Alright, alright, ALRIGHT!
It is Thursday, February 9, sometime after 3 pm ET. In other words, the NBA’s much-anticipated trade deadline has come and gone, leaving us with much to talk about.
The deadline was extremely busy. Some teams blew it up, a few made splashy moves and championship swings, and others made marginal trades to help immediately improve their chances at competing for an NBA championship — even if slight.
But now that we’ve had to digest all that has happened over the past few days, it’s time to determine who the deadline’s winners and losers are. Here are three of each.
Winner: Phoenix Suns
WHOA.
If you’re on the West Coast, you may have stayed up late enough to catch a wild late-night flurry of tweets from Woj and Shams breaking the Kevin Durant to Phoenix news. If you’re on the East Coast, you woke up confused.
The Suns had to give up a lot for KD, but as the kids say: It’s Kevin freakin’ Durant. Hanging onto Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton(and Booker, obviously) while bringing in one of the best players in the league is a huge win for Phoenix.
The Nets are trading Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns for a package including Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four first-round picks and additional draft compensation, league sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. https://t.co/fJoFHv3i7M
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 9, 2023
Winner: Dallas Mavericks
It’s a big swing to make — Kyrie has a history of leaving perfectly good organizations in shambles en route to his exit. But he’s a really good player and ultimately gives Luka Doncic his most credible running mate to date. The floor could be low but the ceiling is high. I like Dallas going all in.
BREAKING: The Brooklyn Nets are trading Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a first-round and multiple second-round picks, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2023
Winner: Jae Crowder
It would’ve been a real shame if Jae Crowder had sat out this long into the season only to NOT get traded. But he got his wish. He was shipped to Brooklyn as part of the Durant trade and then sent to the Milwaukee Bucks hours later. He’ll get to compete for a championship and should fit in well.
Loser: John Wall
In case you missed it, John Wall had a sit-down interview go public not long ago in which he aired out all that went on during his stint in Houston that saw him relegated to the bench as the team tanked. Well, as of today, Wall is a Houston Rocket, once again.
For his sake, I hope his second stop is Houston goes better than his first. But for now, this is a massive L for him.
Loser: LA Clippers
The Clippers moved a bunch of mediocre role players for…more mediocre role players? Weird. They had a ton of good contracts that could’ve been packaged for something big, but instead, they didn’t improve much. I guess Westbrook (if bought out) is their big move?
Loser: Brooklyn Nets
Listen, the Brooklyn Nets did well in acquiring a bunch of picks and some talented two-way players. However, their entire Big 3 is now gone. James Harden was moved to Philadelphia before last year’s trade deadline, while Kyrie Irving was shipped to Dallas and Kevin Durant to Phoenix before this year’s. The whole experiment stunk and there’s no other way around it. For that, they are big losers.
