of $30MM per year. Jalen Johnson and Jalen Suggs were seeking similar commitments at the same time and received five-year, $150MM extensions, but the Bulls weren't willing to put that offer on the table for Giddey, opting to postpone negotiations until this summer.

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