8. Los Angeles Lakers
Another summer, another crop of fringe NBA players delaying their CBA careers in Los Angeles with the King. For the Lakers to even sniff contention, at least two of Lonnie Walker IV, Thomas Bryant, Stanley Johnson, and Juan Toscano-Anderson need to breakout as top 100 – if not top 60, NBA players.
7. Charlotte Hornets
Perhaps the worst possible outcome would’ve been signing Miles Bridges to a multi-year contract before his abhorrent alleged offense. Putting this aside, the Hornets did nothing to get better this season, even with easy-to-spot avenues to creating cap space (via Gordon Hayward cap-clearing trades, and/or not fully-guaranteeing Mason Plumlee’s and/or Kelly Oubre’s deal.)