Let’s take a moment to remember the Brooklyn Nets of James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving — the greatest theoretical team of all time, and for 16 glorious games an unstoppable scoring machine capable of making magic through beautiful ball movement or domineering one-on-one play.
The Nets traded everything they had to add Harden to the Durant-Irving tandem. They recouped a good portion of that and got younger by flipping Harden and Paul Millsap for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks — a roundabout, if unpleasant, vindication of their decision to nab a third star.
The Harden-Simmons megadeal was the defining move of one of the wildest trade deadlines ever. It reshaped the league, beefing up the Eastern Conference around the Miami Heat and defending champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Every trade deadline leaves some players, coaches and teams facing more pressure than they were under 24 hours before. Let’s bounce around and see who’s newly on notice. (If you want a more straight “winners and losers”-style evaluation of these trades, you can find it in Thursday’s Lowe Post podcast.)
JAMES HARDEN
Harden couldn’t make it work in Houston with Dwight Howard. He wasn’t the first or last teammate to clash with Howard. Harden nearly made the Finals alongside Chris Paul, but grew tired of Paul’s leadership style; Harden pushed Houston, then run by current Sixers GM Daryl Morey, to flip Paul and major draft compensation for Russell Westbrook — a deal that became an organizational catastrophe.
After one more failed playoff run with Westbrook, Harden was done in Houston. He sulked and threw lazy passes until the Rockets traded him where he wanted to go — to Brooklyn. When things got difficult there, Harden got wanderlust again — chasing a new star in a new city.
Harden is right that Brooklyn was not what he had envisioned. Irving declining to get vaccinated changed everything. It is probably the biggest reason this has fallen apart. Irving has played 12 games this season. He still can’t play at home. Without him, the Nets’ margin for injury was reduced. Then injuries came: first Joe Harris, then Durant. After years of running pick-and-roll on a perfectly spread floor constructed to fit his whims, Harden was peering through small creases amid lineups featuring two and sometimes three non-shooters.
Harden could have dug in and fought. Durant is returning soon. Perhaps Harden thought Irving would never be a full-time player again, and that Harris might miss the rest of the season. Fair. The Nets with Harden and Durant could have done major, major damage. Harden bailed.
That is his prerogative. The Nets salvaged a lot from his departure. They are fine.
But this has to be it for Harden. He’s 32, having his worst season in a decade. He’ll be almost 34 when his assumed new mega-contract kicks in. The back end of that contract — if it’s the full boat — will bring some pain. Morey and the Sixers know that. They will pay a pain tax later if it means a ring in the next two or three seasons. The deal Thursday left enough two-way talent around Harden and Joel Embiid for the Sixers to win it all. Possible starting fives of Tyrese Maxey, Harden, Tobias Harris, Embiid and one of Danny Green or Matisse Thybulle have huge two-way potential.
Maxey competes on defense and has started to jack 3s with gusto — off the catch and off the dribble. (He’s at 40% overall on 3s.) The Thybulle version of that lineup may be a little light on shooting, but any lineup with Embiid and Thybulle is going to be pretty airtight on defense. Thybulle is the only non-shooter in that group, and he has made strides as a cutter beneath Embiid high-post actions.
The Sixers could use one more reliable bench guy, but Furkan Korkmaz, Georges Niang, one of Green/Thybulle, and Shake Milton (once he returns) is a workable start given the quality of the starting five — and that Doc Rivers can keep one of Embiid and Harden on the floor at all times. Maybe the deal reinvigorates Paul Millsap. Isaiah Joe, Paul Reed, Charles Bassey and Charlie Brown Jr. have shown glimpses but are unproven. Expect the Sixers to trawl the buyout market for a backup center.
Regardless, turning a roster spot giving you zero into Harden is a big present-day win. These Sixers can win the title. The pre-trade version could not have won the East. Those are the stakes now, for Harden and the team: title or bust.
Harden has few if any high-leverage postseason capital-M moments since a dagger 3 sunk the San Antonio Spurs in the 2012 Western Conference Finals — 10 years ago. He has had several brutal high-stakes games, including, somehow, three separate 2-of-11 playoff performances. One featured 12 turnovers. Another was so inexplicably bad it left insiders wondering if Harden played through a concussion or some other unknown malady.
His crunch-time shooting numbers have fallen off more than we’d expect of a typical ball-dominant star. A lot of his best postseason games have come in the first round, or with his team way behind (3-0 or 3-1) or way ahead in later-round series. A disproportionate number of his crunch-time postseason buckets have come with his teams hopelessly behind — layups (almost conceded in some cases) to cut the lead to five with 20 seconds left.
Harden may not care — and maybe he shouldn’t, there are more important things in life — but he’s running out of time to craft his postseason legacy. This is his newest chance.
Embiid may not be a classic Harden rim-running lob-catcher, but I don’t worry about them developing pick-and-roll chemistry. I mean, come on. But will Harden commit to being an active threat while Embiid posts up? Will Harden buy into more of a non-switching defense?
BEN SIMMONS AND KYRIE IRVING
On paper, the fit is tremendous: Simmons becomes Brooklyn’s Draymond Green, pushing the pace, flying into rapid-fire screens and spraying passes out of 4-on-3 situations. The Nets ran fastest when Irving played without Harden; Simmons amplifies that. Brooklyn has enough guards and wings to play Simmons at center, though it trends a little small on the wing now with Curry in place of Harris. The Nets still have more centers than they can play. Their current team is really good, but with a couple of tweaks, next season’s could be a menace. (Brooklyn’s upcoming schedule is tough; if Durant doesn’t return soon, the play-in could turn into an inevitability.)
But, umm, is Irving on that team? Is Irving playing home games anytime soon? It seems premature to project a wonderful three-star meshing given that Irving has barely played this season and has a player option for next season. The Nets originally intended to ink him to a max extension, but they demurred after Irving’s decision on the vaccine. Irving also left the team for an extended period last season, an absence that played into Brooklyn’s decision to acquire Harden. That’s right: In search of stability, the Nets chased James Harden.
If things go haywire (or stay haywire?), the Nets might be able to flip Irving for something just as they did this week with Harden. But Irving’s trade value is, to put it politely, a little lower than Harden’s, and the more star-for-something trades you make from a position of vulnerability, the more you dilute your team. You can’t perpetuate that cycle forever. Value drains away. (From the moment they got Harden, the Nets’ dream if-necessary move to balance the offense-defense leanings of the roster would have been something very much like — and maybe exactly like — Irving for Simmons instead of Harden for Simmons. That was obviously not possible for about 27 different reasons. To be clear, the Nets did well here. They almost certainly pushed for Maxey, then Thybulle when Maxey was deemed a no-go, but ending with Curry and two first-round picks is solid. Curry helps now and could fetch something in a deal down the line — or unlock more Joe Harris deals.)
Simmons has not appeared in an NBA game in eight months. The last time we saw him practice, he got kicked out and may or may not have performed drills with his phone in his pocket. He cited his mental health in stepping away from the Sixers. How game ready is he?
Forget the jumper. Who cares about that at this point? Can he make enough free throws so that he’s not afraid to get fouled?
KRISTAPS PORIZINGIS AND THE MAVERICKS FRONT OFFICE
Porzingis should take this trade as a huge slap in the face. The Mavs in the end traded Dennis Smith Jr., Deandre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and two first-round picks for Trey Burke, Courtney Lee, Tim Hardaway Jr. (considered to be on a bad contract at the time of the original Porzingis deal), Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
Dinwiddie is shooting 38%. Bertans barely saw the floor for a flailing Washington team. Their combined salary is roughly equal to that of Porzingis over the same number of years. There is no way to read this trade other than the Mavericks flat wanted out of the Porzingis business.
They are surely hopeful Dinwiddie will rebound, providing some of Hardaway Jr.’s (out with a foot injury) missing punch and maybe some leverage with Jalen Brunson in free agency. Bertans will get great looks next to Luka Doncic. He’ll shoot better; he can’t possibly shoot worse.
But what the Mavs really did here is split Porzingis’ contract into two smaller ones in an effort to get leaner and more flexible. They had come to realize Porzingis was not a worthy No. 2, and probably not even a worthy No. 3. He’s a constant injury risk. He’s good, but not that good. His two-man game with Doncic never really clicked.
Still: The ceiling of these new 2021-22 Mavs even with improved play from Dinwiddie and Bertans is not as high as that of the old version with a fully operational Porzingis — who has played well on both ends this season when healthy.
This is the Mavs risking a step back in the short term to enable a bigger step forward in the medium term — an attempt to find the right co-star, or co-stars, around Doncic as he enters the meat of his prime. One rival GM described the Mavs’ salary predicament before the deadline as a “ticking time bomb” — making them a team at risk of handcuffing itself to something a little below greatness if it paid full freight for Porzingis, Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith.
They have mitigated that risk a bit here, even if this seems to be selling unthinkably low on Porzingis. They extended Finney-Smith on Thursday, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, and can re-sign Brunson this summer. That will take them well into the luxury tax for a team a tick below the elite, but they have more avenues to wriggle free now.
That’s step one — and one would assume Doncic is on board with it. The next step — adding at least one star — is the hard part. The Mavs have swung and whiffed in free agency a lot since their 2011 championship.
At this cost, the Wizards are basically taking a no-risk flier on a player once thought of as one of the league’s premiere young talents. Why not? Let’s see how Porzingis meshes with Bradley Beal.
DE’AARON FOX
It’s always fun to clown the Sacramento Kings, but I thought the criticism of their acquisition of Domantas Sabonis went overboard. Indiana did win the trade, though. Player for player, Tyrese Haliburton is more valuable than Sabonis — younger, under team control for (probably) a half-decade longer, with a more malleable game. Sabonis is a so-so defensive center (teams are going to run a ton of pick-and-rolls at the De’Aaron Fox/Sabonis duo) who needs the ball on offense and doesn’t shoot jumpers. It’s hard to build a great team around that kind of player, and sacrificing someone as exciting as Haliburton without opening a path to a great team is suboptimal.
But Sacramento is miles and miles from being a great team. Pretty good would be a home run. Not being some sort of absurdist comedy for, like, two consecutive calendar years would be a nice turnaround.
Sabonis is really good. Critics trumpeted Haliburton as Sacramento’s best pre-trade player. That has been true this season, but Sabonis was Indiana’s best player for years. He is metronome reliable, game-to-game and season-to-season. His hand-off actions and short-roll passing should blend perfectly with Fox’s high-speed bob-and-weave game. Both can destroy switches — Fox dusting bigs with speed, Sabonis mashing little guys in the post. They are close in age, on the same timeline.
The Kings know Haliburton has been their best player this season. They know he is more valuable — more tradable — on a rookie deal than Fox is shooting 27% on 3s and playing blah defense in the first year of a max contract. That’s part of the reason this deal stings: the Kings plainly targeted Sabonis, just as they once targeted Buddy Hield and only Buddy Hield in the Demarcus Cousins trade, and did so from a position of weakness given Fox’s disappointing season. Doing nothing is always an option. (The Kings approached the Atlanta Hawks about John Collins, though they did not discuss Haliburton or Fox in that context, sources say.)
The Pacers and Phoenix Suns had brief dialogue around Sabonis and Deandre Ayton, multiple sources say. It did not get far, sources say, and may have been mostly informal and broadly exploratory — and aimed at the future rather than anything now. No formal offer was ever made by either side. The Kings coming with Haliburton rendered everything else moot for the Pacers. The Suns not immediately hanging up the phone and tossing it out a high-story window at the prospect of shaking anything up — even in the offseason — is notable, though.
There was an interesting *theoretical* road map to a sign-and-trade in the offseason. Sabonis is due $18.5 million next season and $19.4 million in 2023-24. What will Ayton earn this summer as a restricted free agent? The Suns have functioned fine — in the regular-season, mind you — with Ayton injured. Sabonis is a more accomplished player than Ayton, but Ayton is a better fit for how the Suns play and what they need on both ends. Phoenix has incredible chemistry, and their two-way efficiency machine is running away with the league’s best record.
In any case, what’s done is done. This can work for Sacramento if Fox hones his jumper and commits to the grittier aspects of the game. Davion Mitchell is shooting 32% on 3s, and doesn’t project as a plus shooter. The fifth starting spot is a mystery. There is a lot of work to do here, and not a lot of shooting around the shaky-shooting Fox-Sabonis centerpiece.
SERGE IBAKA AND THE CLIPPERS WINGS
The Milwaukee Bucks were faced with losing Donte DiVincenzo in free agency. DiVincenzo is shooting 28% from deep as he works his way back from ankle surgery. Grayson Allen and Pat Connaughton have vaulted over him in the rotation. Wesley Matthews has exceeded expectations. George Hill is a human security blanket.
Brook Lopez is recovering from back surgery, leaving a void for a center who can shoot 3s, protect the rim and jostle with some of the NBA’s giants.
In that context, I get swapping DiVincenzo for Ibaka and two second-round picks. The problem is that Ibaka is coming off back surgery and looked like his old self in maybe one of every three appearances this season for the Clippers. You can never have enough two-way wings, especially if you’re going to play a decent chunk with Giannis Antetokounmpo at center. If Ibaka can’t find his groove and one among Allen, Connaughton and Matthews gets hurt — or just underperforms at the wrong time — the Bucks may feel minor pangs of regret.
(By the way: the Bucks and Marc Gasol — now in Europe — had discussed a potential late-season union, but that does not appear to be in the cards with Ibaka on board, sources tell ESPN.)
Meanwhile, the Clippers could be loaded with wings and small-ball power forwards next season: Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Norman Powell, Terance Mann, Marcus Morris, Luke Kennard, Brandon Boston Jr., and maybe Amir Coffey, Robert Covington and Nicolas Batum. Covington will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Coffey is slated to enter restricted free agency. Batum has a $3.3 million player option.
It seems unlikely all these guys are with the Clippers next season. That said, they are now really well set up to play more of the center-less lineups that eviscerated the Utah Jazz in last season’s playoffs; Tyronn Lue seems to like those groups.
THE MORIBUND LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Welp. These guys looked and sounded defeated after the Bucks embarrassed them at home this week. They all but asked the front office to do something, anything, to rearrange the team. Nothing happened. The solution must come from within, or via the buyout market.
The Lakers were resistant to offering their 2027 first-round pick — the only one they can offer — in trade talks, including as the carrot in a potential exchange of John Wall and Russell Westbrook, sources say. A deal I’d have pitched: Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker and that 2027 first-rounder for Wall and Eric Gordon. Does that change your life? Maybe not. But LeBron is 37, and this team looks broken. Maybe a better deal will come along in the offseason.
MARVIN BAGLEY III
Marvin Bagley can score. He just hasn’t been able to do that — or defend at a high enough level — being shoehorned into the power forward spot. Can the Detroit Pistons give him some time as a switchy stretch-center? There is real talent here.
The Kings, meanwhile, did sharp work flipping Bagley into DiVincenzo, Josh Jackson, and Trey Lyles. (Just ignore the names that followed Bagley in the draft.)
THE UTAH JAZZ
The Jazz did not turn the combination of Joe Ingles and a first-round pick into anything, instead attaching a second-rounder to Ingles to bring back Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
The idea of Alexander-Walker is worth some time and investment. He’s long, with good defensive instincts and shot-making prowess you can’t teach. He’s also shooting 37.5%, and just 31% on 3s, and his pass-or-shoot decision-making can go haywire.
It takes time for young players to learn the Jazz system. It’s uncertain Alexander-Walker will be a trustworthy rotation player in the postseason, and the Jazz really need another trustworthy rotation player — a good wing defender — to face off against the Warriors, Suns or Grizzlies.
THE BLAZERS FRONT OFFICE
I was a little surprised the Blazers didn’t keep Alexander-Walker, apparently choosing more cap flexibility over paying him $5 million next season. (They did fine in the CJ McCollum trade overall.) Right now, Portland’s roster around Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little is a big pile of uncertainty. Cap space has historically gotten Portland little in straight free agency.
The team and Lillard are saying all the right things about sticking together, but the Blazers have a ton of work to do between now and the end of free agency to build a team around Lillard with even a glimmer of a pathway toward contention in the next two or three seasons. The Lillard noise is not going to die down anytime soon.
THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS, IN THE WILDERNESS STILL
The trade deadline brought some clarity to the Spurs direction. They made three trades in as many weeks, signaling their entry into the NBA’s modern dealmaking ecosystem. Dealing Derrick White for the Boston Celtics first-round pick (and the right to swap picks with Boston in 2028, protected for the No. 1 selection) and to a lesser extent Thaddeus Young reveals a team that knows it is near the bottom of the standings.
But Young wasn’t playing at all and Josh Richardson — acquired in the White trade — was playing pretty well for Boston. The other tentpole young veterans remain.
The Spurs have cap space but limited free-agency allure. They have good young players, and extra picks for use in trades. (They explored deals to move way up in the draft last year, sources say.) Can they strike on the star trade market at some point down the line, and have enough talent leftover to play alongside that star?
The Spurs appear to be trying to stay “pretty good,” building toward something more without bottoming out. That is a worthy endeavor. A few franchises have accomplished it well, even without the injection of a star free agent. It will be fascinating to watch how the NBA’s gold standard franchise navigates the next couple of years.