The NBA’s final preseason roster cuts rarely get as much attention as those in other sports, where NFL special teams considerations and MLB service-time shenanigans can become nationally relevant stories. Yet that state of affairs is beginning to change as NBA transactions and player-specific stats become increasingly year-round phenomena. The construction of teams’ 2016-17 rosters from stars right down to benchwarmers. Each player has his role.
So let’s take a look at some of the biggest moves teams made to get down to — and under, in one case — 15 men.
Yi passes up his second NBA chance
The Los Angeles Lakers made one of the offseason’s more interesting fringe moves in August when they agreed to a one-year deal with forward Yi Jianlian, a player once considered China’s next great star when the Milwaukee Bucks made him the sixth-overall pick of the 2007 draft.