Sports Time Radio

The NBA draft was held on Thursday night and while there was no clear cut #1 pick there are forecasted to be players throughout this draft that will be able to help teams.

There were three players whose name was associated with being the first player drafted, but in the end the Orlando magic decided to select Paolo Banchero of Duke with the #1 pick. With the 2nd pick the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga and that left the Houston Rockets to select Jabari Smith of Auburn.

In days leading up to the draft it appeared as though that Magic would take either Holmgren or Smith, but early in the day on Thursday there was more and more talk that Banchero was moving up teams’ draft boards. In the end that’s the route the Magic went with their pick.

Now the team that seemed to draw the most interest during the draft was the New York Knicks, but not for the players they drafted, but for the trades they seem to just keep making.

The Knicks used the 11th pick in the 1st round to select Ousmane Dieng. Now in the NBA you can’t trade the actually draft picks, so you have to select the player and then deal. That’s what the Knicks did here as Dieng went to Oklahoma City for for three 2013 protected 1st round picks. The Knicks where then involved in a three team deal where they didn’t receive anything, but they were able to move Kemba Walker and his salary to the Detroit Pistons. In this deal the Pistons also received Jalen Duran while the Charlotte Hornets picked up a 2025 1st round draft pick that was originally property of the Portland Trailblazers.

These were some very odd moves by the Knicks, but being able to move Walker’s salary from their books might open up something in free agency for them. There are quite a few rumors out there that the Knicks are going to target Jalen Brunson when free agency starts at the end of the month.

Interestingly Brunson’s father is currently an assistant coach with the Knicks and Brunson’s agent is related to Knicks President Leon Rose. I’m not sure if this will give the Knicks an inside track to signing Brunson, but it makes for an interesting set up for it to happen.

Since this was supposed to be filled with a lot of quality players it will be interesting to see if one of the players who was selected later in the 1st round or maybe even a player who was picked in the 2nd round end up being one of the players who breaks out from this draft class.

As I mentioned free agency starts for the NBA at the end of the month and there are quite a few players who will have to decide if they’re going to accept their player option and stay with the team they’re currently on or if they’ll go out into the free agent market and see what kind of deal they can get.

It’s possible that James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Bradley Beal could be free agents if they all choose to decline their player options, but it’s very doubtful that any of them will.

Even though the NBA has moved away from pounding the basketball inside to the big man there are a couple of young big man free agents out there. Mo Bamba and Deandre Ayton are both just 23 years old and seemed to bright NBA futures. There’s also 22-year-old Bol Bol whose career hasn’t quite went the way a lot of people thought it would, but if he signs with the right team maybe he gets back on that track.

Once the end of the month gets here will start to see who signs where, but before free agency starts will know if any players have opted out of their player option and are headed into free agency.

Now when it comes to signing free agent the Pistons have the most cap room and you have to wonder if they’ll try to sign a veteran or two to go along with the young core of players, they’ve put together from the last two drafts.

After the Pistons it’s the Magic, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and the Trailblazers with the most cap room among NBA teams.

Do you think that any of these teams will spend money and sign a top name free agent?

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime