NBA Rewind: How the trade deadline shook up the playoff (and tanking) picture

Every Monday, we catch you up on the happenings in the NBA. Now that the trade deadline has passed, the league has changed. Let’s figure out what that means. Also, All-Star Weekend is happening at the Intuit Dome this week. Does the NBA need this format to work for its new broadcast partner?

We also have the extended version of the NBA Stock Report, a Monday staple in The Bounce. That’s our free NBA newsletter that you can sign up for and receive every day in your inbox.

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Big Story: What’s the post-deadline lay of the land?

We had 28 deals go down during the NBA trade season. Twenty-eight! Yes, many of those were teams trying to avoid aprons and duck the luxury tax, but we still saw a lot of trades. That’s what we’re here for when it comes to the deadline. Some of these trades involved major players changing uniforms, and it’s worth looking at the risers and punters for the rest of this season.

First and foremost, I guess we shouldn’t expect the Trae Young and Anthony Davis acquisitions in Washington, and maybe even the Jaren Jackson Jr. acquisition in Utah, to affect those teams’ draft positions. The Athletic has reported that Davis will not play the rest of the season while he rehabs hand and groin injuries. The Wizards are 14-38, sitting at 14th in the East. Their pick is slotted at fourth in the NBA Draft without any lottery shenanigans. Wouldn’t you know that the Wizards’ pick just happens to be top-eight protected! Amazing what a coincidence that is.

There are already questions about how much Jackson will play for the Jazz the rest of the season. He’s not dealing with injuries, but Utah also has a top-eight protected pick this year. The Jazz are right behind the Wizards in terms of draft position at 16-37, the sixth-worst record in the league. If Utah’s pick is ninth or later, it will go to the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Wizards drop to ninth or later, their pick will go to the New York Knicks. I’m not sure how much commissioner Adam Silver and the league office love the idea of stars being acquired at the deadline just to be shut down until next season or barely see the court. Remember, we still haven’t seen Young play for the Wizards, and he was traded to Washington a month ago.

As for the rest of the league, this is what happened to the playoff and Play-In Tournament hopeful teams in both conferences. Let’s start with the East:

1. Detroit Pistons

They sent out Jaden Ivey for Kevin Huerter, essentially, opting for more Daniss Jenkins as the backup guard and trusting Huerter to rediscover his shooting stroke. I’m not sure they got better, but their outside shooting can’t exactly get worse.

Trade deadline progress: About the same.

2. New York Knicks

We didn’t get any home runs by the Knicks’ front office, but grabbing Jose Alvarado to help in the backcourt was huge. Especially when you factor in that Miles McBride is likely out until the playoffs with a sports hernia. All they gave up was basically Guerschon Yabusele, and he wasn’t helping the team. Big pickup on the margins for New York.

Trade deadline progress: Steady improvement.

3. Boston Celtics

It was a big-time move to send Anfernee Simons to Chicago for Nikola Vučević. The Celtics needed another interior presence, and now Neemias Queta doesn’t have nearly as much pressure to perform (he’s been great, by the way). Vučević fits perfectly with what the Celtics want to do, and that’s a massive acquisition for a team looking to surprise everybody.

Trade deadline progress: Big improvement.

4. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs cut a lot of luxury tax money and still managed to create a more intriguing short-term look with James Harden next to Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt.

Trade deadline progress: Major change that should improve things.

5. Toronto Raptors

The Raptors focused on bringing in a little help for the interior off the bench while cutting some luxury tax commitment.

Trade deadline progress: Marginal improvement at best.

6. Philadelphia 76ers

Daryl Morey sent Jared McCain and Eric Gordon out in two different trades to get a first-round pick and, more importantly, some luxury tax relief.

Trade deadline progress: They got a little worse.

7. Orlando Magic

Orlando traded Tyus Jones to get out of the luxury tax, then signed Jevon Carter to replace him.

Trade deadline progress: About the same.

8. Miami Heat

They did nothing at the deadline.

Trade deadline progress: None.

9. Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta brought in Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, Gabe Vincent and Jock Landale. It got rid of Kristaps Porziņģis and Luke Kennard. And the Hawks moved on from Young the previous month.

Trade deadline progress: They got better for the team they’re trying to be, but they must be healthy.

10. Charlotte Hornets

They made several trades, but acquiring Coby White was the big one. Is that enough to provide even more pop to a great offense?

Trade deadline progress: I think they got better, but I’m not sure they can sustain this run.

11. Chicago Bulls

Huerter, White, Dario Saric, Dalen Terry, Ayo Dosunmu, Julian Phillips and Vučević out. Yabusele, Ivey, Rob Dillingham, Nick Richards, Collin Sexton, Leonard Miller, Simons and a boatload of second-round picks in.

Trade deadline progress: They no longer strive for the Play-In.

12. Milwaukee Bucks

No big trades for the Bucks. They just ended up sending Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey out to bring in Ousmane Dieng.

Trade deadline progress: We’ll do this again in the summer.

Now, let’s see how the deadline activity affected the West.

1. Oklahoma City Thunder

They basically gave up Dieng and a Houston Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick for McCain and the right to waive Mason Plumlee.

Trade deadline progress: They actually got slightly better if McCain can return to his rookie form at some point.

2. San Antonio Spurs

They rarely make deadline moves and didn’t do anything this year, either.

Trade deadline progress: Let’s see what this group can do and reevaluate this summer.

3. Denver Nuggets

Sent out Hunter Tyson for some luxury tax relief.

Trade deadline progress: Get healthy and try to win it all.

4. Houston Rockets

One of the few teams not to do anything at the deadline.

Trade deadline progress: They’ll also roll with what they’ve got.

5. Los Angeles Lakers

They moved Vincent for Kennard for more shooting.

Trade deadline progress: This didn’t fix their defense at all, but they do have some needed shooting now. Slightly improved.

6. Minnesota Timberwolves

The Wolves gave up Mike Conley, Dillingham, Miller and a bunch of second-round picks to acquire Dosunmu and Conley. That’s right: They re-signed him because he was traded again and then waived. Nice little loophole for the locker room.

Trade deadline progress: Dosunmu gives them the backup guard they’ve been dying for. Big improvement.

7. Phoenix Suns

They brought in Coffey and Anthony for Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis. Doesn’t do much, although Coffey could be a nice wing for them.

Trade deadline progress: Not much change as they push for a top-six finish.

8. Golden State Warriors

They sent out Kuminga, Hield and Trayce Jackson-Davis to bring back Porziņģis. That also gave them a roster spot and enough breathing room to convert Pat Spencer from a two-way deal to a full contract. We have no idea how much Porziņģis will play as he battles illness and injuries.

Trade deadline progress: There isn’t much change, unless Porziņģis miraculously becomes consistently available.

9. LA Clippers

Massive changes! They swapped Harden for Darius Garland, and then they sent Ivica Zubac to Indiana for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and some first-round picks.

Trade deadline progress: They got a lot worse and less reliable for this season, but this is better for them long-term.

10. Portland Trail Blazers:

They brought in Vit Krejčí for some outside shooting, but that’s not going to change much.

Trade deadline progress: Marginal improvement at best.

11. Memphis Grizzlies

They sent Jackson to Utah in a big deal to bring in Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks, Kyle Anderson and three future first-round picks. They punted on this season to jump into development and draft-pick prioritization mode.

Trade deadline progress: They’ve essentially taken themselves out of the Play-In chase.

12. Dallas Mavericks

The Mavs opted for financial flexibility by moving AD, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Marvin Bagley III, Tyus Jones, two mediocre firsts and some second-round picks.

Trade deadline progress: They’re further away from the Play-In than before.

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The Week Ahead: All-Star time

All-Star Weekend is almost here. On Friday, rookies and second-year players will compete in the Rising Stars games. Saturday includes the return of the Shooting Stars competition, the 3-point contest and the dunk contest. On Sunday, a new All-Star Game format debuts, with two teams of American-born players (USA Stars and USA Stripes) and an international squad competing in a tournament.

There has been a real disdain for what NBA All-Star Weekend has become in recent years. The Friday night Rising Stars games don’t even seem to register with most basketball fans. The Saturday night festivities are constantly scrutinized, with many fans only really liking the 3-point contest. The All-Star Game was so bad a couple of years ago that Adam Silver admonished the players during the MVP ceremony. An event that’s supposed to be a celebration of the league tends to inspire more denigration than jubilation.

You may notice the Skills Competition is gone. The NBA decided bring back the Shooting Stars competition after an 11-year hiatus. One glaring omission from the Shooting Stars setup this time around is the lack of a WNBA representative for each team. That could strictly be because the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement negotiations are going so poorly. And the NBA has to hope we get some good battles during the dunk contest.

As for the All-Star Game itself, the league is running out of ideas. Victor Wembanyama has vowed to take this game seriously and hopes that will set a tone. That’s a tall task, even for someone his height. Maybe the NBA needs to make this game a straight-up 12 domestic versus 12 international players and hope for the best? The argument is that it would be unfair to the domestic players, who would only get 12 spots. The counter to that? Show that you take the game more seriously, and then maybe the league won’t need to get so gimmicky.

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NBA Stock Report Extended

📈 Pistons (38-13). It feels super disrespectful that when people talk about the East favorites, the Pistons don’t seem to come up much, even though Detroit has been in sole possession of first place most of the season. The Pistons have won 10 of their last 13 and have been dominant of late. They’re smacking the teams they’re supposed to smack, and they’re sending messages to the good squads. In their last 13 games, they have a 43-point win over Indiana and a 53-point win over Brooklyn. They also beat the Knicks by 38 to end New York’s hot streak.

During this stretch, Detroit has the best defense in the league, while its offense is seventh. It’s allowing the lowest 3-point percentage and keeping opponents to just 32.8 percent. It’s forcing the third-highest turnover rate and converting it to the most points off turnovers per game at 24.8. It is allowing the second-fewest fast-break points and fourth-fewest points in the paint. This is a dominant run by the Pistons’ defense, and it’s shocking they lost three games during it. So … does anybody have them as their East favorites now?

📉 Nuggets (34-19). Nikola Jokić has been back for five games, but Denver is just 2-3. Granted, the opponents have been tough: the Clippers, Thunder, Pistons, Knicks and Bulls. As you can guess, the Nuggets beat the Clippers and Bulls from that group. Denver’s offense has been fine, but its defense has been atrocious this past week.

A big part of the defensive issues is that Aaron Gordon hasn’t played, as he’s out for weeks with another hamstring injury. Then the Nuggets lost Peyton Watson with his own hamstring injury. We’re back to worrying about the non-Jokić minutes. In the last four games, the Nuggets are plus-8.0 points per 100 possessions in the 140 minutes he has played. In the 62 minutes he hasn’t played, they’re minus-20.4 per 100 possessions, and the offensive rating drops from 124.0 to 109.5 points per 100 possessions. To put that into simpler terms, they’re plus-23 in 140 minutes with him and minus-27 in 62 minutes without him. Yikes.

📈 Celtics (34-19). Even though they got smoked by the Knicks at home on Sunday, the Celtics are still trending upward. They went 4-1 this past week and have won five of their last six. The first part of this stretch was very easy, with wins over Sacramento, Milwaukee and Dallas, but it got tougher with wins over Houston (a blowout) and Miami (a tight one). We normally expect Boston to just bomb away and have its offense dominate opponents. This week, it’s been all about the defense.

The Celtics allowed just 104.4 points per 100 possessions over the last week, which is good for third in the NBA. They’ve been doing it soundly, too. They’re not forcing turnovers. They’re just preventing makes. Boston is second in field-goal percentage and 10th in 3-point percentage allowed in this stretch. It has also allowed the fewest points in the paint. I don’t know how sustainable this level of defense is. The Celtics have had a good defense this season, but not this level of elite.

📉 Bulls (24-29). It was pretty clear at the trade deadline that the Bulls were punting on this season. They didn’t decimate their roster and commit to a big-time rebuild. But nearly half their roster is now made up of guards who stand 6-foot-3 or shorter. They’ll likely see which guards are worth investing in (Ivey and Dillingham are the ones to truly evaluate) and which ones will find their way to free agency (Sexton?). Chicago has had another competitive season in terms of sticking around .500, but prioritizing draft positioning at this point is not a terrible idea.

The Bulls reached one game above .500 and then lost seven of their next eight. They’re currently on a four-game losing streak. Without lottery chicanery, they would currently have the 10th pick in the draft. They’re 1.5 games “behind” Milwaukee in the draft positioning, but they’re tied in losses. They’re three games behind Memphis (two back in the loss column), and there’s a 4 1/2-game gulf between them and Dallas. We’re going to see a lot of Richards and Yabusele minutes at center the rest of the season.

📈 Bucks (21-29). Don’t look now, Milwaukee has won three straight! That’s without Giannis Antetokounmpo, which has been a rarity for this team. The Bucks are 15-15 when the Greek Freak plays and just 6-14 when he doesn’t. For you math majors out there, that means they were 3-14 without him before this run. Have they figured things out sans Giannis, or is this just a bounce from a free fall? Their opponents would probably indicate it’s the latter. They beat Chicago, New Orleans (in overtime) and Indiana. Their next three games are against Orlando (twice) and then in OKC before the All-Star break.

Ryan Rollins is leading the way during the winning streak with 23.3 points per game on 45.8/46.2/80.0 shooting splits. Kevin Porter Jr. and Kyle Kuzma each had a couple of good games, but they also missed one. Thanks to AJ Green (15 of 33 from deep), the Bucks have killed it from downtown during these three games. This won’t help the Bucks prioritize their draft positioning, but that’ll be affected when Giannis returns from his right calf injury anyway.

📉 Mavericks (19-33). Dallas wasn’t exactly thriving with the presence of Davis, but now the losses are really starting to accumulate. The Mavs were in the middle of a losing streak when they moved AD to the Wizards. They have now pushed it to seven straight losses. Their offense continues to struggle despite Cooper Flagg’s incredible individual run. Their defense has slipped quite a bit recently, after being relatively competitive throughout the season. It’s going to be a lot of this the rest of the way: competitive losses, but losses nonetheless. The Mavs are prioritizing their draft positioning. There’s a simpler word for that. It’s called tanking. This is the last time in years that Dallas has control of its own draft pick, and it can add a great young talent to Flagg this summer.

📈 Spurs (36-16). We might be in a “wins are wins” stretch for San Antonio, but the Spurs have still won four straight. Stacking wins in the West, regardless of the opponent, is key. They beat the Magic, which is a good win even if Orlando has been struggling to find consistency. The Spurs had a rough time with a decimated Thunder roster before beating the Mavericks twice in a row. San Antonio has beaten up on bad teams (20-5 against below-.500 squads), but it’s also pretty good against non-losing teams (16-11). This Spurs team is still way ahead of schedule.

📉 Kings (12-42). It feels like I’m picking on the Kings most weeks, but they’re really bad. And they’re somehow getting worse. Sacramento has lost 12 straight games, the franchise’s first double-digit losing streak since 1998, the season before Chris Webber and Vlade Divac got to town. The Kings play the Pelicans and Jazz before the All-Star break. A loss to New Orleans would push them to their longest losing streak since 1990. Two losses would push the streak all the way back to the franchise’s Cincinnati Royals days in 1971 and 1960. We haven’t seen the beam since Jan. 16.