After a long hiatus, I couldn't resist coming back to write again for the annual tradition of the NBA Trade Deadline! This is mostly just to keep a record of what trades have gone down in the new year, and I'll add some thoughts on deals later. For now, I'm summing things up with when deals went down, crediting who reported them, and details of the contracts and picks exchanged. Some of the draft pick details are from RealGM, these salaries are from a combination of Basketball Insiders and Spotrac, and my color coding is the same as usual: Player Option/Team Option/Not Fully Guaranteed.
Jazz shed salary (January 4th, Woj)
Thunder receive:
2028 Jazz 2nd round pick
Jazz receive:
Cash considerations
Utah shaved Oni's salary from their luxury tax bill and opened up a roster spot, and Oklahoma City waived him right away before his salary became more guaranteed than the $850,331 he had from that point of the season. Easy business to add yet another draft pick.
New York adds Reddish (January 13th, Woj)
Knicks receive:
Hawks receive:
2022 Hornets 1st round pick (protected 1-18, then 1-16 in '23, 1-14 through '25, then becomes '26 and '27 2nds)
I understood this one from both sides, and while I prefer New York's side of it, I didn't think it's necessarily a huge difference-maker like some portrayed it to be. Reddish has flashed tantalizing potential going back to high school, but he still hasn't improved his efficiency, especially his two point percentage. He finished his Hawks career at just 43.3% inside the arc to go with 32.9% from deep, and that's after an improvement to 36.2% on 3's this season. In theory, he can help lead bench units and eventually become a starter next to his former Duke teammate RJ Barrett, but so far coach Tom Thibodeux hasn't trusted him yet with just 50 total minutes since the trade. Knox similarly never panned out under Thibs, so swapping him out ahead of restricted free agency with one of their extra 1st rounders was a fair price to pay.
Atlanta had almost too many quality rotation options, so it's a solid move to cash one in to pick up a 1st, albeit a heavily protected one. Reddish is eligible for an extension this summer, and they probably didn't feel like one would come easily, especially after they've already handed out big deals to Trae Young, John Collins, Clint Capela, and Kevin Huerter. It's a disappointing but not unsurprising ending after taking Reddish 10th overall in the draft pick from trading Luka Doncic for Young in the 2018 draft.
Denver adds Forbes in 3-teamer (January 18th, Woj)
Nuggets receive:
Celtics receive:
Spurs receive:
2028 Nuggets 2nd round pick (protected 31-33)
This one won't move the needle, but it was good business on all sides. Denver moved two of their many injured players for some bench reinforcements at just the cost of a 2nd rounder six years from now. Boston shed salary as part of their quest to duck the luxury tax, and by taking their new players into the Kemba Walker Trade Exception, they create a new TE equal to Hernangomez's salary with a later expiration date. Sitting outside of contention, San Antonio added an extra draft pick for a veteran on an expiring deal and got a free look at Hernangomez, who hardly played for the Celtics but has flashed usefulness in the past, ironically with Denver.
Clips pull shocking addition for now and the future (February 4th, Woj)
Clippers receive:
Trail Blazers receive:
2025 Pistons 2nd round pick
It was equally surprising that Portland didn't get a future 1st in this deal and that it was the Clippers who were buyers despite their stars' injuries. Ty Lue has navigated his squad to stay in the Play-In mix, though, and I suppose there is still a chance that Kawhi Leonard and/or Paul George do come back. With Powell under contract for four more years as he returns to his UCLA roots, this is as much a trade about the future, and he has useful experience as both a starter and 6th man who is comfortable working off of stars, including with Leonard in Toronto when they won the 2019 title. Acquiring Covington's Bird rights is also valuable as they wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to try to sign him to more than the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception in free agency.
I guess the Blazers had some buyers remorse after feeling obligated to give Powell that big contract over the summer after trading Gary Trent Jr. for him at last year's Deadline. Although this is a bit underwhelming of a return for giving up both him and Covington, Johnson was just picked in the 1st round last year and has a lot of potential with his athleticism. I was really surprised he fell to the 21st pick much like when Nassir Little fell to 25th a couple of years prior, and the Blazers have done well in developing the latter along with Anfernee Simons (24th), which is a promising sign. Bledsoe's contract only being guaranteed for $3.9 million this summer provides them some much-needed flexibility, and this drops them below the tax line while LA increases their bill by $19 million, per ESPN's Bobby Marks. At least, until the Clips' next move...
Cleveland get LeVert deal done (February 6th, Woj)
Cavaliers receive:
2027 Jazz 2nd round pick
2022 Pelicans 1st round pick (protected 1-4 and 15-30, then becomes 2025 Bucks 1st protected 1-4)
2026 2nd round pick (better of Pelicans or Trail Blazers, per Andrew Lopez)
2027 Pelicans 2nd round pick
2027 2nd round pick (Worst of Rockets, Pacers, Thunder, or Heat, via Utah)
Miami sheds salary and gains flexibility (Team announcement)
Heat receive:
Thunder receive:
This seemingly minor move is actually a big help to Miami. At first glance it might just look like they sent out a guaranteed salary so that they can clear a roster spot and get some breathing room under the tax threshold so that they can convert Caleb Martin's two-way deal to a standard contract and/or play the buyout market. And while it does accomplish that, more crucially, amending the 1st round pick they already owe from a 2023 selection to a 2025 one allows them to now be able to trade a 2022 or 2023 1st round pick without violating the Stepien Rule that prevents teams from not having 1st rounders in consecutive years. They didn't make any further moves at the deadline, but that is some valuable flexibility. On a personal note, it was fun for me to beat the expert on this by nine minutes.
For OKC, the benefit of playing ball here is that this spaces out all of their extra 1st round picks so that they don't have a roster jam and increases the potential upside of one of them. Instead of getting a non-lottery pick next year with the Heat likely to be a title contender again, now they'll get the pick after either the '24-25 season when they may decline to team picking in the late teens or after the '25-26 season when they're even older and the pick will be unprotected. Plus they get a look at Okpala, who is the rare disappointment in the Heat development system but has immense physical tools that made him the 32nd pick in 2019 after Miami traded three 2nd rounders for him. The Thunder are so far below the salary floor that taking on his contract just slightly reduces the payout they'll have to distribute to all of their players, and they'll have plenty of room to retain him in restricted free agency if they like what he sees.
Kings receive:
Bucks receive:
2023 2nd round pick (Lesser of Cavaliers or Warriors)
2024 Kings 2nd round pick (via Detroit, per James Edwards III)
Cash considerations
Pistons receive:
Clippers receive:
For as much flak as Sacramento caught for their first trade, this is a much better value play to finally land DiVincenzo after the failed sign-and-trade for Bogdan Bogdanovich in 2020. Bagley was never going to live up to the expectations of laughably being taken 2nd ahead of Doncic, has struggled to be a steady contributor amid injuries, and is headed for restricted free agency. Turning him into your potential starting shooting guard for the foreseeable future and a couple of fliers is a good move. DiVincenzo is also a pending RFA since he was taken 17th in that same draft, of course, and while he's likely to be more expensive, he fills a need in their starting lineup now after acquiring Sabonis to go with Fox, Holmes, and Harrison Barnes whereas Bagley was in a more crowded frontcourt. The 4th pick in 2017, Jackson revived his career last season in his hometown of Detroit, and while he hasn't been as effective in this campaign, maybe a return to Northern California where he attended high school will help him return to his prolific ways since he just turned 25 today. Lyles is only 26 himself despite being around since 2015 when he went 12th, and he's in the middle of a quietly solid season (10.4. PPG and 4.8 RPG in only 19.4 MPG) after mostly just teasing scouts with his skills in previous stints. With no financial obligation to either, it's a worthwhile gamble for the Kings.
Milwaukee could be argued as the biggest winner in this deal since Ibaka will have the largest impact on the playoffs. He provides more rim protection and shooting that they have been short of since Brook Lopez has been out since the very first game of the season after back surgery. While it's tough losing a homegrown quality starter in DiVincenzo, they already replaced his minutes with Grayson Allen and an improved Pat Connaughton while he's been out with a bad ankle injury since last year's championship run. They've already proven they can win without him, so getting an insurance policy for Lopez while also adding picks and cash is pretty much a no-brainer before potentially losing him this summer amid tax concerns.
From the Detroit perspective, turning two bench pieces that aren't in your long-term plans and a couple of 2nd round picks into the former #2 pick with matching rights in free agency is worth it. They've long been rumored to be high on Bagley, and there's a chance that he could be the scoring big man they're looking to pair with rookie Cade Cunningham. The 6'11" lefty is only a 29.9% 3-point shooter so far in his career after nailing 39.7% from the shorter college line (albeit on only 58 attempts), but his interior scoring has led to 19.6 points per 36 minutes in his 148 career games and a 17.0 PER. While that's not exactly a large sample size, it's reason for optimism as he moves on from the expectations in Sacramento.
Lastly, the Clips are basically playing the middle here by shedding some of the salary and tax payments that they took on last week while also creating a valuable Trade Exception equal to Ibaka's salary since Hood and Ojeleye can be absorbed through the Minimum Exception. This move drops them from a luxury tax bill that inflated to around $112 million down to about $82 million. With his pending free agency and the team suffering back to back bad losses to show they're not really playoff contenders, this was an easy decision.
Toronto deals Dragic for Young (Shams)
Raptors receive:
Spurs receive:
2022 Raptors 1st round pick (protected 1-14, then 1-13 before becoming two 2nd round picks)
After so much speculation, the biggest trade of the season is done at last, and in a way, it completes the theme of exchanging non-contributors for upgrades. Citing his mental health in Philadelphia following last year's playoff exit, Ben Simmons has not played at all this season while Millsap and Brooklyn had come to an agreement that it was best if they moved on from each other. Thus, Philly is essentially swapping out Curry and Drummond for Harden and Millsap in this year's rotation. While it's funny that Doc Rivers is trading away his son-in-law after moving his son Austin previously, this is obviously a big upgrade, and it is a move they needed to make in order to really capitalize on Joel Embiid's MVP-caliber season. It looks like including another 1st rounder down the line ended up replacing Mattise Thybulle in the long-rumored package, and that tradeoff further helps their cause this season. Harden and Embiid will have to figure out how best to play together quickly, but president of basketball operations Daryl Morey obviously knows what he is getting in The Beard from their Houston days together. The former MVP reportedly picking up his player option for 2022-23 as part of the trade is an interesting wrinkle, and it likely is with the understanding that they will come to an extension based on that huge $47,366,760 figure rather than opting out and signing a new deal. Operating this way, with Harden and Morey already committing to each other, allows them to potentially add four years and $222,813,239 for a total of $270,180,000, which is slightly more than the $269,853,016 if he opted out and re-signed. That contract could (read: will) look ugly down the line as he turns 33 this summer given his recent health issues and his reputation for not exactly being LeBron when it comes to taking care of his body, but this is the ultimate win-now move at a high but pretty fair price.
On the Brooklyn side, I also think that this was a move they had to make. The harmony amongst their stars wasn't quite the same this year, and it is unfortunate that Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving only ended up playing 16 total games together (including playoffs) with 13 wins. Like in their Thunder days, it's a story of "What If" for KD and the Beard in particular after the two of them were a foot on the line and an exhausted overtime away from beating the eventual champions, Milwaukee, last year after Irving hurt his ankle. (Not to mention Game 3 when Harden was out and Durant and Irving nearly took a 3-0 lead.) But with Harden unhappy in Brooklyn, wanting out (again) and able to walk away for nothing this summer, recouping assets was a necessity, and there's potential that Simmons' passing and defense ends up being a better fit between Durant and Irving. Or at least better than this year's version of Harden that hasn't been as efficient as his honeymoon period last season and has been disengaged in recent games before sitting out with hamstring soreness that may or not really be cause for concern.
Looking back at the deal with Houston from just 13 months ago, the Nets gave up Jarrett Allen, LeVert, Taurean Prince, Rudion Kurucs, three of their 1st round picks, and the right to swap spots in four other 1st rounds (starting last year). After essentially a full season of Harden (80 regular season games and 9 in the playoffs), they're getting two 1st rounders back, Simmons, Curry, and Drummond. The flaws in Simmons' ability to and even willingness to shoot are well documented, but let's not forget that he's seven years younger than Harden and made the All-Star team three times, first team All-Defense twice, third team All-NBA, and Rookie of the Year already in his first four seasons. Without him this year, Philly has fallen from #2 in defensive rating to #10 and especially on the glass, where they've fallen from 8th to just 27th in rebound percentage even with having Embiid. That's an area where he and Drummond can help immediately since the Nets 17th in overall rebound percentage but a paltry 27th in defensive rebound percentage. And while he's no Harden, Curry has proven that he can handle an increased playmaking role with career-highs in 15 PPG and 4 APG to go with his career 3P% of 43.7%, which ranks 5th in NBA history. A Curry playing with Durant has done great things in the past, and while this trade may not help Brooklyn's title chances this season, which is already in doubt with Irving refusing to get vaccinated to play in home games, I think it will help them in the long run.
Boston adds White (Shams with the first news, Haynes the details)
Celtics receive:
Spurs receive:
2022 Celtics 1st round pick (protected 1-4)
Right to swap 2028 1st round picks (protected for #1, then becomes 2028 2nd)
In a day mixed with expected trades and surprises, this one stood out as one completely out of the blue, at least for me. San Antonio has been ridiculously guard heavy, but I didn't expect them to move White in the first year of his extension. While he is already 27 and in the midst of a down shooting year, the 5.6 APG are a career-high with just 1.8 turnovers, and he has the size to defend either guard spot. It's definitely not an upgrade that comes cheaply with what is currently set to be the 18th pick, that sneaky pick swap so far down the line, and Richardson's outside shooting bouncing back to 39.7% this year, but locking up a needed passer on a good contract could be worth it.
After drafting so many young perimeter players in recent years between All-Star Dejounte Murray, Olympian Keldon Johnson, Lonnie Walker, Devin Vassell, and Josh Primo, it's understandable that the Spurs could part with a valuable player in White. They are adding two more in the deal, but both have more size to move up to small forward behind Johnson if needed. Richardson should fit in well as an experienced 3+D player with some passing skills, and I'm interested to see if they can get more out of Langford. He comes with a high pedigree and has flashed at times, but he's only played in 94 games through two and a half years. In any case, they now have a treasure trove of draft assets that would make anyone outside of OKC blush with the upside of the swap rights being so far down the line and protected for just the top pick as a fun little add-on.
Phoenix adds Craig again (Woj)
Suns receive:
Pacers receive:
I've hammered Phoenix pretty hard for reaching on Smith with the 10th pick, especially after they were lucky to see Haliburton surprisingly available, but man does it look bad now. They already declined the third year option on his rookie scale contract after just a year, and now they're dealing him just as salary fodder with a 2nd round pick to bring Craig back...after letting him walk in free agency over the summer. One might say it's hard to quibble with them given that they have the best record in the league, but this is pretty bad asset management. I guess you can credit them for not falling into the sunk cost fallacy and improving the team now, at least.
Conversely, I thought Smith was somewhat interesting in the 2020 draft, just not so high in the draft and at such an opportunity cost. Now Indiana gets him in a "redraft" basically while adding an extra pick and shedding the salary of the useful but 31 year old Craig. They'll be limited to $4,670,160 as the highest possible salary if they like what they see since that was how much his declined team option was for, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem with his stock so down at the moment. This deal also sets them up to have cap space this summer that is somewhere in the mid to high $20 millions depending on their draft picks.
Conversely, I don't like this for Washington as you might expect. I guess they weren't satisfied with Holiday in his first season there and weren't looking to re-sign him, so they decided to just cut their losses and help out Ted Leonsis' wallet while creating a $3,980,551 Trade Exception.
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