Twenty-eight thoughts after a furious trade deadline that caused shifts in the NBA … or did they?
1. I was flying home from Los Angeles on Wednesday morning after spending the last two weeks with the Lakers and Nets. United Airlines offers free messaging inflight, and I struck up a text conversation with one of the NBA’s 28 head coaches who do not work for those two teams. I’d predicted Russell Westbrook had played his last game for the Lakers, I’d just spoken with Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks not 24 hours earlier and had no idea Brooklyn was going to trade Kevin Durant.
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2. “So much dysfunction in this league these days,” said the coach, whom I’ll not name.
3. The three biggest trades at the 2023 NBA trade deadline featured three of the sport’s biggest stars who were so upset, so uncomfortable, in situations they chose that they could not play another game for their respective teams.
4. OK, maybe that’s a little hyperbolic on Durant, who presumably didn’t make any “trade me now or else” threats to the Nets. But it’s clear he didn’t want to be there without Irving, and last summer he tried to force Brooklyn to trade him because he was unhappy with the direction of the organization. The four-year, $194 million extension he’d signed hadn’t even kicked in yet.
5. Westbrook was done with the Lakers, and they were done with him. LeBron James subbed in for him late in the second quarter on, you know, kind of a big night for him, and Russ was so upset about it that he slow walked all the way to the end of the Lakers bench, making sure to stay on the court and delay the game until he stepped over the baseline. Assistant coaches Phil Handy and Chris Jent barked at him for it, and he stood just on the other side of the baseline arguing as play carried on. After that, at halftime, is when Lakers head coach Darvin Ham and Westbrook clashed. And of course on Saturday night, James essentially campaigned for the Lakers to trade Westbrook for Irving — a stunning situation considering Westbrook and James wanted so badly to play with each other that they concocted a scheme to persuade Rob Pelinka to trade for Westbrook (instead of Buddy Hield and Myles Turner) prior to the start of last season.
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6. Irving was beyond done with the Nets. He forced a trade, despite finally playing without injury or suspension or violation of city law holding him back.
7. I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for Westbrook, for Durant, or Irving. But if the highest-paid, best players in the NBA, who literally picked their teams, can’t be happy, then it is likely the unhappiness runs much deeper down the rosters. It’s a phenomenon that should inform league front offices when it comes to roster building in the future.
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8. An Eastern Conference general manager told me that, yes, he and his colleagues are finding that many of their players are struggling emotionally. He said playing the 2020-2021 season during a pandemic, with restrictions and empty arenas, made a profound, mental impact on players throughout the NBA. And also, Twitter. But anyway, teams now employ small battalions of sports psychiatrists and psychotherapists to help work through these struggles. The tide has not yet turned.
9. In this age of unprecedented power among players, where the best among them can force their way out of cities before their contracts are up, and they make plans to play together on new teams in free agency, that isn’t going to work if they can’t get comfortable in the environments they create for themselves. The Nets and Lakers are prime examples.
10. “The greatest lesson I could share with you that I learned from signing in Brooklyn for free agency, I wish I would have gotten to know the people that were behind the organization,” Irving said Monday.
11. The feeling is mutual among the Nets, who had the information from sources in Boston and Cleveland that Irving could be difficult, because the allure of pairing Irving and Durant, two past champions and Olympic gold medalists who both count as the best offensive players in history, was too great to ignore. All it bought them was expensive payrolls and four years of dysfunction.
12. I believe Irving will be a Laker next season. How’s that for a juxtaposition?
13. Irving wants a four- or five-year contract, for the maximum money allowed. If he and the Mavericks reach agreement, it could be a five-year, $273 million deal. But Irving said he didn’t want to engage in negotiations now. “The business aspect of this is ruthless,” he said.
14. The Lakers can’t quite get to the four-year, $210 million max deal he would be eligible for outside of Dallas, but they can pay him north of $30 million per year. The teams with the cap space to pay Irving what he wants, outside of Dallas, are the Pistons, Magic, Pacers, Blazers and Spurs. They are all either rebuilding or, in Portland’s case, have a smaller, ball-dominant guard in Damian Lillard. In other words, getting that max deal outside of the Mavericks may not be possible.
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15. Enter the Lakers. James has made clear he wants to reunite with Irving. As partners in Cleveland, they won the 2016 NBA Finals, reached two others and were an otherwise dominant, unstoppable duo on offense. They have obviously patched up their differences that led to Irving demanding a trade away from LeBron in Cleveland in the summer of 2017. Irving’s apology helped.
16. A Western Conference general manager I spoke with last week had one fear — that the Nets would trade Irving to the Lakers this week, for a trio of LeBron, Irving and Anthony Davis would be unstoppable. The Lakers tried to make that happen but balked at the Nets’ asking price. I suspect if, given the chance, they wouldn’t balk at Irving’s.
17. “Me and Bron have grown as human beings, and he’s always gonna be my brother,” Irving said. “I’m always gonna have great things to say about him and his family. And my focus is here (with Dallas). So unfortunately, the Lakers, they’re doing what they’re doing.”
18. So, who won the trade deadline? Before we go any further, please keep in mind that at least year’s deadline I declared the Celtics hadn’t done enough to build around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Yeah, they went to the NBA Finals and lasted six games. Whoops.
19. The Suns getting Durant (and T.J. Warren) without having to give up Deandre Ayton is a remarkable coup. Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Ayton make them my title favorite, with my hedge being that Booker is just coming off significant injury, Durant hasn’t played since early January, and Paul always finds a way to get hurt in the playoffs. The Mavericks made the big splash with Irving and pairing him with Luka Dončić, but there are still depth concerns in Dallas.
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20. LeBron is averaging north of 30 points per game as a 38-year-old and is still an incredible specimen to watch. But his stellar individual play did not lead the Lakers to wins. They’re in 13th place. The locker room clearly needed a shake-up, and the all-time scoring record now belongs to James. Infusing the roster with D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt, for Westbrook, and Mo Bamba for Pat Beverley, should help make the final two months more palatable on the Lakers. James’ last Cavs team, in 2018, had severe locker room dysfunction and on trade deadline day literally moved half the roster. LeBron took the new team to the finals. He’s five years older now, and Davis would need to help with the heavy lifting this time, but there are still deeper, better teams ahead of them.
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21. The Nuggets, who lead everyone in the West, moved sixth man Bones Hyland to the Clippers (surprise) but added Thomas Bryant from the Lakers to backup Nikola Jokić. It was a position of need for Denver, big-man depth. That team was always going to go as far as A.) Jokić can take them; B.) Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. can stay healthy for; C.) Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 3-point shooting and defense can take them.
22. The Clippers get more benefit of the doubt than virtually any NBA team because Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are on the roster, and because of the respect that coach Tyronn Lue has built throughout the league. But the Clippers, under Lue or Doc Rivers, have been profound disappointments since Leonard and George arrived in the summer of 2019. They’re in the middle of the playoff bracket right now in the West and added Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee and Hyland, while moving both of their point guards (Reggie Jackson, John Wall) and shooter Luke Kennard (to the Grizzlies). Does Gordon give them more stability on the wing, especially when Leonard or George takes nights off? Sure. But this team’s fate was probably always up to Leonard getting his legs back after missing last season and George staying on his feet.
23. Outside of the Nets blowing themselves up and removing themselves from contention (watch this be the crow I end up eating in June!), the biggest move in the East, on paper, is the Bucks’ acquisition of Jae Crowder, as reported by our own Shams Charania. He fits the bill as the rugged wing defender they’ve missed since P.J. Tucker left after the 2021 title, and Crowder’s teams make it to the finals (2020 Heat, 2021 Suns). But Crowder has not played one minute of organized basketball this season. He can’t possibly be expected to make an immediate impact, and if he’s rounded into playoff shape by the time they roll around in April, the Bucks should count themselves lucky.
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24. The Celtics — the NBA’s top team so far — nabbed some bench shooting from Oklahoma City in Mike Muscala, basically a replacement move for Danilo Gallinari, a free-agent pick-up who’s missed the entire season with torn knee ligaments. The Sixers added Jalen McDaniels and moved Matisse Thybulle. I see no reason, after Thursday’s moves, to make any changes in my picks for the top three teams in the East (Boston, Milwaukee, Sixers). The next best is a team that did nothing at the deadline.
25. The Cavaliers’ biggest move was last summer, trading for All-Star starter Donovan Mitchell. After a rough January, the Cavs have won four straight, including two in a row on the road, and seem to have awakened after Memphis’ Dillon Brooks punched Mitchell below the belt. They surged back into fourth place before the Nets surrendered to Irving and Durant. Cleveland’s biggest weakness all season has been at small forward, where help was available at the deadline. But they had few assets left to spend, Isaac Okoro has played much better there lately, and the Cavs still want to give Evan Mobley time to blossom before making any more major, expensive splashes.
26. This is my fifth year in this job. I never moved from Cleveland after covering those four NBA Finals teams with LeBron. For the first three years after that, the Cavs were the worst team record-wise in the NBA. They flashed tremendous growth before collapsing down the stretch. Now, they should not only make the playoffs but host a first-round series and win it. The Nets, and Cleveland’s own improvement, have made it so.
27. So, who won? Maybe no one. The Celtics and Nuggets are the best teams in their respective conferences right now, and can we be sure that any trade, or multitude of them, can change that? Perhaps Phoenix can make that claim, if the Suns are blessed with good fortune and health. The Warriors were always a candidate to storm through the Western bracket after a lackluster season. Bringing back Gary Payton II could help, but that’s not a deadline-winning trade. Nor was the Grizzlies bringing Kennard over for the Clippers. Both are moves around the edges to complement what was already there.
28. I counted at least 34 players being moved (not including future draft choices or draft rights of players overseas). It’s surprising that Toronto’s O.G. Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr. or even Pascal Siakam were not among them. The Raptors’ front office, led by Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster, is not one to rebuild, not even after Leonard left following the 2019 title. They clearly believe in coach Nick Nurse and in never saying never, as it relates to a team having not found its groove all season perhaps finding it when it matters most this spring.
(Top photo of Kyrie Irving: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Zach Harper’s trade grades
Kevin Durant to Suns
Kyrie Irving to Mavericks
Russell Westbrook to Jazz; Mike Conley to Timberwolves; D’Angelo Russell and more to Lakers
Jakob Poeltl to Raptors
Jae Crowder to Bucks
Eric Gordon to Clippers; Luke Kennard to Grizzlies
Josh Hart to Knicks; Cam Reddish to Blazers
James Wiseman to Pistons; Saddiq Bey to Hawks; Gary Payton II to Warriors
Rui Hachimura to Lakers
Mo Bamba to Lakers, Patrick Beverley to Magic
Matisse Thybulle to Blazers; Jalen McDaniels to 76ers
