The NBA Trade Deadline That Wouldn't Stop
Here are the foremost takeaways from a flurry of activity that led to 60 players switching teams in the final week before the trade buzzer
Super Bowl Week?
The NBA has owned it.
One suspects that attention will start to tilt dramatically toward gridiron football matters in Phoenix now that the weekend has arrived, but a wild flurry of deals over the past few days enabled the NBA to enjoy a modicum of payback for the NFL’s three-game Christmas Day slate that went head-to-head with the No. 1 regular-season date on the calendar for #thisleague.
Kyrie Irving … traded. Future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook … traded to a team soon expected to make him an in-season free agent. Kevin Durant, even. Traded!
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My first five takeaways from a chaotic (and historic) close to the NBA's 2022-23 trade season:
The West just a lot deeper and glitzier.
Kyrie to Dallas and out of the East for the first time in his career.
KD to the Super Bowl’s turf in Phoenix.
Denver, Minnesota and the Los Angeles teams made undeniable roster upgrades, too. Jakob Poeltl's move from San Antonio back to Toronto was one of the few clear examples of a needle-mover heading East, since the Nets are undoubtedly taking a step back even after acquiring the likes of Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith.
Entering Friday's play, only the top two teams in the West were on pace for a 50-win season, with a highly unusual glut in the standings from No. 3 Sacramento down to the No. 13 Lakers … with Memphis barely on that pace. More than one team that swung a significant trade before Thursday's deadline undoubtedly believes it can bust out of the pack.
The Nets' crash from Superteam to Superflop will rightfully hog the headlines, but the L.A. story was surprisingly compelling, too.
Something tells me we will be talking about the Suns and the Nets and what they did — and where they go from here — endlessly in coming days, weeks and months. On deadline day, my short-term focus was thus seized by the Lakers and the Clippers and the maneuvering they did after both clubs lodged trade bids for Kyrie Irving and lost out to Dallas.
The Lakers dramatically improved themselves with three trades this week … and might have even vindicated GM Rob Pelinka's decision to clutch tightly to the team's future first-round picks in 2027 and 2029 in the face of constant criticism until the right deals emerged. D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt and Mo Bamba were all acquired, joining recent newcomer Rui Hachimura, at the cost of only one first-round pick (protected 1-to-4 in 2027 and now property of Utah) in terms of prized Lakers assets. In the process, Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley were shipped out, removing two very strong (some would say grating) personalities at the heart of the Lakers' in-house tension.
The Clippers, meanwhile, made three trades of their own, turning the middling reserve trio of Luke Kennard, Reggie Jackson and John Wall into Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee and Bones Hyland. The Clippers couldn’t land the outright playmaker they were hoping to find to make the offense flow better around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but the talent infusion is clear.
While the ceiling certainly would have been higher for both inhabitants of (the arena I am determined to keep calling) Staples Center had either one landed Kyrie, Irving’s well-chronicled reliability issues are such that they might be better off having executed their backup plans. Time will tell but it’s a defensible position.
The final week of trade season easily could have been dubbed Reunion Week.
A slew of notable players, amid the chaos of 12 trades (once you account for trades that were ultimately folded together into multiteam deals) on Wednesday and Thursday, got shipped back to teams they had played for previously.
The standouts include: Dinwiddie (Dallas to Brooklyn), George Hill (Milwaukee to Indiana in a three-way with Brooklyn), Gary Payton II (Portland to Golden State via a four-team trade), Jakob Poeltl (San Antonio to Toronto), Russell (Minnesota to the Lakers in a three-way with Utah), T.J. Warren (Brooklyn to Phoenix) and, of course, Gordon (Houston to the Clippers), John Wall (Clippers to Houston) in the same three-way deal with Memphis.
In Wall's crazy case, he was sent right back to the same Rockets team that bought him out in July so he could sign with the Clippers in the first place.
#thisleague
Detroit and especially Toronto held firm as they insisted they would.
The Pistons have been telling teams for weeks — months, even — that they were reluctant in the extreme to trade Bojan Bogdanović or Alec Burks. Guess they weren’t fibbing in a bid to create leverage as many rival teams suspected.
A source with knowledge of the Raptors' thinking, furthermore, insisted to me in December that there would be no fire sale involving Pascal Siakam or O.G. Anunoby despite Toronto's hugely disappointing season and the supposed temptation to focus on draft position. I believed it, repeated it numerous times and can say with hindsight now that I’m glad I listened. In the end, Toronto refused to trade Fred VanVleet or even Gary Trent Jr., despite the fact both will be free agents seeking substantial pay raises in the offseason.
The Raptors accounted for one of the more amusing deadline twists, given how much trade speculation they generated over the past month, by making only one trade — to reacquire Poeltl — that earned them a buyers label rather than sellers.
When he met with local reporters Thursday afternoon, Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri made a compelling case below that his optionality with all four of his best players not named Scottie Barnes, including the two free agents, will increase in the offseason:
Deadline Day, for a half-decade running, seems to get more absorbing every year.
Ujiri made his strong argument for holding off until the offseason before making consequential moves, but we’re seeing more and more big swings at the in-season deadline than ever before.
As we covered a couple weeks ago, more and more future free agents are signing contract extensions rather than testing the open market. And that has gradually lessened the number of true difference-making free agents every summer, leading many teams to prioritize trades in their team-building. All but two teams (Chicago and Cleveland) made an in-season trade.
More players under contract, furthermore, lead to more trades in today’s NBA. Detroit’s Bogdanović is a prime example; rival teams have been lusting after him nonstop ever since he signed a new deal with the Pistons in November. Myles Turner just signed an extension in Indiana, but chances are his name will go straight back into the rumor mill this summer with a contract that becomes very trade-friendly starting next season.
Sixty players were traded during the final week before the deadline buzzer sounded, topping last season’s league-record 58. The number has been in the 50s and now 60s for the past five seasons, according to research from my HoopsHype buddy Alberto De Roa, compared to an average of 36.9 players moved during that same span across the previous 10 seasons.
You’ve surely heard ad nauseam for the past two months about the lack of clearcut sellers in the marketplace in the play-in tournament era, which enables 26 of the league’s 30 teams, as we speak, to say they are in contention for a playoff berth with essentially two-thirds of the season gone. Yet we still wound up seeing lots of action despite the supposed market forces working against it — LOTS.
I know Kyrie has issues off the court - but on the court - compare the prices paid for Durant vs. Kyrie - seems like good smart work by Dallas. They are my pick to burst of the pack as you suggested someone would. That backcourt is unstoppable and guessing Kyrie buys in for the time being....
With the Raptors - I think two things
1. If they don't get the deal they want - it's wise to wait. We don't need a "fire sale" or settle for multiple first round picks that fall 22-30
2. This increases the pressure on Nurse now. Masai/Bobby seem to really believe in their process and core - this could expedite a change in voice if the players do not respond after holding firm at the deadline.