Ranking Every NBA Team’s Decisions at the Trade Deadline

Which teams are happiest with the recent player movement?

The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone, and all 30 teams have made some big decisions. Not every team made a trade, but inaction is a decision too, so even sitting on your current roster is a Trade Deadline action. If you didn’t get better, your opponent might have. If you didn’t tank, an enemy might have slid ahead of you in the draft odds.

Every team was affected at the deadline, whether they made a move or not. So which teams are happiest with the recent player movement, and which teams left fans wanting more? Let’s rank them from best to worst…

1. New Orleans Pelicans

If you get the best player traded, you’re the big winner.

There are certainly questions about DeMarcus Cousins. How will he fit next to Anthony Davis? Does he have a loser attitude that infects the team? One question that won’t be asked is whether this deal was worth it. New Orleans gave up 23-year-old rookie Buddy Hield and this year’s first round pick, likely in the 10–15 range. Boogie is the most talented offensive center since Shaq. Getting a talent like that for such a low price is a no-brainer.

Four and a half years with Anthony Davis has led so far to a single 8-seed playoff berth and a roster of mismatched talent. Cousins may not match either but it’s certainly worth finding out. And don’t let the 0–3 start with Boogie throw you off; this was always about long-term fix.

Hope Dell Demps bought Vivek breakfast.

2. Toronto Raptors

The only team in the league to significantly increase its title odds was Toronto. The Raps added Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker while sacrificing almost nothing in the present, only Terrence Ross whose minutes are pretty easily replaced by Norm Powell. Beyond that, Toronto gave up a late 1 and two nearly meaningless late 2s. There will be tough financial decisions ahead, but credit the Raptors for going all-in now with the best team in franchise history.

Toronto adds a ton of defensive versatility and two pieces that will be absolutely vital if they are to have any chance against Cleveland in a playoff series. DeMarre Carroll has proven ineffective against LeBron James on defense, and Jonas Valanciunas has no place in that series since he can’t stay with Kevin Love and Channing Frye on the perimeter. Instead Toronto can now use Tucker on LeBron, while Ibaka can guard the rim while also getting out to the perimeter. It’s not perfect, but it’s far better.

It’s far too simplistic to just wash your hands of the season and “wait out” LeBron and the super Warriors. Cleveland and Golden State are the heavy favorites, but nothing is certain and if we didn’t learn that in 2016, I’m not sure we ever will. Let’s say Cleveland is a 95% favorite in round one of the playoffs, 75% in round two, and 70% in the Eastern Conference Finals. Even then, the Cavs have a better chance at missing the Finals than making them. Kevin Love and J.R. Smith are injured. LeBron James has a ton of miles on him, and Cleveland has an old roster. The best team doesn’t always win.

And thanks to more magic from Masai Ujiri, the Raptors now have the best chance of any Eastern team to step into any gap if the Cavs do stumble.

3. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs didn’t technically make a deadline deal but that doesn’t mean they aren’t huge winners of all the player movement. First, Cleveland already added Kyle Korver a month ago and has added him seamlessly into the offense at over 50% from downtown. Then the Cavs made some savvy roster moves to clear roster spots they’ll now use on Deron Williams and, likely, Andrew Bogut as buyout options.

These are three smart veterans who know how to play a role. Williams is the secondary playmaker LeBron has coveted and can play off the ball as a two, a perfect fit and quietly maybe the best immediate impact pick-up at the deadline. Bogut probably won’t play much against the Cavs but he provides depth and size behind Tristan Thompson and he’s a great passing big man and terrific screener.

These players are no longer All Stars but they’re all savvy vets that give Cleveland versatility in matchups and know-how for a deep playoff run. They cost nearly nothing, and only Toronto really made Cleveland’s road any harder when Boston chickened out of a deal. The Cavs were a huge winner.

4. Dallas Mavericks

No team outside of New Orleans added a more valuable asset. Nerlens Noel is a perfect fit in Dallas next to Dirk Nowitzki as a fierce rim-protecting center that can roll to the rim for dunks on offense. Noel is still just 22 years old and has Defensive Player of the Year upside, and he’s steadily improved offensively each season in the league. Dallas won its championship with Tyson Chandler next to Dirk, and Noel is in that exact mold, one of maybe five or ten such guys on the planet. And to get him, Dallas gave up only Justin Anderson and a pair of mid-round 2s plus Andrew Bogut, a guy they were barely using anyway.

The risk is Noel’s injury history and the fact that his contract is up this summer, but Dallas getting restricted matching rights is huge. The league is saturated with centers and we just saw how tepid the market was for Noel. How sure are we that some team is going to splash $80 million on a player no one would even give up a first round pick for? It’s possible, but it’s just as likely Dallas could wait out free agency and end up signing him to a bargain deal, making this trade all the better.

5. Houston Rockets

Houston picked up Lou Williams on the cheap, giving up just their late first round pick for the most efficient bench scoring option in the league. Williams had been even better than Eric Gordon, and with less help. Now the two get to operate together, while Houston now has two playmakers to keep James Harden rested. They add another strong shooter and go all in on Moreyball, and they did it all without even adding salary since Houston was also able to offload K.J. McDaniels and Tyler Ennis in separate deals.

Houston has shooters galore now with Williams, Gordon, Trevor Ariza, and Ryan Anderson. They’re likely to average 50 threes a game the rest of the season and that makes them a real threat against any team just on variance alone. And with the cheap Williams and Ariza deals, the Rockets should be able to add one more piece this summer too. Houston is a real threat.

6. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder made a great trade, adding defensive toughness in Taj Gibson and shooting in Doug McDermott. McDermott is a better shooter than Morrow and fits the rotation a bit better since he isn’t pigeonholed into the two, but Taj is the big difference maker. He represents a huge upgrade over Sabonis at the four and gives OKC a nasty defensive front featuring Oladipo, Roberson, Gibson, and Adams.

Oklahoma City will still be an underdog in any playoff series but they have a real chance now. Despite losing Kevin Durant for nothing just eight months ago, they’ve now added Oladipo, Gibson, McDermott, Sabonis, and Grant to the rotation while offloading Ibaka, Morrow, and Payne, players that weren’t fitting anyway. Pretty impressive rebuild on the fly.

7. Brooklyn Nets

Give some credit to the Nets. They still have a terrible team but are making exactly the sort of deals they should be at this point in the rebuilding cycle. Brooklyn moved on from Bojan Bogdanovic’s expiring deal and ate Andrew Nicholson’s contract to grab a valuable first round pick, a better return somehow than Nerlens Noel fetched. They also get a flier on K.J. McDaniels on the wing for no real cost, and they didn’t unload the underrated Brook Lopez when they didn’t find the right deal. Brooklyn is still a bad team in a terrible spot, but these are the moves a rebuilding team should be making.

8. Golden State Warriors 9. San Antonio Spurs 10. Memphis Grizzlies 11. Los Angeles Clippers 12. Utah Jazz

There were no deals for these Western contenders but they were content nonetheless. These teams are locked into cores and didn’t really have a move to make or a need to make one.

Utah is the one team in the cluster that might have made a move. They didn’t do anything with Derrick Favors and didn’t get any help at point guard. They’re now precariously all-in on this current roster with a big postseason and summer ahead.

13. Portland Trail Blazers 14. Denver Nuggets

A bit odd to lump two teams together that were in on the same deal, but this seems like a win-win. The Blazers got Nurkic on a cheap deal for an extra year and picked up a valuable first round pick in the process. Denver had assets to burn and got the best player in the deal, now able to build their team around a passing pivot man with both Jokic and Plumlee at their disposal.

Both had to be bummed to see New Orleans and Dallas improve, hurting each’s chance at the 8-seed, but they helped themselves in the long run. Denver may have missed an opportunity to go in even more.

15. Los Angeles Lakers 16. Milwaukee Bucks

The Lakers picked up a first round pick for Lou Williams and improved their tank odds, but it feels like they could’ve done more. It sure seems like there might have been a better pick out there than Houston’s likely 25th or 26th, and they didn’t move on from Nick Young or any other contracts.

Milwaukee dealt away a terrible contract in Miles Plumlee a couple weeks ago but missed an opportunity to move Greg Monroe or get anything from expiring veterans like Tony Snell, Michael Beasley, and Jason Terry. Both of these teams made decent moves but left work to be done.

17. Indiana Pacers 18. Miami Heat 19. Minnesota Timberwolves

This trio didn’t make a deal at the deadline, and it’s arguable whether that was the right choice. Indiana didn’t find the right deal for Paul George. That’s okay. There’s plenty of time and they got valuable information. Miami missed a chance to get anything for guys like James Johnson and Dion Waiters but probably weren’t getting much anyway. They’re all-in on making the playoffs with this roster which seems an odd choice but that’s probably water under the bridge after the 13-game win streak.

Minnesota was determined to move on from Ricky Rubio but didn’t, and they didn’t get anything for Shabazz Muhammad either. Of course they didn’t talk themselves into Derrick Rose or, heaven forbid, Joakim Noah’s awful contract. Instead Minnesota remains in no man’s land with Rubio blocking the path of the younger guards, his value set to take a big downturn with so many point guards in the draft and free agency.

20. Atlanta Hawks 21. Washington Wizards

These would-be Eastern contenders technically improved their teams but hurt themselves more than they helped long-term. Atlanta dumped Korver last month and looked ready to hit the reset but ended up taking Paul Millsap off the market. They did add Ilyasova in a nice pickup and should glide safely in to the 5- or 6-seed and a first round exit, but what’s the point? Now they either lose Millsap for nothing or sign him to a way-too-expensive extension, a lose-lose scenario. They could’ve sold Millsap and Sefolosha with Korver or tried to make a run and instead chose a half-measure yet again.

Is Bojan Bogdanovic really the difference maker Washington was looking for off the bench? He’s a bad defender and average offensively, and the Wizards sacrificed a first round pick to get him for a few months. Then they’ll either have to overpay him or let him walk, and now they have no way to add any help in the draft this year to a capped out team.

Looks like the Wizards and Hawks could be headed toward a fun NBATV series in round one.

22. New York Knicks 23. Phoenix Suns 24. Detroit Pistons

Here are three more teams that didn’t do enough at the deadline. The Knicks did nothing at all. They probably weren’t going to get the right deal for Carmelo Anthony, but now they’re not going to get a high draft pick or anything for Jennings and Rose’s expiring deals either. With the ugly James Dolan mess, this was a real chance to start fresh.

Phoenix made a couple small deals but got only a couple late second round picks. They couldn’t find a first for P.J. Tucker and didn’t get a deal for Chandler, Bledsoe, Knight, or Dudley, who will all continue to eat up valuable minutes and hurt the team’s lottery chances.

Detroit put every player they had on the market over the last week and then did nothing. Now the same guy who tried to trade his whole team has to go back to coaching them a few days later. Good luck with that.

25. Orlando Magic 26. Chicago Bulls 27. Charlotte Hornets

The Serge Ibaka trade doesn’t look quite as terrible now that we see how little other expiring deals netted at the deadline. Orlando got a useful wing in Terrence Ross and a first round pick for Ibaka, and it turns out that was a pretty good deal. It doesn’t make up for the all the other terrible moves in the last year, and the Magic weren’t able to get anything for guys like Jeff Green or C.J. Watson, but it’s something.

What are the Bulls are doing? They rebuffed Boston’s interest in Jimmy Butler when they couldn’t get enough current help. Then they traded Gibson and McDermott for a trio of guys the Thunder didn’t want, throwing in a pick on top of it for some reason, for a prize in Cameron Payne who hasn’t done much in two years of NBA action — but hey at least his 32% career three-pointer should fit right in. Chicago hurt its feeble playoff chances this year moving on from Taj yet did little to help themselves long-term.

The Hornets made their move a few weeks ago, taking on a terrible 4-year $50-million contract in Miles Plumlee. Charlotte now has Walker, Zeller, Kidd-Gilchrist, Williams, and Plumlee all in that $12 to $14 million range, plus Batum at $20 million, and all for at least two more years. They continue to stockpile expensive middling assets and are locked-in on a team that isn’t particularly good or bad. No man’s land is the worst place to be in the NBA.

28. Philadelphia 76ers

Philadelphia shopped Jahlil Okafor but came away with no deal, instead giving away the big man literally everyone likes better in Nerlens Noel. Noel brings Philly a pair of middling second round picks plus a young wing player in Justin Anderson. Anderson is nice but Noel is a lot nicer and they could’ve re-signed him and waited until a better offer came along. The Sixers also moved leading scorer Ilyasova for a second round pick, only a few months after moving Jerami Grant for Ilyasova and a couple second round picks. How many second round picks does one team need?

Trading Noel was a thinly-veiled tank move. With him gone, Simmons out for the year, and Embiid sure to follow soon, Philadelphia has a great shot at yet another top draft pick. Maybe this time they’ll get a guy that can actually stay on the court before they trade him for 50 cents on the dollar in three years.

29. Boston Celtics

Boston continues to sit on a stockpile of ever-diminishing assets. They didn’t trade for Boogie, didn’t finish a deal for Butler or George, didn’t even add a secondary scorer or rim-protecting big man while guys like Lou Williams and Nerlens Noel moved for precious little.

Spin this all you want (see also: The Ringer) about keeping a window open both now and later. Boston is comfortably the 2-seed and had a shot to grab home court in the East and take a real shot at a staggered Cleveland team. Would they have paid too much for Butler or PG? Think back through every deal in NBA history where a top 15 player got traded. How many teams gave up “too much” or regretted the move after?

Boston’s cheap contracts are valuable right now, but only if they use the cap space to add other big names and go all-in. Instead they continue to lose value and will turn into big extensions soon. Terry Rozier had a nice Summer League but is Boston’s fourth guard and will be lower after the offseason, yet he was deemed untouchable.

And Boston’s precious Brooklyn picks can only lose value. Everyone thinks of this year’s pick as a franchise player, but there’s a better than 75% chance it will end up lower than #1, and who knows whether a player selected there will be a franchise changer anyway? Picks are always far more valuable in theory than in actuality. The Celtics are kidding themselves if they think Jaylen Brown and these next two Brooklyn picks fit the same window as Thomas, Crowder, and Horford. By the time the hypothetical young trio can drink, Boston’s veterans will be past their primes on overpriced extensions.

The Cavs got better. The Rockets and Wizards got better. The Raptors got way better. Boston did nothing. Maybe Butler and George were too expensive, but they didn’t get involved in Boogie talks and couldn’t even be bothered to give up some of their wayward picks for Noel or Ibaka, even though they literally have too many picks and players to roster next season.

The Brooklyn picks were the equivalent of Boston getting dealt pocket kings in a game of Texas Hold’em. Horford and the recent Cleveland injuries were a rainbow 2–7–Q flop. Boston sitting on its hand doing nothing is the equivalent of Danny Ainge checking his hand down, waiting to trap a lesser hand that may never come, fearful of the pocket aces that may not exist. That’s not savvy poker play and it’s not basketball smart either. Ainge may still get that king on the river someday, but he should’ve put some chips in along the way and taken the pot that was available.

30. Sacramento Kings

But hey… at least the Celtics aren’t Sacramento. The Kings traded away a top ten talent for a deal built around Buddy Hield, who is definitively not the second coming of Steph Curry:

Hield may still develop into a useful player, but he’s the oldest of the players above and he looks most similar to previous Kings busts Jimmer Fredette and Ben McLemore. It’s entirely possible Sacramento panic traded Boogie away overnight and won’t even get a single legitimate NBA starter out of the deal.

The Kings lose again. They always do.

If you enjoyed this, please recommend by clicking the ❤ so others can too. Follow Brandon on Medium or @wheatonbrando for more sports, television, humor, & life musings. Visit the rest of Brandon’s writing archives here.