The Warriors and Cavaliers may have broken mid-tier NBA free agency

There was a point where NBA free agency was not just about the available superstars. Sure, the LeBron James and Kevin Durants of the world were still the big draws, but the small fries also got love. There was still some excitement left over for the Wayne Ellington and Donald Sloan contracts. While they weren’t ever going to lead directly to titles, people still took time to talk and care about the small deals.

Sadly, as we enter this summer, that seems to have changed. And it all comes back to the one question that has warped all discussions lately: How can this player help this team beat the Warriors or Cavaliers?

Now, this is probably a fair question in the grand scheme of things. After all, if a championship is the ultimate goal, measuring yourself against the best teams in the league makes sense. And when acquiring players like Jimmy Butler and Paul George and Gordon Hayward, the cost means the question is worth asking. But for many players it isn’t. Because many players won’t ever change that calculus. But they still matter.

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That includes the likes of Dante Cunningham and Justin Holiday and other rotation level players who never project to be anything more. Neither of those two players will matter against Cleveland or Golden State. They just aren’t good enough players to be on the floor for 30 minutes or more a night at the highest levels of play. But the playoffs aren’t the only part of the NBA season. There are still 82 games before the postseason begins, and players like Cunningham and Holiday matter then.

They are the guys that sit in the seventh or eighth spot in a rotation and play plenty during the regular season. As players who don’t actively harm you, they provide big boosts to bench lineups. At times they may play well enough to randomly swing a game for a team. When one or two games can be the difference in home court advantage in a playoff series, that is important.

And it isn’t even just on the court stuff that should make these guys matter. Anyone who really cares about NBA free agency clearly loves the league. By just taking an entire group of players, especially the largest group, and waving them away, we lose so much to talk about. Mike Muscala isn’t swinging an NBA title next season, but there are still things we can talk about. Will he be a good value for whoever signs him? Can he still grow into a better player? Can his deal help you fit in another rotation player to help during the regular season? Should his nickname be Moose or Musky or Jawz (which is apparently a thing according to Basketball-Reference)?

If we remain blinded by the fact that the only players that matter are ones who can “play against the Warriors or Cavaliers” we miss out on all of that. And considering Twitter has a tendency to have the same three or four discussions over and over, that sucks.

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All I ask is one simple thing this free agency: Look past how players matter in the context of the two best teams in the league. Let’s get back to the days when we argued over stuff like if Dante Cunningham got paid too little. Because at the very least, it feels way more fun than another day filled with “Are the Warriors bad for basketball?” questions.