Now that the dust has settled after a hectic trade deadline, let's take stock of the moves that went down across the NBA, and separate the wheat from the chaff.
Here are the winners and losers of Deadline Day 2018:
Winners
Los Angeles Lakers
All the Lakers wanted to do at this deadline was dump long-term money and clear cap space for the next two offseasons. In the trade that sent Jordan Clarkson to Cleveland, they managed to do that and extract a 2018 first-round pick from the Cavaliers. Without their own pick in the coming draft, that's no small feat, even with the Cavs' pick likely to fall in the 20s. (Look what the Lakers got with the 27th pick last year!)
Giving up Larry Nance Jr. - an elite athlete and a strong defender with a year left on his rookie contract - will sting a bit, but the Lakers were already anticipating having to use him as a sweetener to offload Clarkson's contract, and as a 25-year-old with little shooting range, it's not like Nance was bursting with upside. If you think about this as two separate trades, you could say the Lakers got a first-rounder for Nance, and a pair of expiring contracts - plus a chance to see if Isaiah Thomas still has value - for Clarkson, who is owed $26 million for two seasons after this one. That's a straight-up coup.
For all the rumblings about the Lakers shifting their focus to the 2019 free-agent class, they're suddenly positioned to have two max-salary slots in July, with just $37 million committed for next season.
Cleveland Cavaliers
As much as the Lakers seemed to definitively win the first trade, the Cavs salvaged their deadline day with a flurry of subsequent activity that totally overhauled their broken, dysfunctional roster. All told, they replaced Thomas, Channing Frye, Jae Crowder, Dwyane Wade, Iman Shumpert, and Derrick Rose with Clarkson, Nance, Rodney Hood, and George Hill.
Without sacrificing much (if anything) in the way of shooting or playmaking, they got younger, more athletic, and more switchable, while markedly improving their perimeter defense. In theory, anyway.
Look, it's not like the Cavs did anything earth-shattering here. This is far from a no-doubt home run. They didn't acquire a star, didn't address their lack of rim protection, and took on a ton of long-term money for middling talent. With so much turnover, there's no telling how well their remade roster will gel. They probably improved their odds of getting out of the Eastern Conference, but they'll still need a miracle to beat the Warriors.
But with so much rot festering in their locker room, the Cavs needed an aggressive shakeup like this, and this is about as well as they could've done without moving their precious Brooklyn Nets pick. It should signal to LeBron James that they're still willing to take on significant risk and cost in order to keep him around after this season. It may not work - again, the Lakers now have room to sign two max free agents - but if nothing else, this was a worthwhile roll of the dice.
New York Knicks
Look at the Knicks, doing smart things!
It obviously would have been nice if they could've moved Courtney Lee or Kyle O'Quinn for assets, but they can still try move Lee in the offseason, and in the meantime, taking a flier on Emmanuel Mudiay - a talented but frustrating point guard who desperately needed a change of scenery - is exactly the type of low-risk move the Knicks need to making in the wake of Kristaps Porzingis' devastating injury.
Mudiay has a lot to figure out, particularly at the defensive end, but he's just 21, in the midst of the best shooting season of his career, and has a year left before restricted free agency. And all he cost the Knicks was a couple pointless months of Doug McDermott. Now all they need to do is find the strength to give Mudiay Jarrett Jack's minutes.
Detroit Pistons
After gutting their wing and guard depth to acquire Blake Griffin, the Pistons did well to acquire a steady veteran hand in point guard Jameer Nelson, and a bouncy 3-and-D swingman in James Ennis, both at incredibly low cost.
It wasn't sexy, but the Pistons were worryingly top-heavy, and with their star frontcourt tandem already carrying them to five straight wins while shouldering an immense offensive load, a bit of depth could go a long way.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns picked up Elfrid Payton - a 23-year-old, starting-caliber point guard who's shooting 52 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range, and has some defensive upside - in exchange for a single second-round pick. Even given the uncertainty regarding Payton's pending restricted free agency, that's a nice piece of business for a rebuilding squad.
- Joe Wolfond
Losers
Utah Jazz
Seven months ago, Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey was talking about Rodney Hood being his team's new primary scorer in the wake of Gordon Hayward's exit. On Thursday, Lindsey signed off on Hood's trade - along with veteran Joe Johnson - and netted just Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose (who will reportedly be waived) in return.
What are the Jazz doing here, other than helping facilitate the Cleveland Cavaliers' makeover? In Crowder, Utah gets a declining player who has seen his production on both ends decrease since the Boston Celtics included him in last summer's fleecing of the Cavs in the Kyrie Irving trade.
One possibility: Crowder's contract is still a relative bargain at a total of $15 million through next season. So in other words, the Jazz dealt away one of their three best players for a cheap contract. Vexing, given that up to 20 teams reportedly called the Jazz about Hood.
Orlando Magic
The Magic started this season 8-4, and have gone 9-32 since. Thursday wasn't much better. Orlando made no upgrades, and instead traded away its starting point guard for a second-round draft pick. In dealing Payton to the Suns, the Magic have no heir apparent at the point either.
While Payton is a flawed player, he's still only 23 and is having his best season shooting the ball. A high second-rounder seems like a less-than-ideal return. While Payton may not be a long-term star in Phoenix, it's a low-risk deal for the Suns.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies sat Tyreke Evans the last week as they took trade calls on him, but in the end were unable to swing a deal. Multiple reports indicate it may have been because teams weren't willing to part with a first-rounder in exchange for the 28-year-old guard.
Now, Memphis may want to keep Evans in the offseason and re-sign him to the mid-level exception if he's amenable, a situation he holds no loyalty to. The Grizzlies did achieve something of a sell-off Thursday, by dealing Ennis' useful minutes and expiring contract for a future second-round pick and Brice Johnson - who's played a total of 12 NBA games in two seasons.
- John Chick
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)
