NBA Trade Deadline Recap
The NBA Trade Deadline Came And passed And While Some Have Categorized The Transaction That Made Up The Moments Leading Up To The Three O’Clock Deadline On Thursday As "Mayhem" Or "Madness" Truthfully Outside Of The Most Shocking Deal In NBA History, The Luka Deal, The trade Felt Like Just Another Dose Of What Fans Have Already Witness In Recent Memory Under The New Financial Barricade Of The CBA. The NBA Usually Feels Like The New Marvel Cinematic Universe Where Much Of The Discussion Centers On What Did Take Place And The Players Who Generated More Rumors Than Actually Paper Work.
It starts With What Didn’t Happen Like Kevin Durant Spurning A Return To The Warriors, Entertaining A Move To Miami But Ultimately Remaining In Phoenix. The Suns Also Received Dials About Bradley Beal But The Scoring Guard Will Also Remain In A Suns’s Uniform. Some Fringe Contenders Made Moves To Push The Needle Skyward Other Teams Made Moves That Have Upside if They Can Reclaim The Strength And Pedigree Of The Players And Some Of The Trade Deadline Moves Function As Both.
The Luka DealStood Out Even More Considering How Uniform The Rest Of These Deals Worked Out. The Heist The Lakers Pulled Off MAy Prove Historic.
To Consolidate Trade Assets Or Bump Salary Cap Issues Down The Line. I’ll Discuss The Most Impactful Trades For This Past Week And Grade Their Value. I Only Visited A Few Of These Deals.
San Antonio Spurs get:
De’Aaron Fox
Jordan McLaughlin
Sacramento Kings get:
Zach LaVine
Sidy Cissoko
2025 first-round pick (via Hornets)
2027 first-round pick (via Spurs)
2031 first-round pick (via Timberwolves)
2025 second-round pick (via Bulls)
2028 second-round pick (via Nuggets)
2028 second-round pick (via Bulls)
Chicago Bulls get:
Zach Collins
Tre Jones
Kevin Huerter
Their own 2025 1st-round pick (via Spurs)
The Kings Have Contended With Rumors About Star Guard De’Aaron Fox’s Trade Interest For Little Over A Season Now They’ve Caved In On Those Demands Sending Fox Back Home To Texas. The Deal Places Fox At The Forefront Of The Spurs’ Back Court That Features Future Hall Of Famer Chris Paul and Prodigious Rookie Guard Stephon Castle. Fox Will Form A Terrific Tandem Between He And Big Man Wembayama Already Entrenched As The Spurs Star of The Franchise’s Future. Some of Fox’s Efficiency Numbers Have decreased this Season by Three Points, Field Goal Percentages, Net Rating, and Turnover Percentages. Fox’s 91.4 Percentile in Pick And Roll and Scoring Over One Point Per Possession As The Pick And Roll Handler. Fox Generates A lot Of His Offense the Dribble, With 40.8 Of His Shots coming With 3-6 Dribbles And Another 28.3 Coming From 7 Or Better Dribbles Mostly Pulls Up and Layups With Virtually Little Catch And Shoot Attempts In Play. The Spurs Will Have To Work Fox Into The Mold But he is always making an impact Through Two games. At The 13th In The West Standing, the Spurs Have Time To Crawl Out Of The League’s Sellers and Make At Least The Play In Only Two Games Behind Sacramento In The Standings.
Grade A
The Kings: This Past Off-season Zach Lavine Had His Name Link To Any Team with An Open Budget. Still, With His Contract and Injury History, Most Analysts Consider Him “Damaged Goods” And Several Teams Past On Him Including The Warriors. The Kings Pick Up Lavine On A Career Resurgence His Scoring and field goal Percentage Both jumped from Last Season, He’s Played In 45 Games and He’s Shooting A Career 44.6% From Three Before The Trade. The Kings Reunite Lavine With Derozan. Lavine Replaces The Scoring Kick The Kings Sent Off in Fox As Both Players Score In Similar Fashion. On The Play Derozan Functioned As A Better Pick And Roll Player Than Fox in The 94th Percentile and 1.09 Points Per Possession. Derozan, Lavine, and Malik Monk Will Form an untraditional Backcourt Unit. The Kings Will Have To Score Their Way, Past Teams, Because Lavine’s Salary Negated Them From Picking Up One Of The Other Players Moved In This Trade.
Grade B
The Bulls Pick Up A Couple Of Utility Players In Tre Jones, Big Man Zach Collins, and Sharp Shooter Kevin Heurter And Most Prominently The Team Had Their First Round Pick in 2025 Returned From The Spurs. Jones Provides a Solid Backup Point Guard who Averages Nearly Four Assist Despite Losing The Bulk Of His Minutes To CP3 And Stephon Castle This Season. Zach Collins's Play hurt The Spurs This Season As He’s A Net Negative But He’s A big who Can Stretch The Floor and Score Effectively. heurter Once Room The Three Point Line As A Premiere Floor Spacer But His Numbers Have Dipped To The Lowest Of His Career And He’ll Look To Get More Opportunities In Chicago’s Offense. All Of The Players Mention Could Have Extended Roles Of Prove Cap dump-offs Offs The Most Important Asset Procured by The Bulls First Round Pick Projected as the Top Ten, Even Top Seven Pick If The Bulls Season Flattens Out, Stands Out as The True Gain For The Bulls.
Grade A
Lakers receive:
Hornets receive:
2030 pick swap
2031 first-round pick (unprotected)
The Lakers Kept Dealing After Securing The Move Of The Now and Future With Luka Doncic. Los Angeles Sought Big man help Before Moving Anthony Davis And Needed A Move More after Letting Him go And Secure A Promising Young Big Man sending rookie Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, a 2031 unprotected first-round pick, and a 2030 pick swap to the Hornets for Williams. A Former First Round Pick Williams Has Solid Stats, 15.6 points, 58.6% Field Goal, 9.6 Rebounds, 1.2 Blocks Per Game and He’s The Type Of Big Luka Likes Most Of Williams Comes Off Of Assist Around The Painted Area. He’s Not The Explosive Lob Threat Of Gafford and Lively In Dallas But He Can Get Up Around The Rim Converting 20-22 Alley Oop Type Shots and Dunks Off Pick And Roll And Other Cuts. Williams Has Little Work In The Midrange So He Can’t Replace AD’s Plethora Of Skills Apples To Apples. Williams Has A Net Rating Of -11.7(Which Is nad)But That Could Change In Los Angeles or Could Reflect The Lakers Taking On a Project. Williams Has Struggled With Injuries Only Playing 23 Games This Season. Grade B-.
The Lakers Send Charlotte Rookie Sensation Forward Dalton Knecht Who Has upside As a Spot And Shooter and scorer Shooting 46% From The Field And 35% From Three On Relatively Low Usage. Cam Reddish A Former Top Ten Pick Continues His Rounds Around The League And He Never Showed Much In His Limited Opportunities In Los Angeles.
The Two Picks, The unprotected In 2031 and The Swap In 2030 Could Prove The Most Crucial To The Hornets As The Lakers should Most Likely Prove On The Outside Of The Post LeBron Arch(Hopefully) and Even In a Post Luka World Depending On The Next Five Years. Some Have Argued The Lakers Gave Up More For Williams Than Doncic And In Some Degree, with Knecht The Lakers Most Effective Spot Up Shooter Gone, The Mavs Will Get All-Star Anthony Davis Near The Tail End Of His Career Maybe. The Lakers Traded For Apple Stock For BlackBerry Stock Around The Year 2012.
Hornets B.
Warriors receive:
Jimmy Butler (via Heat)
Two second-round picks (via Heat)
Cash considerations (via Heat)
Heat receive:
Andrew Wiggins (via Warriors )
Kyle Anderson (via Warriors)
Davion Mitchell (via Raptors)
2025 first-round pick (protected, Warriors)
Jazz receive:
KJ Martin (from Pistons via Sixers)
Josh Richardson (via Heat)
2028 second-round pick (from Pistons via Sixers)
2031 second-round pick (via Heat)
Cash considerations (via Heat)
Pistons receive:
Dennis Schröder (from Jazz via Warriors)
Lindy Waters III (via Warriors)
2031 second-round pick (via Warriors)
Raptors receive:
2026 second-round pick (via Heat)
Cash considerations (via Heat)
The Jimmy Butler Trade. The Jimmy Butler Fiasco Final Ends After A Long And Complicated turn Of Event suspension And Un-suspensions, Pushing For A Trade To This Team And Spurning Others Butler Arrives In The Bay Area To Add Fire Power To A Warriors Team Looking For An Up Swing. Butler Hasn’t Played Anything Close To His Best Ball This Season Or Much Ball at All only Playing Five Games In January Averaging Just 11.4 Points, 3.2 Rebounds, and 4.6 Assists, With A -5.8 Net Rating and 47.6 Percent Field Goals. The Warriors Will Count On Butler To Rediscover His Love And Motivation Surrounding The Game and ReClaim His Pedigree As One of The League’s Best Players. Butler Fit Will Be Interesting Because He’s An Elite Isolation Scorer Throughout His With Some Upside As A Shooter But Not a Catch and Shoot Or Motion Specialist.
Grade B With The Potential For An Upgrade To An A-.
The Heat picked A Return Centered On Andrew Wiggins Who Played Picked Up In Recent Weeks But Remained A Net Negative and A Liability For The Team. The Former Number One Overall Pick Could regain His All-Star Form with The Heat. The Warriors also threw Kyle Anderson In The Deal, The Heat Got guard Davion Mitchell From The Raptors Along with A Protected First Round Pick. The Heat Had To Trade Butler and Did Good Enough For Their Work. Grade, B-.
The Piston Pick Up Dennis Schroder Who’ll Assume A Forth Team This Season From The Warriors Via The Jazz For KJ Martin Whom Detroit Picked Up From Philly. Shroder’s An Excellent Guard when He’s Playing Basketball And Not Comparing Basketball To Slavery. Shroder’s Numbers Drop After He Got Traded To The Warriors But with The Nets He Averaged 18 Points, On 45% Field Goal And 38% On Three Point Shooting. If Shroder Plays Closer To That Version The Pistons Get A Solid Change Of Pace Guard who can Take Over The Lead Guard role.
Grade, A.
The Raptors Get PJ Tucker and The Jazz Get KJ Martin.
Cavaliers get:
Hawks get:
Three future 2nd-round picks (2027, 2029, 2031)
Two future pick swaps.
The Cavs Go All In This Season making A Swing For Hawks utility Wing Man De’andre Hunter. Hunter brings a Solid Presence To The Perimeter With a 40% Three Point Shooter and A 46% Percent From The Field. He Shoots Mostly Catch And Attempts From Three, 47% When Open, Which Makes Him Perfect For Playing Alongside Playmaking Guards Like Darius Garland and Gravity Shifting Guards Like Donavan Mitchell Who will See A lot Of Double Teams In The Playoffs. Hunters Five Years Playing With Tamara Young Made Him The Perfect Candidate For The Cavs To Target. Trading The team's best Player Signals The Hawks Have Probably Decided To Go In The Opposite Direction Of The Cavs and Won’t Push To Contend In The Playoffs But Rather Move Salary. According To ESPN’s BPI, The Hawks Have A 43% Chance To Make The Playoffs But How Will The Absence Of Hunter’s Scoring Impact The Team. The Absence Of Hunter Opens The Door For More Shots for ZACCHARIE RISACHER and More Play For Dyson Daniels. The Hawks also Move Swing Player Bogdan Bogdanovic A Greater Indicator Of The Direction The Team Will Take. Caris Levert will Most Likely Fill In That Role Vacated By Bogdan.
Raptors receive:
Pelicans receive:
2026 first-round pick (Pacers’ pick via Raptors)
2031 second-round pick (Raptors)
The Raptors Have Always Proven fascinated With Big Versatile Lineups And Now Secure One The Best Lankier Wings Available In Brandon Ingram. Ingram Has Only Played in 18 Games All Year But He's produced Some Solid Numbers Averaging 22.2 Points, 5.6 Rebounds, and 5.2 Assists while Shooting 46.5% From The Field. The Raptors do not appear Where In The Playoff picture But The Team Can Build Around Ingram and Barnes For The foreseeable future. The Pelicans Bruce Brown Stood Out As One Of The Top Free AGents Two Seasons Ago But Since His Run In Brooklyn He's Vanished From Relevants. The Pels netted A First Round Pick From The Pacers That Could Render A Early 20s Selection.
