Christian Cieri, Illustrator
In one of the most hectic trade deadlines in recent memory, with about nine percent of NBA players switching teams, almost 40 players—not including draft picks—were traded on deadline day.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, this is the most trades in history. There isn’t enough room to even come close to touching upon all of those trades here, so let’s take a look at the five most interesting trades of the day:
1. Miami gets: Goran Dragic, PG; Zoran Dragic, PG. Phoenix gets: Danny Granger, SF; John Salmons, SF; two first-round picks (from Miami). New Orleans gets: Norris Cole, PG; Justin Hamilton, C; Shawne Williams, SF.
Obviously, the crown jewel of the trade here is Goran Dragic. The Dragon is coming off a year in which he made an All-NBA team, and while his numbers don’t quite stack up to last year’s, that’s more of a reflection of other players in Phoenix improving rather than Dragic taking a step back.
His final days in Phoenix were kind of ugly, and it seems like it was best for everyone that he left.
Miami could be a tough team to deal with in the playoffs now, trotting out a Dragic/Wade/Deng/Whiteside lineup (Chris Bosh is dealing with blood clots, and will be out for the season).
Besides that, Phoenix probably took themselves out of the playoff race this year, but they received a multitude of picks that could be valuable.
New Orleans got a nice young point guard in Cole and a couple of spare parts in Hamilton and Williams.
Side-note: now that the Dragics got traded together, I want every set of brothers in the NBA to play together, so that when one is going to get traded, he can point to the other and say, “We’re a package deal.”
2. Phoenix gets: Brandon Knight, PG; Kendall Marshall, PG. Milwaukee gets: Michael Carter-Williams, PG; Miles Plumlee, C; Tyler Ennis, PG. Philadelphia gets: First-round pick (via LAL), top-5 protected.
Phoenix is making a big bet on Knight costing less than Dragic and improving beyond his current state, because right now, Brandon Knight can’t pass like an NBA point guard. It’s a risky one, but we’ll have to give this a few years to play out.
Milwaukee continues to stockpile lean, young athletes, acquiring reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams to go along with the lesser Plumlee and Tyler Ennis. Meanwhile, Philadelphia walked away from the wreckage with a first-round pick.
Why trade MCW? That’s been the question surrounding this trade the last few days. He was young, cost-controlled, and obviously talented—what’s the use of another draft pick, another “maybe”?
Those are legitimate questions. However, I believe 76ers GM Sam Hinkie saw an opportunity to sell high on a player who, skilled as he was, didn’t have the skillset Hinkie was looking for. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but, like the Knight swap, we’ll have to wait a few years before we can make a judgment on this one.
3. Detroit gets: Reggie Jackson, PG. Oklahoma City gets: Enes Kanter, C; Steve Novak, SF; D.J, Augustin, PG; Kyle Singler, SF. Utah gets: Kendrick Perkins, C; Grant Jerret, PF; draft rights to Tibor Pleiss, C; 2017 second-round pick from Detroit; Future first-round pick from Oklahoma City.
Reggie Jackson tweeted that he was crying “tears of joy” when he heard about the trade, so I guess you could say Detroit is getting someone who actually wants to be there.
Jackson is a talented point guard, and if he can learn to accept whatever role he’s in (especially since he’s going to be sharing the floor with the gunner of all gunners, Brandon Jennings), he’d do himself a lot of good.
OKC comes out with exactly what they needed—another strong rebounder and a stronger bench with some veterans who have played in playoff series before.
Utah is looking to the future, acquiring a couple of picks—the other players are inconsequential.
4. Portland gets: Arron Afflalo, SG; Alonzo Gee, SF. Denver gets: Thomas Robinson, PF; Will Barton, SG; Victor Claver, PF; 2016 first-round pick, lottery protected.
Afflalo provides Portland with some much-needed depth in the West bloodbath, and while Barton might have turned out to be a nice player, this was a necessary trade. Denver would’ve been Robinson’s fourth team in three seasons, but Denver released him to waivers, where he was claimed by Philadelphia.
It’s odd that a player of his obvious skills has gotten passed around like he has; the Nets and Robinson had agreed to a 10-day contract, but the 76ers snatched him before the waiver period had ended.
5. Minnesota gets: Kevin Garnett, PF. Brooklyn gets: Thaddeus Young, PF.
Garnett is the OG Timberwolf—seven years after he left, he’s still the leader in almost every major statistical category.
They’ve never made the playoffs without the Big Ticket, and they probably aren’t going to now that he’s returned—he’s just not the player he once as.
However, I can’t think of a better player for the young Timberwolves (Rubio, Bennett, LaVine, and, of course, Wiggins) to be around than the greatest player in the history of the franchise. Thaddeus Young is a nice role player, and someday, he’ll fill an important role for a contender.
For now, he and his admittedly oversized salary (shrewd move by Minnesota GM Flip Saunders) are headed to Brooklyn, where he may be able to give them a much needed boost in terms of youth and intensity.
Bernstein is a member of the class of 2018.
