NBA Trade Deadline: Biggest Winners and Losers

As basketball fans, this year, we were treated to one of the most eventful and entertaining trade deadlines in NBA history. From blockbuster trades to underrated moves, Thursday, February 9th and the days leading up to it provided a plethroa of entertainment. Today, I’ll be going over the teams that I think dominated the deadline, as well as the teams that fell short.

Winner: Phoenix Suns

Getting the obvious one out of the way, the Phoenix Suns made the biggest move of the deadline when they acquired Kevin Durant at the expense of Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, and a nice haul of draft capital. With the addition of the former MVP, Phoenix essentially propelled themselves to become the overwhelming favorites to come out of the Western Conference and win the NBA Finals. While the “twins” Bridges and Johnson will be dearly missed in Phoenix, the new front office in Phoenix is unlikely to suffer any buyer’s remorse from deciding to make a push for the franchise’s first championship.

I still believe Phoenix has major issues in their roster. With the decline of Chris Paul, the team is far from a true superteam. They lack any players who could put pressure on the rim, as their star duo of Booker and KD make their money in the mid-range, which could hamper them in the Playoffs. They also don’t have many notable defenders on the squad and will have to hope their mediocre defense can slow down the other stars in the conference. As one would expect when trading depth for stars, they also lack a strong bench unit. Nonetheless, it would be willingly ignorant to act like Phoenix didn’t dominate the deadline with their move for Durant.

Loser: Portland Trail Blazers

There’s never been a better time for the Portland Trail Blazers to blow it up and begin rebuilding. After a red-hot start to the season, Portland is now at the 12th seed with a 27-29 record, a long way from the Playoffs. To be blunt, Portland has probably been the league’s most mediocre team, and that’s with Damian Lillard playing the best basketball of his career. Idealistically, Portland should have just traded Lillard for a haul and began their rebuild around Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe. Instead, in a very confusing move, they traded Josh Hart, one of their best role players, for Cam Reddish, a wing that may have untapped potential but is still a long way from being able to contribute to a playoff team.

Portland and Damian Lillard have both reaffirmed their committment to each other and their desire to bring a championship to the Pacific Northwest, but they truly have no direction. With Lillard’s prime years running out, they must soon make the decision on whether to build a real contender or toss the hat in this offseason.

Winner: Los Angeles Lakers

After over a year of patience in the trade market, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka finally flipped the switch and decided to end the controversial Russell Westbrook era in LA and somehow acquired a haul of role players and a high-caliber point guard that turned the Lakers into contenders overnight. The Lakers acquired Malik Beasley, Rui Hachimura, Mo Bamba, and Jarred Vanderbilt, as well as D’Angelo Russell, who is in the middle of one of his best years and is the best point guard LeBron has played with since Kyrie Irving in Cleveland.

The Lakers went into this trade deadline with two positive assets, their first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, and somehow managed to come out of it with a completely revamped team while still holding on to their 2029 first-rounder. Pelinka pulled off a deadline that many Lakers fans didn’t even imagine would be possible, and as a result, the Lakers championship hopes have been reignited.

Loser: Toronto Raptors

Toronto’s biggest acquisition this deadline was Jakob Poeltl from the Spurs. While I do believe that Poeltl is one of the best role players in the league, the Raptors fell short by missing their opportunity to blow up the team and rebuild. They currently hold the tenth seed in the Eastern Conference, and making a move like trading for Poeltl just seems like an attempt to push for mediocrity. The Raptors do not have a clear path to becoming championship contenders, but they do have many players with high trade value, namely Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr., and Fred VanVleet.

However, instead of trading their veterans with high value and receiving a haul of draft capital and young talent in return, the Raptors over-valued their players (reports are that they denied three first-round picks for OG Anunoby) and came out with a slightly improved team. At this rate, the Raptors will either have to go all in or move on from their current roster.

Winner: Brooklyn Nets

The Nets were forced to move on from their superstar duo of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, marking the end of one of the most disappointing sagas in NBA history. However, the Nets have managed to salvage their squad and get a haul of quality players and picks from Kyrie and KD. Brooklyn, who had mortgaged almost all their future picks to the Houston Rockets in the hopes of a ring, managed to acquire new first-rounders in their superstar trades. They’ve also built a team full of quality players without a true superstar, and they might just be the best defense in the NBA with a team full of versatile defenders like Nic Claxton, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Royce O’Neal.

Through their deadline deals, the Nets have put themselves in a favorable position. For starters, they could choose the OKC route and trade their entire roster for more draft picks (a team reportedly offered four firsts for Mikal Bridges). However, there is a more plausible plan that I believe the Nets will follow. They could potentially sit on their roster as it is, being a perennial playoff team, as they will not get a boost in draft odds from a bad record since most of their picks are coming from other teams. This means that for the time being, Brooklyn will be a hub of entertaining, selfless, basketball while they wait for their incoming picks to hit. In the midst of the Kyrie drama last year, owner Joe Tsai stated that he wanted to build a team he would have pride in owning, and this current Nets team may just fit that bill. Similar to the 2019 Nets team, this roster filled with high-caliber players that plays team basketball and has a strong culture may become many people’s favorite squad.

Loser: Golden State Warriors

The defending champions are in the midst of a disappointing season, currently holding the eigth-seed in the Western Conference with a .500 record. The Warriors have clear issues in their roster, such as a true secondary star and depth at the wing and center positions, and this trade deadline was their opportunity to make moves to boost their chances at defending the title.

However, Golden State made no major moves outside of bringing Gary Payton II, a valuable role player, home. Their core three of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are all declining, and the end of the window for the Warriors to win another championship with their dynasty core is strikingly close. On top of not making signifcant moves themselves, their competitors in the west dramatically improved, which may be rubbing salt in the wound for the Warriors. Realistically, the Warriors do not have a chance at contending this year, and the weak trade deadline may be an indication that the days of the dynasty are now past.