See below for thoughts on deals big and small throughout deadline day!
Update: 3:13 p.m.
Buzzer-beaters
Bucks trade Robin Lopez to the Kings
76ers trade Jaden Springer to the Celtics
Raptors will waive Spencer Dinwiddie
Celtics trade Dalano Banton to the Blazers
Warriors trade Cory Joseph to the Pacers
Lopez is reportedly going to get bought out, and will presumably latch on with a contender as their third/emergency center. The Bucks save some money. Good for them, I suppose.
Dinwiddie will also hit the buyout market and could be sought after, assuming teams haven’t been watching him dog it for the past few weeks. You can never have too much shot creation.
Springer gives the Celtics another perimeter defender, as if they needed any more of those. Along with the Xavier Tillman deal yesterday, they added a couple nice depth pieces at very little cost. And then the Banton deal is a money-saver.
Moving off of Joseph saves Golden State an exponential amount of money on the luxury-tax bill, and gives the Pacers another point guard in case Tyrese Haliburton misses more time. (They already have Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell, but I guess they could use another one.
A major Gaff
Mavericks receive: Daniel Gafford
Thunder receive: Right to swap 2028 first-round picks with DAL
Wizards receive: Richaun Holmes, 2024 first-round pick (second-least favorable of HOU, LAC, UTA, OKC; HOU top-4 protected, UTA top-10 protected)
The Mavericks are leveraging themselves up the wazoo right now, man. They have essentially traded all of their picks and swaps, and done it for a team that is a borderline play-in squad. They sent out their 2027 first and a 2028 swap today to turn Grant Williams and Richaun Holmes into P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford. That’s an upgrade, but not one that is really changing the ceiling of your team. By the way, those two drafts are basically right after the “Luka demands a trade because the team isn’t good enough” line, given the structure of his contract. They better hope things improve a lot, and quickly.
OKC has nine million picks, so turning what will likely be a selection that lands in the 24-28 range this year into the right to swap with Dallas five drafts down the line is pretty good. And the Wizards pick themselves up an extra asset for the draft this year, trading a player who, while good, wasn’t going to be part of the next Actually-Good Wizards team.
Update: 2:50 p.m.
I’m coming home
Pacers receive: Doug McDermott
Spurs receive: Marcus Morris, Future second-round pick
So the Pacers get a designated shooter to replace the departed Buddy Hield. By sending Morris (from the Hield trade) over to San Antonio, they save themselves a good bit of money in the process. (Hield is much more versatile as an overall offensive player than is McDermott, but at lest they replaced the shooting aspect.) And McDermott goes back to Indiana, where he spent three seasons before signing with the Spurs.
San Antonio… gets a future second and buys out Morris for more than what McBuckets was making? Whatever.
Update: 1:43 p.m.
Bang for your Buck
Bucks receive: Patrick Beverley
76ers receive: Cameron Payne, 2027 second-round pick
We all know the Bucks desperately needed literally anyone who can guard on the perimeter. Pat Bev can still do that. Getting him for Payne and a distant future second is a good move. The fact that they might have to depend on Pat Bev is pretty concerning, but they still needed to do something like this.
I’m assuming the Sixers are going to land Kyle Lowry for the minimum as soon as the Hornets buy him out.
Update: 1:22 p.m.
Royce da 6’5”
Suns receive: Royce O’Neale, David Roddy
Nets receive: “Salaries,” 3 second-round picks
Grizzlies receive: “Pick swap”? Come on Shams give us more detail
This is exactly the kind of player the Suns need around Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal. I wasn’t even aware the Suns had more second-round picks to trade after everything they did this offseason, but good on them for finding some and sending them out for a useful rotation piece. O’Neale is set to be a free agent this summer, but the Suns can re-sign or extend him at a decent price now that they’ve acquired his Bird rights.
Roddy slides into a trade exception and can theoretically fill the same kind of role, along with every other role player the Suns have acquired since last offseason. They’re all basically the same size, and with the exception of Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen they’re all average-ish shooters who can vaguely guard 2 through 4, but only kind of. Might as well load up on as many of these guys as you can. This all applies to Roddy in theory more than reality, wherein he’s not very good at any of those things.
We now know the Suns are sending out Chimezie Metu, Yuta Watanabe, Keita Bates-Diop, and Jordan Goodwin. I’m assuming they’re all going to Brooklyn? Those guys are all fine but there’s a reason they were packaged together to bring back O’Neale. None of them is changing your life. Although I have always had a soft spot for both KBD and Goodwin. Maybe one of them pops over the second half of the year. (Update: Watanabe is going to Memphis. Solid shooter, but again, not changing your life.)
Memphis has been spending the last few days clearing salary and roster spots in an effort to be more flexible this summer and into the future. With this season going nowhere and a likely mid-to-high lottery pick coming in to either join Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane or return something valuable in a trade, that’s a strategy that makes sense. Moving Roddy opens up another spot in the rotation down the stretch.
Go P.J., That’s my P.J.
Mavericks receive: P.J. Washington, 2 second-round picks
Hornets receive: Grant Williams, Seth Curry, 2027 first-round pick (top-2 protected)
Washington is on a declining contract that’ll pay him $15.5 million next year and $14.2 million for the 2025-26 season. That’s still a bit more than Williams is set to make by about $3 million total, but he’s under contract for one fewer year than Williams. More importantly, Dallas had obviously soured on Williams and his entire shtick since signing him this summer, and the Mavs acquired a player who can do the same things at a similar or hopefully higher level (assuming he starts trying on defense again), while also being a better fit for their locker room. Washington hasn’t shot it well this year and the Hornets have typically not been all that good when he plays as a small-ball center, but Luka Doncic is going to feed him the most open looks he’s had in his life and the small-ball versatility is at least valuable.
That said, the Mavs traded a 2030 pick swap to acquire Williams and then had to include another first-round pick to get rid of him, which is less than ideal. Also, that 2027 first was the last one Dallas had available for a trade, so the Mavs are essentially locked out of making significant upgrades to the roster now unless they decide they are willing to part with Josh Green and/or they find a way to acquire future firsts so they can open up the ability to deal their 2031 pick. At least, that will be the case unless their 2024 first (top-10 protected) conveys to New York this June, in which case the Mavs will then be able to include their 2025 first in a trade as well.
Meanwhile, good for the Hornets for finally recognizing reality and getting themselves some assets for players that are pretty good but obviously are not helping them win at a respectable level. That 2027 Mavs pick is a nice chip to land essentially in exchange for taking on a few extra million dollars during the 2026-27 season. Giving up the two seconds in the deal makes the outright acquisition of the first a little less valuable, but it’s still good.
Update: 12:56 p.m.
Point guard swap meet
Nets receive: Dennis Schroder, Thaddeus Young
Raptors receive: Spencer Dinwiddie
On the surface, why even do this? Under the hood, answers: It’s all about the money.
Dinwiddie has a larger salary this year than Schroder, but Dinwiddie’s deal is expiring. With the Raptors having brought in Immanuel Quickley to be their point guard, that second year of Schroder’s contract at $13 million for a player who has made it well known he’s unhappy coming off the bench isn’t ideal — especially given that they have to pay Quickley this summer. So they trim a bunch off the books for next season and don’t get that much of a downgrade in the near term. (Quickley’s relatively low cap hold will also allow the Raps to go shopping for free agents this summer, now that they don’t have to worry about Schroder’s money.) I’m assuming they’ll try to find homes for Bruce Brown and/or Chris Boucher in the next few hours as well, to clear even more money.
Then, as Yossi Gozlan points out, the Nets can take Schroder into the trade exception they created with last year’s Kevin Durant trade, thus creating a new, similarly-sized exception at Dinwiddie’s salary, which lasts for another year. Basically, they rolled over their trade exception in exchange for taking on Schroder’s money for next season. Schroder also probably gives them more in the way of on-ball creation at this point than does Dinwiddie, which is something they definitely need.
Update: 11:45 a.m.
The Burks is back in town
Knicks receive: Alec Burks, Bojan Bogdanovic
Pistons receive: Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono, 2 future second-round picks
The way this trade was reported nearly gave half my friends a heart attack. Because the initial report was that the Knicks were getting Burks. And then it was they are sending Grimes and two seconds for Burks. And that would have been… bad. But landing Bogdanovic too, and doing it without tapping into their reservoir of first-round picks, is a really slick move.
New York entering this season had a logjam on the wing, but it was full of incredibly small players. The Knicks basically had none of the “big wing” types that you need to defend the league’s biggest threats on the perimeter. In adding Bogdanovic to OG Anunoby, they now have two, and they can still use Josh Hart in that role if they need to. (This isn’t to say Bogdanovic is a stopper. He just has the right body typt to hang in those matchups.) Bogey is also an ace shooter, he can post up against smaller defenders when he gets a mismatch, and he can make an impact on your offense even while not having the ball. I’m assuming he’s going to start in Julius Randle’s place once Anunoby gets healthy, returning Hart and Precious Achiuwa to the bench, where they’ll play with Burks and Deuce McBride. Those are two units that make a ton of sense.
New York needed someone like Burks to run the second unit, and when Randle returns, Bogey can prop up the scoring in that group along with Anunoby. The healthy group will presumably be Burks-Hart-Anunoby-Bogdanovic-Achiuwa. And then when Mitchell Robinson is healthy, it’ll be either him or Isaiah Hartenstein in Achiuwa’s spot. If that’s not quite the Immanuel Quickley-led bench unit that smoked the league in recent years, it can at least perhaps be a positive group. It should be, at least. (Of course, it’s also possible that Anunoby and/or Randle or less likely to return than we have been led to believe, in which case they desperately needed to add someone like Bogey to handle minutes at the 3/4, and someone like Burks to give them another ball-handler.)
Also, New York did what it set out to do with Fournier’s contract, turning it into a player who is under contract for a similar amount of money for next season, but is actually a positive value at that number. If the Knicks want to make their long-awaited start trade this summer, including Bogdanovic as the salary ballast makes it much easier to do so than Fournier would have. Add in the fact that he helps them immensely in the interim, and this begins to look like a really smart move. Oh, and they ducked the luxury tax in the process! Even better.
Detroit basically packages two rotation players who were taking minutes from the young guys that Monty Williams should have been playing more often, clears them out, and adds Grimes to the mix. The Pistons really, really need shooting around Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, and Ausar Thompson, and Grimes can really shoot. He can also really defend, and that makes him a valuable player archetype. The Pistons didn’t get the first-round picks they’ve been seeking for Burks and/or Bogey, but they did add a pair of seconds, and that’s not nothing.
Update: 11:12 a.m.
Sixers get a new Buddy
76ers receive: Buddy Hield
Pacers receive: Marcus Morris, Furkan Korkmaz, 3 second-round picks
First of all, congrats to Furk for finally, at long last, getting his trade request granted! It’s the end of an era, and we will never see anything like it again. As my friend James Herbert noted, he first requested a trade DURING THE 2018-19 SEASON. And he has requested one several more times since then. Unbelievable.
That aside, this is a great deal for Philly. Landing Hield while not giving up any important rotation pieces or a first-round pick (or Tobias Harris) is a really nice bit of business.
Hield’s shooting plays up really well alongside Joel Embiid and/or Tyrese Maxey. Stash him on the same side of the floor as an Embiid post-up and dare his defender to help. This season, Embiid has done really well passing out of double teams, and Hield is as good a catch-and-shoot threat as there is in the NBA whose last name is not Curry. He obviously also has plenty of experience shooting off the catch on pick-and-roll passes from his time playing with both De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton.
He’s headed for restricted free-agency this summer and would make sense for Philly to retain if the Sixers can’t land any of their bigger targets. It’s seemed like they had their eye on going big-game hunting this offseason but with so many free-agent targets coming off the board (OG Anunoby? Pascal Siakam? Kawhi Leonard?), maybe they are just going to hang onto Hield and Harris and try to use them as trade chips later? I’ve got to think a bit more about that one, but it’s not the worst backup plan.
What seems clear is that the Pacers didn’t plan on re-signing Hield, and Indiana landing three seconds for a player who wasn’t part of the future plans is decent, even if I think holding out until closer to 4 p.m. might have allowed them to eke out a bit more value. (Could they have gotten more for him in a sign-and-trade this summer? Maybe. But it’s also possible he would have just signed with a cap space team and the Pacers would be left with nothing.) That the Pacers were willing to sell Hield now might tell us a bit about what they think of Haliburton’s chances of being healthy for the remainder of the season, though, and that’s less-than-encouraging for Indiana’s chances of avoiding the play-in tournament.
Kelly goes home
Raptors receive: Kelly Olynyk, Ochai Agbaji
Jazz receive: Otto Porter Jr., Kira Lewis Jr., 2024 first-round pick
On the surface, this is pretty strange.
The Raptors have once again traded a first-round pick for a center who is an impeding unrestricted free-agent (like they did with Jakob Poeltl last year at this time), although this time they at least get to take a flier on a recent mid-first-round pick as well in Agbaji. But neither Porter nor Lewis were in Toronto’s rotation, and it sure seems like the Raps are gearing up to trade Bruce Brown, if not several more players (Gary Trent Jr?). Olynyk steps into the backup center/stretch four spot, Agbaji gets a chance at real rotation minutes and playing alongside playmakers like Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, and the Raps restock more wing-sized players before they unload a couple more of them.
Recent reports had indicated that New York wanted to send its 2024 first-round pick to Toronto for Brown, but that the Raptors were more interested in future firsts because they already had several picks in the 15-35 range this year. Having now sent one of those out, perhaps the Raps are more amenable to that deal structure with the Knicks?
Meanwhile, the Jazz got a first-round pick for Olynyk and a player whose playing time and place in the pecking order had seemed to take a step backward this season, adding to the return of the Donovan Mitchell trade. Hard not to like this one from their perspective.
Hey, hey Hayward
Thunder receive: Gordon Hayward
Hornets receive: Tre Mann, Davis Bertans, Vasilije Micic, “draft compensation”
Oh, HELL yeah. This is as good as it gets for OKC.
No, the Thunder didn’t acquire a big-bodied center in this deal, but they did get another big-wing playmaker who can create and shoot off the dribble, to add to the cadre of such players they already have. I could easily see Hayward closing some playoff games for them in place of Josh Giddey so that opponents really have nobody off whom they can send help. The Thunder have a good enough infrastructure to insulate Hayward from having to take on challenging defensive matchups, and he’s smart enough positionally and otherwise to execute the scheme so that he’s not a liability.
The Thunder landed him without giving up any pieces of their night-to-night rotation or any of their bundle of draft assets, AND they cleared cap room this summer in the process. Hayward’s on an expiring contract while Bertans had a guarantee of $5.25 million and Mann was set to draw $4.9 million in salary for next year. All of a sudden, the Thunder could have something like $25 million in cap room this offseason, with the ability to add quite a bit more without even touching their rotation if they move Ousmane Dieng.
Hayward obviously wasn’t long for Charlotte, and $5.25 million on next year’s books is a more-than-fair price for Charlotte to pay to take a chance on Mann, who is an intriguing enough guard who was just caught behind so many talented players in Oklahoma City. That’s exactly the kind of player on whom the Hornets should be buying low right now.
Oh, and Hayward avoids getting bought out and signing somewhere for the minimum, which is something it’s been reported in recent days that he did not want to do, because when players do that they tend to become minimum guys for the rest of their careers. So, this is a win all around.
Update: 12:30 p.m.
Apparently, the Thunder are also salary-dumping Micic here and adding in some form of draft compensation. The former is just business but the latter has the potential to change how I feel about the deal, depending on what that draft compensation is.