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“Dream come true” – Doncic on LBJ duo | 01:26
The NBA trade deadline has passed, and while there wasn’t a Luka Doncic-level deal done on Friday morning, there are plenty of winners and losers to sort.
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Foxsports.com.au has analysed which teams have come out the other side better off, and which will be left looking back with regrets.
WINNERS
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Rob Pelinka, take a bow.
A ridiculously easy call. There was no bigger winner at this deadline than the Lakers, and there likely won’t ever be a bigger trade winner at any future deadline than Los Angeles in 2025, getting its paws on generational superstar Luke Doncic for an almighty generous price.
The best part? It has since been reported the Lakers were able to whittle down Dallas’ initial asking price, which was said to include additional draft capital and rookie shooter Dalton Knecht — though they later dealt him anyway.
Los Angeles snagged a top-five player in the sport for a bag of chips, and the rest of the league are yet to pick their jaws up off the floor.
Parting with three-time blocks leader Anthony Davis is by no means worth celebrating, with the Lakers consequently losing not only a formidable rim deterrer but a dependable scorer at all three levels.
But in saying that, LA has set itself up for the next decade-plus with Doncic running the show offensively. Losing Davis might mean their title chances this year are slimmed, but they will be perennial contenders for the seasons to come — to the chagrin of their envious West rivals.
Before his calf strain on Christmas Day in what wound up his final game as a Maverick, the Slovenian magician had averaged 28.1 points on 46.4 per cent shooting, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists in 35.7 minutes per game.
It follows a career-best 2023-24 campaign that saw Doncic, a five-time All-NBA team member and five-time All-Star, average a whopping 33.9 points per game and finish third in MVP voting.
On Thursday, and as many predicted might be coming, the Lakers made another high-octane move, this time with an eye towards stabilising their frontcourt depth following Davis’ exit.
Los Angeles dealt spot-up shooter Knecht, guard Cam Reddish, a 2031 unprotected first-round pick and a 2030 pick swap to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for centre Mark Williams.
While Williams has battled injuries over the years and is far from the defensive force that Davis was in the frontcourt, he allows the Lakers to both plug a glaring hole in the short-term and build for the future given he is just 23 years old.
“We heard Rob Pelinka say the market for centres was dry, and I think it was. I don’t think Mark Williams was available,” ESPN insider Brian Windhorst said on Friday.
“I think the Lakers made him available by making an offer like this and the Hornets couldn’t turn it down. This was the bulk of their remaining assets. This isn’t a trade I think they would have made last week obviously.”
Not everyone was convinced the move will work out for the Lakers, with The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie writing on X on Thursday that he didn’t like the move “at all” for Los Angeles.
“That’s so much asset capital for a player that has had back issues and has not been good on defence this year.”
He did, however, later add: “I actually do agree with them moving off of Knecht this early. Think it’s probably the right call. His defense had also not shown any growth throughout the year and was a real problem. Don’t mind them cashing in on him now.”
Whether Williams winds up worth the capital surrendered by the Lakers, it is abundantly clear they are prioritising their win-now window as opposed to valuable future assets.
Senior NBA reporter for The Athletic Jovan Buha said: “The Lakers have officially gone all-in on this season on the Luka Doncic-LeBron James pairing. They’ve traded Anthony Davis — their previous best player— Max Christie and Dalton Knecht — two young players they were high on — and both of their tradeable first-round picks.”
Earlier this trade period, the Lakers offloaded D’Angelo Russell as part of a deal that netted them shooting big man Dorian Finney-Smith.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
While it is impossible to match what the Lakers brought in before the deadline, the Spurs are a respectable second place after pairing incoming All-Star De’Aaron Fox with budding superstar Victor Wembanyama.
But it is also about what they gave up — and refused to part with — to attain the Texas native: their 2027 first-round pick, Chicago’s own 1-10 protected 2025 first-rounder, Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Sidy Cissoko.
San Antonio refused to give up rookie phenom Stephon Castle, crafty forward Jeremy Sochan, and shooting guard-forwards Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagnie.
For Sacramento, the 27-year-old Fox had been averaging 25.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game, shooting 46.8 per cent from the field in a career-high 37.2 minutes per game. Just envision those lobs to Wemby.
While it’s possible, a Spurs title run is unlikely to come this season but watch out for the seasons coming. This is your next Western Conference juggernaut.
JIMMY BUTLER
The player empowerment era may not be dead just yet. While the Doncic trade undoubtedly signalled a shift in power dynamics in the NBA, where even transcendent talents are no longer safe from being moved, the biggest superstars in the league can still dictate their future.
And sure, Butler’s ideal scenario was landing in Phoenix. But it’s not as if Golden State, with the opportunity to play alongside Steph Curry and under Steve Kerr, will have Butler losing sleep.
After all, it didn’t take long after the trade was first reported for it also to be revealed that Butler was signing a new two-year, $121 million extension with Golden State through 2026-27.
Drama has followed Butler throughout his career and the Warriors reportedly had hesitations about adding him to the locker room. But talent wins out in the end and Butler, despite adding Miami to the long list of teams he has had an ugly divorce with, got his wish again.
THE NBA (BUT MAYBE NOT WESTERN CONFERENCE FRINGE CONTENDERS)
Declining ratings. One-sided blowouts. A barrage of three-pointers. Remember when everyone was worried about NBA viewership numbers?
It may be a band-aid solution and won’t address any of the deeper issues that may have been behind the dwindling interest, but what a week this has been for the NBA.
There were superstars all across the league traded. Doncic’s move to Los Angeles in particular was so shocking that it had some people debating where it stood among the biggest trades in sporting history.
Meanwhile, the Lakers may have already been one of the biggest brands in the NBA but the Doncic trade will only make them more valuable and, specifically, a regular ratings bonanza.
Doncic’s first game with his former team Dallas, which is scheduled for February 26, will be a particularly lucrative one for the NBA.
And looking more broadly across the league, the Spurs will be must-watch TV with Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox while even the Kings should remain one of the more exciting, fast-paced teams after trading for Zach LaVine.
What about Jimmy Butler? How will he fare with Curry in Golden State? Conversely, what happens now in Phoenix after missing out on Butler and how does Kevin Durant react to having his name brought up in trade conversations?
There are storylines galore.
While it is a big win for the NBA, fringe Western Conference contenders won’t be happy because now the 11th-placed Warriors and 12th-placed Spurs are even better.
In other words, two teams with title ambitions may well miss out on the play-in tournament entirely come the end of the regular season.
But again, it is yet another reason to tune in ahead of what should be an intriguing race to the playoffs.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Getting De’Andre Hunter mightn’t be an absolute home run move, but it’s a sure nice boost to help the Cavaliers’ title push.
Cleveland ahead of Friday’s trade deadline landed Hunter from Atlanta in exchange for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three second-round picks and two swaps.
It rounds out a potent starting five of Jarrett Allen-Evan Mobey-Hunter-Donovan Mitchell-Darius Garland that rivals any in the NBA.
The 41-10 Cavs already have the best record in the Eastern Conference and are among the championship favourites as an offensive force under coach Kenny Atkinson.
The only position Cleveland has been left wanting is on the wing, so in Hunter, a former No.4 overall draft pick, the Cavs get a nice upgrade.
Hunter has averaged career highs in points per game (19) and 3-point percentage (39.3) this season as an offensive weapon off Atlanta’s bench, while he figures to continue to flourish in Cleveland’s high-octane system.
Furthermore, the majority of the big trade moves happened in the West, with the Cavaliers one of the only teams in the East to make a splash.
Could this cement Cleveland as the favourite in the East, or is it still Boston’s crown to lose?
LOSERS
DALLAS MAVERICKS… AND SPECIFICALLY NICO HARRISON
Nobody saw this coming. The concept of Doncic being inexplicably dealt is still barely fathomable. A top five player in the sport, not yet at the peak of his powers at just age 25, not one year after an NBA Finals appearance. The league and its fans remain incredulous in the aftermath.
Even if the idea of moving Doncic ultimately proves correct — whether because of unhealthy nutritional habits, behavioural concerns, or a combination of both — two main gripes sit above all else:
1 — The minuscule return general manager Nico Harrison was able to yield. One or both of the Lakers’ 2030 and 2031 picks had to be included in the deal, alongside Anthony Davis and Max Christie.
2 — The fact no other potential trade partners were consulted by Harrison than the Lakers.
And do not take any of this to belittle the acquisition of Anthony Davis, a nine-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA team member, but in his career, the 31-year-old has played 70 or more games in a season just three times in his 12-year NBA tenure.
But it is not just the impact this will have on the court, both now and into the future. It is the damage Harrison has done to the Mavericks brand.
Some fans have cancelled season tickets while others are raising money for a billboard denouncing Harrison.
Then you have the fact that while some NBA players have avoided commenting on the trade itself to avoid being in the headlines, Knicks guard Josh Hart did not shy away from calling it a “highway robbery”.
Harrison’s reputation is in the trash and the only way of salvaging it is a championship. The problem? The Western Conference is even more competitive now that is no guarantee.
PHOENIX SUNS
The Mavericks and Lakers managed to come together in clandestine fashion to formulate the most shocking NBA trade of all time, yet the Suns couldn’t find a way to offload Bradley Beal’s salary and acquire Jimmy Butler. They are losers.
Now, Phoenix turns for the home stretch barely hanging onto ninth position in an ever-hungry Western Conference with an uninspired roster and question marks hanging over Durant’s future.
More than anything though, the fact the Suns were so desperate to make any move to shake up this roster and failed to get much done, outside of shipping Jusurf Nurkic, does not bode well both for their chances of contending now and into the future.
“This was such a rough couple of days for the Phoenix Suns,” NBA insider Brian Windhorst said on ESPN.
“They went into this thinking they could get Jimmy Butler for Bradley Beal, extend Jimmy Butler, extend Kevin Durant, swap out Nurkic for Jonas Valanciunas, actually a guy who could help them now and improve their team.
“They were wrong… now they’re talking about full evaluations at the end of the season.”
The Suns certainly entered the season as title contenders, but their lack of serious activity at the deadline leaves little scope to consider them genuine challengers to the likes of Oklahoma City, Memphis, Denver, Houston, and now the Lakers.
There is also the question of what impact Phoenix’s very public trade talks involving Durant will have on the 14-time All-Star and the team as a whole.
The Suns considered trading Kevin Durant. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesIt is not that the Suns wanted to move Durant. They only started to look into the possibility when it became clear Beal wouldn’t waive his trade clause, meaning Durant was the logical next name to float in trade talks when it came to landing Butler.
The result was what ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne described as a “toxic” and “very awkward” energy at shootaround in Oklahoma City before Phoenix’s comprehensive loss to the Thunder.
“Everybody was on pins and needles wondering what they were going to do and now you have this reset where how do you move forward as a team when there was a clear mandate here that they had to do something,” Shelburne added.
“It’s really hard to do something and the thing they were trying to do did not come to fruition because Kevin Durant said no. It’s hard to move forward.”
CHICAGO BULLS
Gross. Just gross. Zach LaVine might be on a hefty contract, but Arturas Karnisovas and the Bulls simply had to squeeze more out of their All-Star guard in a trade.
Chicago was already likely to see its protected first-round pick fall in the top-10 — meaning it wouldn’t convey to San Antonio as per the previous arrangement — so getting its first-rounder back from the Spurs is hardly noteworthy.
Kevin Huerter can shoot, and Zach Collins isn’t nothing, but this is another underwhelming trade return — following the uninspiring DeMar DeRozan package last off-season.
LaVine is in the midst of a career-best three-point shooting season with 24.0 points per game. The Bulls had to do better than they did.
At the deadline, Chicago either wasn’t able to find a trade partner or decided against trading rejuvenated centre Nikola Vucevic, in yet another move that makes little sense.
Vucevic, while he is a former All-Star and has played at that level this season in a pleasant surprise, no longer fits the Bulls’ timeline after the exits of DeRozan and now LaVine.
And at a point in time where he held rare trade value, the Bulls had to capitalise. Yet, as has been the norm since Karnisovas and Marc Eversley took the reins, they did not.
Chicago also opted to forego rival interest in Lonzo Ball to re-sign the veteran guard to a two-year contract.
While Ball should be commended for making nothing short of a miraculous recovery from degenerative knee issues, and while he still has his defensive nous and overall stellar game IQ, he has lost a lot of athleticism.
And with Coby White, Josh Giddey, Ayo Dosunmu and now Tre Jones in the fray, it’s more than a crowded room of ball-handling guards.
It is a smart contract (two years, $20 million) in a vacuum, but is yet another move that doesn’t fit into Chicago’s timeline.
The only problem? Karnisovas seems to have a very different idea of what timeline the Bulls are on to everyone else.
DALTON KNECHT
Poor Dalton Knecht.
The Lakers rookie went from being on the hottest team in the NBA right now everyone is talking about following its blockbuster move for Luka Doncic … to the Charlotte Hornets.
Granted, Knetcht, 23, may get a better chance to flourish for the rebuilding Hornets in a bigger role he otherwise mightn’t have had in LA. But the prospect of Doncic and LeBron James dropping dimes to Knecht all over the floor sure would’ve been a hell of a lot of fun for the sharpshooter, plus the chance to go deep in the playoffs.
The Lakers were aggressively searching for a centre to better balance out their roster and made a second big trade splash by landing Mark Williams in exchange for Knecht, Cam Reddish, and an unprotected 2031 first-round pick and 2030 pick swap.
Knecht had been enjoying a strong first season in the NBA, averaging 9.4 points and 1.6 triples on 35.8 per cent shooting from beyond the arc in 20.7 minutes.
It emerged earlier this week through NBA analyst Kirk Goldsberry via The Bill Simmons Podcast that Knecht was originally going to be part of the Doncic-Anthony Davis trade before Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka somehow convinced Mavs counterpart Nico Harrison to whittle down LA’s outgoing assets.
KHRIS MIDDLETON
From a player done dirty at the start of his career to a veteran at the other end of the spectrum.
Khris Middleton has gone from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Washington Wizards as part of the Kyle Kuzma deal.
Yes, after a decade of blood, sweat and tears at the Bucks as Giannis Antetokounmpo’s right-hand man – including helping lead the franchise to the 2021 championship – the Bucks said ‘thanks for your services’ and sent the 33-year old packing to the lowly Wizards.
It’s possible yet Middleton could be bought out by Washington and sign with a contender, though a report from Wizards Athletic reporter Josh Robbins stated the team intends to keep the three-time All-Star to help mentor their young players.
Middleton, who has a $34 million player option for 2025/26, has been hindered by injuries in recent years – playing 111 regular season games in total over the last three campaigns.
THE MARCUS SMART ERA IN MEMPHIS
The Marcus Smart era in Memphis couldn’t have gone much worse, with the team cutting the cord and sending the guard to Washington in a salary dump move.
The Wizards acquired Smart in 2023 in a three-team trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Boston.
Yes, the Smart trade helped create the super team that is reigning champion Boston, who still has arguably the best starving five in basketball with Porzingis-Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown-Derrk White-Jrue Holiday.
Smart meanwhile played only 39 games in total for the Grizzlies over two seasons, with injuries crippling the 30-year old’s time with the franchise.
If Smart’s stint in Memphis wasn’t already a failure, the Grizzlies had to attach a first-round pick to the deal with Washington to get off his $20 million contract.
To recap, the Grizzlies helped facilitate a move that got a contender over the line to win a championship … and then had to give up extra assets to rid themselves of Smart less than two years later after he barely played for them.
Talk about a disaster ….
