The NBA trade deadline happened on February 8th and a lot of teams made moves before the deadline to make their team better for the playoffs or future.
Some teams made bigger moves at the deadline than others, like the Dallas Mavericks who traded Richaun Holmes and a 2024 first round pick to the Washington Wizards for big man Daniel Gafford. Gafford has been making an impact right away for the Mavericks, in only 5 games he is averaging 11.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, and shooting 60% from the field. Also the Mavericks made another trade by trading away Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and a 2027 first round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for P.J. Washington, a 2024 second round pick, and a 2028 second round pick. P.J. Washington has been a good forward this year averaging 13.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. Washington and Gafford will be impacts toward the Mavericks playoff run right beside Irving and Doncic.
More impactful deals and a shocking deal is that the Indiana Pacers traded away Buddy Hield to the Philadelphia 76ers, also the 76ers traded Marcus Morris to the San Antonio Spurs, and Furkan Korkmaz to the Pacers, also the Pacers got Doug McDermott and two second round picks. Analysts were shocked that the Pacers traded Hield who was in the starting lineup and the Pacers were the 6th seed at the time. Hield with the Pacers was averaging 12.0 points, and shooting 38.4% from three, but with the 76ers in 7 games he is averaging 18.1 points, and shooting an outstanding 43.8% from three. The Pacers really don’t use Korkmaz and McDermott so the 76ers definitely won this trade. Both teams will be in the playoffs but the 76ers could get farther with Hield added and when their center Joel Embiid comes back from injury.
The last significant trade that happened was the New York Knicks traded Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Quentin Grimes, Ryan Arcidiacono, and two second round picks for Detroit Pistons guard Alec Burks, and forward Bojan Bogdanovic. The New York Knicks definitely won this trade by getting two solid bench players and giving up some players that are not so good. The Knicks got Burks who is averaging 12.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and shooting 39.5% from three, for a good player off the bench, also Bojan Bogdanovic was great with the Pistons before joining the Knicks averaging 19.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, but now with the Knicks he will come off the bench and help the Knicks make a playoff run.
I conducted a Q&A to see what a couple of students who like the NBA think of the NBA trade deadline. Here are their thoughts:
What team won the NBA Trade Deadline?
Senior Jack Ruhmel: “The Knicks since OG Anunoby is one of the most underrated players in the league and that the Knicks are a legit playoff contender to make a run.”
Me: The Dallas Mavericks are my deadline winner since they improve their bigs by adding Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington and they only gave up role players who really don’t do much. They will help in the Mavericks big man rotation for getting rebounds and spreading the floor.
What team lost the NBA Trade Deadline?
Junior Jack Taylor: “The Chicago Bulls are my deadline losers; most people thought they were going to unload at least one of their big name players to get draft picks and jumpstart their rebuild. They didn’t make a single trade at the deadline, leaving them out of the playoffs with no real hope for the future.”
Senior Jack Ruhmel: “The Thunder lost the deadline since they didn’t utilize their picks to trade for a star big man and gave up a young piece in Tre Mann for an older forward in Gordon Hayward.”
Me: The Los Angeles Lakers are my deadline losers since they didn’t make a single trade to make the team better and didn’t convince Lebron to stay for next season. The team wanted a star and they could have gotten one but they didn’t make a single move to help Lebron and get the Lakers shooters, which they really need.
What Player were you Surprised that got traded?
Junior Jack Taylor: “Steven Adams to the Houston Rockets since the Rockets already have a good center Sengun and that the Grizzlies just gave up more big man depth.
Senior Jack Ruhmel: “Buddy Hield to the Philadelphia 76ers since the Pacers just traded for Siakam and they looked like they were going to make a run, but they traded their best shooter away for nothing.”
Me: Dennis Schroder to the Brooklyn Nets was a surprise since he was a good starter/sixth man off the bench for the Raptors averaging 13.3 points and 5.9 assists. Even though Schroder is 30 years old, he is a great veteran player to help guys on and off the court.
