The East looks weaker right now after those Achilles injury that happened on Tatum, Haliburton and Lillard, so I believe the East is up for grabs still, and teams like Cleveland, New York and even the Pacers might still compete for a playoff spot. They can be a good team still like you said, but a title contender team and not without Hali and Turner.

Speaking of Turner, I also believe that losing him has a great impact as well. Losing Hali for a season because of injury is already a bad thing, but losing your main center and has been in your team for a decade, and going to your "rival" team makes it even worse. On the flip side, they signed Isaiah Jackson to a 3-year $21M deal to fill Turner's shoes and he will be their starting center next season, but I don't know if he can do it TBH. As for Siakam, I expect him to be their number one guy next season in terms of offense, but the Pacers are pretty much balanced as a team so many will help him still.

One thing’s for sure, he doesn't have the outside shooting that Turner had. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing, since he can focus more on defense. What really exposed Indiana in the finals was their lack of interior defense. OKC wasn’t even that hot from the outside, but they played smart  using two bigs and attacking the paint hard. That’s something the Pacers need to learn from. They have to adjust and exploit mismatches better.

On paper, Turner’s numbers look good, but this change was bound to happen. When a player has already made up his mind to leave, even a high contract won’t stop it. So might as well accept the transition and build around what they really need now.

After how many seasons, the Lakers already have found their NEW franchise player in Luka Doncic and they're ready to give him a contract extension this August 2, but the question is will Luka accept that contract extension, and because they already got Luka, they will move on from a 40-year old Le-GM already which is good TBH because Le-GM held the management as hostages for many years. Doing trades with his desire, doing what he wants to do. The management lets Le-GM do what he wants to do especially in those trades in the past.

No player especially a 40-year old one will be untouchable because despite the achievements that he got, despite the accolades that he got, let's not forget the fact that he's aging and his performance declines as his age goes up and TBH, I'm kind of expected it already that they will not give him a contract extension. I mean no management wants a 40-year old player to be their franchise player, right? It's good that the management let him go already. They're done with him.
What he means is that, this might be his final year as a Laker and there's a huge chance that it's either he will become a free agent in the 2026-2027 season if he decides to play again for the 24th season, or he will retire after this 2025-2026 season. That's what "didn't offer an extension" means.

Wemby from last season really shows signs of greatness already. But your argument has some weight though, not all number 1 pick became a great player, there are some that are really bust because of injuries or wasn't able to adjust to NBA playing style.

But for Cooper, it seems that this kid is ready, but it's not like Wemby or Lebron during their first year. So yeah, maybe he needs a couple of years to developed and reach his prime before we can truly see if he is really that number 1 pick that everyone is talking about him.

LoL. It’s a buy 1 take 1 deal that they are willing to risk just to hold Giannis. 

To be fair, Thanasis makes Bucks relevant and noisy on social media due to his quirkiness and meme for sense of humor to the public.

Bucks is paying Thanasis same amount like typical bench players. I think they have nothing to lose by keeping the bros. Haha

I would say he is not going to be a bust, but he is not going to be a superstar neither. I think he is going to be just a good player ,and there is no shame in that. For example, Dame Lillard had a great career right? Could you say he is not a good player? Of course not, he was a great player and he played greatly all his career, I would say we are at the back end of his career now but that doesn't mean we are going to end up with anyone saying he was bad.

I would say that is the level of career Cooper probably will have, not some Giannis Jokic level player, but could be good enough to be part of something bigger, or just carry his team wherever he can. These are all important stuff and could make him be a lot better over course of long time.