NBA Contenders That Failed to Answer Their Biggest Trade-Deadline Question
The NBA trade deadline reshaped the league in a significant way, but the wave of change didn't touch every team.
A handful of contenders emerged Thursday afternoon looking a lot like they did Thursday morning, complete with the same strengths and weaknesses.
Here, we'll hit contenders that either didn't make deals at all or didn't trade for help in the areas they needed it most, pulling in part from this piece a few weeks ago.
We'll exclude the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets because their massive James Harden-for-Ben Simmons swap addressed their biggest issues but created plenty of new ones. We haven't seen enough yet to be sure what those even are. In addition, we'll omit the Milwaukee Bucks, who covered for the absence of Brook Lopez by adding Serge Ibaka, and the Miami Heat, who lead the East and don't have a weakness to speak of.
Otherwise, the field is limited to teams sitting in the top four in each conference.
All of these clubs could still improve via internal growth or the buyout market. But they also just missed on their best chance to perfect themselves.
Chicago Bulls
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The Chicago Bulls had to decide at the deadline whether Patrick Williams was a core piece. He was their ticket to a defensive upgrade on the wing, perhaps in a trade for the Detroit Pistons' Jerami Grant.
It seems Williams will be a long-hauler in Chicago. The Bulls held onto the second-year forward.
The prognosis on Williams' wrist injury improved over the last several weeks, and he may yet be able to return with enough time to ramp up for the playoffs. But even if he's back in the fold, Chicago will head into the playoffs without a proven shutdown defender to throw at bigger wings. That could be a problem for a team that defended at a bottom-five clip since the calendar flipped to 2022.
Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso can handle the point of attack (when healthy), and Derrick Jones Jr. is a solid option, especially in zone looks. But Jones has dealt with a bone bruise in his knee and fractured his index finger during rehab; he may not be back until late March.
Chicago had the ammo to improve a problem area, and it decided to hold its fire at the deadline. We'll see if that comes back to bite the Bulls.
Cleveland Cavaliers
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The Cleveland Cavaliers added Caris LeVert prior to the deadline, which gave them a badly needed second ball-handler.
At the risk of raining on the Cavs' parade, LeVert isn't an ideal fit because of his suspect shooting, and he may not be enough to address the dearth of backcourt playmaking that has hurt Cleveland all year.
Remember, the Cavs lost both Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio. Darius Garland's development into an All-Star has been remarkable, but he's had one of the heavier lifts in the league with so little guard help around him.
LeVert will pierce the defense, and his career-long predilection for floaters could create easy offensive rebounding chances for the Cavs' supersized front line. But even if LeVert plays to the best of his ability, essentially replacing Rubio's minutes, the Cavaliers will still be one ball-handling shot-creator short of where they started.
Evan Mobley is second among current Cavs in total assists, while Kevin Love is third. Maybe Cleveland can lean harder on those two to keep the offense moving, but one more backcourt option would shore up the rotation for a deep playoff run.
Golden State Warriors
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Anyone who says they know what James Wiseman is going to become based on 39 professional games (the last of which came 10 months ago) is lying. That's why this idea that the ridiculously raw 20-year-old is going to ride in and immediately erase the Golden State Warriors' need for size up front is a little much.
Maybe Wiseman, still recovering from a torn meniscus and a cleanup operation, will contribute in spot minutes. The Warriors would certainly like him to do more than that given the draft pick they used on him, but it's unrealistic to expect such an inexperienced player to make a real difference on a contender.
That's a roundabout way of noting that the Warriors didn't add any bigs at the deadline.
In fairness, the Dubs have been broadcasting for weeks that they had no intention of making a trade, and Draymond Green will close important games at center anyway. Inaction was always the likeliest result, and it's tough to quibble with that approach when the team, small as it is, leads the league in defensive efficiency.
Still, Golden State will play the rest of the season and enter the playoffs with Kevon Looney as the only experienced, legitimate big man in the rotation.
Memphis Grizzlies
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The Memphis Grizzlies didn't have a key unanswered question per se, but they certainly let an opportunity pass them by.
Toting one of the best asset collections in the league—all their own first-rounders, plus a handful coming in from other teams, along with heaps of solid players on good, mid-priced contracts—the Grizzlies didn't swing a consolidation deal to add another high-end starter.
The Grizz kept that massive war chest locked up.
It's hard to fault them. They're contending way ahead of schedule and can afford to be patient. It may have been unnecessarily risky to combine a bunch of valuable assets for an upgrade with a core this young.
But it would have been a blast to see Memphis push some chips in and make a run for an All-Star-level player. They had the ability to make offers that might have caused the Boston Celtics to think about parting with Jaylen Brown, or the Toronto Raptors to pause on Pascal Siakam.
The Grizzlies are set up for long-term success regardless, but you have to admit it would have been kind of on-brand for one of the league's brashest young teams to make a run at a superstar.
Phoenix Suns
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Thaddeus Young made all the sense in the world for the Phoenix Suns, a team with a need for a small-ball 5 and what seemed like the right package to land the veteran buried on the San Antonio Spurs bench. A deal sending out Jalen Smith, Dario Saric and a pick felt like it should have been plenty.
Alas for the league-best Suns, the Toronto Raptors swooped in and added Young to their ever-expanding collection of rangy frontcourt players between 6'6" and 6'9". Those Raptors can't get enough of that player type.
Phoenix wisely pivoted to bring back Torrey Craig for a second tour of duty. You can never have too many stout defensive wings who can hit a catch-and-shoot three, but the Suns remain very conventional at center with Deandre Ayton starting and the backup minutes going to JaVale McGee and Bismack Biyombo.
Let's keep some perspective, though. Ayton looks increasingly like a special talent. He showed enough mobility in last year's postseason to stay on the floor against smaller opposing lineups, and another year of seasoning should only make him better at the task.
When you're as good as the Suns are, the nits to pick are tiny. In this particular instance, the lack of a small-ball center may not even matter. But there's no doubt the Suns entered and exited the deadline with the same obvious hole on their roster.
Utah Jazz
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The Utah Jazz signed Danuel House Jr. for the rest of the season Friday, and he's been useful in a rotation role on a series of 10-day deals this year. But the deadline came and went without the Jazz adding a difference-making wing defender.
Utah also sent out the injured Joe Ingles in a three-team swap that netted Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and the 17th pick in the 2019 draft has the physical tools to become a rotation-caliber wing. He's a rangy 6'5" and has the coordination and length to develop into a good defender. In New Orleans, his shot selection was abysmal, and he never established much consistency on either end. Maybe that'll all change on a team playing meaningful games.
NAW is more of a future-focused investment, though. It's unlikely he'll give the Jazz trustworthy playoff defense two months from now.
Royce O'Neale is sturdy, and it'll help if Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley are healthy in the 2022 postseason, which wasn't the case a year ago.
Still, Utah looks similar to the team that got bounced last year by the Los Angeles Clippers because its guards and wings couldn't stay in front of their matchups against five-out lineups.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Accurate through Feb. 11. Salary info via Spotrac.
