NBA Trade Rumors: Breaking Down Post-2022 Deadline Buzz and More
It would have been tough to ask the basketball gods for a better 2022 NBA trade deadline than what they delivered.
The oft-discussed James Harden-Ben Simmons blockbuster actually happened. Kristaps Porzingis wound up with the Washington Wizards. Leading up to the deadline, players like Domantas Sabonis, CJ McCollum, Tyrese Haliburton and Norman Powell changed teams, too.
This was everything trade-obsessed hoop fans could have wanted, and yet, it could have been more.
Deadline deals were discussed that never went down. Plenty of them.
Rumors of those deals-that-weren't are being bandied about now, so let's dive in and dissect.
Westbrook-for-Wall Talks Fall Apart over Lakers' First-Round Pick
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Seeing the Los Angeles Lakers stand pat at the deadline was somehow both not at all surprising and completely stunning. On the one hand, their severe shortage of trade chips and movable contracts always limited what they could do. On the other, no roster seemed in more need of a shakeup with ESPN's Dave McMenamin reporting earlier in the week that "standing pat...is not seen as a viable option by players on the team."
L.A. had options to make a move, just not the ones it wanted.
According to Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, the Houston Rockets came calling with an offer that would have swapped John Wall for Russell Westbrook, but those talks were torpedoed when "the Lakers declined to include a first-round pick."
A first-round pick (which could not have conveyed before 2027) would have been a steep price for Wall, who has only played 72 games since the start of 2018-19 and could encounter many of the same issues with fit as Westbrook. Still, the Westbrook experiment has so far failed to such a disastrous degree that any escape valve might have been worth taking.
Raptors Pursued Several High-End Players
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At one point in time, it seemed as if the post-Kyle Lowry Toronto Raptors might rank among this season's top sellers. That option went out the window once the Raptors started rocketing up the Eastern Conference standings, but it was still fair to wonder how aggressive this group might buy at the deadline.
Apparently, Toronto tried to be quite aggressive.
SportsNet's Michael Grange relayed that the Raptors hoped the Atlanta Hawks would let go of Bogdan Bogdanovic but they "never budged." Toronto also made calls on Jerami Grant and Harrison Barnes, but seemingly concluded those players were out of its price range.
The Raptors ended up making just one move, trading Goran Dragic and a lottery-protected first-round pick for Thaddeus Young, Drew Eubanks (who was waived) and a second-round pick. Young will up the versatility and playmaking on Toronto's second team, but it's easy to wonder what kind of impact those other targets could have made. If nothing else, though, the fact the Raptors considered buying that big shows a complete belief in this roster.
Lakers Chased Cam Reddish, Mulled Dennis Schroder Reunion
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You apparently can say this for the Lakers' front office: Their inability to execute a trade wasn't for a lack of trying.
According to The Athletic's Bill Oram, L.A. held "substantive conversations" on a three-team trade with the Raptors and New York Knicks that would have delivered Cam Reddish to Hollywood. The Lakers even "kicked the tires" on reuniting with Dennis Schroder, their starting point guard from last season whom they let walk over the summer.
Neither option sounds great, but when you don't have great assets to trade, that's par for the course.
Reddish, the No. 10 pick in 2019, could have been interesting, though it's perhaps a bit ominous he has failed to crack New York's rotation since landing there in a mid-January trade. The Lakers could have used Schroder's shot-creation, but they saw enough last season to know what he is (a moderately efficient scorer and secondary playmaker) and what he isn't (an impact defender or high-level passer).
