NBA: Winners and losers from day one of free agency

Loser: New York Knicks

Again, let’s get the obvious out of the way early; the New York Knicks are the biggest losers of the offseason, if only because of the unbelievable expectations that were set for them. Signing Durant and Irving would have gotten a pass mark from Knicks fans, and anything less would be a let-down.

As we’ve already covered, neither Durant nor Irving is a Knick. Bad start, right?

Instead, both will be playing for the upstart, cross-town rival, the little brother that suddenly had a growth spurt and towered over everyone in the family, the Nets. Yeah, that might make it sting a little more.

And, as a consolation prize, the Knicks have signed… Julius Randle? Taj Gibson? Bobby Portis? Reggie Bullock?

Oh boy.

In a vacuum, none of New York’s signings are terrible. Randle is a promising young player coming off of a career-best season in New Orleans, while Gibson, Portis and Bullock are all proven role players with useful skill sets.

More importantly, they’ve all agreed to either two-year deals or three-year deals with a team option, meaning they’ll be off the books in time for the Knicks to go fishing in the bumper 2021 free agency class.

Adding a group of impact players on tradeable contracts is probably the best that they could do once Irving and Durant signed elsewhere. But with Knicks fans setting the bar so high, it’s hard to see this as anything other than another colossal failure.