NBA Trade Rumors: Breaking Down Post-2023 Deadline Buzz and More
The 2023 NBA trade deadline is finished, but it will be a long time before anyone stops talking about it.
The trade market seemingly delivered one landscape-shifting transaction after the next.
With moves as major as these—Kevin Durant to Phoenix, Kyrie Irving to Dallas, D'Angelo Russell back to the Los Angeles Lakers—it's not at all surprising to hear trade talks extended well beyond just the deals that went down. Let's round up the latest rumblings about discussed deals that didn't get done.
Grizzlies Made Aggressive Offers for Top Two-Way Winger
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The Memphis Grizzlies ranked favorably among the most interesting buyers at the deadline. Their ascending roster has dropped several, loud hints about being ready to contend, which made fans and analysts wonder whether they would dip intro their asset collection to add a potential missing piece.
When the dust settled, though, they only made a marginal move for need-filling shooter Luke Kennard. The Grizzlies clearly could have gone much, much bigger, but a mega-trade never came together—and not for a lack of trying.
Memphis had made it known "since July" that it would put all of its picks and swaps in play for Kevin Durant, per ESPN's Zach Lowe. The Grizzlies also offered three first-round picks to the Toronto Raptors for O.G. Anunoby. The one move Memphis wouldn't make was anything involving Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Jarren Jackson Jr., whom Lowe labeled "100 percent off the table in all talks."
A quiet deadline in Memphis—Kennard is fine, but he's several tiers behind Anunoby, let alone Durant—might feel deflating for fans of the franchise, but if a major move was going to cost someone like Bane or Jackson, then the Grizzlies were right for identifying alternatives.
Clippers Couldn't Afford or Didn't Have Interest in Point Guards
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The point guard position is the one puzzle the Los Angeles Clippers have yet to solve.
The deadline hardly cleared things up, as they brought in Bones Hyland (more of a combo guard than a traditional point) and shipped out both Reggie Jackson and John Wall.
The Clippers were connected to more notable names, but nothing came close to fruition on the floor general front, per Lowe:
"They got nowhere close on Fred VanVleet, sources said; the Raptors would have required Terance Mann and maybe more draft equity than the Clippers can offer. They never had serious talks on D'Angelo Russell or Kyle Lowry, sources said. They waded into the Mike Conley sweepstakes, but it escalated out of their price range."
The buyout market might offer a chance to revisit the position, though. Both Russell Westbrook and former Clipper Patrick Beverley loom as potential targets if they are bought out by their new employers.
Cavaliers Explored Several Trades for Wings
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have spent the entire season searching for the right small forward to fill out their starting lineup.
So, why didn't they bring one in at the deadline? Because they either didn't have interest in what the market had to offer or they couldn't afford to land the ones they liked.
Cleveland's "long list of high-priority targets" included Royce O'Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cam Johnson, Bogdan Bogdanović, Grant Williams and Bojan Bogdanvoić, per Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor. But the Cavs, who didn't have a first-rounder to offer after emptying their piggy bank for Donovan Mitchell, couldn't get anyone to bite.
Among those targets, O'Neale topped the wishlist, per Fedor, who noted O'Neale's relationship with Mitchell (they were teammates in Utah), experience, three-and-D game and locker room fit as qualities that attracted Cleveland. Ultimately, though, the Nets wanted "more than a first-round pick," and the Cavs couldn't meet that price.
So, Cleveland will instead have to hope an internal option like Isaac Okoro or Caris LeVert can finally claim that starting 3 role for good.
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