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Whoooo boy have we already had some trades go down. I'll be keeping track of all the deals throughout this week and writing about the most notable ones right here.
- Kings receive: De'Andre Hunter
- Cavaliers receive: Dennis Schroder, Keon Ellis
- Bulls receive: Dario Saric, two second-round picks
I don't know what, exactly, the Kings are doing, or why they want Hunter. Getting something for Ellis if you're not going to re-sign him makes sense, but I'm not sure why you're not re-signing a pretty good player or why you want to turn him into Hunter, who is only under contract for one more year after this anyway. He's not the defender he's been sold as throughout his career and his shooting has cratered this year. I just don't get it.
The first of two deals this week in which Cleveland remade its backcourt, I think I like this one better for the Cavs. Ellis can play, even if his own shooting has dipped this year. And Schroder is basically a dice roll. He is either great or terrible in each of his destinations. Why not take a shot that you're one of the teams where it actually works out? Especially when you do need an added dose of offensive creation.
Shout out to the Bulls for finally butting their way into a trade and RECEIVING assets instead of giving them up. I'm so proud of them.
- Blazers receive: Vit Krejci
- Hawks receive: Duop Reath, two second-round picks
I can't say I understand this one from the Hawks' perspective. Krejci is pretty good! He's one of those roving shooter types who is over 40% from deep both for his career and this season. That type of shooting is valuable — even when you just traded for Corey Kispert. Krejci is still under cntract for two more years at a very low cost. Nice pickup for Portland, which didn't give up much here, with Reath out for the season.
- Jazz receive: Jaren Jackson, John Konchar, Jock Landale, Vince Williams Jr.
- Grizzlies receive: Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang, 2027 first (CLE/MIN/UTA), 2027 first (LAL), 2031 first (PHX)
- Bulls receive: Jaden Ivey, Mike Conley
- Pistons receive: Kevin Huerter, Dario Saric, 2026 first-round swap (MIN)
- Timberwolves receive: 2026 first-round swap (DET)
For a full breakdown of these two trades, check out the latest Double Dribble podcast with myself and Mo Dakhil.
- Celtics receive: Nikola Vucevic, second-round pick
- Bulls receive: Anfernee Simons, second-round pick
It was easy to see this type of deal coming almost as soon as the Celtics got Simons in the Jrue Holiday trade. Boston saves a ton of money here by trimming its luxury tax bill, while also getting a much-needed big man in the process. (You can't go into the playoffs with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza as your center rotation.) Vucevic's shooting should fit right in, even if his defense will stick out like a sore thumb.
The Bulls have to be up to something with Ayo Dosunmu and/or Coby White, because they just keep stockpiling other guards. All of Dosunmu, White, Ivey, and Simons have contracts that expire this summer, though, so I guess any or all of them could be sticking around or headed out the door, depending on how the Bulls decide to handle things. Either way, the Bulls did get the better of the two second-round picks here, so this was a nice bit of business to get something for Vuc, who clearly wasn't going to be on the Bulls next season and who didn't have much value on his sizable contract at his age.
- Cavaliers receive: James Harden
- Clippers receive: Darius Garland, second-round pick
Mo and I covered this in part on the podcast, but I do want to expand a little bit.
This is more than anything else an admission from the Cavs that their core group of four wasn't good enough and wasn't going anywhere. Which was probably the correct assessment, given the way these last few years have gone. It is also obviously a declaration of non-faith in Garland, who is 10 years younger than Harden and not that far removed from being an All-Star point guard himself but who can't stay healthy and who has seemingly regressed amid his various injuries.
Harden remains an elite playmaker, even at 36 years old, and he should give the offense some more juice when Donovan Mitchell is off the floor. And assuming they remain on the team, he'll put Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in the best position to succeed that they have been in their careers. He creates the best opportunities possible for every big man with whom he plays. There's no reason to think that they'll be any different.
I'm not that concerned about the idea that both Harden and Mitchell "need the ball in their hands." They're both experienced enough at playing alongside other playmakers (Garland, Mike Conley, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, etc.) and now that Harden has deigned to take catch-and-shoot jumpers over the last few years, they are each threats away from the ball as well as on it. And Kenny Atkinson knows what he's doing. He can figure out how to maximize the two of them offensively.
The concern, obviously, is on defense. It's not like Garland was giving the Cavs anything of note on that end, though, and Harden's size makes him something of a more difficult target to attack than the smaller Garland. Theoretically, at least.
As I sit here, I realize I'm kind of talking myself into this, even if my initial reaction was to not like it. From a basketball perspective, Harden is just straight up better than Garland at this point. And from an asset-management perspective, there probably wasn't a better return on the table at this point. If you're trying to break through a playoff wall, though, I'm just not sure James Harden is the guy to bust it down. We all know the history.
As for the Clippers, well, they get 10 years younger at arguably the game's most important position and they potentially have themselves a player to build around in the post-2027 world they've been preparing for, assuming they decide to keep Garland around beyond then and that he can rediscover the form that made him an All-Star. (Boy was I wrong about 2027 cap space being their only plan, by the way. That just goes to show that you should never make predictions. Or at least, I shouldn't.) I'm not sure they could reasonably have done any better with trading Harden on a functionally-expiring deal. I like this for them, even if the full, long-term plan will necessarily take a while to come into view.
