Grading Every Deal at the 2023 NBA Trade Deadline

Remember when so many plugged-in people were bracing us for a 2023 NBA trade deadline marked by crickets and fart noises and general inactivity?

It turns out they were wrong.

Chaos is already reigning supreme in advance of Thursday's 3 p.m. EST transaction buzzer. Kevin Durant is on the Phoenix Suns. The Brooklyn Nets, somehow, have more future first-round picks than your favorite team. Probably.

D'Angelo Russell is back with the Los Angeles Lakers, and he's bringing a couple of (very impactful) friends with him. Russell Westbrook will now have the "Utah Jazz" on his Basketball-Reference resume.

Mike Conley is headed to the Minnesota Timberwolves and tasked with replacing someone nearly a decade his junior. Josh Hart is a member of the New York Knicks, for some reason. The Portland Trail Blazers are wheeling and dealing after missing out on Jarred Vanderbilt.

Quiet. Trade. Deadline. My. Butt.

Stick with us as we grade every single deal that went down between Wednesday and Thursday's 3 p.m. cutoff.

The Trade

Brooklyn Nets Receive: Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Cameron Johnson, 2023 first-round pick (unprotected), 2025 first-round pick (unprotected), 2027 first-round pick (unprotected), 2028 first-round swap (unprotected), 2029 first-round pick (unprotected)

Phoenix Suns Receive: Kevin Durant, T.J. Warren

Grades

Nets: A-

You can't technically win a trade in which you're dealing an all-time great who, when healthy, still plays at an all-time-great level. But this presupposes the Nets had other options. They didn't. Not really. This core was doomed since last offseason, at least, when both Durant and Kyrie Irving tried to get out of Brooklyn.

Behind-the-scenes combustibility nuked the Nets of some leverage, if not a truckload. Irving playing on an expiring deal and just generally creating negative attention only complicated matters. Durant has three more years left on his deal, all under team control. But he is 34, hasn't played a full season in almost a half-decade and is recovering from an MCL injury at the time of this deal.

Securing a king's ransom for both was never a given. The Nets got it anyway. Including the Irving blockbuster, Brooklyn's haul amounts to Bridges, Crowder, Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, five unprotected first-round picks, one first-round swap and two second-rounders.

This doesn't quite cancel out the opportunity cost of the James Harden trade tree. The Nets have essentially turned Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, three firsts (2022, 2024, 2026) and four swaps (2021, 2023, 2025, 2027) into Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Philadelphia's 2023 first-round pick and Philadelphia's 2027 first-round pick (top-eight protection through 2028). That's not ideal.

At the same time, Brooklyn now has 11 first-round picks in its possession. And it's bound to get more if it fields calls—by the time you read this or over the offseason—on some combination of its many inbound players. The Nets could also look to remain competitive with their hodgepodge of good-not-great talent, a la the pre-deadline Utah Jazz from this season, in hopes of minimizing the value of the picks they're sending to Houston. And given how well Bridges has shot off the dribble in recent weeks, we shouldn't discount the possibility they just acquired a 26-year-old who's tracking toward second-best-player-on-a-title-contender material.

So many different avenues are now open to the Nets—flexibility and possibility that weren't available before. That is, unequivocally, spectacular under the circumstances. Their lone potential demerit: opting for a player-heavy, pick-light package in the Irving blockbuster rather than loading up on draft-equity-centric offers when they had to, on some level, know KD was on his way out.

Suns: A-

New team governors love to make a splash. And, well, the incoming Matt Ishbia just manufactured a tidal wave, replete with a jacked-up luxury-tax bill and everything.

Durant immediately transforms the Suns into one of the West's foremost favorites, if not its de facto squad to beat. (The Denver Nuggets exist, people.) Pairing him with Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton fills the league's current superteam void. There is no overstating how dangerous Phoenix becomes now.

Fitting the pieces together will be a non-issue. Durant has played off other superstars at every single stop, and Booker's own superstardom is in part born from his infinite scalability. Ayton may lust after a larger on-ball role, but he is already accustomed to play-finishing duty and has looked the part of a plug-and-dominate max center in recent games.

This is not to say the Suns have skirted any risk. This trade is nothing if not inundated with pitfalls. Durant is 34, not a billboard for pristine availability and mega expensive going forward. (Phoenix upped its tax bill by more than $35 million with this deal.) Paul is 37. This team's title window is more ultra-finite than open-ended. Which is OK, because its previous window may have already shut prior to landing KD.

Whether surrendering this amount of draft comes back to bite them will be a matter of course. But the package is less, ultimately, than Minnesota coughed up for Rudy Gobert and hardly egregious relative to landing an all-time great not yet out of his prime.

Completing this deal having jettisoned just one of Bridges and Ayton rather than both is a victory—though not a convenient one. Approximating Bridges' defensive value with the current roster isn't possible. Phoenix is light on point-of-attack stoppers and can buy only so much time leaning on Torrey Craig or Josh Okogie. It would have been easy to find a replacement big, in Ayton's stead, if he had been included and approved the trade.

That alternative wasn't on the table, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Bridges is the far more valuable player, and Brooklyn couldn't possibly have real interest in Ayton with both Nic Claxton and Simmons on the roster.

The Suns really, actually got Kevin Durant. And in doing so, they not only bumped up their highest-end outcome but reinforced their appeal as a marquee-player destination. For now, almost nothing else matters.

The Trade

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Malik Beasley, D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt

Minnesota Timberwolves Receive: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Mike Conley, 2024 second-round pick from Memphis or Washington (less favorable, via Lakers), Utah's 2025 second-round pick, Utah's 2026 second-round pick

Utah Jazz Receive: Damian Jones, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Russell Westbrook, Lakers' 2027 first-round pick (top-four protection; turns into 2027 second-rounder if not conveyed)

Grades

Lakers: A

There existed a school of thought that the Lakers should take an all-or-nothing approach to their movable first-round picks. Dangling one wouldn't get them much closer to contention. Even peddling both 2027 and 2029 first-rounders wouldn't cut the mustard, but it was more likely to land them a mega return. And anything short of a mega return surely wasn't enough to short-circuit a huge chunk of their future.

So much for that.

Waiting so long to trade Westbrook ended up working out in general manager Rob Pelinka's favor. This has less to do with Russ' performance off the bench and more to do with time softening his financial commitment. His $47.1 million salary remains gargantuan, but paying him is more manageable when two-thirds of the season is already in the books.

Russell brings a tantalizing blend of shot-making and pick-and-roll orchestration (lob passes notwithstanding) that should play well both alongside and independent of Anthony Davis and LeBron James. He is canning 38.5 percent of his catch-and-fire triples and 39.4 percent of his off-the-dribble treys and has been on a relative heater since missing two games in the middle of December.

Nobody on the Lakers is averaging one or more pull-up-jumper attempts and clearing an effective field-goal percentage of 50. DLo's effective field-goal percentage on these looks sits at 53.3—a top-eight mark among 73 players launching at least four such shots per night.

Beasley injects three-point volume and accuracy into an offense desperate for both. That he comes with a team option for next season is a bonus. Vanderbilt will be an iffy fit if the Lakers try to play him extensively next to one or both of Davis and Rui Hachimura, and on-off splits don't love him this year. But he's a hustler on the glass and should be more effective in a rotation that doesn't call for him to spend as much time away from the basket. Even if he doesn't work out, the sheer talent infusion alone is huge. Especially when he's owed just $4.7 million next season (non-guaranteed).

Surrendering a first-rounder with top-four protection that won't convey for another five drafts isn't nothing. This trade doesn't suddenly vault them to the top of the West. But it does up their threat level in a Western Conference that lacks discernible superpowers outside Denver. And it doesn't cost them any flexibility. They can get rid of Beasley, Russell and Vanderbilt this summer at no extra cost.

Granted, you don't make this deal to rent any of these players. Beasley and Vanderbilt will remain viable trade chips, and Russell, still only 26, could be right there with them depending on how much he fetches in free agency. The Lakers are married to going for it now, no matter how imperfect that all-in chase looks. This is a palatable endgame—and it still leaves them free to dangle a 2029 first in future talks.

Timberwolves: C-

Minnesota isn't necessarily better after this deal, but the roster does, immediately, make more sense. Conley is having a rock-solid season as a both a floor-spacer and playmaker and fits more snugly into the plays-off-Anthony-Edwards role. His familiarity operating alongside Rudy Gobert will be a boon for offensive synergy.

This also needs to be viewed through the lens of Russell's future. If the Timberwolves didn't want to pay him or he declared himself a goner, folding his expiring contract into a smaller salary for a useful player on the books next season buys them both time and future trade flexibility. Alexander-Walker is an interesting live-wire flier for a team not particularly teeming with reserve firepower.

Still, Conley is almost a decade older than Russell. And the $24.4 million he's owed next season ($14.3 million guaranteed) is net-negative value. Already strapped for contingencies after the Gobert trade, the Timberwolves won't have many available alternatives if Conley doesn't have the intended impact or slips off. Latching on to some semi-distant Utah seconds helps the optics but by no means renders this a home run. It feels like a move that elevates Minnesota's floor rather than its ceiling.

Jazz: B

Initial reactions trolled the Jazz and team CEO Danny Ainge for giving up so match while bagging just one of the Lakers' first-rounders. Those reflexive responses are disconnected from reality.

Conley is an incredibly useful player. That's different from being a caps-lock ASSET. His full salary for next season, at age 36, is prohibitive. Utah also couldn't command the moon to take on Westbrook—who will "likely" be bought out, per The Athletic's Tony Jones—with so much of 2022-23 already in the books.

This return is disappointing only if you think the players involved could net firsts on their own. They couldn't. Vanderbilt became redundant and awkward-fitting the moment Walker Kessler emerged and, as a reserve big who doesn't stretch the floor, was never going to grab first-round compensation without other moving parts.

Beasley is a different story. Volume three-point shooting has value. But any first-rounder he netted on his own wouldn't be this high-end, and he's been posting a sub-31-percent clip from deep for more than one-quarter of the season.

Shorting the Lakers' future while forfeiting no one mission critical to your own is perfectly fine. Doing so while also drumming up your draft-lottery odds and giving yourself an effortless line to more than max cap space this summer is an absolute win—even after factoring in the prospect this 2027 first-rounder isn't guaranteed to ever convey.

The Trade

Brooklyn Nets Receive: Three second-round picks

Indiana Pacers Receive: George Hill, Serge Ibaka, Jordan Nwora, two second-round picks

Milwaukee Bucks Receive: Jae Crowder

Grades

Nets: A

The asset restock continues in Brooklyn.

A 32-year-old Crowder, who hasn't played at all this season, never made sense for a Nets organization that is cannonballing into the post-Kevin Durant era and sneakily bursting at the seams with wings. Adding three second-rounders to their coffers is the healthy type of gorging.

It doesn't matter when these selections are projected to convey. ('Tis the season for the slow and ambiguous drip of draft-pick details!) At least some of them will stretch to the distant future, when the trajectory of the rapidly aging Bucks core is more uncertain. And the more post-2025 seconds Brooklyn pries from Milwaukee, the better this deal looks for the former.

Pacers: A-

This deal will come as a blow to any Pacers fans who were trying to sell the now-waived Goga Bitadze as a valuable reclamation project for the Raptors in hypothetical O.G. Anunoby rabbit holes. Thoughts and prayers to you all.

Scooping up Nwora and two second-rounders is a shrewd move. The Pacers have traded their own seconds through 2027—they might be getting one of their own back as part of this deal—so getting two more is useful. Nwora can be a slippery on-ball scorer who spaces the floor away from the action. He is shooting a higher clip from three (39.2 percent) than on twos (37.9 percent) this season.

Potentially irrelevant aside: Indiana might be making this deal while placing real value on a Nwora stab-in-the-dark. He is on the books next season, fully guaranteed, for $3.2 million. That's a negligible number, and Indiana has a crowded backcourt. But this isn't necessarily a move you make solely for the seconds. The Pacers' lone complication: At this writing, they still need to open up two roster spots to accommodate the three-for-none swap.

Bucks: C+

Here are the seconds Milwaukee is sending out, per The Athletic's Eric Nehm: 2023 (more favorable of the two they own); 2024 (their own); Indiana's 2025 second; 2028 second (their own); and 2029 second (their own).

Five second-round picks is a lot, even for the most ideal version of Crowder. And the Bucks aren't getting that Crowder.

Even if he doesn't need time to ramp up after a nine-monthish sabbatical from the basketball court, he will be a free agent at the end of this year. Forking over five second-rounders will seem like an afterthought to some, but it's not exactly rental territory.

Perhaps the Bucks plan to re-sign him. That makes this look better. Peak Crowder unlocks deadlier playoff lineup combinations that open the floor in the half court without sacrificing defensive hustle or heft.

There is a very real chance, even after missing so much time, he's more valuable to the postseason rotation than stealth Sixth Man of the Year candidate Bobby Portis (sidelined with an MCL injury).

The Trade

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Mo Bamba

Orlando Magic Receive: Patrick Beverley (likely to be bought out), second-round pick, cash considerations

Grades

Lakers: A-

Another good trade for the Lakers?! In the year 2023?!

Beverley remained expendable even after Rob Pelinka shipped out Russell Westbrook. The Lakers just acquired Malik Beasley and D'Angelo Russell, and both Lonnie Walker IV (when healthy) and Dennis Schröder have been flat-out better.

Bamba, meanwhile, is a potentially super-useful, dual-purpose asset. The concept of his rim protection and three-point shooting play nicely in all sorts of lineups. The Lakers can deploy him as the lone big or in tandem with one of Anthony Davis or Jarred Vanderbilt.

Equally intriguing: Bamba is on the books next season for $10.3 million. His salary is fully non-guaranteed, but with the Lakers ostensibly punting on cap space by adding D-Lo (unrestricted), Beasley (team option) and Rui Hachimura (restricted), this becomes a tidy number they can attach to their 2029 (or 2030) first-round pick over the summer in search of additional upgrades.

Magic: A

Beverley already appears to be on his way out of Orlando—which, after accounting for the cash L.A. is sending, makes this deal the equivalent of the Magic getting a free second-round pick.

That won't jazz you up if you're a Bamba believer. But he's barely played in recent weeks, and despite already wielding a ton of extra second-rounders, Orlando can never have too many add-ons at its disposal.

The Trade*

Atlanta Hawks Receive: Saddiq Bey

Detroit Pistons Receive: James Wiseman

Golden State Warriors Receive: Gary Payton II

Portland Trail Blazers Receive: Kevin Knox, five second-round picks (from Atlanta, via Golden State)

(*Note: These were functionally two separate trades, but we're looping them together since they're so intertwined.)

Grades

Hawks: B

Five second-rounders is a lot to pony up, but the Hawks needed serviceable depth at the forward spots even with John Collins sticking around. Bey gives them positional flexibility and has another year left on his rookie deal, and he should see his efficiency mushroom while playing a presumably a more streamlined role inside Atlanta's offense.

Pistons: C-

Overstocking the roster with big men who don't stretch the floor is certainly a choice for the Pistons. Bey looked increasingly expendable this year, on both ends, but this equates to selling medium, at best, when it culminates in a frontcourt rotation populated by Wiseman, Marvin Bagley III, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. (Congratulations to anyone hoping Nerlens Noel would get a buyout. It's inevitable now.)

It is still tough to totally nuke the Pistons. They're grabbing a high-upside play in Wiseman. Though he has only occasionally looked like an NBA player with Golden State, a seven-footer with his physical profile and tools cannot be deemed a lost cause at age 21.

If he's able to stay healthy and gets run in Detroit's spacier lineups, the gamble might pay off in the form of a subsequent trade or staying power.

Good luck figuring out how to juggle the rotation in the meantime. Wiseman's arrival doesn't incite pecking-order confusion; Duren remains the big man of the future. But this move doesn't do anything, at all, to clarify how the Pistons plan to play or flesh out the rest of the roster entering next season.

Warriors: C

Golden State cannot be obliterated for cutting the cord on the No. 2 pick from 2020. Wiseman had no path to meaningful playing time and hasn't shown nearly enough to warrant it. There is value in accepting a sunk cost rather than tripling-down on it.

Salary-cap geeks (and billionaire-club members) will celebrate the luxury-tax savings that trickle into next season. Cool. Payton's return means more than any of that. He is essentially an undersized three-and-D wing when fully healthy, someone who will crack and elevate the rotation both with and without Stephen Curry.

That doesn't automatically make this a home run. The Warriors needed a bigger wing more than anything. GP2 can masquerade as one, at both ends, but he's still just 6'2". Though we can't be sure what else was out there, Golden State would've been better off attaching additional assets to Wiseman in search of a more glittery wing upgrade.

Blazers: C+

Um, sure?

Undoing the GP2 signing grants the Blazers more maneuverability beneath the luxury tax next season, which is wiggle room they might've deemed essential with Jerami Grant barreling toward a nine-figure deal.

And since Payton never played the true backup point guard role (or a very large role at all), he became somewhat expendable following the acquisitions of Cam Reddish and Matisse Thybulle, both of whom will be restricted free agents this summer.

Portland's trade deadline more so than anybody else's needs to be viewed in the aggregate. As the Rose Garden Report's Sean Highkin aptly summed up, the Blazers turned GP2, Josh Hart and a 2029 second-rounder into Reddish, Thybulle, Ryan Arcidiacono (most likely will be waived), Kevin Knox, five second-rounders from Golden State and a lottery protected 2023 Knicks first-rounder (turns into four seconds if not conveyed).

That's...fine. It feels awfully lateral in the moment. But it does come with more big-picture upside when accounting for untapped possibility in Thybulle and Reddish and the additional pick equity.

The Trade

San Antonio Spurs Receive: Khem Birch, 2024 first-round pick (top-six protection through 2026), 2023 second-round pick, 2025 second-round pick

Toronto Raptors Receive: Jakob Poeltl

Grades

Spurs: A-

This is exactly the type of move a team in the Spurs' position should be making. Poeltl is a crafty player who can jump-start the offense from the elbows, roll through defenses when given enough space, blow up opposing entry passes, rebound the crap out of the ball and provide deterrence around the basket. He is also 27 and about to enter free agency, where rival executives believe he could command up to $20 million per year, according to The Athletic and Stadium's Shams Charania.

Paint me every shade of skeptical Poeltl gets that much on the open market. The point stands regardless: The Spurs shouldn't be reinvesting in significant money in veterans who don't fit the overarching timeline. It's different if you think Poeltl's next deal will be a more valuable asset than it is now. San Antonio (correctly) does not.

Soaking up the additional year of Birch's deal is no sweat. The Spurs have the financial—and chronological—runway to spare, and they actually opened up another $2.7 million in immediate cap space with this deal.

Protections on Toronto's pick could turn this into a ho-hum gamble. The Raptors appear headed for the lottery this season, and anything short of an insta-turnaround could leave San Antonio without any first-round compensation. Acquiring two seconds makes up for some of that, and you have to believe the Spurs have a semi-firm grasp on the direction in which the Raptors are headed if they agreed to these protections.

Raptors: C-

Uh, Toronto, what are you doing?

The Raptors were being billed as one of the NBA's biggest potential sellers entering Wednesday night. With OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam extension-eligible this summer and Gary Trent Jr. (player option) and Fred VanVleet (player option) speeding toward free agency, they had to look at busting up a soon-to-be incredibly expensive roster on a lottery trajectory.

They traded for another pending free agent instead.

Make no mistake, Poeltl's return to Toronto plugs a hole in the middle. He will give the Raptors a rebounding boost, as well as a rim-rolling bump in spacier lineups. His rim protection slumped in San Antonio, but that says more about the breadth of his role and the ground he was saddled with covering while being surrounded by inexperience. He will be more of a back-line asset to the Raptors' (sometimes detrimentally) aggressive defense. His neatness around the elbows will provide offensive diversity. Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis are the only other centers shooting 55-plus percent with an assist rate of at least 20 in as many touches from that spot.

But again, I ask: Toronto, what you doing?

Poeltl is about to get a sizable pay increase. Are you ponying up for everyone? Is the OG Anunoby buzz for real? Do you have room in your rotation for another non-shooter whose limitations extend to the free-throw line.

Other moves should follow for the Raptors, and this grade will change if they do. Team president Masai Ujiri also knows more about Poeltl's free-agency market than any of us, and his next contract inevitably factors into the calculus. Still, giving up a 2024 first-rounder, however protected, when you're 10th in the East and staring down a hazy-at-best future, is all sorts of weird.

The Trade

Denver Nuggets Receive: 2024 second-round pick, 2025 second-round pick

L.A. Clippers Receive: Bones Hyland

Grades

Nuggets: D-

This is a horrific look for the Nuggets. Hyland had completely fallen out of the rotation and was largely erratic all year, but live-wire shot-makers who can make splashy plays off the dribble are inherently valuable. And for all his flaws, including zero defensive resistance, he is still only 22 and has two more years left on his rookie-scale deal.

You have to get more for him than two second-rounders.

This does not imply the Nuggets deliberately accepted a crappy return. The market for Hyland clearly cratered, and there is value in removing a potential locker room distraction from a team with championship aspirations. But teams with championship aspirations must also prioritize returns that further them. Second-round picks don't do that.

Denver would have been better off holding on to Hyland as break-in-case-of-emergency insurance, if nothing else. Play the "This is all they could get" card if you must. The Nuggets are least partially responsible for overseeing, potentially enabling, the complete implosion of Hyland's market value.

Clippers: A

Is anyone else excited to fire off springtime tweets wondering why Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue isn't giving Hyland postseason minutes?

L.A. is taking on zero downside here. Hyland is unfinished and imperfect, but the Clippers have the top-end talent to bring him along slowly and insulate him more effectively on defense. Load-management nights should also allow him to get in more extensive regular-season reps.

This is a pure upside play, and for what they gave up, the Clippers were wise to make it.

The Trade

New Orleans Pelicans Receive: Josh Richardson

San Antonio Spurs Receive: Devonte' Graham, four second-round picks

Grades

Pelicans: A-

Wiping Graham off the books without sacrificing first-round equity verges on a shocker. He is owed $12.1 million next season and guaranteed $2.9 million in 2024-25 (if he's on the roster July 1, 2024) and has played poorly enough to be considered dead money.

New Orleans now has a clearer pathway to staying under the luxury tax next season—which, whatever. Making sure head coach Willie Green can't play Graham is the bigger victory.

So, too, is Richardson's arrival. His defense isn't what you'd call top shelf, but it can span 1 through 4, and he's taking (5.3 attempts per game) and making (36.9 percent) enough threes since Jan. 1 to strengthen one of the Pelicans' most conspicuous weak points.

Spurs: B+

San Antonio has the cap space and timeline necessary to swallow Graham without regret, and a pile of second-rounders is always nice for a franchise that fancies itself miners of unheralded draft talent.

Personally, I would have liked to see the Spurs extract more, perhaps even a flier on Jaxson Hayes after jettisoning Jakob Poeltl. But that's splitting hairs. There clearly wasn't a market for salary dumps buffered by first-round picks, and Graham comes in handy as a theoretical offensive organizer on a young team without many.

The Trade

Charlotte Hornets Receive: Reggie Jackson (to be bought out), 2028 second-round pick

L.A. Clippers Receive: Mason Plumlee

Grades

Hornets: C

There's nothing to really hate for the Hornets here. They probably wanted more for Plumlee given the offensive load he's been shouldering, but reserve bigs on expiring contracts don't fetch premiums. His departure opens even more playing time for rookie Mark Williams, which is way more valuable to their future, and it behooves them to nab a second-round pick for a player who profiled as a goner anyway.

Clippers: A

What a deadline from the Clippers. Plumlee finishes a day in which they also scooped up Eric Gordon and Bones Hyland—without having to surrender a true first-rounder or Terance Mann.

L.A. now has a tried-and-true backup for Ivica Zubac. Plumlee plays a different brand of offense but can still be used as a screen setter. Any facilitation you run through him is effectively a bonus, and his improved free-throw shooting will help during higher-stakes moments if, for some reason, Zubac finds himself in foul trouble and head coach Tyronn Lue doesn't want to close small.

What's more, this doesn't have to be viewed as a rental. Plumlee will have a market in free agency but won't be guaranteed a much larger role on prospective contenders. The mere possibility of landing a keeper for the suddenly even more expendable Jackson and a second is huge.

The Trade

Houston Rockets Receive: Danny Green, John Wall (to be waived), rights to swap Milwaukee's 2023 first-round pick with Clippers' 2023 first-round pick

L.A. Clippers Receive: Eric Gordon, three second-round picks

Memphis Grizzlies Receive: Luke Kennard

Grades

Rockets: C+

After years of dangling Gordon on the trade block in hopes of bagging a first-round pick, the Rockets received…the right to upgrade one of this year's first-round picks. That's not bad under the circumstances.

Gordon is 34 and has dropped off a bit compared to last season, and as of now, Houston will actually exercise that swap. The Rockets also succeeded in preserving this summer's cap space. Wall is already expected to be waived (related: LOL), and Green probably isn't far behind.

In tandem with sending Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando to Atlanta, Houston has forced head coach Stephen Silas to winnow down his rotation. That's another (tiny) win.

Clippers: A

Death, taxes and…the Clippers slaying it at basically every trade deadline.

Gordon doesn't provide the same type of motion shooting or off-the-dribble jumpers the team received from Kennard. But L.A. recently slashed Kennard's minutes, and Gordon promises more straight-line rim pressure than his predecessor, on top of the capacity to hold his own while guarding up a position.

Snagging second-round equity will come in handy when the Clippers invariably need to glitz up future trade packages, and all of their moves look even better knowing they didn't have to part with a first-rounder or Terance Mann.

There is likewise something to be said for continuing to bankroll a should-be contender. Gordon's contract will guarantee at $20.9 million for next year if the Clippers win a title. Team governor Steve Ballmer can more than afford to stomach it if the season ends in a dream scenario, but not every person in his position would be, so it's worth noting.

Grizzlies: B+

Do I wish the Grizzlies took a bigger swing than Kennard? Absolutely. Is Kennard a more than adequate addition? Also absolutely.

Memphis' title stock no doubt took a hit in the aftermath of Kevin Durant's move to Phoenix, but it just addressed some of its most damning weaknesses: functional long-range shooting and volume.

Kennard is bombing 6.6 three-point attempts per 36 minutes—a modest rate that would rank third among all Grizzlies rotation players—which he's swishing at a 44.7 percent clip. Defenses won't know how to handle him and Desmond Bane raining hellfire, together, from behind the rainbow.

The Grizzlies likewise did well to fold Green's expiring contract into the equally digestible number Kennard is owed next season ($15.4 million) and in 2024-25 ($15.4 million team option). That'll give them more ammo in future trades to go along with all the first-rounders and young players they didn't have to move when making this immediate upgrade.

The Trade

Atlanta Hawks Receive: Garrison Mathews, Bruno Fernando

Houston Rockets Receive: Justin Holiday, Frank Kaminsky, two second-round picks

Grades

Hawks: C

Atlanta cuts over $3 million in salary with this move, which was probably the driving force behind the trade. The arrival of Saddiq Bey also rendered the barely used Holiday even more dispensable.

Belching up two second-rounders to save a few shekels isn't worth a pat on the back—unless you believe in the flame-throwing of Mathews, which I do. The Hawks need unabashed three-point shooters. He will oblige if given run. And while his three-point clip has ducked below 35 percent, Atlanta's offense is far more organized, talented and equipped to tee him up than whatever the hell is happening in Houston these days.

Do not be surprised if this ends with the Hawks picking up Mathews' $2 million team option for next season.

Rockets: B

Rebuilding teams should always be in the pick-acquisition game, so I tip my cap to the talented-yet-shapeless Rockets.

Holiday and Kaminsky instantly become buyout candidates, which is helpful in itself. Both Mathews and Fernando were still making cameos in head coach Stephen Silas' rotation. Flipping them for veterans with whom you're likely parting ways should force Houston, at long last, to truncate its minutes distribution.

The Trade

Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: Dario Saric, second-round pick

Phoenix Suns Receive: Darius Bazley

Grades

Thunder: A-

Go ahead and love this for the Thunder. Sticklers will quibble over their not getting more than one draft pick as compensation for saving the Suns gobs of luxury-tax money, but Saric is a quality fit for the roster.

Oklahoma City lacks size and offensive versatility in the frontcourt after sending Mike Muscala to Boston. At 6'10", 225 pounds, Saric isn't as big as the 6'11", 240-pound Muscala, but he can provide minutes at both the 4 and 5 and brings far more on-ball jet fuel and just as much spacing.

He's shooting 43.6 percent from distance since Jan. 1, during which time, he's busted out plenty of pre-ACL-injury downhill force and finesse and kept half-court actions moving.

Saric is now the oldest player on the Thunder roster...at 28. This is someone they could look to retain beyond this season; he can absolutely play beside Chet Holmgren and, frankly, every other member of the frontcourt. I strongly co-sign this use of the Derrick Favors trade exception—as well as the relocation of Bazley.

Suns: C-

Offloading Saric for Bazley will shed more than $20 million from the Suns' post-Kevin Durant-trade salary and luxury-tax commitments. I do not stan for saving money for billionaire team governors. You shouldn't, either.

Relative to how many different iterations he took in Oklahoma City, Bazley is like a fourth-draft flier at this point. His defensive malleability is real and helps even out the Suns roster following the arrival of Durant and departure of Mikal Bridges. But he is largely, if not entirely, formless on the offensive end and was on the fringes of a Thunder rotation that aims to play pretty much everyone.

Working alongside Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul might allow Bazley to assume his best-suited-role as a wing-sized play-finisher, and the three-ball has looked all right in recent weeks.

But this move is either more about the salary-cap machinations than getting an extended look at Bazley ahead of restricted free agency, or Phoenix plans to actually lean on him to balance out the rotation and defensive assignments.

Neither motive is especially moving.

The Trade

New York Knicks Receive: Josh Hart

Portland Trail Blazers Receive: Ryan Arcidiacono, Svi Mykhailiuk, Cam Reddish, 2023 lottery-protected first-round pick (New York's own; turns into four second-rounders if not conveyed)

Grades

Knicks: C

Hart arms the Knicks with a lot of what they need: beefier perimeter defense that can span 1 through 4, rebounding on the wings, efficient rim pressure and head-of-steam transition attacks. Head coach Tom Thibodeau can cobble together some filthy defensive units by pairing him with Quentin Grimes, Immanuel Quickley, a healthy Mitchell Robinson and, frankly, it doesn't matter who else.

The opportunity cost here is nevertheless questionable. The Knicks were projected to have two first-round picks in this year's draft—their own and Dallas' (top-10 protection)—and aren't particularly dedicated to developing newbies out of the gate. They are also close enough to the top-six-playoff picture to target win-now mediums, and dealing an adequately protected first-rounder attached to three non-rotation players certainly falls under that umbrella.

But Hart is not the cleanest fit on offense. He remains All First Team Shoots Worse From Three Than You Think; he arrives in New York hitting under 31 percent of his triples on the season. His impending free agency (player option), meanwhile, is either part of the appeal or a possible hangup.

On the one hand, the Knicks just landed a player they couldn't afford to sign outright, who played with Jalen Brunson at Villanova. On the other hand, Hart could leave for nothing or cost an exorbitant amount the front office feels compelled to bankroll after shipping out a first-round pick to get him.

This isn't a move you make for a rental—rationally speaking, anyway. Hart may very well provide a two-way jolt, and New York created a pair of roster spots with this three-for-one swap. But having multiple first-round picks and an organizational propensity for devaluing rookie rotation slots isn't license to reorient assets without materially moving the needle. And immediately, it isn't clear how much of a needle-mover Hart will be.

Blazers: B+

Portland was never going to be the team that financed Hart's next contract. It recently paid Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkic and Anfernee Simons and needs to foot the bill for Jerami Grant's eventual nine-figure deal.

Tight pockets don't render good players expendable, but the Blazers aren't drawing dead here. Gary Payton II, Shaedon Sharpe and Nassir Little can all help paper over any gaps left by Hart. A successful flier on Reddish (restricted free agent this summer) does the same.

Netting a first-rounder for a flight risk, if not outright goner, is savvy business—particularly when Portland is so strapped for picks. Its pick for this year is owed to Chicago with lottery protection until forever 2028, prohibiting the team from guaranteeing any first-rounders. New York's first isn't guaranteed, either, but it's more likely to convey than the Blazers' own selection.

That is ammo general manager Joe Cronin can use to sweeten other trades, now or over the offseason, to which he didn't have access before. This grade crumbles, ever so slightly, if the Knicks miss the playoffs, but Portland is insulated against disaster. Four second-rounders for a player you weren't going to keep isn't bad value.

The Trade

Charlotte Hornets Receive: Svi Mykhailiuk, 2023 second-round pick (its own, via Philadelphia)

Philadelphia 76ers Receive: Jalen McDaniels, New York's 2024 second-round pick (via Portland), Portland's 2029 second-round pick

Portland Trail Blazers Receive: Matisse Thybulle

Grades

Hornets: B-

Giving up McDaniels for your own second-round pick is uninspiring on its face. His offensive development on the ball has been among the Hornets' scant few bright spots in an otherwise nondescript season. But this deal actually makes plenty of sense given Charlotte's direction.

McDaniels is headed for free agency this summer, and while it's unlikely he signs at a prohibitive rate, the Hornets aren't good enough to keep paying role players. The pick they're getting will convey in the low 30s, making it a fringe first-rounder. This return is more than fine.

Sixers: A+

Philly may have given up the most valuable pick in this three-teamer. Neither New York nor Portland is guaranteed to be a heavyweight next season or beyond, but that Charlotte selection projects to convey at No. 34.

The Sixers will deal. They comfortably skirt the tax as part of this trade, affording them necessary wiggle room in advance of #buyoutseason. And turning one second-rounder into two is useful divesting for a team barren of movable selections.

Oh, yeah, it helps that McDaniels is a worthwhile flier. The Sixers will need him to nudge up his sub-33-percent three-point clip, and his blend of turnarounds, fadeaways, floaters and runners is a little unsettling, but he's made strides with his handle and on-ball decision-making.

Philadelphia doesn't need someone to generate from-scratch scoring, but McDaniels can grab-and-go on the break and should be able to advance his pump-and-drive game inside the Sixers offense.

Couple his size and multi-level help defense with this brand of "any offensive upside whatsoever," and you have someone infinitely more playable for this team in the postseason than Thybulle.

Blazers: C+

Forking over two seconds for a flier on another restricted free agent—Portland already acquired Cam Reddish—isn't headlining stuff, but it does jazz up the Blazers' defensive ceiling.

Thybulle is nothing if not highly disruptive on the less glamorous end. Whether he has another offensive gear is debatable. The Blazers have the lineup functionality to unlock his cutting but will need him to indulge real, actual, authentic volume to keep him on the floor during higher-leverage minutes.

Others will dole out a higher grade for Portland. That's…fine. Maybe I'm just jaded from the Thybulle offensive experience these past four years. But two seconds—one of which doesn't convey for the better part of a decade—to roll the dice on the shallowest of offensive skill sets falls well shy of a bargain.

The Trade

Denver Nuggets Receive: Thomas Bryant

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Davon Reed, 2025 second-round pick, 2026 second-round pick, 2029 second-round pick

Grades

Nuggets: C+

Bryant significantly upgrades the Nuggets' backup-big rotation behind Nikola Jokić. He brings a strong presence on the defensive glass, finishing ability on dives to the basket and genuine stretch in the half court on controlled volume. His 82.3 percent clip inside three feet and 44 percent success rate from beyond the arc (22-of-50) will glitz up some of Denver's bench-heavy units.

However!

This does feel like a little bit much to give up for a reserve big on an expiring contract. Reed wasn't part of the Nuggets rotation, but three second-rounders isn't nothing, and Bryant won't do much, if anything, to bolster the team's rim protection. Overall, this is a good fit at what comes across as slightly above-market value.

Lakers: A

Did anyone else anticipate liking the Lakers' trade deadline this much? I did not.

Bryant became somewhat dispensable following the addition of Jarred Vanderbilt. The former is a cleaner fit if the Lakers want to run dual-big combos with Anthony Davis, but moving Bryant also ensures Vando gets to sponge up more center reps, a role for which he's much better suited.

Latching on to three second-rounders for a reserve big who was about to see his minutes trimmed is pretty awesome. These selections are, at the very least, throw-in sweeteners the Lakers can use in future trades.

Not to be forgotten: The 6'5" Reed. He seldom cracked the Nuggets rotation, so he isn't some hidden fringe star. But he is capable of matching up against bigger wings on the defensive end. If he can drain enough stand-alone threes, Reed is someone the Lakers can actually use.

The Trade

Boston Celtics Receive: Mike Muscala

Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: Justin Jackson, two second-round picks

Grades

Celtics: A

Boston's search for another big man to shore up the front-line rotation, minimize its postseason dependence on Luke Kornet (and Blake Griffin) and stock up on insurance against Robert Williams III missing time and 36-year-old Al Horford suddenly showing his age was among the league's worst-kept secrets. And, well, here we are!

Muscala is a risk-free acquisition who offers the exact type of frontcourt safety net the Celtics will maximize. His defensive mobility won't turn heads, but Boston has ample insulation to handle his shortcomings around the basket.

He will be eminently playable so long as his 39.4 percent clip from deep—43.5 percent since Jan. 1—holds firm. The Celtics might even be able to steal some dual-big minutes with him.

There is virtually no opportunity cost here. Boston isn't on a prioritize-second-round-picks timeline and didn't give up anyone remotely critical to the rotation. Muscala's $3.5 million salary can slide into the almost-expired Dennis Schröder trade exception ($5.9 million), and his $3.5 million team option for next season offers the Celtics affordable flexibility.

Thunder: B

Oklahoma City isn't functionally in a position to just unload useful bigs. Muscala gave the Thunder frontcourt much-needed size and shooting. He was also a placeholder.

The Thunder were tracking toward a singular roster spot this summer after accounting for non-guarantees they should keep. That number now snails its way to two, assuming they get rid of Jackson and Darius Bazley (restricted).

Maintaining body-count malleability matters for Oklahoma City at this juncture. It has just one first-rounder coming down the pipeline this June, but general manager Sam Presti is no stranger to draft-day activity, and the Thunder now have an extra slot to play around with should they actually decide to spend through what could be north of $30 million in cap space.

Increasing their optionality, picking up two seconds and sending the well-liked Muscala to a contender all at once is solid trade deadline-ing.

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass and accurate entering Thursday's games. Salary information via Spotrac.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.