Starting Five v10
- danny52615
- Jun 25
- 11 min read
Daniel Waddleton
Jun 25, 2025
IN THE LEAGUE that never sleeps, the crowning of a champion hasn't meant the madness is over. There were multiple huge NBA trades during the Finals, with Desmond Bane and Kevin Durant both joining hopeful contenders. Then right as the Finals concluded, the Boston Celtics made several moves to dive under the second apron.
With the draft set to take place tonight, let’s take a look at what’s already happened since the season ended, which prospects to look out for in tonight’s draft, and what to keep an eye on as the offseason trucks along -- with free agency set to open on June 30.
Kevin Durant's Fit in Houston
From the Rockets’ perspective, it’s hard to see this move as anything other than a home run. The team finished second in the Western Conference last season, powered by a defense that ranked fifth in the NBA with a 110.3 defensive rating. They pushed a red-hot Golden State Warriors team -- who went 23-7 after acquiring Jimmy Butler -- to seven games, through a bruising style of play that leaned on rim pressure, offensive rebounding, and a super physical, handsy defensive identity.
The reason Houston wasn't built for a deeper playoff run was clear: offense wasn’t always easy to come by. They finished 13th in offensive rating, and their halfcourt points per possession ranked 25th league-wide at just 0.97.
Enter Kevin Durant, one of the greatest scorers of all time, who -- even in his age-36 season -- averaged 26.6 points per game on 64% true shooting. His last year in Phoenix certainly wasn’t pretty, but it had much more to do with the teams construct then Durant himself. He still impacted winning at a high level, as the Suns were +5.6 points per 100 possessions with Durant on the floor and went 33–29 in games he played… compared to 3–17 without him.
Phoenix’s failure wasn’t about Durant, it was about the rosters redundant skills. I wrote about this during last season: their roster was stacked with players who all did the same things well and lacked in the same weaknesses. Phoenix had three expensive stars who's similar skillsets brought dismissing returns, and even most of their role players were redundant. They lacked playmaking, rebounding, perimeter defense, rim protection, and just overall strength and physicality. Yeah they were a great shot creation team, but eventually you max out at one skill.
In contrast, Durant in Houston is a basketball fit that makes a ton of sense. First, the Rockets’ physical defensive infrastructure means Durant will now slide into a much more scaled down defensive role than he's had really anywhere since Golden State, which will suit him much better at this point in his career. His length and rim protection chops will bring added value to this already strong defense, while protecting him in his weaker areas.
And now Durant gives this Rockets team exactly what they’ve been desperate for: a player who can carry a large offensive load with both volume and efficiency.
The spacing in Houston still won’t be great -- it’s not going to be some offensive utopia like the one Durant once experienced in other stops like Golden State or Brooklyn -- but the truth is, his game is built to handle those limitations. At this point in his career, he’s not someone who gets to the rim nearly as often anyway. He’s elite at rising over the top in midrange situations, where he hit 53% of those looks last year. And he’s still an elite three-point shooter, knocking down 43% on over six attempts per game.
He should also open the floor up for his teammates. Whether it's his on-ball gravity in isolation or his off-ball presence coming off pin-downs and flare screens, Durant's mere existence on the court should make life easier for everyone involved. At the very least, this team won't find itself in the bottom third of the league in halfcourt offensive efficiency again next season.
Time will tell if this roster is ready to compete for a title, but one thing feels certain: this is the best-constructed team around a player of Durant’s skillset since he left Golden State in 2019.
. . .
Boston Gets Under Second Apron, Acquires Anfernee Simons
The dreaded second apron has captured another victim. Just a year after winning the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics have traded two core pieces from that title team to duck under the projected $207.8 million second apron tax line.
First, they sent Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks. Not even 24 hours later, Boston moved Kristaps Porzingis and a second-round pick to the Hawks in a three-team deal that will eventually bring Georges Niang to Boston once finalized.
Once Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in the playoffs, it made sense for Boston to let this season become a mini reset, saving the owners nearly $400 million in tax bills by dropping below the apron. I also don’t hate the moves Boston made to get there, considering cost-cutting was at the core of these decision.
Holiday can still be valuable, but paying a 35-year-old guard over $103 million across the next three years isn’t ideal, especially as his decline becomes more evident. Porzingis, despite the upside, has played in less than 60% of the Celtics’ games and just had a rough postseason while dealing with illness. It’s understandable if Celtics fans feel uneasy about this shift, but these aren’t gut-wrenching losses.
Now, Boston will presumably roll with a backcourt of Anfernee Simons and Derrick White, a pairing I’m higher on than most seem to be. Simons is an elite shooter, both off the bounce and in catch-and-shoot situations, making him effective on and off the ball. He also brings a new look to this Joe Mazzulla offense the team has never had with a springy, high pick-and-roll ball handler, who has plenty of reps under his belt from his time in Portland.
Is Simons a below-average defender? Sure. But he’s joining a team with a strong defensive infrastructure, and Derrick White feels like the perfect backcourt partner -- an elite defensive guard who, like Simons, can also play on or off the ball offensively.
Assuming Tatum won’t return until the 2026-27 season, Boston now faces a decision: is their work done offloading money, or is there a bigger move coming? Moving Holiday and Porzingis made the most sense given their contracts, age, and injury concerns. These moves were hardly shocking.
What would be shocking, however, is if Boston parts with White or Jaylen Brown. Both are high-level players who would fetch significant returns, but trading them would signal a much deeper pivot.
All I'm going to say is I've made the case for Boston to treat this as a “fun” gap year.
. . .
The Center Market
Basketball in many ways has become a positionless sport, yet if you asked a team like the Lakers they would tell you that having quality big men still matters if you want to be a viable playoff team.
Plenty of teams want in on this center market. The Lakers would love a vertical spacer for Luka Doncic like the ones he thrived with in Dallas. The Pelicans could use a stretch big who can defend the rim on the other end to pair with Zion Williamson. The Suns would likely take any center that could give them 25-30 minutes a night.
Assuming Myles Turner -- who would've been the most sought after big this off-season -- stays in Indiana, here are the centers who could be on the move:
Offensively Skilled Bigs
Naz Reid (FA): He’s a tough sell as your defensive anchor, but if you can toggle him between the four and five, he’s instant offense on the other end. Guard-like ball skills, lights-out spot-up shooter, and a fearlessness you can't teach.
Nikola Vucevic (Trade): Don't expect Vuc to anchor a top-10 defense, but he's immensely talented offensively and a solid defensive rebounder. He can post up, operate as an offensive hub, and stretch the floor (40% from three last season).
3 & D Bigs
Brook Lopez (FA): When Lopez is on the floor you’re not straying far from drop coverage or zone defensively, but if you have the personnel to play this way, he’s still a valuable rim protector. Over the last two seasons the big man has held opponents 6.7% worse than expected at the rim. Add his above-the-break shooting and in the right spot, he can still help a team at age 37.
Al Horford (FA): Retirement may not be far, but while he's still around Horford remains immensely impactful. Last season, the Celtics were 4.4 points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor and held a +12 net rating when he played. He can space the floor offensively and is still one of the league’s best perimeter-switching bigs.
Vertical Spacers
Robert Williams III (Trade): His days as a top starting center are behind him, but pieces of that player still remain. Injuries derailed what once looked like a perfect modern defensive anchor, but he's still an impactful defender in multiple schemes while providing a fierce lob threat and underrated passing on the other end. It’s just all in shorter bursts now, with anything over 20 minutes a night feeling like a risk
Nic Claxton (Trade): One of the league’s more switchable bigs, Claxton can give a defense a lot of versatility. Questions remain about his rebounding and limited offensive game beyond vertical spacing, but on a team with a defensive personality, he can be the man in the middle of a high-level group.
Walker Kessler (Trade): Few players post better rim-protection numbers than Kessler, whose combination of size, length, and instincts make him a serious deterrent. Like Claxton, there are questions about his offensive impact outside of catching lobs, but for a team with already enough scoring, a 23-year-old anchor like Kessler could be exactly what’s needed.
Mark Williams (Trade): Williams isn’t quite the defender his peers in this category are, but the tools and flashes are there. Maybe a more competitive environment helps that side of the ball click for him. For now, he’s a lob threat with untapped potential as a shooter (80% FT last season) and a work in progress defensively.
Clint Capela (FA): If anyone knows how to screen and catch lobs it’s Capela, who’s spent his career dancing with James Harden and Trae Young. He also will add value on the offensive glass, a skill the Rockets have brought back in style during the postseason.
Wild Card
DeAndre Ayton (Trade): From a pure talent standpoint, few bigs in the league can match what Ayton has. We saw his peak form during the Suns’ 2021 Finals run, but the question has always been his mindset, which many who've spent time around him find frustrating. However, it wasn’t an accident he landed a max deal just three years ago, and on an expiring contract, a desperate team might take a swing on a player who, at his best, is the full package.
. . .
Time to Believe in Magic?
We already touched on the Boston Celtics’ mini reset earlier in this Starting Five. They’ve off-loaded multiple key pieces in order to duck under the second apron now with star Jayson Tatum set to miss the remainder of the season.
Now take a look around the rest of the East, and it’s hard to see anything but a wide open field right now.
The Pacers, last year’s conference champs, and the Bucks, who roster the conferences best player in Giannis Antetokounmpo, are in similar spots to Boston. Both are preparing for next without their best or second-best players.
The Cavaliers and Knicks might be the presumed favorites, but both showed glaring roster warts in the postseason that will likely remain unresolved unless a major shakeup happens.
The rest of the conference consists of teams like Philadelphia, dealing with never ending durability concerns, and the best of the rest with Atlanta and Detroit, who as we sit here today certainly don't feel ready to contend.
Free agency hasn’t even begun, and more trades are still coming, so there’s a lot left to shake out. Yet, as we sit here on June 25, I’d say the Magic have as good a shot as anyone to be playing in June next season.
The Magic finished last season ranked second in defense, and nearly their entire core is back. Now, it’s fair to question how excited we should get about a 41-41 team running it back, but that record doesn’t tell the whole story. Injuries hit almost every key player at some point during the year, masking the team’s true potential. In the rare moments their core trio of Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, and Paolo Banchero shared the floor -- just six games total -- they went 4-2 and posted a +8.1 net rating in their minutes. Small but fun sample size.
They were forced to play in the postseason without Suggs. Despite losing 4-1 in the first round to the defending champs, the series was closer than it looked on paper. The Magic were within striking distance in several of those losses.
Now, they’ve added Desmond Bane, a career 41% three-point shooter on high volume -- exactly what this team so desperately needed. Bane helps fix the offensive spacing around their downhill-centric stars and addresses the just pure math problem they faced last season. You’re playing at a major disadvantage when you finish dead last in made threes per game (just 8.2).
Of course, it will still take some internal development. Suggs needs to keep growing as a point guard. Franz rediscovering his shooting would be huge. Paolo is due for an uptick in efficiency. Young players like Anthony Black or Caleb Houstan becoming reliable role players could pay huge dividends.
If some of these things can hit, we’re talking about a dangerous roster in a wounded conference.
. . .
My Favorite Draft Prospects
F. Kon Knueppel: Not everyone can be a superstar, the guy with the ball making every decision. We’ve seen plenty of teams stack too many of those players and get diminishing returns. What I love about Knueppel is he has a full offensive package, without any fat in his game. He can spot up, operate as a second side creator, or scale up as a primary pick and roll option when needed.
He’s not the best defender in the class, but I don’t think he was bad at Duke either. It will be a wait-and-see in the NBA to find out whether weaknesses like lower-body mobility show up faster than his strengths on that end, like positional size and IQ.
G. VJ Edgecombe: You know what works in basketball? Explosiveness and athleticism. Edgecombe is the king of that in this class. He’ll be a defensive playmaker immediately when pairing his instincts to all those physical tools. Offensively, it won’t always be smooth, but he’ll be a great cutter and explosive in transition right away. I have faith in the jumper (34% at Baylor, solid mechanics), my bigger question is whether he can pair his explosiveness with an improved handle to become the true downhill force he's meant to be. If it all clicks, he has prime Victor Oladipo written all over him.
F. Collin Murray-Boyles: What team couldn’t use a defensive Swiss Army knife? In a league where offenses have never been harder to stop, defenses have turned to very complex defensive schemes in need of high-IQ, versatile, active defenders everywhere. Murray-Boyles offers that from day one. He's switchable, strong as a bull, and communicates at a high level. Offensively, he’s a good passer, can score in the post, and just has a great feel for the game.
The concern is his tweener status, as 6'6" with a 7'0" wingspan makes him a tough sell to be your full-time center, yet he doesn’t shoot well enough to play the wing. Still, I’d take a big swing on him. It’s a sin to compare anyone to one of the most impactful players of the modern era, but there’s Draymond Green in his game.
G. Walter Clayton Jr: It's important to learn lessons from each postseason, and this year showed the value of players who can pass, dribble, and shoot on offense. Clayton Jr. will do all of that the moment he steps on an NBA court. His size and age raise ceiling questions, but I’d love to take a chance on a hyper-competitor who can bend defenses with his shooting and has the ancillary offensive skill set to complement it.
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