NBA Playoffs Are Exposing Some Terrible Trades and Contracts
The NBA Playoffs have a way of revealing the strengths and weaknesses of each team that finds its way there.
And in this era of constant player movement, the postseason can also expose the folly of recent trades and contract signings.
These playoffs are bringing clarity to both subjects, but we're going to focus on the latter.
Based on what we're seeing in a handful of current series around the league, these are deals that appear to be aging the worst.
Knicks Paid a Fortune for Mikal Bridges
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The New York Knicks' Mikal Bridges trade was an eye-opener the moment it happened.
He was coming off a strong campaign with the Brooklyn Nets. He put up 19.6 points and shot 37.2 percent from deep in 2023-24. But New York gave up a superstar-level haul (which included four unprotected first-round picks, an unprotected pick swap and one more top-four protected pick) to get him. And that price looks more absurd with each passing month.
Bridges hasn't been bad for New York, but mortgaging most of your future for a player to average 16.0 points over two seasons looks bad. And this postseason, at least up until Thursday's Game 6, has only made it look worse.
In the first five games against the Atlanta Hawks, Bridges averaged just 7.2 points, shot 26.7 percent from deep, and didn't even close every game.
He had 24 points on 12 shots in Thursday's 51-point closeout win, but it's still tough to avoid thinking about what he cost when you consider that Giannis Antetokounmpo seemingly became available after New York spent all of its assets on Bridges.
New York is still in the mix for a championship this year. If that happens, there will be no reason to nitpick this trade. But if the Knicks fall short, fans are guaranteed to look back to the moment their team sent just about everything it could to the Nets for Bridges.
Warriors Gave Up On Jonathan Kuminga
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There was never much question about the athleticism and physical gifts Jonathan Kuminga brings to a basketball game, but Steve Kerr never trusted Kuminga (or his game) enough to truly unleash those tools.
During his four-plus seasons with the Golden State Warriors, Kuminga was generally in and out of the rotation, averaging 12.5 points in 22.1 minutes and shooting 33.1 percent from deep.
This postseason, the Atlanta Hawks have given him a little more leeway than he had in Golden State, and that decision is paying dividends.
Kuminga scored in double-figures in five of his six playoff appearances. He had 21 points and swung the Hawks' Game 3 win. And later in the series, he had one of the most spectacular finishes you'll ever see.
There's certainly a chance Kuminga simply never would've fit into Kerr and Golden State's system, but part of the blame has to lie with the Warriors' efforts to develop him.
And for a team that could soon need to rebuild, having some younger, potentially moldable talent on the roster would be nice.
That's especially true when you consider the downside of bringing on Kristaps Porziņģis.
In a vacuum, Porziņģis is certainly better than Kuminga right now; his game seems like a near-ideal fit alongside Stephen Curry. But illness and injuries make Porziņģis one of the biggest availability risks in the league. He's 30 (so those risks aren't likely to improve any time soon), and he'll be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
If Porziņģis walks for nothing in the offseason or can't stay on the floor in 2026-27 (both very real possibilities), this deal could look pretty rough for the Warriors.
Nuggets May Have Extended the Wrong Wing
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Throughout the 2024-25 campaign, Christian Braun looked like a near-perfect Jokić-ball player. He played committed defense, seemed to have an almost preternatural sense of when to cut to the basket, hit 39.7 percent of his three-point attempts and averaged 15.4 points.
That led to him cashing in on a five-year, $125 million contract extension. And this season, his last before that extension kicks in, just about every one of his productivity markers dropped.
To be fair, Braun was injured for nearly half the season. That may have impacted his ability to find a rhythm. But seeing his scoring average dip to 12.0 points and his three-point percentage fall to 30.1, especially while Peyton Watson simultaneously broke out, was concerning.
Being a total dud in the playoffs (Braun had three points on four shots in Denver's season-ending loss on Thursday) is even worse.
Watson, meanwhile, was drafted later in the first round than Braun. That means he was up for an extension at the same time as Braun, but Denver couldn't reach an agreement with him. Watson will be a restricted free agent this summer. And retaining him could be costly.
Watson has dealt with his fair share of injuries in 2025-26, too (he's yet to appear this postseason). But he flashed more on-ball upside than Braun ever has, particularly when Nikola Jokić missed a stretch of games before the All-Star break.
For the entire campaign, Watson averaged 20.3 points per 75 possessions when Jokić was off the floor. And for a team that has struggled so much when its best player sits over the years, having players who aren't as dependent on his playmaking is huge.
With all the money already on the books for 2026-27, if some team throws a big enough offer sheet at Watson, Denver may choose to live without his extra shot creation despite the time it has already invested in his development.
Kevin Durant Might Already Be Done with the Rockets
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At the time it happened, the Kevin Durant trade seemed like a near-no-brainer for the Houston Rockets.
Jalen Green may have still had a little untapped potential, and Dillon Brooks provided plenty of heart to the up-and-coming Rockets, but Durant's individual scoring ability was almost certainly going to do more for the offense than Green and Brooks could.
For most of the regular season, that analysis seemed irrefutable. Durant averaged 26.0 points and shot 41.3 percent from deep.
But Houston's point differential was actually a little worse when KD was on the floor. And when Steven Adams went down, the Rockets' bruising, rebounding-centric offensive identity went with him.
KD couldn't really replace it, and things have generally felt a little tense since then, especially after another online "burner account" may have surfaced around that same time.
Now, Durant has missed all but one playoff game in a series his team looks destined to lose. And trade speculation surfaced before his first campaign in Houston even ended.
Of course, the severity of the loss would depend on what the Rockets get back in a potential KD trade, but if this turns into a one-and-done situation, there's a good chance the move that sent Durant to Houston ends up looking like a loser.
Wizards Discard Deni Avdija and Marcus Smart
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Deni Avdija's playoff debut is already over, and the Washington Wizards would likely tell you that keeping him would've thrown off their rebuilding timeline, but that timeline isn't guaranteed to produce a player of his caliber.
Avdija averaged 22.2 points, 4.6 assists and 1.4 threes in five postseason games. His combo forward abilities, had they developed at roughly the same rate in Washington, could've had the Wizards in the mix for a play-in spot in the East.
And that's especially easy to argue when you remember that the Wizards also waived Marcus Smart a year after the Avdija trade.
Smart's defense and playmaking have been huge factors in the Lakers' early playoff success. Having Smart and Avdija in the same rotation could've given Washington a strong defensive foundation.
Instead, the Wizards finished with the worst record in the NBA in 2025-26 and have to wait (and hope) for Anthony Davis and Trae Young to stay healthy to have any success next season.
The Lakers' Luke Coup-nard
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When Luke Kennard averaged 15.8 points and 4.1 assists, while shooting 39.9 percent from three, as a combo guard for the Detroit Pistons in 2019-20, it felt like he might find a trajectory for borderline stardom.
But Kennard spent most of the next six years as a role player or three-point specialist. In the regular season, he averaged just 23.0 minutes per game over that stretch.
And then the Los Angeles Lakers swooped in and landed him for next to nothing (with apologies to Gabe Vincent and whoever that 2032 second-round pick winds up being).
With Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves out, head coach JJ Redick has empowered Kennard to create and score with a little more volume again. And Kennard is repaying him and then some.
This postseason, Kennard is averaging 14.4 points and 3.0 assists, while shooting 40.9 percent from deep.
Vincent, meanwhile, put up 4.3 points per game for the Hawks in the playoffs.
The Trae Young-CJ McCollum Deal Was Not Just a Salary Dump
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Trae Young was the face of the Hawks for nearly eight seasons. He averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists in Atlanta. And when he was traded, at 27 years old, for Corey Kispert, 34-year-old CJ McCollum and no draft picks, plenty were left scratching their heads.
But Young barely played for the Wizards for the remainder of the season (which may have been motivated in part by Washington's rebuild), while McCollum has thrived for a Hawks team that has been better with his leadership and less ball-dominant game.
During the playoffs, McCollum put up 19.2 points and operated as Atlanta's go-to option in the clutch. He empowered younger players like Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker to take on greater responsibility without Young around.
And though he is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, McCollum walking away wouldn't necessarily be a huge blow.
The Hawks have young talent to take on some of McCollum's minutes. And more importantly, they don't have Young's $49 million player option on the books for 2026-27.
