The NBA trade deadline has come and gone.
Although there wasn’t a big splash with a star being traded, it was still a pretty hectic trade deadline with 17 trade deadline day trades.
For the most part, the contending teams all stood pat not making any changes to their rosters and will likely be looking to make changes via the buyout market. There were a few contending teams that made some minor major moves to improve their roster but for the most part a lot of the moves that were made were from teams trying to get their cap situations in order for now or the future.
As always, there are winners and losers of the trade deadline so here they are. It should be noted though, that the winners could become losers if the trades go south and the losers could become winners if the trades they made lead to better things for their franchise.
Winners
Mavericks
The Mavericks made two separate deals and both improved their team and gets them closer to really contending. The first was acquiring big man Daniel Gafford from the Wizards in exchange for Richaun Holmes and a 2024 first round pick via the OKC Thunder. The second trade was bringing in forward PJ Washington in exchange for Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and a 2027 protected first round pick.
Bringing in both players gives them much needed depth in the front court that they weren’t getting from Williams or Holmes. Gafford will be able to back up rookie center Dereck Lively while also being in somewhat of a mentoring role. He is a pretty solid paint protector and rebounder and will be a good lob threat for their offense while also being a solid offensive rebounder.
Washington is going to be a much needed wing threat that the Mavs have needed for years now. He will give Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic another scoring threat taking a lot of the pressure off of them while also being able to guard positions 1-4.
This trade is even better for the Mavs because they were desperately trying to part ways with Grant Williams after signing him in the offseason.
Suns
The Suns got off to a rough start due to injuries to their top three guys but they have really started to figure things out and have become one of the hotter teams in the NBA. It has become evident though that they need more depth to help out their big 3.
While they will likely be huge buyers on the buyout market they made a pretty big trade to improve their depth after acquiring Royce O’Neal and David Roddy in a three team trade that sent Chimezie Metu, Yuta Watanabe, and a 2026 pick swap to the Grizzlies and Keita Bates-Diop, Jordan Goodwin, three future second round picks, and the rights to Vanja Marinkovic to the Nets.
These aren’t really “sexy” moves but they are moves that will add some better depth to a team that really needed it.
Sixers
The Sixers may have made the biggest move on deadline day.
In a three team trade with the Pacers and Spurs, they received three point marksmen Buddy Hield while the Pacers negotiated Furkan Korkmaz, Doug McDermott, second round pick in 2024 and 2029, and cash considerations and the Spurs negotiating for Marcus Morris, a 2029 second round pick, and cash considerations.
We won’t really see how this trade works out until Joel Embiid comes back from injury but surrounding one of the best big men in the NBA with one of the best shooters in the league is going to payoff big time for the Sixers. In addition to getting one of the best shooters of the generation, by trading away Korkmaz and Morris, they were able to get under one of the tax thresholds to where they would be able to sign someone in the buyout market. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to.
Losers
Bulls
For the third year in a row, the Bulls didn’t make a trade involving a player before the trade deadline.
They currently sit at 9th in the East at 25-27 and made zero moves to improve their team or show their fans what kind of direction they were heading in. The season isn’t over so they could still move up in the standing but with star Zach Lavine being out due to a season ending foot surgery, that seems unlikely.
Lavine being injured could be the thing that swayed the Bulls from making any moves but they still could have done something to either show signs of starting over or setting themselves up for some kind of progress in the future.
For now, Bulls fans just have to wait and see what the next move for the franchise will be.
Hornets
Does anyone know what the Hornets are doing? Do the Hornets even know what the Hornets are doing?
They made a series of moves that, on the surface, don’t really make sense. They send out two guys in Gordon Hayward and PJ Washington but acquire five more in Seth Curry and Grant Williams from the Mavericks and Davis Bertans, Vasilje Micic, and Tre Mann from the Thunder. Right now, it doesn’t seem like any of those players provide any kind of long term promise.
Bertans, Micic, and Williams are under contract for at least next season while Curry’s contract is non-guaranteed and Mann will be up for an extension this summer. Mann is the best prospect of them all and has been stuck on a very talented Thunder bench but they already have 4 other guys (LaMelo Ball, Nick Smith Jr., Bryce McGowens, and Amari Bailey) that are similar players to him and they don’t play Smith Jr. and Bailey is on a two-way deal.
Simply put, nothing they have done really makes sense right now.
Warriors
The Warriors currently sit at 24-25 which is good for 11th in the West and haven’t really shown signs of any kind of improvement. The only trade they did make was trading away Cory Joseph, a 2025 second round pick, and cash for a 2024 second round pick.
They are also above the first (and second) tax apron so as of right now, they are very limited on what they can do on the buyout market because of the new CBA that says a team above the first tax apron cannot sign a player that was bought out unless that player’s salary was below the non-tax payer mid-level exception which is $12.4 million.
So what can they really do now? How can they improve the roster that has Steph Curry still playing at an elite level?
Right now, it doesn’t seem like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
