Who Are The Winners And Losers Following Thursday's NBA Trade Deadline

With 10 NBA trades on Thursday before the 3 p.m. ET deadline, I’m always surprised why organizations tend to leave things so late before finally pulling the trigger. Some teams did their business early in the deal window, such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, and Portland Trail Blazers. We’ll examine the more meaningful moves over the past week, identify the winners and, unfortunately, some perennial losers, and assess how the trades impact the NBA futures market.

Lakers

Quiet On Deadline Day

The Los Angeles Lakers have held on to the belief that their problems would be solved once Anthony Davis returned from his MCL sprain. However, one game after his return, LeBron James suffered a knee injury of his own. While few teams can withstand injuries to two key players, I still doubt the quality of this Lakers team even with both of their stars on the court.

Los Angeles made some offseason moves that haven’t amounted to much of anything on the court. I went back and looked at those moves: Los Angeles signed nine players to a minimum salary exception. Then, of course, there was the Russell Westbook trade that’s been an absolute disaster.

The Lakers traded away the few pieces they had to get Westbrook, so there was little they could offer up for a trade before this deadline. The one move that was on the table was to trade Westbrook back to the Rockets in exchange for John Wall. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel might’ve already reached the point of no return with Westbook as he doesn’t even trust the point guard to be on the court during crunch time in the fourth quarter. If Vogel thinks Westbrook is merely a passenger on the team, then what’s the use of having him around?

Before the season, Los Angeles had the second shortest odds on the board to win the title at anywhere from +300 to +450. Now Lakers are as high as +3,000 considering they’re four games under .500, 19.5 games out of first place in the division, and possibly looking at another playoff play-in game.

The reality is that this idea that Los Angeles is somehow going to figure things out magically is as fanciful as a Hollywood ending.

Kings, Tyrese Haliburton, and Buddy Hield

Wake Me Up When The Kings And Pacers Are Relevant Again

Everyone is quick to grade the Indiana Pacers as winners in the trade that landed them a promising second-year player in Tyrese Haliburton. However, can you trust Indiana to assemble the correct pieces on the court to challenge the divisional crown, let alone an NBA title? I certainly don’t.

Indiana’s attendance is so bad in the league you’d think they still had a COVID restriction in effect like the Toronto Raptors. Sure they got Haliburton and Buddy Hield in what looks like a fleece of the century. But are either one of those players going to put fannies in the seats? I doubt it.

The losers in this deal are Haliburton and Hield, who deserve to play in a better environment. It’s worth noting that right above the Pacers for the worst attendance in the league are the Sacramento Kings, who are two games outside of the playoff play-in tournament.

I’ve got my doubts as to whether the acquisition of Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, and Jeremy Lamb will all of a sudden vault the Kings up the standings.

The Kings and Pacers have been irrelevant franchises in the NBA for quite some time now. Thus, I don’t see any reason to change my outlook on either club despite the trade.

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