Sports

/

ArcaMax

Despite losing Isaiah Hartenstein, Knicks rank among early NBA offseason winners

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on

Published in Basketball

Philadelphia 76ers

The Tobias Harris era in Philadelphia came to an end when his five-year, $180 million contract expired entering this offseason.

The 76ers wasted no time in finding an upgrade: Alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, Philly has added Paul George.

George is a nine-time All-Star revered as one of the best two-way wings the league has seen this generation. After five injury-riddled seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, George joins the Sixers to form a Big 3 capable of going toe-to-toe with the Knicks and Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference crown.

George is also coming off of the healthiest season of his Clippers stint, playing in 74 games last year after failing to appear in more than 56 games in any of the previous four seasons.

If the Sixers get a healthy George, their prayers for a legitimate third offensive option will have been answered.

 

Philly also re-signed All-Star guard Maxey to a five-year, $203.8 million deal, retained Kelly Oubre for two years, $16.3 million, then added Eric Gordon and Andre Drummond for bench help while losing De’Anthony Melton to the Golden State Warriors.

Ultimately, the Sixers will go as Embiid goes, and if the 7-foot MVP’s body holds up for the duration of a playoff run, George’s arrival as an aggressive three-point shooter, a crafty scorer off the dribble, and a versatile defender raises Philly’s ceiling to championship heights.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder did what the Knicks hoped no team would: Make Hartenstein an offer he couldn’t refuse.

...continued

swipe to next page

©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus