NBA Trade Deadline Recap

The NBA trade deadline frenzy has come to a close, with teams across the league bolstering their roster and shuffling around players with the postseason approaching quickly. Let’s take a look at some of the moves that were made on this year’s not-so-exciting deadline.

I think it’s only fair to start with the winners of the trade deadline and that is the New York Knicks.

The Knicks acquired Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks from the Pistons in exchange for Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, and Ryan Arcidiacono.

With this move, the Knicks are getting a 20 points-per-game scorer and some necessary help off the bench in Alec Burks. This might not seem like a giant trade but it really pushes the Knicks into a contender because of the depth this team now has.

Moving on to Dallas, they received P.J. Washington from Charlotte and Daniel Gafford from the Wizards which resulted in them losing Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and a future first-round pick.

Dallas has been stuck in the middle of the West and it’s been clear that their biggest weakness is their size. This move gives Dallas the much-needed help down low that they’ve been lacking all season long.

The 76ers made a big splash by trading for Buddy Hield in a deal that sent Furkan Korkmaz and Doug McDermott to Indiana.

Philadelphia is shooting 36% from the three this season and Buddy Hield has been a high-volume sniper his entire career.

I’d expect him to be utilized similarly to how JJ Reddick was used in this offense to get some pressure off of Joel Embiid.

In Oklahoma, they added the veteran forward, Gordon Hayward which was an interesting addition because he doesn’t provide too much on the court anymore but he will provide a veteran presence to a very young team in OKC.

Continuing the trend of veterans being moved around let’s discuss Patrick Beverly headed to Milwaukee.

The Bucks sent Cameron Payne and a future second-round pick to the 76ers in exchange for the veteran guard.

This was one of the more exciting moves because Beverly provides leadership and a nice depth piece to a team that has been struggling as of late.

In the East, there was an interesting move made by Toronto which sent Dennis Schroder and Thaddeus Young to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie.

After the deal was made, Toronto decided to buy out Dinwiddie which led to the Lakers signing him once he cleared the waivers.

Brooklyn and Toronto sit at the eleven and the twelve seed in the East so this trade won’t push either team to get a playoff spot but it is interesting seeing these veterans get shuffled around.

The trade deadline was a little underwhelming as this year’s edition might be remembered more for what didn’t happen than the moves that occurred.

Dejounte Murray, the star point guard for the Atlanta Hawks was the biggest name in trade rumors this season but Atlanta ultimately decided that he would not be going anywhere.

Some other notable players who were expected to be on the move were DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, and Kyle Kuzma.

They ended up staying put which shocked many since their respective teams might’ve been better off sending them away to retrieve better pieces for the future.

The NBA trade deadline is always an exciting time of year because you never know what to expect and in a season where there were no big stars up for grabs, this season's deadline was all about building depth for teams that are bound to make a playoff push.

Jacob Zacharia is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jjz5612@psu.edu.