2023 NBA Trade Deadline Winners & Losers
On February 9th, 2023 at 3:00 P.M. EST, the NBA reached the trade deadline, ending trades for the remainder of the season. While I operate through what every team gave up in trades in order to grade each move (that might take a little while), there are still definitively winners and losers of the deadline, along with some others that I’m not sure about yet. In this post, I will discuss 5 winners, 5 losers, and 5 that are uncertain.
Winners
Phoenix Suns
The Suns have dealt with injuries and depth issues all
season yet were somehow 30-26 and in 5th at the trade deadline. With the West still open enough, they went
all in and got Kevin Durant. While he’s
been injury prone since leaving Golden State, KD is still one of the best
players in the NBA, especially on offense.
With Chris Paul starting to decline, they still have Devin Booker coming
back from injury, who is one of the best scorers in the league, and Deandre
Ayton (at least for now) to pair with Durant.
Zach Lowe has said in the past that Durant can fit in with every team;
not only do I agree with him, but I’ll go one step further: I think Durant is the easiest player to bring
into a team, star or not. His ability on
and off the ball, size, shooting, defensive ability, basketball IQ, and even
keeled personality makes him easy to merge with any team, especially one with
multiple stars. The trade is of course a
risk, as they now are dealing with injury potential, are older, and gave up a
couple great players and several draft picks.
That said, they might be the favorites to get out of the West now that
they have the perfect superstar for them.
Eastern Conference Contenders
Now that the Brooklyn Nets no longer have their two
superstars they had less than a week ago, it is difficult to consider them a
title contender (though I wouldn’t rule them out for the playoffs until I see
how this team looks together). At the
start of the month, I was thinking about who were contending in the East, and I
came to the conclusion that there were currently 5 clear-cut teams at this
moment: Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia,
Cleveland, and Brooklyn. Now that Brooklyn
is out, the other 4 teams have 1 less team to seriously fret about, and teams
like Miami and New York (I guess maybe Atlanta could be considered here as
well) can feel better about their outlook.
Jae Crowder & the role player holdout
To follow the lineage of Andre Iguodala in Memphis and Trevor
Ariza in Oklahoma City, Jae Crowder holding out was one of the strangest
holdouts I’ve ever seen. While the two aforementioned
situations involved trades, Crowder held out reportedly because he didn’t like
how him losing his starting role was handled in the organization. He was traded to Brooklyn in the KD trade and
then rerouted to Milwaukee, a team that has been desperately searching for a
switchable defensive forward since they lost P.J. Tucker in free agency two years
ago. Additionally, the team has been
dealing with injuries all season and could benefit from the additional depth. In other words, the weirdest holdout I’ve
seen in a while might have worked.
Los Angeles Lakers (particularly LeBron James)
There is a case to be made that the Lakers should have gone
harder targeting Kyrie Irving (I personally disagree with that, but I get
it). That said, the Lakers were able to
win the 2020 Championship by surrounding a dominant and healthy LeBron James/Anthony
Davis pairing with a lot of depth that included shooting, defending, and
playmaking. While there are questions
related to the health, the Lakers went all in on depth this deadline. Out went Russell Westbrook (who didn’t fit), Patrick
Beverly (who didn’t fit), Thomas Bryant (who actually played well, though they
wouldn’t be able to retain him), and several players who didn’t play a major
role. In came D’Angelo Russell (a good
shooter and improving playmaker, albeit with poor shot selection), Malik
Beasley (an awesome shooter who isn’t afraid to shoot), Jarred Vanderbilt (an
athletic undersized big who is a nice defender), and Mo Bamba (I don’t buy it,
but he might be something), all after acquiring Rui Hachimura for Kendrick Nunn
and some 2nd rounders. Best
of all is that the only 1st rounder they lost was a top-4 protected
2027 1st, meaning they still have some backup if they’re really bad at
that time.
The Transaction Hype Train
On The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, former Miami Marlins
team president David Sampson pointed out something I never would have
considered: imagine how mad that Roger
Goodell is that the Kevin Durant trade took away all the sports attention just 3
days before a major event in football. The
NBA has prided itself as being the most viral league, and this trade deadline
is another example why that is the case.
The combination of superstars, notable names, and intriguing moves
around the edges made this an exciting deadline in a year that was expected to
be slower without star names less than a week ago. On top of that, the buyout market is also
expected to have some notable names, so that hype could continue for a bit.
Honorable mentions:
The trade of the second-round pick, Eric Gordon
Losers
Brooklyn Nets
I will say with the disclaimer that this is not a reflection
of the grades of the trades they made (in particular, I loved the return they
got for Kevin Durant). This is more a
reflection of how precious title windows are and how rapidly they can close. It is undeniable that the Durant/Kyrie Irving
era did not reach its full potential, let alone the potential when including James
Harden as well. It truly looked magical
when everyone was healthy and playing, but that was the issue the entirety of
the run. I thought it was obvious that
this was going to be the final run with this team, but the fact that it didn’t
even last the entire season makes them losers at the deadline. Irving abruptly requesting a trade felt like
the final nail in the coffin to the entire thing, even if I thought that Durant
wouldn’t be traded until the offseason.
While I still think it is possible that they make the playoffs, their title
hopes are dashed.
Western Conference Contenders
Up until Denver started thriving, the West appeared to be
open. Memphis would thrive at times and
fall on their face at other times, Phoenix and New Orleans were hammered with
injuries, the Clippers had no consistency with their lineup and struggled on
offense, Dallas needed another star, Golden State was wildly inconsistent, and Sacramento
struggled defensively. Suddenly, Kyrie
Irving was traded to Dallas, which increases their ceiling (at a risk) and
Kevin Durant was traded to Phoenix. Several
other teams added to their depth after, as Denver addressed the backup center spot,
Memphis addressed depth shooting, Sacramento and New Orleans targeted 2-way
depth, the Clippers improved center depth and tried a couple new point guards, and
the Lakers targeted depth across the board.
While Phoenix might be a serious contender, I wouldn’t sleep on Denver
with how they seem to be hitting their stride.
Furkan Korkmaz & the end of rotation trade request
With the depth that Philadelphia acquired last offseason, it
was not surprising to see Korkmaz’ role decrease…except maybe to Korkmaz. After an off year from deep, he totally fell
out of the rotation this year, playing 25 games and 10.2 MPG prior to the
deadline. Wishing for more playing time,
he requested a trade, making him one of the more unusual trade request
situations. Ultimately, he was not
traded, so he is still at the end of Philadelphia’s bench and is unlikely to be
waived due to being under contract next year.
Maybe the offseason will be kind to him.
Thomas Bryant
Bryant was having a nice season on offense this season for
L.A. and was at his prime when filling in for an injured Anthony Davis,
highlighted by a 7-game stretch where he averaged 19.7 PPG (on 73.8% from the
field) and 12.3 RPG. It is worth noting
that he still struggled on defense, limiting his ceiling as a starter. He shifted back to the bench once Davis came
back since he wouldn’t be able to play alongside him; after a massive step back
in his role, he wanted to be traded somewhere else since he liked playing
more. The good news for him is that he
got his wish with a trade; the bad news is that he was traded to Denver, where
he will backup Nikola Jokic, one of the most durable players in the
league. His role might have decreased
after that trade. That said, he will be
important in improving their backup center play.
John Wall
Last season, Wall and the Houston Rockets couldn’t come to
an agreement about his role, so he didn’t play a game. Prior to this season, Houston bought out his
contract and he joined the Clippers. Within
the past month, Wall went on a tangent where he strongly criticized the
organization. While the Clippers were
struggling with offense and Wall left a lot to be desired at point guard for
the team, he ended up getting traded…to Houston. The good news for him is that it is expected
that he will be waived, so he is unlikely to experience much of a second tenure
there.
Honorable mentions:
The notable players on bad teams that weren’t traded, John Collins
Uncertain
Toronto Raptors
Prior to Kyrie Irving’s trade request, the entire trade
deadline was expected to depend on what Toronto opted to do. At 26-30 in 10th, it wouldn’t have
been surprising to have traded Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., and/or OG
Anunoby. Ultimately, their big trade was
to trade away…Khem Birch, a 2024 1st, and 2 2nd round
picks to acquire Jakob Poeltl. I have
been adamant that Toronto is better than they’ve played since VanVleet and
Anunoby appeared to have some bad luck with their jumpers, but eventually there
has to be some soul searching to determine whether they are doing the right
thing by keeping at it. In a sellers’
market, Anunoby in particular could have brought in a massive haul, but they
decided it was better to keep him. Was
it the right move? While we never will
actually know that, it is worth wondering what this team can be this season and
future implications, as VanVleet and Trent can both be free agents.
Chicago Bulls
There were two teams that did not make a trade during the
regular season: Cleveland, who has been a
top-4 team the majority of this season and looks like a team to fear in the
East, and Chicago. Chicago is currently
in 9th with a 26-28 record. While
it is worth noting that their net rating suggests they should be 28-26 (though
that only puts them in 8th) and that their defense has been in the
top-10 in defensive rating, I think that is a bit of a fluke. Teams have shot a ton of 3’s against them but
have struggled from deep while shooting very few 2’s and finishing at a high
rate; I expect either the shot selection will normalize, or the luck will
revert back to league average. Their “big
3” has struggled together ever since Lonzo Ball got injured, and it’s not
sounding like he’s coming back anytime soon.
I’m not suggesting that they should have blown it up or traded any of
their role players for less than their value, but it’s clear that this isn’t
working as they expected. I expect them
to drop off a bit later in the season, which might leave them with a bit of
regret.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers recognized that their biggest weaknesses were size
and point guard play, which was clearly their focus at the deadline. They brought in Mason Plumlee to provide some
additional size for them and replaced their previous point guards of Reggie
Jackson and John Wall with Bones Hyland and Eric Gordon. The issue with these guards is that I’m not
sure either of them address the need of acquiring someone who can run an
offense. Hyland is a score first guard
who is more focused on his own shots and Gordon is more of an off-ball guard in
my opinion. It should be noted that Terance
Mann has also played point guard more often and is improving at it, but he isn’t
what they need yet. They have been
linked to Russell Westbrook, which is part of why I have them in this category.
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland told others that they were looking to buy at the
deadline while others were hoping they would sell. Ultimately, they appeared to do…both? They acquired Matisse Thybulle, which appeared
to be an upgrade, but also traded Josh Hart, which appeared to be a
downgrade. They also managed to trade
Gary Payton II and acquire Cam Reddish in separate deals, which is
interesting. Ultimately, I think Thybulle
will help their team, they’ll miss Hart, they saved money by trading an oft
injured Payton, and will probably be driven to the edge at times by
Reddish. My big question related to
that: how does any of that impact their
team? I honestly have no idea at this
moment.
NBA Television Ratings
While the transactions have become among the most popular part
of the NBA, the league doesn’t actually profit off this in general (outside of select
sponsored events with league partners, such as the draft). The truth is that in general, the ratings for
games have been way down since the pandemic.
There are several arguments as to why, but it should be noted that they
have had some successful games in terms of ratings this year. Now that the trade deadline is over, can they
keep the attention going? I wouldn’t put
money on it.
Honorable mention:
My love for the trade deadline not being outweighed by the struggle of
figuring out all the players/picks traded, Kyrie Irving
Who were some winners and losers of the deadline in your
opinion? Any trades that stand out to
you? Let me know in the comments!
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