Top 5 2022 NBA Trade Deadline Takeaways

An exciting day in the NBA comes and goes with the conclusion of yesterday’s hectic NBA Trade Deadline. So many moving pieces. A handful of unexpected twists. All interesting trades that could affect the long-term future of a few franchises. We also had our fair share of highly anticipated moves that didn’t come to fruition leaving some fans wondering what’s next for their teams. With so many storylines to follow and even more trades to dissect, here are my five biggest takeaways from all of the NBA Trade Deadline madness.

5. Sacramento Kings’ Incompetence Continues

Somehow the Sacramento Kings continue to find themselves in the news for all of the wrong reasons.

On February 8th , the Portland Trail Blazers moving CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans somehow was headline news for only a mere couple of hours. This was because soon after, the Sacramento Kings decided to trade former 2020 lottery pick Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers.

The overall details of the trade were that the Kings sent Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson to the Pacers. In exchange, Sacramento received two-time All Star Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb and a 2023 second round pick.

This trade is bizarre on the Kings front for a multitude of reasons. The first is that if you spoke to most Sacramento fans ahead of the deadline, most assumed that De’Aaron Fox would be the headline of any Kings trade. This is in part because the league believed that Haliburton was an untouchable asset leaving Fox as the next highest commodity. In disbelief, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski even reported how stunned the league was by Haliburton’s availability.

The second problem is that they moved on from a guy who has openly and actively expressed his love for the organization and his mission to turn the franchise around. Just two weeks ago, Haliburton in a press conference said, “I refuse to let the culture of what the Kings have been in the past take over…I’m gonna help fix this.”

Well, the Kings culture took over and in the process they lost the first draft pick in maybe Kings’ history who actually pushed for Sacramento to draft them. Sure, they got Domantas Sabonis. But they lost their credibility. Not that Sacramento was ever a big-time destination for free agents to begin with, but the Kings’ front office may have just made life twice as difficult for themselves.

It’s one thing for people to look at a trade opportunity and stamp it with the “it’s just business tag.” But this is one of those trades that make you scratch your head and wonder “Are the Kings simply trying to stay terrible forever?”

4. Quiet Deadline for the Top Markets

One of the more interesting things about the trade deadline was the moves that were not made.

The Los Angeles Lakers were at the forefront of most trade discussions heading into the deadline and they did not make a single move. Granted all they had was Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, and a 2027 draft pick to work with. But rumors were picking up steam about the Lakers trying to get off of Russell Westbrook before the deadline.

Instead, Los Angeles went out looking for a dance with no dance partners in sight. Something we are not used to considering this tends to be the best time of the year for All-Star forward LeBron James who tends to be gifted a new-look roster around this time.

The Lakers are 9th in the Western Conference with a record of 26-29 with hopes of retooling through pick-ups on the buyout market. Between all the injury mishaps, the lackluster play of Russell Westbrook and now this quiet deadline, it seems like the bright future of this season for the Lakers only continues to get dimmer by the day.

Another quiet big market team was the 11th place New York Knicks. Talk about a fall from grace. Just a season ago, the Knicks were in the playoffs as a 4th seed with Julius Randle coming off of an All-Star season.

Fast forward to now and things are back to looking bleak in New York. Julius Randle was dangled out in trade talks. Kemba Walker was in trade rumors. Head coach Tom Thibodeau has already expressed that he was not in favor of acquiring Cam Reddish from the Hawks. So now after a quiet deadline, what are the Knicks left with? Nothing but bad blood.

In a tough Eastern Conference, it will be hard for the Knicks to climb up into the Top-6 with only 27 games left to play. But maybe with the Trade Deadline passing, the locker room will be able to reconvene after the All-Star break to make a strong push for the Play-In tournament.

Nonetheless, just two teams who sent up a bunch of smoke leading up to the deadline but no fire to show for it.

3. Portland Trailblazers Blindly Running into Another “Retooling”

Despite not making any splash moves to bring in an All-Star to play alongside Damian Lillard, the Portland Trailblazers were pretty active at the trade deadline.

It started with them sending Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the LA Clippers. In return they got Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, and a 2025 second round pick.

This was followed by the big trade that sent Lillard’s long-time backcourt mate CJ McCollum to the Pelicans along with Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell. They got back Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker (traded to the Utah Jazz), Tomas Satoransky (traded to the San Antonio Spurs), Didi Louzada and three future draft picks.

For all of those confused about Portland’s plan moving forward, the goal of these moves are simple: To free up cap space and acquire assets. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provided further details from the Trailblazers’ camp saying,

“Portland’s plan is to fully reshape the roster around Damian Lillard now. Portland created a $21 million trade exception today, potentially $60 million in salary cap space this summer, multiple draft picks and assets via Pels and Clippers trades. Plan is to pursue high-end talent now, not retreat.”

Now that last point is worth keying in on because of two things. The first is that Portland is committed to trying to build around Damian Lillard for as long he wants to be a Blazer. This is a key detail because Lillard is already signed through the summer of 2023 in which he will be 34 years old. He also is reportedly eligible and willing to sign a two-year $107 million contract extension this off-season. This extension would reportedly pay Lillard $51.2 million in his age 35 season and $55.3 million in his age 36 season.

In short, Lillard’s value was the highest it’s ever going to be prior to the deadline considering he is only getting more expensive with age. So now the Trailblazers head into yet another off-season hoping they can build a strong supporting cast around him.

This is in spite of them still not having an official general manager and coach Chauncey Billups possibly being on the hot seat one year into his tenure. Not sure if that is the proper formula for a team hoping to vault back into the championship picture, but hopefully for Lillard’s sake it will be a much more eventful summer than last year.

2. Washington Wizards Going into Tank Mode

If there was one team that used the Trade Deadline as a chance to give up on the season, it was the Washington Wizards.

After receiving news that Bradley Beal would be getting season-ending left wrist surgery, Washington pretty much gutted the team. The Wizards sent Montrezl Harrell to Charlotte for Ish Smith and Vernon Carey Jr. They sent Aaron Holiday to the Phoenix Suns for cash. But the big one was trading Spencer Dinwiddie to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis.

This fire sale comes after a rough last couple of months in which Washington fell from being the top seed in the East to now being in 11^th place.

This team was 8-3 in their first 12 games which was their best start in years. Beal was not even shooting the ball well, but they were getting strong minutes from the newly acquired Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell. This team was even a Top-5 defensive team that held opponents to less than 100 points in eight of their first 21 games.

Now they have been reduced to a team that seems to be planning for next season with hopes of development from their young guys in the latter half of this season. When looking at all the moves at face value, the Wizards essentially got off of a handful of veterans to create cap flexibility while also grabbing a young piece in 26-year-old Porzingis.

But all of this leaves one glaring question: What is the fate of Bradley Beal?

Beal has a player option he can pick up next season for $36.4 million, but he could also decline the option in favor of becoming an unrestricted free agent. Going into this off-season, it would be hard pressed to believe that Beal would view all of these trades as anything more than lateral moves. So that significantly weakens their sales pitch to keep him around.

Now they are looking ahead to the summer with hopes that their ability to offer him more money than anyone else and the faith in Beal’s word will be enough to keep around. Otherwise, we just might see Beal in a new uniform this summer.  

1.  Harden-Simmons Trade Shakes Up the Championship Picture

Now we finally get to the bombshell trade headlined by the Brooklyn Nets sending James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Ben Simmons. The Ben Simmons saga has finally ended, and the trade Philly fans have been manifesting for the last year has finally actualized.

In the last 24 hours, the fun thing people have been doing is debating winners and losers at the trade deadline. When it comes to this trade, there are many that believe that the Sixers easily came out as the winners.

Considering Ben Simmons was reluctant to ever play for them again, Philly essentially traded Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and some picks for a Top-10 player in James Harden. They also did so without trading either of their two young pieces in Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle. But when explained that simply, it doesn’t really tell the full story of the trade.

James Harden was an expiring contract who could have entered free agency, but it would have been up to the Sixers to move other guys in order to free up the money to get him. Harden also would have been entering the summer as the most coveted free agent on the market with teams like the TrailBlazers and the Knicks having significant cap space. So, in theory, the only way Philly could secure Harden without gutting the team or outside interference was by making a trade for him now.

In said trade, they gave up Seth Curry who is an elite shooter and was a prime pick-and-roll partner for Joel Embiid. Andre Drummond who was easily the best backup Center Embiid has ever had. Then there’s Simmons who when available is one of the five best perimeter options in the league to guard James Harden straight up in a seven-game series.

Another thing to factor in is the draft picks. When giving up the kind of draft capital that the Sixers did (two unprotected future picks), this essentially shifts the pressure over to Philadelphia to be in win now mode.

Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons are locked up long term for the Nets. Brooklyn expects Kyrie Irving to re-sign with them in the offseason. They now have draft picks to help leverage their future. Now it’s Philly who needs to maximize this season because after this year, Harden will be entering this off-season at age-32 looking for a contract extension. An extension that would likely take him into his age-35 or maybe even age-36 season.

The issue with such a win now mentality for this Philly team is that James Harden may be one of the least qualified superstars to rely on in terms of succeeding in the playoffs. ESPN’s Zach Lowe made an interesting point on a recent episode of his podcast “The Lowe Post” highlighting Harden’s lack of playoff moments over the course of his 14-year career.

“I thought two of his best postseason moments were in Game 6 and Game 7 of that [Milwaukee Bucks] series,” Lowe said. “Both games Brooklyn lost, but he gave them real minutes and real production on one leg and gutted it out and that’s to his credit. But the fact that those might be his two best and most impactful high leverage postseason moments in ten years is something that he needs to address.”

When looking at Harden’s resume as a multi-time MVP runner up and one-time MVP, to be considered this unproductive in the postseason is baffling. Looking back at all the moments for Harden to get here:

–          He forced the Rockets to get rid of Dwight Howard

–          Houston was able to acquire Chris Paul, but they eventually butted heads and Paul was moved to OKC

–          Harden was paired with former teammate Russell Westbrook, but that lasted a year before Westbrook was sent out of their to Wizards

–          Last season he pouted his way out of Houston, getting himself to Brooklyn where at the time he wanted to go.

–          Now under similar pouting circumstances he is on his 4th team.

All of that headache from a player who on paper is viewed as a top player in the game, but in reality has been nothing short of underwhelming in the postseason.

So, in turn the Sixers just made a trade for the last-chance version of Harden. Because this is essentially it in terms of what Harden can do to get himself to what he believes is the best winning situation. If this doesn’t work then it almost feels like James Harden was never destined to win a championship. This is the last shot.

Playing next to one of the best big men in basketball. Solid supporting players with Maxey, Thybulle and Tobias Harris. A crafty general manager in Daryl Morey at the helm. Everything he could want is there for him. But the pressure surrounding Harden to bring Philly a championship is like no weight he has ever had in seasons’ past.

All this to say that I think the Nets may actually be the real winners in this trade. But we also won as fans because between Brooklyn, Philly, Milwaukee and Miami in the East and teams like Golden State, Phoenix and Denver out West, we might be in for one of the most exciting playoffs runs in NBA history.