Lakers, Clippers fail in NBA free agency as the L.A. teams fall into traps of mediocrity

It has not been a particularly good week for either NBA team in Los Angeles

By Bill Reiter Jul 3, 2024 at 9:48 am ET• 5 min read

There were a lot of winners in this year's still-unfolding NBA free agency period. But the city of Los Angeles, and its two grasping teams, wasn't among them.

As free agency has played out, the NBA's vision of a parity-driven league has emerged in full force. Most of the teams atop the league's pyramid have been pushed downward, or will face significant pressures on that front in the future. Denver, eliminated in the second round of the playoffs one year after its championship, saw itself get a little less formidable with the exit of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to Orlando. The Boston Celtics just paid Jayson Tatum a record-breaking extension, and, while well positioned, they will face financial pressures and second-apron constraints in the years ahead.

Into this new constrictive team-building reality are other would-be competitors that appear well built but with limited or almost no flexibility.

Denver, the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves fit here. Perhaps Milwaukee does, too. Teams like Cleveland, on the heels of Donovan Mitchell's extension, and the Pelicans, following the addition of DeJounte Murray and the possibility of trading Brandon Ingram, feel they can compete. The Suns, too, are on this list, if you subtract the "well built" and "competitor" parts.