Re-Grading NBA Trade Deadline's Biggest Deals 1 Month Later
It seems like only yesterday we were maniacally refreshing Twitter and checking our Bleacher Report mobile banner notifications to keep up with all the latest and greatest NBA trade rumors.
Somehow, though, it's actually been a whole month since the deadline passed. Oh, how time flies.
Anyway, with weeks now separating us from all the chaos, it makes sense to check in on how the biggest moves are panning out. After all, willing relitigation is the mark of an open mind. Or something.
Our initial grades can be found here. Just like last time, these updated marks don't have to be forever. There is more basketball left to play, and many more questions that still need to be answered. This is instead an overview of how the most important deals are panning out so far.
Norman Powell to LA Clippers
1 of 6
The Trade
L.A. Clippers Receive: Robert Covington, Norman Powell
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: Eric Bledsoe, Keon Johnson, Justise Winslow, 2025 second-round pick (from L.A., via Detroit)
Grades
Clippers: A
Original Grade: A
Powell fractured his left foot almost immediately upon arriving in Los Angeles and is out definitely. His absence does nothing to change the appeal of this move for the Clippers. This was never about now. It was about next season, and about beyond, and about his fit alongside a full-strength roster featuring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
That fit continues to tantalize. Powell provides rim pressure and steady outside shooting in a non-star capacity, the type of complement who clears 16 points per game while knocking down threes at an above-average clip as the No. 3 option.
Anyone who gets sticker shock looking at the balance of his contract (four years, $74.5 million) needs to chill. Maybe the final season of that deal, in which he'll earn $20.5 million, becomes a decided negative. In the meantime, he's the perfect companion for the fully actualized version of the Clippers. And not only didn't they give up anything or anyone of supreme value to get him, but they also acquired Covington, who is already hyper-useful in smaller lineups and worth keeping around beyond this season.
Blazers: D+
Original Grade: D
Portland's trade deadline is better off being graded in its entirety rather than compartmentalized by individual transaction. Taking the 10,000-foot view helps. Sort of.
Going back to the 2020 offseason, the Blazers have now effectively turned CJ McCollum, Gary Trent Jr. and three first-round picks into Josh Hart, Keon Johnson, Elijah Hughes, Joe Ingles, Didi Louzada, Justise Winslow, Eric Bledsoe, Tomas Satoransky, a first-round pick, four second-round picks, a big-ass trade exception and loads of potential cap space this summer. That is...underwhelming.
Still, there is value in beginning anew. And the Blazers, under interim general manager Joe Cronin, have chosen a direction teeming with the flexibility to retool around Damian Lillard or explore avenues without him should he ask out.
Immediate returns also don't account for opportunities created within the rotation. Portland may have stumbled upon a keeper in Trendon Watford, who plays entirely inside the flow of the offense. Johnson is getting actual playing time, moves without the ball really well and has good floor awareness when attacking downhill.
CJ Elleby seems admirably aware of his surroundings when dribbling at warp speed. Even Anfernee Simons proved his breakout translated to a much less talented roster prior to his hip injury. The Blazers are gaining new information about what they have every night while improving their lottery odds. There is an element of to-be-determined to every transaction.
At the same time, the Powell deal specifically lacks a certain logic when viewed in tandem with McCollum's departure. Portland sold low on a really good player whose contract would've been just as movable, if not more enticing, over the offseason without actually needing to do so—not even to skirt the tax.
CJ McCollum to New Orleans, Josh Hart to Portland
2 of 6
The Trade
New Orleans Pelicans Receive: CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., Tony Snell
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Josh Hart, Didi Louzada, Tomas Satoransky, 2022 first-round pick (protected Nos. 1 to 4 and Nos. 15-30; turns into Milwaukee's 2025 first-rounder with top-four protection if not conveyed), 2026 second-round pick (more favorable between New Orleans and Portland), 2027 second-round pick
Grades
Pelicans: A-
Original Grade: B+
Please move beyond worrying about the two years and $69.1 million left on McCollum's deal. It is a tired focus. That money is not untradeable, and cap flexibility goes only so far in the New Orleans market.
Oh, also: CJ McCollum is still good. Go figure. Since joining the Pelicans, he's averaging 27.1 points and 6.7 assists per game while knocking down 60.7 percent of his twos and 39.8 percent of his triples. There have been some awkward, feeling-out moments with Brandon Ingram, but they're both learning to operate alongside one another. New Orleans is pummeling opponents by 7.7 points per 100 possessions when they play together without Devonte' Graham.
Forking over first-round equity remains steep when the Pelicans profile as a play-in team. But they protected their pick against disaster, and McCollum is most likely worlds better than anyone they'd select at the back end of the lottery. (Larry Nance Jr. is also hardly a throw-in and has yet to play.)
Too many considered this move through an urgent lens in the first place, as if it were a last-ditch attempt by executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin to save his job. Really, this trade is more about the long-term implications.
Imagine what a healthy Zion Williamson does for this core next season. He may not be their ticket to insta-contention, but his transcendence coupled with the talent at top of the roster stands to vault the Pelicans into home-court-advantage discussions.
Blazers: A
Original Grade: A-
Separate this deal from the Norman Powell move, and Portland comes off smelling rosy.
McCollum's exit clears the runway for a rising, still-bound-to-be-cheaper Anfernee Simons while buoying the team's lottery odds. Hart plugs into a better version of the Blazers or can be used as a sweetener in subsequent deals. The $20.8 million trade exception created opens up all sorts of offseason possibilities.
Though the Blazers pulled the ripcord on their Lillard-McCollum backcourt a couple of years too late, the new front-office regime did well to finally make the call—and to dredge up additional flexibility, an extra first-round pick and scrappy role player (Hart) in the process.
Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento, Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana
3 of 6
The Trade
Indiana Pacers Receive: Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Tristan Thompson
Sacramento Kings Receive: Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, 2023 second-round pick (protected for Nos. 56-60)
Grades
Pacers: A
Original Grade: A
Teams that surrender the best player in any trade seldom emerge looking better for wear. The Pacers are the mother of all exceptions.
This partially depends on your view of Haliburton. Is he a future All-Star? All-NBA material? Or is he more of a Malcolm Brogdon-level player? The answer matters. But so does the question itself, and the fact we're able to ask it at all.
Haliburton still has the chance to develop into the best player from this deal. He is already one of the league's most efficient pull-up shooters and has shown greater command of the offense in Indiana. There's no point trying to calibrate his potential peak. Those exercises only serve to artificially deflate the ceilings of 21-year-old sophomores.
Even if he's more fringe star than genuine cornerstone, the Pacers have set themselves up to continue chugging along in search of one without indefinitely bottoming out. Top-five lottery odds are in play this year, and no matter what happens, they'll have the option of entering next season with Brogdon, Haliburton, Chris Duarte, Myles Turner and a high-end prospect.
And this says nothing of how well Buddy Hield has played, the possibility of re-signing T.J. Warren if he's healthy, and the development of names like Oshae Brissett and Isaiah Jackson. Indiana has at once balanced out the makeup of its roster and increased the range of opportunities at its disposal. That is more than adequate compensation for a two-time All-Star who may not have wanted to stick around long term.
Kings: C-
Original Grade: Incomplete
No incomplete grades this time around.
So much about the Kings' future remains wait-and-see. It's tough to outright fail them without having that information. Sabonis has played well in the interim, and De'Aaron Fox looks reborn.
Squint hard enough, and you can see the bigger-picture vision. They have two players, not yet in the heart of their primes, who can rank among the league's best 25 players in any given season. Haliburton is not a finished or known enough quantity to afford Sacramento such immediate luxury.
But the Kings cannot be spared from the skepticism incumbent of this move. Teams aren't supposed to flip no worse than their second-most important building block in the second year of his contract without securing an instantaneous bump. Sacramento didn't get one. It will miss the play-in tournament. The best-case scenario has Sabonis winning the Kings a couple of extra games that harsh their lottery odds. Hooray.
None of this erases the potentially macro benefits, including the De'Aaron Fox renaissance and Sabonis' appetite for staying in Sacramento. But a trade of this magnitude shouldn't incite confusion over the franchise's endgame. Nor should it mandate "Shut up, we need to see what happens over the summer first!" patience. The latter might be true. That doesn't make it clarifying.
James Harden to Philadelphia, Ben Simmons to Brooklyn
4 of 6
The Trade
Brooklyn Nets Receive: Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, 2022 first-round pick (unprotected, with right to defer until 2023), 2027 first-round pick (top-eight protection through 2028; becomes two seconds if not conveyed)
Philadelphia 76ers Receive: James Harden, Paul Millsap
Grades
Nets: B-
(Original Grade: B-)
One month isn't nearly enough time to meaningfully relitigate the Nets' side of this blockbuster. Simmons has yet to make his debut, Kevin Durant only recently returned from his sprained left MCL, and Brooklyn is still trying to navigate a part-time Kyrie Irving.
Criticizing the Nets for moving Harden at all also understates the gravity of their situation. It became clear he didn't want to be in Brooklyn, and his impending free agency (player option) left them with only so much leverage, even ahead of a market short on cap space.
Brooklyn did well under the circumstances. Curry remains a top-tier shooter and will be the quintessential superteam accessory...if the Nets ever sniff full strength. Drummond may play too much, at times, but provides needed size and brawn in the middle. And the Nets restocked some of their draft-pick well with two firsts from the Sixers, including an always interesting, loosely protected, down-the-line commitment that won't convey for at least another half-decade.
Leaving the Nets' grade alone feels fair. Yes, they beat the Sixers on Thursday. But this acknowledges Simmons' continued absence, and mostly, given how well Harden has played in Philly, it reinforces the extent to which the environment they enabled contributed to his disenchantment.
Sixers: A
(Original Grade: B+)
Romanticizing the value of the Sixers' 2027 (or 2028) first-rounder only ever made sense as a precautionary measure. Harden is 32. He's about to get puh-aid in free agency. He has hamstring issues. And above all, he looked like a silhouette of his former self for most of the season in Brooklyn.
Planning against the worst is officially, and unequivocally, unnecessary.
Harden looks rejuvenated with the Sixers—to the tune of averaging 22.5 points and 10.3 assists on 58.9 true shooting. Six games isn't a large enough sample size to make irreversibly sweeping declarations, and Philly did just get trucked by Brooklyn. But Harden's overall performance supports the notion that all he needed was a change of scenery.
Hammering out chemistry with Joel Embiid, while not sans wrinkles, has largely gone off without a hitch. Harden's synergy with Tyrese Maxey has been as immediate and indomitable as it is surprising. Maxey himself is playing like he was born to be—and is already—the third-best player on a legitimate title threat. Philly has outscored opponents by 28.3 points per 100 possessions in the time its trio has logged together.
Quibble over how the Sixers got here if you must. Both sides made mistakes in their falling out with Ben Simmons. But the results are now inarguable. They acquired Harden to entrench themselves among the Association's top contenders. And one month later, they appear to have done exactly that.
Derrick White to Boston, Josh Richardson to San Antonio
5 of 6
The Trade
Boston Celtics Receive: Derrick White
San Antonio Spurs Receive: Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, 2022 first-round pick (top-four protection), 2028 first-round swap (top-one protection)
Grades
Celtics: B
Original Grade: B
Marking down the Celtics' grade is more tempting than expected. The 2028 first-round swap just feels off. It's so far away, and White doesn't juice up their outside shooting or completely solve their primary-playmaking depth. This is a move you make, and a player you acquire, only if you're a present-day title contender.
And it just so happens the Celtics are championship threats right now.
Boston has won 17 of its last 20 game and leads the NBA in point differential per 100 possessions since the White trade. His fit still isn't the cleanest, but he can capably run pick-and-rolls, has an operable in-between game and aligns nicely with the Celtics' unflappable defense.
Forfeiting control of your 2028 pick doesn't seem so costly when you're this good—or when your two best players, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, are both age 25 or younger.
Spurs: A
Original Grade: B+
Yours truly originally loved this trade for the Spurs because of what it signaled: perhaps not a full-tilt rebuild, but an actual build that prioritized the long haul over chasing a play-in exit.
Nothing has changed.
The Spurs can technically stumble into a top-10 seed but aren't bent on it. They've used White's departure to broaden the horizons of their perimeter rotation with more responsibility for Keldon Johnson, more ball screens for Devin Vassell and more playing time for Tre Jones and Joshua Primo.
Traveling down this path is smart and valuable, and San Antonio's direction will be much better for it as it enters the offseason.
Kristaps Porzingis to Washington, Spencer Dinwiddie to Dallas
6 of 6
The Trade
Dallas Mavericks Receive: Spencer Dinwiddie, Davis Bertans
Washington Wizards Receive: Kristaps Porzingis, 2022 second-round pick (top-45 protection)
Grades
Mavs: B+
Original Grade: D
Apologies to Nico Harrison and the rest of the Mavs front office. And to Mark Cuban. And to Mavericks fans.
I destroyed Dallas for this trade in real time. It looked like a team strictly trying to break up a distressed asset into a pair of smaller, more manageable, yet not insignificant contracts owed to underperforming players.
Cleaning up the books was no doubt part of the logic. But the Mavs also diversified their offensive portfolio—noticeably and meaningfully. Though Dinwiddie won't continue to shoot a trillion percent from the floor, he is another capable ball-handler and has injected much-needed rim pressure into the perimeter rotation. Bertans is neither playing that much nor making a high percentage of his shots from beyond the arc, but the off-ball mobility with which he plays keeps defenses scrambling in ways Porzingis' stationary jumpers never did.
Rather than a trade of convenience or financial flexibility, this deal now also looks like one of immediate substance.
I was wrong, and I'm sorry.
Wizards: A
Original Grade: A
Intent still shapes the Wizards' grade more than any on-court factor. Porzingis has just two appearances under his belt, and Washington is fast-tracked toward the lottery with Bradley Beal out for the rest of the season.
That's fine. It remains easy to appreciate the Wizards' sentiments. They consolidated two botched investments into a risky, injury-prone big man with the second-highest individual ceiling of anyone on their roster.
It's the kind of gambit that jibes with the indecipherable position in which they planted themselves. Are they contemplating a more top-down rebuild? Looking to retool around Beal? Rolling the dice, in any way possible, on a No. 2 option to pair with him? Attempting to simplify their cap sheet beyond 2023-24?
Porzingis fits whatever aim Washington fancies. For the time being, with Beal on the sidelines, the Wizards get to plumb the depths of his offensive usage more thoroughly than perhaps anyone before them—including the New York Knicks. And relative to how many post-ups KP is already churning through, both he and Washington seem prepared to make the most of the opportunity.
Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass and accurate entering Friday's games. Salary information via Spotrac.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by NBA Math's Adam Fromal.
