With the possible exclusion of the 2023-24 Boston Celtics, no team's season goes exactly as planned. Something—an injury, a bad contract, what turns out to be the wrong draft pick, a tough break—always crops up to wreck even the best-laid plans.

Some of the regrets we'll highlight are totally out of the team's control, but it's easier to place blame in the case of a few others. Culpability isn't a key element here, though. We're just focusing on iffy decisions or unfortunate circumstances that put the team in a difficult spot for the short or long term.

For several organizations, the conclusion of the season allows time to analyze what went wrong in hopes of preventing the same thing from happening again next year. The squads that made the playoffs face much more urgency. They must move past their mistakes and solve their problems in a hurry.

Fail to do so, and they'll quickly find themselves among the lottery teams already looking to next year.

Atlanta Hawks: Kobe Bufkin at No. 15

Nothing the Atlanta Hawks did this season will leave them wanting a do-over more than the Dejounte Murray deal they swung in 2022, but another crack at the No. 15 pick would be nice.

Kobe Bufkin played 17 games and totaled 81 points in his rookie season, and that's with Atlanta losing guard Trae Young late in the year, which theoretically should have opened up backcourt minutes. Still only 20, the Michigan product has ample time to justify his draft slot. But considering who came off the board immediately after Bufkin, it's going to take a pretty significant boost in performance to make the Hawks feel better.

Keyonte George (No. 16) looks like the point guard of the future for the Utah Jazz, Jaime Jaquez Jr. (No. 18) was probably third in unofficial Rookie of the Year polls through the first half of the season, Brandin Podziemski (No. 19) is likely to be an All-Rookie first-teamer and Cam Whitmore (No. 20) has shown enough flashes of scoring punch and athleticism to validate many draft boards that had him in the top five.

The draft is rarely easy, but the Hawks made it look harder than necessary by reaching for Bufkin and passing on prospects that had higher ceilings and floors.

Boston Celtics: Trading Dalano Banton

The Boston Celtics won 14 more games than anyone else in their conference and had the No. 1 overall playoff seed sewn up in March, so they're the hardest team to paint as regretful.

Maybe they won't feel great about giving Jaylen Brown an extension worth up to $305 million at some point, but Brown was fantastic this year and figures to be an integral part of a title run.

Perhaps Boston should have done more on the buyout market, but it's hard to argue anyone available would have upgraded the rotation.

In the end, we'll go with a mostly ignored trade that sent deep-bench reserve Dalano Banton to the Portland Trail Blazers for a heavily protected second-round pick. The deal seemed designed to open a roster spot for a buyout acquisition, which made it more defensible. But Banton's statistical explosion in Portland is the real reason the Celtics might want that decision back.

Essentially a 6'9" point guard who can defend multiple positions, Banton averaged 16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 29.2 minutes per game with the Blazers. Every second he logged in Portland came in zero-stakes games, and Banton didn't exactly show out prior to the deadline with the Celtics. But his impact after the trade suggests he might have had something to offer in the event Boston lost a key wing or guard to injury during the playoffs.

Brooklyn Nets: Not Shopping Mikal Bridges

Mikal Bridges' plug-and-play game is a fit on any NBA roster, and his modest salary of $23.3 million next year and $24.9 million in 2025-26 makes him a stellar value.

Those factors explain why the Brooklyn Nets didn't trade Bridges, but they're also part of the argument that they should have.

Remember the 2023 trade deadline, when the Memphis Grizzlies offered the Nets four first-round picks for Bridges shortly after he arrived from the Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant, per HoopsHype's Michael Scotto?

Or when the Houston Rockets put multiple first-rounders and Jalen Green on the table a couple of months ago, per The Athletic's Shams Charania?

Opportunities that good may not come around again.

Bridges slipped defensively this season, perhaps expectedly at age 27, and is now two years from free agency. Critically, his low contract number makes an extension in Brooklyn unlikely.

Per Forbes' Bryan Toporek: "There's a nearly $75 million difference between the most that the Nets could offer Bridges in an extension in 2025 and the most he could receive as a free agent in 2026."

The Nets may soon find themselves in a much weaker position if they try to move Bridges. Acquiring teams are less keen to pony up premium assets as the remaining years on a player's deal diminish, particularly one they probably can't extend after acquiring.

Odds are, four-pick offers won't be incoming as free agency draws nearer. Bridges is a terrific player, but the Nets may have let the best trade offers pass them by.

Charlotte Hornets: LaMelo Ball's Extension

It'll be fascinating to see how new ownership and management handle the next phase of Charlotte Hornets basketball—one that'll include oft-injured star LaMelo Ball earning over $200 million.

The five-year, $204 million extension Charlotte gave Ball happened on the last regime's watch, and it's important to note that it wasn't a wildly irresponsible decision at the time.

Ball inked the deal in July, shortly after the conclusion of a 2022-23 season in which an ankle injury limited him to just 36 games. The injury didn't seem likely to linger, and Ball wasn't so far removed from making an All-Star team and averaging 20.1 points, 7.6 assists and 6.7 rebounds in 2021-22, his age-20 season.

Now, after Ball saw action in just 22 games this year because of another ankle injury, the Hornets are set to pay him like a night-in, night-out superstar through 2028-29. Maybe he'll reach that level and justify the money. Or maybe the questions about his defense, shot selection and ability to drive winning will persist. And maybe these last two lost years are indicators of a durability issue that'll cause more missed time and more wasted cash.

Small-market teams sometimes have to overpay to keep or acquire talent, a reality that probably factored into the Hornets' risk calculus. But you'd better believe Charlotte is a little uneasy about a commitment this large for a player accumulating more and more question marks as the seasons pass.

Chicago Bulls: Not Blowing It Up

Broken record alert: The Chicago Bulls should have traded away all their veterans and expiring contracts in February.

That criticism could have been applied to the Bulls in each of the last two years, yet they've held fast to their pursuit of mediocrity.

No market emerged for Zach LaVine, so perhaps it wouldn't have made sense to move him with an injury driving his trade value toward its nadir. But DeMar DeRozan was an obvious player to move ahead of his own free agency.

Sure, DeRozan was productive overall, and his clutch heroics helped the Bulls perform better in close games than almost anyone else. But Chicago must now either pay handsomely to retain a soon-to-be 35-year-old star whose fit alongside LaVine was never all that great or let him walk away in free agency for nothing.

Alex Caruso should have followed DeRozan out the door.

As it stands, the Bulls' best-case scenario is a quick elimination in a first-round playoff series if they survive the Play-In round, after which they'll head into the offseason with limited options. It would have been so much easier to feel optimistic about Chicago's future if it had cleared the decks, accumulated draft capital and gone into next year with a path toward doing more than finishing 10th in the conference.

Cleveland Cavaliers: A Lack of Info on the Core Four

The Cleveland Cavaliers won 55 games last season, and yet you could argue their 48 wins in 2023-24 were more impressive. That's because the Cavs racked up that record with one or more of their core four players—Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen—sidelined by injury for the majority of the year.

In all, that group shared the floor for 819 possessions, down from 1,729 in 2022-23. Just as importantly, that group got almost no reps at all with a fifth man other than Max Strus. Granted, Strus was the big offseason acquisition in Cleveland, the floor-spacer who'd help the team avoid falling in the first round again. So it was key for Garland, Mitchell, Mobley and Allen to spend as much time as possible with him. But 37 possessions with Caris LeVert, 10 with Isaac Okoro, seven with Sam Merrill and zero with Dean Wade meant the Cavs really didn't get to explore alternative looks.

So now, Cleveland heads into the postseason with far too little information on its lineup options.

The Cavaliers' makeup might not work at the highest levels. It certainly didn't look promising in the 2023 playoffs, and there's a reason modern teams don't typically build around two small guards and two non-spacing bigs. But all the injuries robbed Cleveland of the information it needed to make some longer-term decisions, like whether to move on from Allen and install Mobley as the lone big.

With the clock ticking on Mitchell's contract, that's a delay the Cavs can't afford.

Dallas Mavericks: Acquiring Grant Williams

In addition to the $54 million contract they gave Grant Williams upon bringing him aboard from the Boston Celtics, the Dallas Mavericks also gave up two second-round picks and swap rights on their 2030 first-round selection in the three-team deal.

It became apparent quickly that Williams, who lost his starting job in December and apparently annoyed everyone around him, wasn't a fit in Dallas. So the Mavs shipped him to the Charlotte Hornets at the deadline, sending along a top-two-protected 2027 first-round pick.

In some sense, this is an "all's well that ends well" situation. P.J. Washington was the return on the Williams trade, and his arrival (along with that of Daniel Gafford in a separate deal) turned Dallas' season around. But the Mavs weren't exactly flush with draft capital before giving up one first-rounder to get Williams and another to send him away.

As it stands, Dallas will go into the offseason with only two future first-rounders (2025 and 2031) available to trade. That's better than nothing, but it won't position the Mavericks to win many bidding wars for difference-making pieces.

Denver Nuggets: Not Signing a True Backup Center

The Denver Nuggets have less to regret about the 2023-24 season than almost anybody else. We have no choice but to stretch for the nitpickiest of options.

Let's go with the closest thing to a rotational weakness that might crop up in a postseason series, Denver's lack of a reliable backup 5 behind Nikola Jokić.

DeAndre Jordan played in just 36 games and averaged 11.0 minutes per contest, while Zeke Nnaji logged 58 appearances averaging 9.9 minutes per night. Neither blew the doors off from an individual statistical standpoint, and the Nuggets were trounced by over 10.0 points per 100 possessions whenever Jordan or Nnaji took the floor.

Jokić will play more in the postseason, lessening the need for another true center. And anyone who watched Denver this year knows head coach Michael Malone turns to Aaron Gordon at the 5 when he's taking the non-Jokić minutes seriously. Plus, Denver's financial flexibility was limited enough to make even a dirt-cheap buyout acquisition debatable.

But where else are we going to find something remotely regrettable for a team that deserves to be viewed as the clear title favorite?

Detroit Pistons: Hiring Monty Williams

The 2023-24 season saw Monty Williams divvy up playing time in confounding ways and field lineups that drove Detroit Pistons fans to the point of distraction. He stuck with underperforming players for far too long and somehow managed to both stunt the growth of young talent while also failing to win with veterans.

Killian Hayes started 31 of the 42 games he played before the Pistons waived him, often ahead of Jaden Ivey. Spacing-starved lineups made it impossible for Ausar Thompson to provide offensive value. Clunky, double-big frontcourts put obstacles in Cade Cunningham's path.

It wasn't deliberate self-sabotage, but it was hard to be sure about that sometimes. Detroit tied the longest losing streak (28) in NBA history.

The real blame for a painfully disappointing Pistons season lies at the feet of top executive Troy Weaver, who assembled the roster and handed Williams a then-record $78.5 million contract. Williams turned the gig down at first, per Marc Stein, but Weaver came back with an offer too big to refuse. That absolves Williams to some extent; most of us have a dollar figure that'd get us to reconsider a job we're not sure we want.

The Pistons should have taken Williams' initial hesitancy as a sign he wasn't the right man for the job.

Golden State Warriors: Holding Back the Youth

Looking at Jonathan Kuminga now, it's hard to fathom how it took so long for him to secure a regular role in the Golden State Warriors' rotation. Stephen Curry is still the Dubs' most important figure, but it's the 21-year-old Kuminga who projects to lead the way in a post-Curry world.

Early in the season and during his first two years, Kuminga was far from a perfect player. Some of head coach Steve Kerr's hesitation to trust him (and many other young players) was legitimate and based on conspicuous mistakes. Though preposterously athletic, Kuminga didn't always crash the boards. Faster than everyone on the floor, he didn't consistently sprint on the break. He missed defensive assignments, forced shots and was easily sped up by physical defenders.

As 2023-24 played out, though, it was clear Kuminga had grown. His forceful drives and elite body control produced free-throw attempts in ways no other Warriors player could. His on-ball defense was a sight to behold. Week by week, he did a few more of the little things. Still, Kerr would routinely leave Kuminga on the bench for long stretches, even in fourth quarters when Golden State clearly needed the boost his athleticism and size provided.

In early January, after a conspicuous fourth-quarter benching, The Athletic's Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported Kuminga "no longer [believed] Kerr will allow him to reach his full potential."

Kerr and Kuminga met afterward and hammered things out. Kuminga quickly proved why he should have been a full-time starter and closer all along, averaging 18.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists on a 54.2/36.6/78.4 shooting split after Charania and Slater's report.

The Warriors finished 10th in the West. It's worth wondering where they might have landed if Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis had gotten a chance to shine sooner.

Houston Rockets: Amen Thompson's Early Injury

Amen Thompson suffered a sprained ankle 13 minutes into his fourth NBA game, limiting him to one appearance and a grand total of 10 minutes in the ensuing six weeks.

Layoffs that long are hard on every player. They disrupt rhythm, throw off conditioning and can even result in losing rotation spots. For a raw rookie, though, a six-week setback is even worse.

When Thompson returned a few days before Christmas, it was as if he was starting from scratch, only with the rest of the league already in midseason form.

If the 21-year-old hadn't gone down when he did, it's likely the Houston Rockets would have hung around the play-in race even longer, perhaps overtaking the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings or Los Angeles Lakers for a shot at a postseason berth.

Houston was better with Thompson on the floor than off all year, but as he got his legs under him later in the season, his positive impact reached star levels.

After the All-Star break, Houston posted a plus-7.3 net rating with last year's No. 4 pick in the game. Without him, it was a minus-4.1. That's a small sample subject to the typical lineup noise, but the fact remains the Rockets had massive success with their dynamic rookie on the floor.

Had Thompson used those first six weeks to find his form, the Rockets' season could have been an even bigger success.

Indiana Pacers: Haliburton's Hammy

The Indiana Pacers were the darlings of the early NBA season. Led by a transcendent Tyrese Haliburton doing a convincing Steve Nash (with volume shooting) impression, they raced up and down the floor, burying opponents with relentless transition attacks.

The Pacers rode their uptempo style to an In-Season Tournament Finals appearance in December and were tied for fourth in the East standings when Haliburton suffered a left hamstring strain in a win against the Boston Celtics on Jan. 8.

At the time Haliburton went out, Indy had the top offense in the league and added more points per 100 possessions in transition than all but two other teams. From that point on, the Pacers slipped to 18th in points added and lost 3.4 points per 100 possessions from their overall offensive rating.

The decline was about more than the 10 games the 24-year-old missed. He was clearly limited upon his return, and his individual production slipped along with that of his team. the 23.6 points, 12.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds he averaged prior to the injury dipped to 16.9 points, 9.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds afterward as his three-point shooting fell off a cliff.

The Pacers are still a playoff team, and nothing about Haliburton's late-season swoon should depress projections for when he's fully healthy next year. But the injury cost Indiana a few games in the standings and prevented it from sustaining the fast-paced style that defined the team early in the year.

LA Clippers: Trading for James Harden

On either side of a 26-5 run that seemed to elevate the LA Clippers to first-tier contender status, the James Harden experience failed to impress.

Sure, that eye-opening run—during which he averaged 18.2 points, 9.5 assists and 5.3 rebounds on a 44.5/42.1/88.8 shooting split—still counts. But with Harden, it's always as much about the lows as the highs.

L.A. went 0-5 in his first five games and has basically come unglued since the end of that successful surge, particularly on defense, where Harden hasn't been helpful in years.

The Clips gave an unprotected 2028 first-rounder, a 2029 first-round swap and an additional future first from the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire Harden. Of course, it might be more accurate to say they surrendered those assets (from a very shallow war chest) in the faint hopes he would play with commitment and consistency, and then reverse his career-long trend of playoff failure.

Oh, and also for the privilege of overpaying to keep him in free agency.

Los Angeles Lakers: Starting Cam Reddish

You could forgive the Los Angeles Lakers for trying so hard to make the Cam Reddish thing happen.

His physical profile and obvious tools tantalized the Hawks, Knicks and Blazers before he landed with the Lakers and found himself playing a major role early this year.

It may not be a coincidence that L.A.'s season took off when the Duke product wasn't such a big part of it.

Reddish started 26 of the first 33 games he played, averaging 23.6 minutes through Jan. 13, the date of his last first-unit appearance. At that cutoff, the Lakers were 19-21 with a minus-0.9 net rating overall and a minus-2.0 with the 24-year-old on the floor. Remember, that number came with him playing mostly alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Since then, with Reddish missing time due to injury and playing a drastically reduced role when healthy, the Lakers went 28-14 and posted a plus-2.8 net rating. Rui Hachimura, who eventually took over for Reddish in the first unit, has been a two-way key to L.A.'s second-half surge.

"Signing Gabe Vincent" would have been the easy pick here, but the Lakers couldn't necessarily foresee the knee troubles that torpedoed his season. Plus, he has a shot to make it all worthwhile if he can provide a boost in the postseason—something Reddish is highly unlikely to do.

Memphis Grizzlies: Trading for Marcus Smart

In a best-case scenario, Marcus Smart could have stabilized the Memphis Grizzlies' secondary playmaking, replaced Dillon Brooks' wing defense and stood in as the starting point guard during Ja Morant's season-opening 25-game suspension.

In the wake of a snakebit season during which none of the Grizzlies' best-case scenarios materialized, the trade that brought Smart aboard looks like a disaster. He logged just 20 games and couldn't help Memphis avoid one of the most disappointing seasons in the league.

Tyus Jones went to the Washington Wizards in the three-team exchange that landed Smart, and the Grizzlies' previous backup point guard shot 41.4 percent from deep and led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio for the sixth straight season. He probably would have been a better caretaker in Morant's absence than Smart, even if the latter had been healthy.

And let's not let Memphis off the hook on that specific front; Smart's rugged style means missed time should have been the expectation. Prior to this season, he'd exceeded 70 games just once since 2018-19.

The Grizzlies also gave up the pick that became Marcus Sasser, who has an outside shot at making an All-Rookie team, and the rights to the Warriors' top-four-protected 2024 first-round pick.

Boston netted Kristaps Porziņģis in the three-team swap along with two first-rounders. Framed that way, Memphis' side of the exchange looks even worse.

Miami Heat: Not Landing Damian Lillard

Damian Lillard's first year with the Milwaukee Bucks was rocky, to say the least. His scoring volume and efficiency were down from last year's levels and below his career rates, and he never quite established the two-man chemistry with Giannis Antetokounmpo that many anticipated.

He still would have been hugely helpful to the Miami Heat, though.

In addition to justifying cap-clearing moves like allowing Gabe Vincent and Max Strus to walk, a Lillard acquisition probably would have helped the Heat lighten Jimmy Butler's workload and produced a finish higher than 21st in offensive efficiency.

Had they landed Lillard, it obviously would have prevented Jrue Holiday from winding up with a Boston Celtics squad that won more games than any other team. Add to that the possibility of Miami sending out Tyler Herro, who missed half of the season due to injury, and missing out on Dame gets more painful all the time.

Lillard to Miami seemed like a foregone conclusion until it wasn't. The Heat will be thinking about what could have been for a long time.

Milwaukee Bucks: Replacing Mike Budenholzer

From almost the first moment of Adrian Griffin's tenure as Milwaukee Bucks head coach, something felt off.

Top assistant Terry Stotts resigned just five days prior to the start of the season. That should have raised a red flag or two, and the ominous signs only continued from there.

Remember the strange new way the Bucks were defending, suddenly asking Brook Lopez—one of the best drop-coverage centers of the last decade—to come farther out on the perimeter to pressure ball-handlers? Or how Milwaukee looked oddly disorganized on offense and never got back in transition?

"Sometimes as coaches, we're too smart for our own selves," Griffin told reporters after the Bucks beat the Knicks on Nov. 3, thanks largely to several players convincing him to go back to the pick-and-roll coverages they'd employed so successfully under former head coach Mike Budenholzer.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was clearly frustrated in media availabilities from an early juncture, the Damian Lillard integration wasn't going all that smoothly and, ultimately, Milwaukee parted ways with Griffin on Jan. 24. The Bucks were one of the least stable 30-13 outfits in memory at the time.

Doc Rivers is in charge now, and the adjustment period to a fourth coach in less than a calendar year hasn't been smooth. Milwaukee's record under him is far worse than it was under Griffin.

Worst of all, it's hard to argue Milwaukee is in better hands today than it was with Budenholzer at the helm.

Minnesota Timberwolves: The Timing of the Ownership Controversy

Whether you fall on the side of Glen Taylor or the group led by Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, we can all agree the timing of the Minnesota Timberwolves' ownership controversy stinks.

Just as they were wrapping up their most successful season in two decades, a time that should have been reserved for unmitigated celebration, Wolves fans had to deal with Taylor voiding a contract that would have finalized the sale of the team to Lore and Rodriguez.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Taylor was concerned that a payroll projection of $171 million for 2024-25, provided in documents from Lore and Rodriguez, would "jeopardize the franchise's ability to compete for a championship."

That number is below the projected luxury tax and would be practically unreachable without trimming significant salary. Karl-Anthony Towns' new extension kicks in next season, and while the documents didn't outline how the Wolves would cut so much cash, KAT's new $49.3 million salary practically leaps off the page. So, in addition to off-court squabbles overshadowing what should be a jubilant time in Minnesota, there's also Towns and the rest of the roster's mindsets to consider.

Ahead of what could be the deepest postseason run in years, some of the Wolves' best players might be wondering if they're actually putting on a farewell tour.

New Orleans Pelicans: Brandon Ingram's Injury

Brandon Ingram left the game against the Orlando Magic on March 21 with a knee contusion, and even though the New Orleans Pelicans lost that game by 15, they still controlled the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.

On a heater since the All-Star break, the Pels were poised to go on a postseason run with the benefit of home-court advantage in the first round, something they'd never had before.

A 7-6 stretch ensued, sending they tumbled out of the top four and into the play-in mix. Some of New Orleans' slide was due to forces outside its control; the Mavericks' surge might have resulted in the Pels slipping out of the 4 vs. 5 matchup even if Ingram had been healthy.

Still, the Pelicans have so much to prove in a postseason setting. The last time they played a game with stakes, in the In-Season Tournament, they crumbled. That brutal, listless loss to the Lakers was the low point New Orleans and Zion Williamson needed to kick themselves into gear, but it was always going to be tough to trust them in pressurized competition until they proved they were ready for it.

Ingram's injury and the resulting standings slippage will only make it harder for New Orleans to go on a deep run.

New York Knicks: Beating the Bulls in Game No. 82

Congratulations, New York Knicks! You won on the final day of the regular season and secured an improbable No. 2 seed in the East, beating out the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic and everyone else not named the Boston Celtics.

Considering the raft of injuries that kept New York from playing at full strength for the entirety of the post-All-Star-break portion of the season, that's a monumental achievement.

However, the reward feels more like a punishment: A first-round date with the Philadelphia 76ers or Miami Heat.

The No. 3 seed and a tussle with the Indiana Pacers looks a whole lot easier than either of those two options, one of which would pit the Knicks against reigning MVP Joel Embiid and the other against a Heat squad that has made a habit of eliminating contenders.

The Knicks have done things the hard way all season, demanding absurd minute totals from players like Josh Hart and Miles McBride, asking Jalen Brunson to play All-NBA ball with no spacing around him and overcoming massive personnel losses.

Playing themselves onto a tougher path was an on-brand move. This time, New York may have made things too difficult for itself.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Not Swinging Bigger than Gordon Hayward

Gordon Hayward was a reasonable flier for an Oklahoma City Thunder team that had played well enough by the trade deadline to begin thinking about shoring up playoff weaknesses.

Josh Giddey's potential postseason struggles were one such issue, as it stood to reason smart teams would dare the reluctant shooter to beat them from deep on offense and attack him on the other end.

Hayward was clearly past his prime and frequently injured, but he was the kind of ball-mover and semi-reliable deep threat OKC could justify taking a shot on.

He hit his threes but rarely looked like someone the Thunder could trust in high-stakes games, and their decision to bring him aboard instead of a big man who might be useful against all the size out West looks worse now.

OKC has done just fine playing with Chet Holmgren as the lone big man, but every frailty matters more in the playoffs. The Thunder's No. 28 ranking in rebound rate is on the short list of flaws most likely to result in postseason exit that comes earlier than expected. Hayward can't help the Thunder there.

Orlando Magic: Their 1st-Round Picks

It's usually a mistake to judge draft choices after just one year, but the Orlando Magic did so much else correctly that they haven't really left us an alternative. So, let's highlight their decision to take Anthony Black at No. 6 and Jett Howard at No. 11.

The Magic's frontcourt was set coming into the season with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr. That made taking a pair of guards the obvious move, but Orlando may have simply picked the wrong ones.

Black is going to wind up posting an excellent 39.4 percent hit rate from long range, but on exceedingly low volume for a guard. The shooting questions that dotted his pre-draft profile have not been answered, and a 61.3 percent mark from the foul line indicates major flaws remain. At least he played a real role, starting 33 games and averaging 16.9 minutes while defending ably.

Howard was practically invisible. He appeared in just 18 contests, totaling 67 minutes and shooting 33.3 percent from the field. Theoretically the type of floor-spacer a congested Magic offense needed, he barely played and provided no shooting when he did.

Hope remains. Howard is only 20 and averaged 18.5 points on a 44.9/37.7/81.3 shooting split in the G League. For now, though, both he and Black have a long way to go to justify their draft slots.

Phoenix Suns: Trading for Bradley Beal

Technically, the Phoenix Suns acquired Bradley Beal about a week before the 2023-24 league year started. We're fudging the details to include that trade here because it'd feel so ridiculous to choose anything over that future-crippling, flexibility-sapping, mostly unsuccessful blockbuster move.

Beal appeared in six of Phoenix's first 30 games, allowing skeptics of the trade to immediately draw an X on the "injury risk" square of their bingo cards. Even when healthy, his skill set was duplicative to those of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

Anyone who thought adding a third score-first player (at the cost of roster depth and balance) to a team that already had two elite bucket-getters did a lot of self-satisfied nodding as Phoenix posted the NBA's worst fourth-quarter plus/minus while playing some truly uninspiring "your turn, my turn" offense.

Phoenix is bereft of draft capital after giving up four first-round swaps and six second-rounders to get Beal, and it's still on the hook for the remaining three years and $161 million on his contract after this season. The second apron and all its roster-building hindrances looms this summer. Durant will turn 36 early next season. Booker's eye may start to wander.

If the Suns spend the rest of the decade circling the drain, it'll be because of the deal they swung to add an overpriced third option to a team that needed something different.

Philadelphia 76ers: Not Knocking on Wood

Alternate regret possibilities: Not enough lucky rabbits' feet, insufficient belief in wishing on stars, opening too many umbrellas indoors, breaking mirrors.

We're only going with "bad luck" once in this exercise, and the Philadelphia 76ers are the most logical choice. They regret being unfortunate.

When Joel Embiid hurt his knee against the Warriors on Jan. 30, he was averaging 35.3 points, 11.3 boards and 5.7 assists for a 29-17 Sixers squad that was within a hot week of overtaking the Boston Celtics in the East. They went 11-18 without him and got outscored by nearly 5.0 points per 100 possessions until he returned.

Almost everything else Philadelphia did was right. It got James Harden off the roster, sending the suddenly unplayable PJ Tucker with him. It nailed a minimum signing by adding Kelly Oubre Jr., let Tyrese Maxey spread his wings (and didn't anger him by putting off extension talks until this summer), preserved maximum cap space and seemingly hired the correct head coach in Nick Nurse.

The only thing that went meaningfully wrong, Embiid's injury, owed to the whims of fortune and had nothing to do with the Sixers themselves. That's regrettable, but it's not Philly's fault.

Portland Trail Blazers: Going All-In on Scoot Henderson

It's way too early to give up on Scoot Henderson, but it's fair to say that his rookie season fell far short of expectations.

The point guard was supposed to be one of the best prospects at his position in years, but anyone still holding that opinion is operating on faith rather than actual evidence.

None of the 170 players who took at least 500 shots this season finished with a lower true shooting percentage than the Portland Trail Blazers rookie.

The Blazers were going nowhere with Damian Lillard, and the decision they made to trade the franchise icon was the right one. But the notion that a move had to happen because Henderson was such a can't-miss star now seems misguided.

At least a dozen rookies picked after Henderson outperformed him, not the least of which being No. 2 selection Brandon Miller. Worse still, Deandre Ayton was less efficient and less productive as a scorer than he was a year ago. Robert Williams III lost all but six games this season to injury, and Malcolm Brogdon didn't play after Feb. 2.

All three of the main incoming assets (not including picks) from the Lillard trade appear less valuable now than they were when Portland acquired them.

The process of trading Dame was a mess, but it would have been worth it if Henderson had flashed the potential to captain an era as successful as the one Lillard led. Failing that, it would have been nice if some of the pieces Portland got for the departing star had panned out or at least maintained their future trade value.

None of that happened.

Sacramento Kings: Failing to Upgrade the Defense

It's not like the Sacramento Kings could have been confused about what the roster lacked after last season. When you post the highest offensive rating in the league and get bounced in the first round of the playoffs by a lower seed, there's no denying defense was the problem.

So, it was strange when the Kings' main offseason move was extending Domantas Sabonis, one of the shakier defensive bigs in the league, for another four years and $195 million.

No imported wing stoppers. No rotation-caliber shot-swatting bigs. No new defensive additions whatsoever. Instead of finding some help, the Kings chose to rely on continuity, trust in a leap from Keegan Murray and another offseason getting reps in head coach Mike Brown's system to solve the problem.

Murray grew defensively, and De'Aaron Fox was more committed than ever on that end. As a result, Sacramento's defense improved from 25th to 19th. That was nowhere near enough to offset slippage from No. 1 to No. 14 on offense. The Kings needed outside help and didn't get any in the offseason or at the trade deadline.

The lack of defensive upgrades looms even larger now that injuries to Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk have degraded an already diminished offensive attack. A team that used to have little margin for error on D now has none at all.

San Antonio Spurs: Zach Collins' Extension

The San Antonio Spurs probably wish they hadn't entered Victor Wembanyama's first season without more capable setup artists to ease his transition into the NBA. And they'd likely take back the early-season experiment that saw Jeremy Sochan, a suspect-shooting power forward, starting at the point.

But none of those decisions will linger. Zach Collins' two-year, $34.8 million extension, which doesn't even kick in until 2024-25, will.

The 26-year-old started each of the Spurs' first 20 games alongside Wembanyama, theoretically providing floor-spacing on offense and another big body to shield the rookie from tough matchups on the other end.

It wasn't the worst theory, even if the Frenchman showed quickly he needed no protection, but the numbers with those two bigs sharing the floor were rough from the start.

On the season, San Antonio was minus-12.2 when Wembanyama and Collins played together. With Wembanyama at the 5 and Collins on the bench, the Spurs were a relatively respectable minus-0.5. The two most-used configurations with Wemby at the 5 and Collins on the bench both posted positive net ratings across over 1,000 combined possessions.

Big picture, the Spurs are in great shape. Wembanyama has the look of an all-time great, and the historic rookie numbers back up the eye test. But Wemby is San Antonio's most important player since Tim Duncan, and it didn't exactly set him up to succeed.

Toronto Raptors: Not Extending or Trading Gary Trent Jr.

The Toronto Raptors chose a direction and heeded the lesson learned about allowing key players to hit free agency...for the most part. Because while they finally moved on from Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, avoiding the "gone for nothing" experience they endured with Fred VanVleet last summer, they still let Gary Trent Jr. play out the final year of his deal.

Though Trent isn't the same caliber of player as any of the three aforementioned Raptors, he's certainly not without value. Since entering the league in 2018-19, he has shot 38.6 percent on 6.4 long-range attempts per game. Only nine other players matched or exceeded those numbers, and all but two—Buddy Hield and Paul George—had fewer than his 408 steals in that span.

Still just 25, Trent could theoretically improve as a rebounder and finisher. Even if he doesn't, his combo of efficient, high-volume three-point shooting and off-ball defense should make him desirable in a thin free-agent market.

Toronto should have either extended him ahead of free agency or traded him away. Now, he can leave for no return at all.

Utah Jazz: Acquiring John Collins

The Utah Jazz dealt for John Collins in July. By December, Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune was reporting on the organization's "frustration" with its new acquisition.

Any time sentiment on a player flips that quickly, it's a pretty good indicator of regret.

Utah took a sensible flier on a distressed asset, landing Collins for Rudy Gay and a future second-round pick.

There was a time not so long ago when Collins would have cost at least one first-rounder to acquire, so the price seemed right. But NBA transactions aren't just about the outgoing and incoming assets, and in Collins' case, the cost to Utah was higher.

The 26-year-old took up a roster spot and significant minutes, preventing Utah from playing some of its younger pieces earlier in the year. Not only that, but his $25.3 million salary clogged up the books and made it harder for the Jazz to add either more young prospects or veteran supporting pieces for the developmental players it already had.

Collins still has two years (2025-26 is a player option) and $51.9 million left on the five-year, $125 million deal he originally signed with the Atlanta Hawks, so the Jazz won't be out from under this one for a while—unless they want to fork over assets to move a contract that now grades out as a negative value.

Washington Wizards: Trading for Jordan Poole

The thought process behind the trade for Jordan Poole was sound.

The Washington Wizards were rebuilding after finally moving on from Bradley Beal, and Poole seemed like an intriguing buy-low candidate. It was easy enough to explain away his ugly 2022-23 performance as a result of Draymond Green punching him during practice, an incident that hung over the team all year.

Poole's four-year, $128 million contract was a little pricey, but not if the Wizards were getting a 24-year-old who'd played a major role on a title-winner in 2022—one who could theoretically handle lead offensive duties and might level up with a change of scenery.

Now, it's clear the Wizards would have been better off keeping Chris Paul, the man they dealt to get Poole. Even if all Washington did was flip Paul for an expiring deal at the deadline or decline to guarantee his $30 million salary for 2024-25, it would have been better than onboarding Poole and what now looks like one of the worst contracts in the league.

If anything, Poole was even worse in Washington than he was during his last checked-out year in Golden State. He didn't compete defensively, shot the ball worse from everywhere on the floor and even got booted from the starting lineup for a dozen games. He made $27.4 million this season and fell out of the first unit on a team that finished with a win total in the teens.

That's about as regrettable as it gets.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Salary info via Spotrac.

Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@gt_hughes), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.