Who Are the Winners and Losers of NBA Free Agency?

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and this was one of the more exciting and intriguing deadlines in history.

We saw a lot of movement that will shake up the league for years to come. From the Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis trade to Jimmy Butler trade to the Heat, we saw possibly more moves than we have seen in recent memory.

This is the time of year that teams need to realize who they are as a franchise in order to make the necessary changes to position themselves for the rest of the season and/or beyond. Whether it’s trying to get the piece you need for the playoffs or getting rid of pieces to tank to get the best draft pick which allows you to potentially get the franchise changing piece you need.

There were some teams that realized this and some that clearly didn’t that left us wondering if they had a little too much to drink at the deadline.

Here are the winners and losers of the trade deadline.

Winners

Lakers

The Lakers the clear and obvious biggest winners of the trade deadline after pulling off one of the most mind boggling trades in NBA history. Trading Anthony Davis, Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino and a first round pick for Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris, it was truly one of the biggest blockbuster trades in history. Trading away a player like Davis is always tough. Especially when he didn’t even ask to be traded. But, being able to get a 25 year old superstar as they approach their prime makes it worth it and they weren’t done there.

Trading away Davis meant they needed much more help in their front court and because they only traded away one of their available first round picks, they were able to trade for a big man with a very high ceiling in Mark Williams by giving the Hornets Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish. They now have their star of the future and big man to pair with him. These moves allow them to prepare for life after LeBron James plus being in a win now mode with the other additions of Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton from the D’Angelo Russell trade.

Kyle Kuzma

Going from the Wizards to a contender in the Bucks is a massive upgrade for Kuzma. There were/are a lot of people that are down on Kuzma after a 3.5 seasons in Washington but it’s a little unfair. He was never supposed to be a first or second option. Just an extra piece. Now that he is with a team that has two legit options ahead of him, he will fall into his rightful spot in the pecking order and can thrive while trying to help a team win a championship.

Spurs

Having Victor Wembanyama play at the level he has this early in his career has made the Spurs have to speed up their process. There are only three guys that you can say are for sure playing better than him and that means they are in somewhat of a win now mode. Or at least try and get Wembanyama some playoff experience mode. This realized where they were as a team and where they needed to be and upgraded big time. Trading for De’Aaron Fox has now given them a legit second option behind their superstar big man.

Not only did they get Fox, they were able to get him without giving up any key pieces of their core. They can now go all in for the season and try to get to the playoffs to see how they respond and then figure out how to get better for next season in the offseason.

Losers

Suns

The Suns are a complete mess. Before the deadline, they decided to bring Bradley Beal off the bench and the thought was because they wanted to eventually trade him. They then put Kevin Durant in trade talks without him even asking to be traded. Both guys are still on the roster and they made absolutely no upgrades. If they were going to do all of this and put those guys, who are two of the biggest pieces of the franchise, in trade talks then they should have been traded. No trades with those guys were made and neither were any upgrades around them. Just a complete mess. Simple as that.

They at least traded away Jusuf Nurkic though.

Brandon Ingram/Pelicans

Nothing has really gone right for Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans since he got there almost six years ago. He and Zion Williamson rarely shared the floor together because one or both were constantly injured and the team building around them wasn’t the best. It was obvious that it was time for a divorce between the Pelicans and Ingram with the lack of on court success plus his contract situation. Trading him away isn’t the issue, getting such a low return for him is. All it took was Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, a first, and a second which doesn’t really help their roster.

For Ingram, getting traded to the Raptors probably isn’t ideal. It isn’t a team that has aspirations of winning right now. He’s up for a new contract and now we have to wonder if he’s going to get what he wants and where will that be.

Mavericks

Getting Anthony Davis in return for Luka Doncic isn’t the worst thing for the Mavs because Davis is still a great player. Trading away your 25 year old superstar as he approaches his prime is unheard of. Punting away your future for no reason other than you feel like he’s a little out of shape (which is debatable) and because you don’t want to give him a supermax contract of $345 million this summer is just insane. If Luka would have asked to be traded or indicated he wouldn’t sign a new contract then it would make a little more sense but he didn’t and this was done as the choice of one person, GM Nico Harrison.

If they win a championship within the next two years, it may make this worth it but beyond those two years, it’s going to be dicey.

Hawks

Does anyone know what they’re doing. They made trades but none of the trades made them better as a team. Trading away Bogdan Bogdanovic for Bones Hyland and Terance Mann isn’t the worst trade but it doesn’t really lift their floor or ceiling. Before that, they traded Deandre Hunter to the Cavs for Caris Levert and Georges Niang. That move was especially peculiar because they recently lost Jalen Johnson for the season due to a wrist injury.

To make matters worse, these moves weren’t made in order to tank. They were just made. The Hawks don’t have their 2025 first round pick. The Spurs do. So tanking would just help the Spurs try to land Cooper Flagg. So why did they make trades that wouldn’t make them better? Did they forget they don’t own their pick? No one knows but we can probably guess Trae Young’s future in Atlanta just got a lot cloudier.

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