More NBA stars have changed teams this offseason than ever before
The NBA may be nearly unrecognizable next season with the faces of several major franchises now playing in new uniforms after a wild summer.
Six players who made All-NBA honors (Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook) have switched teams via free agency or trade. That is the largest number in league history, somehow doubling the previous record from 1998 (Scottie Pippen, Glen Rice and Mitch Richmond).
In fact, there were just four examples between 1989 and 2009 with multiple All-NBA players switching sides during an offseason.
The total changes this offseason matches the number of the last four years (LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015, Durant in 2016, Isaiah Thomas and Jimmy Butler in 2017, LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan in 2018) combined.
This offseason looks even crazier when factoring in the moves of Anthony Davis (All-NBA 1st Team in 2018), Jimmy Butler (All-NBA 3rd Team in 2018), Thomas (All-NBA 2nd Team in 2017), DeAndre Jordan (All-NBA 1st Team in 2016), Chris Paul (All-NBA 2nd in 2016) and DeMarcus Cousins (All-NBA 2nd Team in 2015) – all recent selections.
Outside of Davis, a few of those players are not at the same level of star performance they were when they reached such an accomplishment. But it goes to show just how wild this summer has been for big names now in new places.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report