Biggest winners and losers from Day 1 of 2021 NBA free agency

Losers from Day 1 of 2021 NBA free agency

San Antonio Spurs

Zach Collins and Doug McDermott may be fine players, but investing $64 million in the two of them doesn’t seem like the savviest of moves.

Collins is coming off a series of injuries and his numbers are pedestrian. McDermott is a bonafide sharpshooter, so the San Antonio Spurs’ interest makes sense. However, $42 million is a nice chunk of change for a player who isn’t going to move the needle all that much.

New York Knicks

The good news for the New York Knicks is they held onto Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks.

The bad news for the Knicks is they weren’t involved with the big fish on the free-agent market on Day 1. That’s not entirely their fault; Chris Paul is staying with the Suns and Kawhi Leonard is likely staying with the LA Clippers. Miami beat everyone else out for Kyle Lowry’s services. But another summer with cap space has resulted in yet another mediocre crop of free-agency signings.

They did pick up Evan Fournier from the Boston Celtics, but tying up $78 million for him over four years was a questionable decision.

New Orleans Pelicans

Losing Lonzo Ball to the Chicago Bulls hurts the New Orleans Pelicans, even if the sign-and-trade agreement helped soften the blow. There’s just a lot of work to do still.

New Orleans got Devonte’ Gram in a sign-and-trade with the Charlotte Hornets but gave up a first-round pick to do it.

Their options to replace starters like Eric Bledsoe and Steven Adams aren’t looking great at this point.