LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers sit as the biggest winners of all after storming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the 2016 NBA Finals.
Fun as it was, James finally getting a title for Cleveland and a historic 73-win season by the Golden State Warriors not mattering was far from the only important takeaway from the wild bracket.
With how the bracket played out, the globe found new powerhouses in each conference, surprising falls and enough drama to influence how the upcoming draft and free agency headlined by Kevin Durant plays out.
Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers from the 2016 playoffs.
Losers
Atlanta Hawks
Kiss the Atlanta Hawks goodbye.
The Hawks always seemed like the team right on the cusp of something great. One reason or another, though, it was never enough in the Eastern Conference, a thought highlighted by this year’s second-round sweep at the hands of the Cavaliers.
Sure, the Hawks got past the up-and-coming Boston Celtics in the first round. But that’s the problem—this Hawks core used to consider itself a title contender. Now it’s hardly getting past a team on the rise in the conference.
The Hawks flirted with blowing it all up at the trade deadline. Now the front office won’t have much of a choice, not with Al Horford headed to free agency and a logjam at point guard that might encourage the team to deal Jeff Teague. Consider the window shut.
Memphis Grizzlies
It’s much of the same story for the Memphis Grizzlies, though with less success.
The Grizzlies never stood much of a chance in the Western Conference. The team’s Big 3—Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol—needed to make something happen this year. Instead, Conley and Co. hobbled into the postseason and got swept away by the San Antonio Spurs.
An inventory—Randolph is 34. Gasol is 31. Conley is one of the biggest names heading to free agency.
The Grizzlies can offer Conley more cash than anyone else, but he might see the writing on the wall. It says the Grizzlies aren’t talented enough to compete in the conference and might have a long rebuilding road ahead, especially because few free agents will consider Memphis a strong destination. The playoffs reinforced this.
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets were the biggest disappointment of the season in general, a team with grand expectations that fell flat and got a coach canned.
Now the Rockets head to the summer with Dwight Howard likely to opt out and head elsewhere, unwilling to give it another go with James Harden.
The question is simple—why would anyone else try it?
Houston rallied and got to the postseason, which was fun. But the team lost in five games to Golden State to finally end the misery. Try as they might, the Rockets aren’t going to make a big splash in free agency, not after a year in which the team couldn’t even hit minimal expectations before losing a star center.
San Antonio Spurs
Folks accustomed to nothing short of excellence from the Spurs at all times got quite the shock this postseason when the team waved goodbye over six games against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference semifinals.
It’s not fun to call it a changing of the guard out West, but it probably is with Tony Parker 34, Tim Duncan 40 and Manu Ginobili 38.
Granted, the Spurs still have Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. But barring a miracle like grabbing Kevin Durant, the team will only take a step backward this offseason. Terrible news considering the Spurs bowed out of the playoffs after winning 67 games.
Harrison Barnes
The Warriors were major losers, yes, but nobody lost as much as Harrison Barnes.
Ready to tackle free agency and perhaps land a monster max deal after winning a title, Barnes was one of the major reasons the Warriors wound up losing the Finals.
For context, a note from Josh Eberley:
Harrison Barnes
Games 1-4
12.5 PPG, 51-43-67 %’s.Games 5-7
5 PPG, 16-20-50 %’s.If I was to ever use the word “choke”.
— Josh Eberley (@JoshEberley) June 20, 2016
Barnes scored five points in Game 5, a big fat zero in the game after and 10 on 3-of-10 shooting in the final game.
In other words, other teams won’t view him as a guy who can help turn a sub-.500 team for the better.
Winners
Oklahoma City Thunder
It hurts the Thunder lost after charging to a 3-1 lead against Golden State, ruining a shot at Cleveland in the Finals. But it might have done one important thing for the Thunder.
The Thunder might have scored another year of Durant, at a minimum.
Not only did the Thunder vanquish the Spurs and take a 73-win team to seven games, it promoted the idea the Thunder could have played the Cavaliers well with the title on the line. Meaning, why would Durant go elsewhere when he came so close? Why leave to start over when all the other teams in the conference might undergo rather large changes?
Durant can sign a deal with an option to hit free agency this time next year with Russell Westbrook. That’s what Thunder faithful should worry about. This year, though, they have the team’s playoff performance to thank for Durant likely sticking around, even if it was an embarrassing collapse/
Portland Trail Blazers
How about those Portland Trail Blazers?
Supposedly dead in the water in the deep Western Conference after losing Aldridge, the Trail Blazers won 44 games and then took down the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs.
Taking a five-game loss to Golden State in the next round stung, but Portland is much better off than most would have ever predicted. The credit in large goes to elite point guard Damian Lillard, though role players such as C.J. McCollum and Al-Farouq Aminu also put up major seasons.
If the Trail Blazers can make steps forward this summer after performing better than expected in the playoffs, the Western Conference will have another major player on its hands.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Predictable, sure.
But it still deserves a breakdown. The Cavaliers didn’t just storm through the Eastern Conference in 14 games. They didn’t just take down a 73-win team or become the first team to claw out of a 3-1 hole in NBA Finals history. What they did, was win a title down 3-1 against arguably the best team ever, a team that hadn’t lost three games in a row since 2013.
LeBron came home and eventually got to play the hero. The title is the perfect example of drafting (Kyrie Irving) and free agency (James and Kevin Love) married, alongside a front office with a thumb on the team’s pulse and willing to make changes (the head coach swap mid-season) to better the chances at the ultimate goal.
Cleveland was the biggest winner of all for many reasons. No matter what happens this summer and beyond, nothing can silence the lifting of a curse on a sports town long deserving of a champion like this.
