2 weeks Ago By Andy Bailey
The 2024-25 NBA season is barely underway, but we don't need much of a sample size to get spicy with the takes. Dozens of players switched teams this past offseason, and several of them will be difference makers. Some are likely to have an impact on the title race.
Hot takes on the biggest names that switched teams can be found below. Following Rudy Gobert's fourth Defensive Player of the Year nod in 2023-24, there may be a little pushback on bigs having such a stranglehold on the honor. Marcus Smart won it in 2021-22, but that was just the 10th time in the award's history that a non-big won it.
Now, the pushback probably won't be strong enough to prevent Victor Wembanyama from securing his first DPOY trophy, but it may get some less conventional options in the conversation. After finishing in the top 11 in voting in each of the past two seasons, Alex Caruso is going to be one of the finalists in 2024-25. The Oklahoma City Thunder already had a top-five defense last season, and they have more than enough talent to stay there.
Finishing near the top of the league has long been a borderline requirement for this award. But more specifically, Caruso really is one of the league's best and most dynamic perimeter defenders. While he doesn't quite have the size Josh Giddey does, he's still 6'5" and will be able to spare Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort some difficult matchups on the wing or in the backcourt.
Expect to hear the two-time All-Defense selection's name a lot more than you typically have in this conversation. Isaiah Hartenstein has only started 61 games in his career, and 49 of those came in 2023-24. Even after signing a three-year, $87 million deal with OKC, there was some question about how many games he might start.
Chet Holmgren had that role last season, and the ability to play five-out is part of what made the Thunder so difficult to defend last season. There's been some discussion about a sort of malleable starting five that would include Hartenstein against bigger teams like the Denver Nuggets, but OKC not wanting to forfeit that small-ball advantage is understandable. Eventually (and it's been delayed a bit by a broken hand for Hartenstein), the new big man is going to force the Thunder to pick a more permanent starting unit, and it will include him.
Part of this team's ability to accommodate Hartenstein comes from the versatility of Holmgren. His ball-handling and shooting make him an interesting option at the 4. And his shot-blocking would still be valuable.
It might just come from the weakside more often than it did last season. But the biggest reason Hartenstein will become a full-time starter is the man himself. He's not an outside shooter, but his underrated passing and quick decision-making could keep OKC's offense just as potent as it was last season—just in a different way.
His rebounding would go a long way toward eliminating one of this team's only 2023-24 weaknesses, and a frontline that includes both him and Holmgren could be a nightmare to score on inside. Donte DiVincenzo broke out in 2023-24, forcing his way into the New York Knicks' starting five in 63 of his 81 appearances and averaging 15.5 points, 3.
5 threes and 2.7 assists. On his new team, barring injuries, it'll be tougher to secure that kind of role.
Mike Conley's steady-handed leadership was a big part of the Minnesota Timberwolves getting all the way to the conference finals last season. Jaden McDaniels' defense is crucial to the team's identity. And of course, Anthony Edwards is the face of the team.
But even if DiVincenzo is the first or second Timberwolf off the bench, his impact should be immense. You can replace him with any of the three names above, and lineups will still be functional because of his ability to play both the 1 and the 2. His shooting will be critical on a team that has to play multiple non-shooters (or shaky shooters).
And even though reigning Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid is still on the squad, DiVincenzo's production will still warrant a finish near the top of the Sixth Man of the Year race (teammates Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles were first and second in voting for this award in 2020-21). There's some evidence to suggest Buddy Hield has been better than Klay Thompson for a while. For example, Hield's 1.
2 box plus/minus since the start of 2022-23 is well ahead of Thompson's minus-0.3 over the same span. Hield also had a slightly higher three-point percentage in those seasons.
And though Hield is no lockdown defender himself, Thompson's slide on that end has cost him the edge there. So, while Thompson clearly tops Hield in name recognition and reputation, and his legacy with the Golden State Warriors is more than fine, he's going to be outperformed by his replacement this season. Hield looked more than at home in his debut with the Warriors, scoring 22 points and hitting five threes off the bench.
He moved well off the ball and even channeled Lightyears-era Thompson with some of his catch-and-shoot opportunities coming off screens. Eventually, Hield's efficiency and volume from deep should even force coach Steve Kerr into putting him in the starting five. And while that won't recapture the magic of the peak Warriors on the defensive end, having Hield on the floor with Draymond Green and Stephen Curry should make the offense reminiscent of those title-winning seasons.
It's too early for definitive statements about whether Julius Randle will fit with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it didn't look good on opening night. All of the valid concerns that were expressed when the trade was made resurfaced. His jump shot doesn't command a ton of respect, which made the floor pretty cramped in lineups with Rudy Gobert.
He held the ball a bit too long on some possessions, which takes it out of the hands of Anthony Edwards. And being just a few inches shorter than Karl-Anthony Towns took away one of the team's strengths on the defensive end. Last season, they were huge, swarming and often intimidating.
On opening night, they often looked stuck on offense and lost on defense. Again, things could get better. Randle is a good playmaker for his position.
And there may be some value in taking a little on-ball responsibility off Edwards' plate. But nothing that happened in that loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was out of character with how Randle has played for years. It's going to be tough to fit him in with the rest of the T'Wolves.
He also happens to have a very tradeable contract that pays him $28.9 million this season and could end this summer (he has a $30.9 million player option in 2025-26).
If Minnesota can turn Randle into a couple of useful role players, or even one high-level outside shooter, it should take the deal. Despite being known as a three-and-D guard for most of his career, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has never really had a super-high-volume outside shooting season. His current career high of 159 threes in a single season ranks 497th all time.
But he's now on a team that took a slightly higher volume of their shots from deep than the Denver Nuggets did last season, and the Orlando Magic desperately need him to space the floor. Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero command attention at the three-point line, but both are undoubtedly better as slashers than outside shooters, and slashing is easier when defenses can't collapse on drives. Preventing that will fall, in large part, on KCP and Jalen Suggs.
This season, the former will top that career-high mark of 159 triples in a single campaign. In his final season with the San Antonio Spurs, Dejounte Murray averaged 9.2 assists.
Two seasons as more of an off-guard alongside Trae Young makes it kind of easy to forget the fact that he was a dynamic playmaker before joining the Atlanta Hawks. Though the New Orleans Pelicans have plenty of playmaking outside the point guard position, each of Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram are still more finishers than creators. Long before the season ends, all of the above (including Murray) will settle into more conventional play styles for their positions, and Murray's assist average will climb because of it.
Russell Westbrook's prime is obviously well behind him, and he's now on a team with one of the most prolific scorers and playmakers of all time. But the Denver Nuggets have also been in need of a more dynamic leader for their second unit for years, and Westbrook should get 10-15 minutes per game to run the show. And while he won't be the lead playmaker when sharing the floor with Nikola Jokić, expect plenty of assists from Russ to the big man, too.
All of the above should come together in a way that allows Westbrook to collect a handful of triple-doubles. In fact, he'll top his own record of four triple-doubles as a reserve, which he set in 2022-23. Again, Thompson's defensive prowess isn't where it was in his prime.
He doesn't do much off the bounce or as a creator for others. Last season, he took a few too many long twos (even if he shot a decent percentage from that range). But none of that will matter for the Dallas Mavericks as much as it did for the Warriors.
There's value in Klay bringing some of the off-ball principles he honed in Golden State, but playing with Luka Dončić means plenty of possessions will require little more from Thompson than spotting up and being ready to shoot. With a big chunk of his three-point attempts simplified to that degree, Klay will top his career-high 44.0 three-point percentage.
Chris Paul is entering his age-39 campaign and is coming off a 2023-24 in which he averaged 6.8 assists (his lowest mark in that category since 2019-20). But that number came on a team with Curry, Green and Golden State's egalitarian offense.
Additionally, CP3 came off the bench for 40 of his 58 appearances last season. With the San Antonio Spurs, Paul is undoubtedly the starting point guard, and he'll often share the floor with a rising superstar who can score inside and out in Victor Wembanyama. Assuming he can stay healthy, CP3 should start piling up 10-assist games again.
And within the first few months of the season, he should move into second place in double-figure assist games after a 39th birthday. Right now, there are only seven total players on that list. Only two of those seven have more than 10 such games.
LeBron James has 13, and that's the mark CP3 can (and probably should pass). John Stockton, on the other hand, has 50. It could take a few more years to get there (assuming Paul has that many more campaigns in his legs).
Like KCP, DeMar DeRozan is headed to a team with a higher three-point-attempt rate than his former squad. But in this case, the difference is pretty dramatic. Last season, the Chicago Bulls were 29th in that category (ahead of only the Nuggets), while the Sacramento Kings were third.
Now, the Bulls being as low as they were had something to do with DeRozan. He led the team in usage and has famously resisted the three-point revolution better than most stars. But with the amount of time the Kings' incumbent stars De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis spend inside the three-point line, Sacramento needs DeRozan to finally let the outside shots fly.
And given his career 40.2 field-goal percentage on twos from 16-plus feet out, it's reasonable to expect at least an average three-point percentage from a "more willing to hoist threes" version of DeRozan. Right now, his career high for threes made per game is just 1.
1, and he's going to bump that up in 2024-25. Karl-Anthony Towns settled into a reduced role as both a scorer and playmaker for the Timberwolves last season, but he's shown some upside as a passer that will be unleashed with the New York Knicks. For one thing, his new point guard, Jalen Brunson, is more of a volume scorer than a distributor, and he'll find plenty of openings all over the floor when KAT has the ball in the post.
New York has several good floor spacers to deploy around those post-ups, too, including Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby. What really suggests that he should top his previous high of 4.8 assists per game is coach Tom Thibodeau's willingness to let his big men create a bit.
Julius Randle did that for the Knicks for years, primarily as a driver from the perimeter. Isaiah Hartenstein often operated as an interior (or high post) hub that players could move around last season. Towns has the ability to generate assists in either way.
This might not seem very hot-takey for a player with a career 37.5 three-point percentage, but the preseason videos of Bridges' overhauled shooting form were pretty alarming. He already had a relatively unusual delivery, but over the offseason, he seemingly added a more protracted gather, a hitch with the ball above his head and a release point almost behind it.
The shot looked slower, and more importantly, it wasn't going in. He was 2-of-19 from deep in the preseason. Then, he missed all four of his long-range attempts in the first half of New York's season opener.
And then, for no apparent reason, the overhauled mechanics were simply gone after halftime of that loss to the Boston Celtics. After the break, Bridges had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting (including 2-of-3 from deep). He went back to the quick catch-and-shoot approach that helped him break out with the Phoenix Suns.
He didn't look like he was overthinking his jumper anymore. And even if the new shot resurfaces, someone in his orbit or with the Knicks will have the wherewithal to remind him how much better he looked without all the additions to his form. At some point this season, he'll settle into some version of his previous, highly effective, three-and-D self.
By now, it's no secret that Paul George missed the Philadelphia 76ers' season opener with a bone bruise in his knee. And though he was a " partial " participant at practice on Thursday, there's no definite timeline for his return to the lineup. When you combine that start with his age (34), injury history and Philadelphia's often cautious approach to injury timelines, it's hard to imagine PG topping the 65-game minimum to qualify for postseason awards.
He did last season, but relative to the rest of his recent years, that was an aberration. During his first four campaigns with the Los Angeles Clippers, he averaged 47.3 appearances per season.
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