The 2016 NBA Free Agent Class: The Offseason That Damaged a League 

Good disclaimer-never blame the players for taking a stupid amount of money Blame the teams for offering players a stupid amount of money

Thankfully, 6 years later it's safe to say the NBA has recovered from this. The superteam era, while having brief moments of resurgence, have seen more failures than success with teams who have tried it (Nets & Lakers). The East is the strongest its been since MJ was a Bull, and the West is loaded as hell. Hell, even the Warriors team itself are quite likeable now that they aren't a superteam and have infiltrated youth into the squad. This past season has been the funnest I've had watching the NBA since 2016, right before this dreaded free agency.

Quick thing about Derozen. Toronto was a basketball wasteland until he and Lowry turned the entire culture around. And Derozen WANTED to stay. He did what both Vince Carter and Chris Bosh refused to do: choose to play in Toronto without even checking his FA value.

I'm so glad that Giannis and the Bucks last year basically ended the era of SuperTeams ruling the league. Now there is much more parity and anything can truly happen in todays NBA.

the three constants in life: Death Taxes Sportsball being sponsored by Seatgeek

I love how for like 7 minutes this video turned into "The Trailblazers: the off-season's lolcow". God, our team is the worst at building a team.

I remember my homie saying “Watch KD go to the Warriors or sum” as a joke because no one thought he would do something like that😂😂😂😂

“The T-Wolves are somehow relevant!” Yeah, and they blow two double digit leads in the same game. But it’s Minnesota. That’s typical for them.

On the Pat Mcafee show this morning, he reported that he knows who you are and was "unaware you are a draft expert" Tree has officially made it

Fortunately, the NBA now seems like there’s been more parity than there’s been in a very long time. Going into the playoffs this year (and even last year), it felt like at least 10 teams had legit shots at winning it all compared to only like 3 or 4 from 2017-2020. The league seems like it’s in better shape moving forward and the age of the superteam is hopefully coming to a close.

What people also forgot is a little provision that Chris Paul used for himself and Lebron James….ultimately screwing themselves. The change in the salary cap also brought a self serving change in the super max provision, moving the last year you could receive super max money from 35 to 37. Lebron and Paul got their late super max cash but it allowed the Warriors to sign Durant and steal many of their best chances to win titles. Who knows what would have happened if these two things didn’t happen.

The good news is that it feels like the NBA could be entering a period of increased player loyalty. Sure, players like James harden and Ben Simmons have forced their way out, but those players players already had massive question marks from age, but play style, or injury. And the clear top 3 players in the league, Embiid, Giannis, and Jokic, all intend to spend the rest of their careers with their current team.

I will never forget looking at my phone at 12:12am when the first free agent signing was Mozgov to the Lakers for $64 million, crazy offseason

There’s no doubt that the Durant signing ruined the league. The increase in the salary cap allowed competitive teams to stay competitive and it forced teams that lost its star player to tank. Tanking was around back then but it got worse with the Durant signing.

The reason why the NBA is so much more exciting now than it was in 2016 is mostly because there is an insane amount of young talent in this league that is actually living up to expectations. Giannis, Jokic and Embiid are gonna dominate the league for at least the next 5 years barring injuries. Guys like Booker, Morant, Doncic and Tatum are hungry for titles and MVP's. Guys like Trae Young and KAT are developing stars as well. The old guard of the NBA is all on the wrong side of 30 and I think we need to stop thinking of guys like Durant, Harden, Kawhi and LeBron as automatic finals guys. If they do make it at all anymore they're gonna have to get past alot of great players on alot of different teams that can actually give them a run for their money.

And the scary thing was, most of these guys we’re getting paid more the Stephen Curry at the time. Curry was I think halfway into on a 4 year, $44m contract and some analysts said this was a bad contract because of his ankle injuries 😂😂

Putting KD on that 16’ Warriors team is debatably more powerful than putting KD on the 96’ Bulls and I wish more people would realize that.

UrinatingTree referring to Porzingis as "Tingus Pingus" had me rolling!

Finally an NBA video from the legend himself, you've gotta make more man

As a Magic fan, I still have nightmares of the Biyambo signing and the absolute log jam we had at center. Ugh....

Crazy to know that we're almost six years into the future from this free agency period. I remember it all like it was yesterday.

Trust me UTree, I think we all still find it hard to believe that Kobe’s dead.

So basically, the 2016 Charlotte Hornets were the NBA version of the 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars?

I think Hornet fans would rather eat a bag of cement throw it up regurgitate then throw that up again than have to be reminded of Nicolas Batum

Remember, ladies & gentlemen, in 2016, the 76ers were deep into the process and altogether avoided overpaying veterans in the Free agent market. So if people want to say the process was a terrible idea it was either this or completely destroy the Market by pulling a Jags move and way overpaid for a below-average veteran

A UrinatingTree NBA content gem… I can go into this weekend happy. Well done brother!

Lakers fan here. The crazy thing was that we didn't even need Deng or Mozgov anyway because we were clearly rebuilding. It wasn't like we were an upstart playoff team that needed a couple of veterans for a deep playoff run. That was also the last parting gift of Jim Buss/Mitch Kupchak. So... thanks... thanks a lot for that 😐

I'm currently at the Meyers Leonard segment and I just came to a realization... the videos only half over at this point. Good Lord, what a mess of an offseason

When I was living in the Bay Area from 2009-2020, I was rooting for the Warriors and I was ecstatic when the Warriors got KD. But as a basketball fan I was shocked because I thought KD would go to the Wizards or Celtics. But now I'm indifferent about the NBA but I'm glad there's a bit of parity back in the league

3:12 Mike Conley, $153M Memphis 4:09 DeMarDerozan $139M 4:46 Andre Drummond $130M 5:25 Nicholas Batum $120M F 6:21 Marvin Williams $54.5M 7:00 Dwight Howard $70.5M 7:39 Kent Bazemore $70M 8:17 Loul Deng $72M 8:59 Timothy Mozgov $64M 9:36 Allen Crabbe $75M 10:28 Evan Turner $70M 11:09 Mo Harkless $40M 11:44 -Festus Ezeli- 12:23 Meyers Leonard 12:41 Joakim Noah 13:22 Courtney Lee 13:53 Harrison Barnes $94M 14:38 Tyler Johnson $50M 15:19 Ian Mahini $64M 16:08 Solomon Hill $52M 17:08 Matthew Dellavadova $38.5M 17:51 Mira Telotovic 18:23 Miles Plumlee $50M!!!!! 19:07 -Chandler Parsons- $94M 20:02 Ryan Anderson $80M 20:54 Al Jefferson 21:19 -John Leuer- $42M 21:58 Cole Aldrich $22M 22:14 Bismarck Biyombo $72M 22:59 Jeremy Lin $36M 23:25 Hasan Whiteside $98M 24:11 this is long enough Too much sub-par players getting over their worth pay.

Is it bad to be paid millions while underperforming or being injured? Yes Is it bad to ruin a team’s performance due to your contract? Yes But is it good to steal from rich sports owners? ABSOLUTELY YES

Biyombo got paid for his game 3 and 4 performance from the conference finals against the Cavs that year. I loved him as a Raptor and am very glad we have Masai calling the shots

I feel like the WR market this year is similar to this. The question is who else is going to be in the extreme overpay group with Christian Kirk.

Fucked my Wizards whole window up. The KD to DC move failed so Grunfeld went and dropped 64 mill 4 years on Ian Mahimi and exorbitant contract to Andrew Nicholson which we had to attach a first to get rid of

You know as a Laker fan, when I see that Luol Deng's and Timofey Mozgov's contracts, I was like... "WTF are you doing, Mitch Kupchak?!" That FA move was the final nail on his coffin as the Lakers GM at that point. And that was also the downfall of Jim Buss as well.

Plumlee got paid as much as Connor fucking McDavid per season? That tilts me beyond belief, wow.

it’s definitely a sight to see when tree posts an NBA video !!! 🔥

The DeRozen signing had more of a ripple effect than that. He went unnoticed in San Antonio until his contract was up. Chicago signed him for a bargain (which some STILL said was too much), and now the Bulls are slugging it out with the defending Champions in the playoffs after being left out for 5 years. So, yeah...

I love vids like this, this brings me back even to years like 2017 and 2018 remembering these players as having terrible contacts just a year or two after signing

I absolutely love your videos. It brings light to things I really don't usually see in sports and makes it easy to digest. When I see that you uploaded its just instant serotonin cus I know its going to be a good time. I have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation but thanks for the video.

This is happening in the NFL now too. Most elite WRs getting record money, CBs getting massively overpaid, QBs making egregious amounts of money, and even more.

I will never forgive my Hawks for signing Howard. Al Horford was my favorite player of that era, and instead of trying to continue to build around him, we pissed him off, he left, and still performed well elsewhere. And hence how we dug ourselves a hole that with 2021 being the exception we're still stuck in.

Every now and again your vids float into my recommended and I always enjoy them so I’m finally subscribing

I’ve gotta do my due diligence and thank you for putting out a basketball related video tree. It ain’t too often that I get to watch my favorite sports youtuber cover my favorite sport!

I legit burst out laughing when you got to Biyombo. In baseball terms thats like giving superstar money to Hank Conger

4:04 "I just wish the Jazz would win something besides agony" Bruh as a depressingly loyal Jazz fan this sums up how I feel better than I could ever say it

There should be more of these types of videos. Free agency makes up so much of off-season enjoyment of the nba. It’s a cool idea to look back at free agency classes to see how they affected the league and NBA history.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of requests for this but the Utah Jazz are next up on the LOF video clock. Especially given if they lose they're likely hitting the nuke with Gobert & Mitchell.

Even though I understand Memphis fans hating his contract, I never fully understood the hate for Parsons. Can’t control injuries, and he was clearly a good to borderline great piece when healthy.

Great video Tree!! Although as a Blazer fan my wounds have been reopened, some of them I forgot I had!

Great job with the Jet Set Radio Future music playing in the background. SUCH A GREAT SOUNDTRACK!

Dishonorable mention (in hindsight): The deal with China that helped raise the salary cap would come back to haunt the league when a certain GM made comments criticizing the Chinese government over their handling of the Hong Kong protests...

Chandler Parsons (when signed) was a great fit to sign for Memphis at the time because of his 3 point shot and he could the 1 void in the Grit and Grind Era, a small forward who could get his own. What happened? Injuries and he basically stole money from the Grizzlies. Thank God our current GM (when hired, his 1st priority was to) got rid of Parsons!

It’s crazy how I remember all the madness like yesterday. KD is viewed as a saint in the Bay Area but a traitor in OKC

THE GOT A BIGTIME SHOUT OUT ON THE PAT MCAFEE SHOW!!! Congrats man…I’m a huge fan. You deserve it

I gotta say, I know you don’t make a lot of basketball vids but they’re always great especially the nets one

Disagree. Since the Durant signing, the league has been super competitive. 10b years ago if someone would’ve said Toronto and Milwaukee would win a title you would’ve been laughed at

Matthew Dellavedova now plays for my local team in the Australian NBL, in case you were wondering where he is since then. He's doing pretty well, and he's helped us get the top seed for the finals.

Respect to you for that disclaimer. Nuance can be especially rare on RU-vid. Great video!

You bringing up up Jon Leur, Mathew dellavadova, tellenevic, and plumlee reminded me just how desperate the bucks were back then.

Bro Solomon Hill got a 12 million dollar a year contract off of averaging 15 minutes per game the season before. This free agency was absolutely nutty.

In absolute fairness to Harrison Barnes, he was limited as shown when Steve Kerr surrounded him with better players in the starting lineup, be it Klay, Dray, and Steph. Unfortunately he never panned out in Dallas, and that contract from Sacramento isn't his fault. He got it in 2019, which was a weak free agency market, except for KD and his torn Achilles.

I spent this entire video saying “oh yeah, I remember him”

This was the prime superteam era. Nobody happy, bad signings everywhere, just about every team fucked for a few years. Thank god superteams are starting to fade again, if nothing else teams are just adapting to superteams being possible and getting better at countering that kind of play.

I see Joakim Noah is doing his best Jason Momoa impersonation

I really wish you'd do more NBA content

The 2017/2018 KD Warriors finals were the worst playoffs and finals I’ve ever watched. 0 competition, Zaza Pachulia purposefully injuring Kawhi, it was the worst I’ve ever seen the NBA. Even Kevin Durant’s game winning shots over LeBron legit only made both series worse, series the Warriors had 0 change of losing anyway. It was absolute garbage If Kevin Durant wasn’t a coward, we could’ve got a legit rematch to the 2016 finals…

14:28 that clip of harrison barnes where it says he was traded during the game is fucking hilarious 😂

I was thinking after doing a Reds video (because they really need it), Blazers need a video as well. They are one franchise that I don’t know what they are doing, planning, or best option for them.

Absolutely love the vids Pissedontree. You are legendary

I'm happy the NBA has recovered quickly from the Warriors induced lack of parity, now even the Warriors are a likable team I'd say, and more then 3 teams have had a legitimate shot of winning the NBA Finals the past two seasons, and we got a Finals featuring two teams that aren't mega markets.

Finally tree .... you give us some NBA moments?

Well someone made the money Dinosaur who has no friends really happy!

5:26 I can still remember your incredulity when you brought him up in your Hornets video 😂

This might’ve been the most troubling video I have ever seen and I vividly remember this off-season anyways

I almost cried laughing when Solomon signed for that much

You know what I love about urinating tree when he refers to players or situations with medical terms that legitimately describe the situation. I gotta say I'm thoroughly impressed. Well done sir, sincerely an ACCS medical worker.

Appreciate the Jet Set Radio music in the background.

Honestly you made a really good point out of Al this despite never stating it, the biggest winners of this off season were two teams, the warriors who spent the increased Cap in the best way possible and the nets who used to increased Cap to cause utter pandomonium in the league and bassically get A leg up on there rebuild because of it

Jeremy Lin was pretty good before the injuries both him and Russell were a good back court duo

"A merry-go-round of shitty contracts" is exactly how I would describe the next five offseasons after this year.

I love that you used Players Ball by E-40 and Too Short

I love this format and concept of a video

I didn’t have my phone on me when KD went to the warriors so when I found out me and 3 other guys were legitimately shocked

I’m glad you put that disclaimer like I get why people don’t like kd leaving but cmon that man did the right thing. He was going nowhere with okc. Easy chip and bag for him. Business decisions

I keep watching this video so I can laugh at the name "Miles Plumlee". That's the most sitcom name I've ever heard of.

It’s a good half of the year when urinatingtree uploads an nba video

I'll never blame the players for the shitshow, I'll always blame the system for shitting the show, at the end of the day, they want to secure their families and a little bit of money cash is always good for

KD is still feeling it for what he did in 2016

2:10 Even the "Those who have rings" have a set of tiers of their own: Those with over a .500 finals record (Your MJs, the KBs, and D.Wades) and those below .500 (The Wilts, Lebrons, even Mr. Clutch himself)

This video aging like a fine wine.

The moment that Kevin Durant joined the Warriors, the NBA was absolutely fucked!

Urinating Tree we need more NBA videos!

Man you were on point this time around. All of your jokes were hilarious.

As an Europan, a Finn to be more specific even though I only follow the NHL I still love all these vids about different leagues. I actually learned the rules and basics of ”american” football just to get a hang of whats being talked about. Love the days of our steelers.

Maybe do a "Historical Tank Bowl" video? The pre-draft Lottery era NBA was a tanking bonanza. In fact, that was one reason why the draft lottery occurred.

Give it a couple of years and we’ll have a similar video along the lines of ‘How that Christian Kirk contract reshaped NFL free agency’.

The one good thing that came out of the 2016 free agency is that future free agency periods were elevated to a whole new level of excitement. Teams went into scramble mode to compete with the Warriors. The result was the most insane arms race in NBA history, the 2017 offseason

How soon after the NFL draft can we expect the Hater’s Guide? I love all your videos but the Hater’s Guides are my favorites, whether it’s the draft, playoffs, or regular season. Keep it up!

So glad we can have many teams be good again and it isn't just LeBron's team or the Warriors. Infact from 2011 - 2020 finals it was either one of those, that is how bad that decade was. In that time period a grand total of 8 teams made the finals, And remember the Laker, Raptors, Thunder, and Mavericks made it once. Spurs, Warriors, Cavs, Heat made it multiple times. And considering 9 of those teams had LeBron there was basically no parity. Damn shame LeBron one 4 rings made the Finals 9 times and the Warriors made it 5 straight years winning 3 rings. Glad this decade will have many good teams like the Mavs, Celtics, Heat, Grizzlies, Jazz, Sixers, Warriors, Clippers, Pelicans, Bucks, Suns, Raptors, Cavs, Timberwolves, Nets, Nuggets, Lakers, Knicks