The NBA saw quite a bit of movement throughout the offseason and that's not all that surprising considering the amount of talent that was available in free agency. LeBron James ended up leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers and signing a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers as he joins a very young and talented team. In addition, Paul George made one of the most shocking moves of the offseason when he elected to re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder rather than play for his hometown Lakers. On top of that, All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins shocked the NBA world when he signed a one-year deal for the mid-level exception with the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
The trade market even got some love during the offseason as the San Antonio Spurs finally saw the Kawhi Leonard saga come to a close. The Spurs ended up trading Leonard and Danny Green to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for All-Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan and former lottery pick Jakob Poeltl. DeRozan has played his whole career in Toronto and now he'll hope to elevate his game even further under head coach Gregg Popovich in San Antonio.
It's no secret that several one-year deals were also hand out as players will attempt to cash in next summer. Of course, there's Cousins with the Warriors as he comes off of a torn Achilles injury and Isaiah Thomas will try to rebuild his value with the Denver Nuggets after hip surgery. There's quite a bit of talent that has switched addresses, but some of the NBA's elite teams should remain that way when the 2018-19 season rolls around. ESPN projected how all 30 NBA teams will finish record wise and also predicted the finish of each team in their respective conferences. Here's how ESPN believes that the NBA season will shake out.