The 7 worst and/or most perplexing offseason moves

Earlier this week, we celebrated my favorite under-the-radar offseason moves. It’s only fair, then, that we discuss the transactions that bothered or confused me most.

With any of these moves, there are always factors we can’t know. Perhaps an agent is pushing a team behind the scenes to sign a lesser guy in order to have a better shot at a bigger fish; perhaps there are personnel interplays at work that don’t show up in box scores.

Whether that’s true or not, some of these moves are clearly terrible right now. Others may pan out in the long run, but I can’t see the vision clearly.

Hornets re-sign Miles Bridges (3 years/$75M)
Clippers sign Kevin Porter Jr. (2 years/$4.8M)

Let’s leave the basketball aside for a moment.

Miles Bridges and Kevin Porter Jr. are demonstrably two of the worst people in the league. Bridges pleaded no contest to a felony domestic violence charge two years ago after allegedly breaking his girlfriend’s nose and strangling her unconscious in front of their children. He missed more than a year while dealing with the fallout. During that time, he was accused of violating a protective order and throwing billiard balls at the woman’s car (although those charges were eventually dropped).

The Hornets, bafflingly, held onto Bridges the entire time and eventually signed him to a three-year, $75 million contract this offseason. Bridges celebrated by going online and mocking his ex-girlfriend’s injuries.

It’s not like he was helping the Hornets do anything. Charlotte had one of the league’s worst bench units, and they were still better when Bridges was off the court than on.

KPJ has a long history of being horrible, from screaming and throwing things at coaches to reckless driving to multiple allegations of punching women. He’s been dumped by multiple teams and was last seen playing in Greece.

While both players have talent, neither will be an All-Star — and that shouldn’t matter, anyway. Bridges and Porter have blown multiple chances. They don’t deserve more. Shame on Charlotte and the Clippers for providing yet another safe harbor.

Pacers re-sign Obi Toppin (4 years/$60M)

Let’s start with the good. Toppin is coming off a remarkably efficient shooting season, nailing 71% of his twos and 40% of his threes. He is one of the league’s most prolific and effective transition players, and his ability to both run to the rim for an alley-oop and float to the corner for a triple made him the perfect running mate for Tyrese Haliburton.

Toppin’s offense held up during the team’s playoff run to the Eastern Finals. He even survived stints as the backup center, allowing Indiana to maintain a semblance of a five-out offense at all times.

He’s fast, fun, a frequent flier, and just 26 years old. So, what’s not to like?

So much. There’s so much not to like.