VIDEO: Trade Deadline Show wrap-up
Thursday started a little slow, but by the time 3 p.m. rolled around, the action was fast and furious, culminating in a flurry of deals that sent several quality point guards across the country.
Here’s a breakdown of every trade made in the hours leading up to the deadline, as reported.
To MIL: Michael Carter-Williams, Tyler Ennis, Miles Plumlee
To PHI: LAL pick (protected)
To PHX: Brandon Knight, Kendall Marshall
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To BOS: Isaiah Thomas
To PHX: Marcus Thornton, CLE pick
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To DET: Reggie Jackson
To OKC: D.J. Augustin, Enes Kanter, Steve Novak, Kyle Singler
To UTA: Grant Jerrett, Kendrick Perkins, OKC pick (protected), 2nd round pick
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To BOS: Luigi Datome, Jonas Jerebko
To DET: Tayshaun Prince
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To HOU: Pablo Prigioni
To NYK: Alexey Shved, 2 2nd round picks
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To HOU: K.J. McDaniels
To PHI: Isaiah Canaan, 2nd round pick
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To MIA: Goran Dragic, Zoran Dragic
To NOP: Norris Cole, Justin Hamilton, Shawne Williams
To PHX: Danny Granger, John Salmons, 2 1st round picks
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To DEN:
To PHI: JaVale McGee, OKC pick (protected)
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To BKN: Thaddeus Young
To MIN: Kevin Garnett
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To SAC: Andre Miller
To WAS: Ramon Sessions
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To DEN: Will Barton, Victor Claver, Thomas Robinson, POR pick (protected), 2nd round pick
To POR: Arron Afflalo, Alonzo Gee
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Five takeaways
1. The Thunder remade their bench.
Enes Kanter‘s defense is disastrous and Steve Novak hasn’t been in an NBA rotation in two years, but D.J. Augustin gives Oklahoma City more of a floor general on its second unit and Kyle Singler adds shooting (41 percent from 3-point range this season) to complement their stars. With Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison already on the frontline, Kanter’s defense might not be as much of an issue as it was in Utah.
2. If Dwyane Wade is healthy, the Heat will be a tough out.
Goran Dragic is the best point guard Wade has had in Miami (if you don’t count LeBron James as a PG) and will take some of the ball-handling burden off of Wade’s shoulders. Dragic pick-and-pops with Chris Bosh will be deadly.
As they stood on Wednesday, a healthy Heat team could have been a tough opponent for a high seed in the East that didn’t have much playoff experience. Now, they’re downright scary.
3. The Blazers are all-in.
With one of the best starting lineups in the league, the Blazers added Arron Afflalo to a bench that already includes Steve Blake and Chris Kaman. And playing alongside LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard should help Afflalo shoot threes more like he did last season (43 percent) than he has this season so far (34 percent).
Anything can happen in the Western Conference playoffs, but the Blazers just improved their odds of making a deep run.
4. The Sixers didn’t believe in Michael Carter-Williams
Or they didn’t believe he was a star. So they traded him for another chance at a star, a Lakers pick that’s protected 1-5 this year and 1-3 each of the next two years. Carter-Williams’ length was one ingredient to the top-12 defense that Brett Brown had built this season, but Sam Hinkie is still kicking that can down the road.
5. Did the Bucks take a step back to save money?
Brandon Knight may have been an All-Star had Jimmy Butler not been able to play on Sunday. And the Bucks broke up a team that won eight of its last nine games going into the break, perhaps to avoid paying Knight (a restricted free agent) this summer.
But the Bucks’ defense, which already ranks second in the league, may have improved with the addition of Carter-Williams. Put his wingspan together with that of Giannis Antetokounmpo and John Henson, and the Bucks can cover the whole court with just three guys.
— John Schuhmann