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Re-Grading Top 2026 NBA Trade Deadline Deals 1 Month Later
Believe it or not, an entire month has passed since the 2026 NBA trade deadline. Is that enough to change our initial impressions on the biggest moves?
We're about to find out.
Grades from our real-time reactions to each deal will be the baseline off which we work. We'll work in order of increasing splashiness (i.e. small-to-big).
On-court results in the weeks since can reshape the reflexive judgements, but this isn't merely a "re-grading each splashy move so far" exercise. Bigger-picture ramifications will continue to factor into the equation.
Between that and the extra time we've all had to let these transactions marinate, our default positions on a handful of moves just might have a materially different look to them.
Jared McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder
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The Trade
Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: Jared McCain
Philadelphia 76ers Receive: Houston's 2026 first-round pick, 2027 second-round pick (most favorable of Houston, Indiana, Miami and Oklahoma City), Milwaukee's 2028 second-round pick, Oklahoma City's 2028 second-round pick
Grades
Thunder: A
Original Grade: A
Betting that Jared McCain's cost-controlled shot-making would yield more value than a bottom-seven first-rounder and some seconds looked like a wise play by the Thunder before the 22-year-old ever took the floor. It looks even better now that they're seeing him in action.
Through more than 10 appearances with Oklahoma City, McCain is averaging 12.5 points while swishing almost 54 percent of his twos and around 43 percent of his triples. There is substance to the shot-making, too. The Thunder's offense with him on the floor rates above average—a huge freaking deal considering more than 58 percent of his possessions have come without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Williams.
Philadelphia 76ers: F
Original Grade: D+
Anyone pretending the Sixers didn't make the Jared McCain trade purely because of the luxury tax is officially kidding themselves. Every move they made thereafter could have still been executed with him on the payroll…if they were willing to pay the tax.
Spare yourself the pretzel-twisting trouble of arguing that Philly didn't have the runway to develop or optimize McCain because of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes. A team with too many guards doesn't turn around and sign Cameron Payne, and Oklahoma City is managing to find minutes for McCain despite having a bunch of backcourt bodies itself.
This was a brazenly cheap-ass move then. It's even less defensible now as McCain kills it with the Thunder.
Kristaps Porziņģis to the Golden State Warriors, Jonathan Kuminga to the Atlanta Hawks
2 of 7
The Trade
Golden State Warriors Receive: Kristaps Porziņģis
Atlanta Hawks Receive: Buddy Hield, Jonathan Kuminga
Grades
Atlanta Hawks: B+
Original Grade: C
Jonathan Kuminga is playing the kind of basketball in Atlanta that has people attributing everything that happened with the Warriors to the team. JK was clearly a basketball sicko who just needed to be unleashed.
Let's pump the brakes a bit. Kuminga is averaging over 21 points and three assists since the trade while nailing 72.7 percent of his twos and 55.6 percent of his triples. That's great! It also encompasses a sample of three games.
Props are nevertheless in order. Kuminga is racking up box-score numbers without deviating from the flow of the offense, and the Hawks look smarter for turning Porziņģis' expiring contract into the former's team option. Even if Kuminga's honeymoon period ends, Atlanta did well to roll over the KP salary slot for offseason trades.
What remains to be seen is how much long-term value JK can have to this team. There is floor-balance redundancy between him, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels and Zaccharie Risacher. Can Atlanta regularly play at least three of them together? We don't yet have the sample to know.
Warriors: C+
Original Grade: A
Someone clearly got ahead of their skeez at the time of this trade. (It was me.)
It's unfair to think the Warriors botched the deal solely because of Kuminga's three-game romp. It is entirely fair to wonder whether they'd be better off having his team-option salary to dangle in offseason trades rather than taking on Porziņģis' expiring contract.
This uncertainty is easier to shake off if KP was playing. He's not. He's made just one appearance since the trade. So while he's a Utopic frontcourt fit alongside Draymond Green and—perhaps midway through next season—Jimmy Butler, the odds of him becoming a mainstay this year or beyond lower with each game he misses.
Trae Young to the Washington Wizards
3 of 7
The Trade
Atlanta Hawks Receive: Corey Kispert, CJ McCollum
Washington Wizards Receive: Trae Young
Hawks: B-
Original Grade: C
CJ McCollum has become uncomfortably important to the Hawks' offensive hierarchy. I'm honestly not sure whether that's a vote in favor of or against Atlanta.
Without Trae Young having debuted for the Wizards, it's hard to co-sign any real movement in the Hawks' grade one way or the other. They clearly held onto him for too long and wound up flipping him at his nadir, not unlike the Dallas Mavericks with Anthony Davis…who now also "plays" for Washington.
Contrary to Big D, though, the Hawks attempted to reorient their roster on multiple occasions to make it work. That is the biggest difference in the end. Young's archetype is a tougher sell even at his peak. Small ball-dominant guards who have so far required special offensive treatment are innately higher maintenance.
Atlanta might've passed previously on maximizing Young's trade value but did so while attempting to maximize the player himself. Cutting ties with him like this, while patently unspectacular, is much closer to fine than malpractice.
Wizards: B+
Original Grade: B+
Bad news: Young still hasn't suited up for the Wizards. Good news: He might be doing so as you read this. He is debuting for Washington on Thursday.
An on-court sample worthy of changing this grade likely isn't coming this season. Especially when you factor in the Anthony Davis of it all. Until that changes, we must traffic in the theoretical.
The Wizards are counting on Young's on-ball craft and vision to augment rather than repress the development of the kiddos around him. That's a reasonable gamble to underwrite when it didn't cost a first-round pick—or any assets of note, period.
If anything, Young's value to Washington has increased before ever playing a game. Nobody on the roster is better-suited to juggling the dynamic (and questionable spacing) of a frontcourt that should eventually feature Davis, Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr.
Any wholesale shifts in perception will come this summer, when Young holds a player option. He and the Wizards are expected to reach terms on an extension, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line. The years and dollar amount on that deal will determine whether this trade is low-risk opportunism or a more calculatedly dangerous dice roll.
Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers
4 of 7
The Trade
Indiana Pacers Receive: Ivica Zubac, Kobe Brown
Los Angeles Clippers Receive: Isaiah Jackson, Bennedict Mathurin, 2026 first-round pick (protected Nos. 1 to 4 and 10 to 30; turns into unprotected 2031 first-round pick if not conveyed), Dallas' 2028 second-round pick, 2029 first-round pick
Grades
Pacers: C
Original Grade: D+
Ivica Zubac has yet to play for the Pacers while dealing with a left ankle sprain. Delaying his debut is proof the team intends to do everything in its power to keep this year's pick, which bolsters the appeal of landing him.
Next year's squad could have a healthy Zubac, Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, a more developed version of Jarace Walker and a top-four lottery pick around which to build its rotation. That is, in fact, a recipe for immediately returning to title contention.
Still, the Pacers are betting an awful lot on Haliburton being Haliburton following his return from an Achilles injury. That's a rickety risk-reward profile.
Zubac will fit like a glove into what much of Indiana does on offense while altering their approach in some ways (especially on the glass). But the fit between him and Siakam could get finicky if the latter isn't converting his triples at a high clip. The intent behind what the Pacers are attempting to do remains enviable. It's just a little too TBD for the draft-pick outlay.
Never mind the distant pick. Finishing with a bottom-three record only gives them a 52.1 percent chance of landing inside the top four. That's basically a coin toss. And if it doesn't play out in their favor, it considerably changes the complexion of this swing.
Clippers: A
Original Grade: A
The Clippers no doubt greenlit this deal with the hope of snagging a pick in the five-to-nine range. They'll have at least a 47.8 percent chance of doing so. That's a pretty damn good bite at the high-lotto apple for someone who didn't crack the top 50 of B/R 99.
In the event Indy keeps the pick, the Clippers are sitting on two unprotected first-rounders far enough out into the future that they'll retain mystery-box appeal for years. After taking on Darius Garland, moving off Zubac's contract also opens up additional flexibility for the 2027 offseason.
Bennedict Mathurin has a chance to swing the pendulum even further toward the Clippers. His first eight performances have been a mixed bag, but he has spit out a couple of top-notch offensive outings and is consistently getting to the foul line. So long as they don't offer him irrational money to stay put in restricted free agency, whatever he does for them is gravy.
Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards
5 of 7
The Trade
Dallas Mavericks Receive: Marvin Bagley III, Malaki Branham, AJ Johnson, Khris Middleton, Oklahoma City's 2026 first-round pick, Phoenix's 2026 second-round pick, Chicago's 2027 second-round pick, Houston's 2029 second-round pick, Golden State's 2030 first-round pick (top-20 protection; turns in 2030 second if not conveyed)
Washington Wizards Receive: Anthony Davis, Dante Exum, Jaden Hardy, D'Angelo Russell
Grades
Mavs: D+
Original Grade: D-
This Anthony Davis trade must be separated from the deal that landed him in Dallas—you know, the one that saw the Mavs ship out Luka Dončić. Yet, even after doing that, this return doesn't look so hot.
There is a real chance Dallas only ends up with one of the first-rounders involved, and it's going to clock in at No. 29 or No. 30. While that's a reflection of AD's current market, it's also a reminder the Mavs held onto him too long in the first place. Waiting to shop him until he was injured, again, in no way helped his value.
Dallas did get a boatload of salary relief, both now and later. It shed over $65 million in money for next year, if you assume D'Angelo Russell picks up his player option. I still can't help but shake the notion that the Mavs could have increased their draft return had they been willing to take on longer-term money. That should take precedence for a team that doesn't control its own first after this year until 2031.
If this was all they could get, trimming salary elsewhere and revisiting AD's stock over the summer or next season would make more sense. Any concern about infringing upon Cooper Flagg's development is fair. But AD still isn't playing, and the Mavs never fully explored what the duo would like as a 4-5 combo without a spacing liability at the 3.
Wizards: B+
Original Grade: B+
AD has yet to suit up for the Wizards, so the real-time impressions hold firm. Acquiring a 32-year-old looking for an extension runs counter to a rebuilding team's window, but the opportunity cost is minimal. Washington didn't fork over any premier assets or draft equity and might wind up having forfeited just one bottom-two first-rounder overall.
Optics worsen if the Wizards turn around and offer AD a lucrative contract extension over the summer. This grade presumes they won't go that route. Washington's Will Dawkins-led front office has operated with a measure of restraint these past few years that deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Evaluating the on-court fit may have to wait until next season, though the front office insists AD will play again this season. Integrating him on defense should be no problem. AD can play up with Alex Sarr on the back line and vice versa. Offense will be trickier. AD is a non-shooter, and while Sarr is knocking down 40 percent of his triples since the trade deadline, he'll have to drum up the volume to adequately open the floor in the half-court.
Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz
6 of 7
The Trade
Utah Jazz Receive: Jaren Jackson Jr., John Konchar, Jock Landale, Vince Williams Jr.
Memphis Grizzlies Receive: Kyle Anderson, Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang, Lakers' 2027 first-round pick (top-four protection), 2027 first-round pick (most favorable of Cleveland, Minnesota or Utah), Phoenix's 2031 first-round pick
Grades
Grizzlies: D+
Original Grade: D+
Perception of the Grizzlies' return shouldn't have shifted much over the past month. Taylor Hendricks shooting over 37 percent from three is a great development, but trading your primary franchise cornerstone who you just signed to a new contract should culminate in a blue-chip building block or draft pick. Memphis received exactly zero of those things.
Phoenix's 2031 first-rounder has the highest upside of anything or anyone acquired. It's tough to get excited about an asset that won't convey until six drafts from now. You have to really feel good about Utah, Cleveland, Minnesota or the Lakers being bad next year to go coo-coo for the 2027 selections.
Claiming part of the Grizzlies' value lies in getting off the additional four years and $205 million left on Jackson's contract feels disingenuous when they were the ones that gave it to him. It'd be one thing if more time had passed and the deal aged poorly, but they shipped him out before the extension itself even started. No brownie points are awarded for selling medium-low on someone you deemed a pillar mere months ago.
Jazz: A-
Original Grade: B+
Losing Jackson for the rest of the season to left knee surgery after he made just three minutes-capped appearances does nothing to detract from Utah's initial grade. If anything, his onset performance is reason for further optimism. The Jazz outscored opponents by 13 points in the 49 minutes he played alongside Lauri Markkanen.
Feel free to lower this grade if you think Jackson's arrival portends Walker Kessler's departure in restricted free agency. It shouldn't. A Kessler-Jackson-Markkanen frontcourt is more intuitive than it seems. No one is too ball-dominant, Markkanen has proven over and over he can play the 3 on offense, and whatever Utah sacrifices defensively it offsets by being absolutely huge.
Hitting the "accelerate" button in this way was the right call. The Jazz were never going to enter next year as a bottom-of-the-barrel rebuilder, which could have paved the way for reckless spending and transacting. This is a more responsible fast-track. Jackson is better than anyone they would have signed in free agency, and his arrival cost, at most, one premium asset.
James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Darius Garland to the L.A. Clippers
7 of 7
The Trade
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: James Harden
Los Angeles Clippers Receive: Darius Garland, 2026 second-round pick
Grades
Cavs: C
Original Grade: D+
Big-picture implications continue to fuel an average-or-worse grade for the Cavs. They aged themselves up by a decade for someone who wants to be paid this summer (player option) and has a murky-at-best postseason track record. That isn't logic you can justify unless you're sure Darius Garland is finished as a fringe All-NBA player, both in quality and availability.
Maybe this is Cleveland getting out in front of exactly that while preserving its relationship with Donovan Mitchell. We can't know for sure right now. The only certainty is that they've narrowed their championship window even further and will be harder-pressed to rebound if and when Mitchell gets the itch to leave.
Still, Harden's durability and value have been on full display since entering the mix. He is playing through a fractured thumb and averaging around 19 points and eight assists while drilling almost 46 percent of his triples. He already has excellent chemistry with Jarrett Allen and Sam Merrill, and the Cavs are outscoring opponents by 12.5 points per 100 possessions when he shares the court with Donovan Mitchell.
This is essentially what Cleveland envisioned: making the most out of right now. Without knowing how the playoffs end, though, we can't write off the risk involved beyond this season.
Clippers: A
Original Grade: A
Garland has played just one game for the Clippers and continues to be a one-man minefield of injury and availability questions. Accepting him as the primary compensation for the better, more proven player is its own gamble.
Unlike the Cavs, however, the Clippers absolutely had to make this deal. Although Harden denies requesting a trade, we know how this stuff works. He wanted a new contract this summer and was starting to leverage his position as a prospective free agent (player option) to force movement. He didn't miss multiple games due to "personal reasons" before the trade by accident.
Boxed into a corner, with their eyes on the future, the Clippers made out quite well. Worst-case scenario, they sent out a restless, aging star for an injury-prone guard with an extra year left on his contract. Best-case scenario, they bagged a primary offensive engine in the heart of his prime who renders them a more attractive trade and free-agency destination as early as this offseason.
Dan Favale is a National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
