The five biggest losers of NBA Free Agency 2013

Every sporting contest has a simple rule at its core: for every winner, there has to be loser. The NBA free agency is no exception to it. For every team that comes out of the free agency with a rich haul of players to boast of, there is always the others who are left lacerated and headed towards the cellars of the NBA.

After deliberating on the 5 biggest winners of this year’s free agency, here are this year’s 5 biggest losers.

5) Atlanta Hawks

Paul Milsap

Notable additions: Paul Milsap, Jeff Teague (re-signed)

Notable losses: Josh Smith, Zaza Pachulia

The second victim in the list of Dwight Howard burnouts on the list. Not only did they miss out on Howard, but they got burnt the second time in the free agency when Josh Smith headed off to Detroit. Paul Misap’s signing was another curious move as it would make Al Halford continue to play out of position at the centre. Re-signing sharp-shooting Kyle Korver and matching the contract for restricted free agent Jeff Teague may have been moves that salvaged the face of the franchise but this would be one off-season that they would like to quickly forget.

4) Detroit Pistons

Brandon Jennings

Notable additions: Josh Smith, Brandon Jennings

Notable losses: Brandon Knight

Ever since the trade that brought Allen Iverson to Detroit, the Pistons has been rooted to mediocrity. Gone are the days when the Eastern Conference finals were just a formality. The Pistons with Joe Dumars at its head have been making one questionable decision after another. From handing out lavish deals to Charlie Villenueva and Ben Gordon, to handing the reigns of the franchise to Rodney Stuckey, it has been a comedy of mistakes.

This year they brought Josh Smith to a 4year/$56million deal. It’s one thing to question what merited the forward such huge amounts and then there is the question about the development of the two promising bigs in Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. If that wasn’t enough, they went out and brought the over-rated Brandon Jennings to the motor city.

3) Milwaukee Bucks

Zaza Pachulia (center)

Notable additions: Zaza Pachulia, O.J. Mayo, Brandon Knight

Notable losses: J.J. Reddick, Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis

The Milwaukee Bucks’ back-court got decimated in the off-season as the trio of Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis and J.J. Reddick headed for pastures new. All Milwaukee had to show for their efforts in the free agency is the signing of O. J. Mayo, who got basically run out of both Memphis and Dallas in two consecutive seasons.

They have managed to nab Carlos Delfino to a nice contract and get a young point guard in Brandon Knight but they are surely doomed to the cellar. But with the loaded 2014 draft coming up, this might not have the worst thing that happened to them instead of being tied up in the riddle of mediocrity, as they had been in the past few years.

2) Dallas Mavericks

Wayne Ellington (left)

Notable additions: Monta Ellis, Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Wayne Ellington, Devin Harris

Notable losses: Chris Kaman, O.J. Mayo, Darren Collison

There probably isn’t any “bad” time to win a title but the title run of 2011 came at a very tricky stretch for the Dallas Mavericks. The Texans no longer have the core group that guided them to the memorable feat with Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea as well as Jason Kidd sailing off.

Dallas created enough room to go after the big prize of this year’s free agency: Dwight Howard and are the first of three teams that appear on the list that got burnt after failing to get the big man. Dallas aimed for the skies with Howard and had to settle with the inefficient Monta Ellis as their prized free agent capture. The Mavericks may have bolstered their roster with a flurry of free agent signings; most notable of which are Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Wayne Ellington and the returning Devin Harris.

1) Los Angeles Lakers

Chris Kaman

Notable additions: Chris Kaman, Nick Young

Notable losses: Dwight Howard, Metta World-Peace, Earl Clark

The Lakers are the last and the most effected of the teams who failed in the Dwight Howard hunt to be mentioned here. Relating the Lakers with failure in the free agent market is something that happens probably once in a decade. The Lakers took a huge risk when they traded for Howard without signing an extension but Kupchak was overly confident that Los Angeles wouldn’t lose a free agent it wanted to keep. That changed this summer as Howard waved good bye to La-La land and headed off for Houston.

This meant the Lakers would go into full re-build mode. Howard’s decision was promptly followed by the Lakers decision to amnesty Metta World Peace. With Kobe’s contract coming off the books after next year it surely gives the Lakers in excess of $30million to spend in the free agency of 2014 but as Kupchak found out the hard way, you really can’t take things for certain. Even with the Lakers.

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Edited by Staff Editor