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How do the league’s biggest trades look with a month’s worth of hindsight?
We’re a month into the 2022-23 NBA season, and it’s one of my favorite times of the year. It’s too early to make grand proclamations, but it’s no longer too early to start thinking about making grand proclamations.
With that in mind, I decided to revisit some of the biggest trades from the NBA offseason, to see how the teams are feeling now that they’ve got a dozen or so games under their belts. And let’s assign some grades while we’re here.
I didn’t make it to all the trades – apologies to Jerami Grant, Kevin Huerter, and many others – but took a look at most of the notable moves. Some teams are happy. Some teams are less happy (but probably still pretending they are).
Let’s see how things look.
Donovan Mitchell finds a new home
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Donovan Mitchell
Utah Jazz receive: Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, three future first-round picks, two pick swaps
How Cleveland feels: Great! Mitchell’s fit in Cleveland has been seamless. Any questions about his fit alongside another high-usage combo guard in Darius Garland were answered almost as quickly as they were asked.
The bigger question (for me, at least) about acquiring Mitchell was if the Cavs were ready to go all in. Their young core of Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley certainly showed out last year, but it’s hard to justify giving up three first-round picks for anything short of a piece that could put you over the championship edge.
Mitchell just may be that. The Cavs enter Friday’s games second in the league in garbage-time adjusted net rating, just a hair behind the league-leading Phoenix Suns. Their balanced attack on both ends of the court has resulted in a top-three offense and defense. They look the part of championship contenders right now, and even if they fade, it seems evident that they’ll make noise at the top of the East for many years to come. It may have looked like Cleveland shoved their chips early, but they went all in at the perfect time.
How Utah feels: Hahahahaha. That’s how the Jazz feel. This is the very definition of a win-win trade, and Utah is laughing all the way to the bank.
Mitchell’s a great talent, but Utah had given up on the dream of building around him, and was stoked to receive a few promising young players and three first-rounders for him. What’s happened since then has been the gravy on top of the potatoes.
Against all odds, the Jazz – who were already printing Victor Wembanyama jerseys – have jumped to the very top of the Western Conference standings. Markkanen would likely be an All-Star if voting were held today, Sexton has been a super solid role player and, whenever they finally regress, they have a haul of future picks the likes of which is usually not seen outside of Sam Presti’s dreams.
Grades:
Cavaliers A+
Utah A+
Rudy Gobert moves on
Minnesota Timberwolves receive: Rudy Gobert
Utah Jazz receive: Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro, Jarred Vanderbilt, No. 22 pick (Walker Kessler), three future first-round picks, one protected future first-round pick, two pick swaps
How Minnesota feels: It’s way too early for the Wolves to start regretting their actions, but if Cleveland is a sign of what it looks like when going all in works, Minnesota is the cautionary tale for when it doesn’t. The Wolves built on a surprising 2021-22 run by trading their entire future for Gobert, and so far they’ve been rewarded with a record and net rating that are miles behind where they were last year.
Gobert’s numbers are still quite good, but the fit has been clunky so far. Minnesota’s two-big lineup hasn’t worked, with Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns having a net rating of -3.4 in their 227 minutes together. Gobert also hasn’t connected with D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards, as his true-shooting percentage of 64.0% is well below his league-leading mark of 73.2% last season. He’s hardly the reason the Timberwolves are struggling, but he’s currently the NBA’s poster child for why going all in is not always the move.
How Utah feels: Still laughing, just as they were in the last segment. Utah traded their two franchise players and emerged with six unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-round pick, four pick swaps, and a handful of interesting players. The Jazz already flipped one of the players they received from Minnesota (Beverley), and if their season goes south at some point, they should be able to get some interesting pieces at the deadline if they want to move on from Beasley or Vanderbilt.
It’s a good time to be Danny Ainge.
Grades:
Minnesota D
Utah A+
Dejounte Murray teams up with Trae Young
Atlanta Hawks receive: Dejounte Murray, Jock Landale
San Antonio Spurs receive: Danilo Gallinari, two future first-round picks, one protected future first-round pick (from the New York Knicks), one pick swap
How Atlanta feels: The Hawks surely miss their future first-round picks, and they may come back to bite them, but finding a defensively-talented backcourt partner for Young was always necessary. Murray is the primary reason for the Hawks defense jumping from 26th a year ago to eighth this season. If Atlanta can continue that, it will have been well worth it.
How San Antonio feels: The Spurs are not the most watchable team with Murray absent from their lineup, but in one fell swoop they converted a player who didn’t fit into their long-term plans into multiple first-round picks and a much better shot at Wembanyama. It’s hard to spend much time complaining about that.
Grades:
Atlanta B+
San Antonio B+
De’Anthony Melton heads east
Philadelphia 76ers receive: De’Anthony Melton
Memphis Grizzlies receive: No. 23 pick (David Roddy), Danny Green
How Philadelphia feels: The Sixers gave up nothing of note and returned a stud defender who can hold his own on offense and is fitting in well with his new teammates. His issues with inconsistent play may flare up eventually, but for now, what’s not to love?
How Memphis feels: TBD. Roddy looks pretty darned raw, as one would expect. If he develops into the player Memphis anticipates, then they’ll be happy with this trade. If not, it’s just an odd move to get rid of someone who was a top 100 player in EPM a season ago.
Grades:
Philadelphia A
Memphis C
Christian Wood heads across the state
Dallas Mavericks receive: Christian Wood
Houston Rockets receive: Marquese Chriss, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, Boban Marjanović, No. 26 pick (Wendell Moore Jr.)
How Dallas feels: Given that the Mavs didn’t really give up any players they intended on using this year, they’ve got to feel pretty good about finding a Kristaps Porziņģis replacement, especially since Wood is averaging 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, and shooting 46.2% from three-point range.
The fact that Wood is fairly awful defensively will likely catch up to Dallas eventually, but all is well for now.
How Houston feels: Trading veterans for draft picks is the name of the game. The Rockets got a first-round pick in exchange for someone who didn’t factor into their plans, and then they flipped Moore for fellow first-rounder TyTy Washington Jr. (the No. 29 pick), as well as two future second-round picks. It’s all about the lottery picks, and Houston doesn’t regret adding some, even if Washington has yet to take the court for them.
Grades:
Dallas A
Houston B
Malcolm Brogdon joins a contender
Boston Celtics receive: Malcolm Brogdon
Indiana Pacers receive: Aaron Nesmith, Malik Fitts, Daniel Theis, Juwan Morgan, Nik Stauskas, future first-round pick
How Boston feels: It was hard to view the addition of Brogdon as anything other than a response to losing in the NBA Finals. Brogdon has accepted a smaller role in Boston, as he’s averaging the fewest minutes of his career. But he’s almost single-handedly revamped the Celtics bench, and for a team that is dreaming of returning to the NBA Finals – and this time winning four games there, instead of two – that’s well worth the modest investment.
How Indiana feels: Asking how Indiana feels suggests that the Pacers do, indeed, feel. And when it comes to this trade, I’m not sure they do. The primary objective in making this trade was to clear cap space, which they promptly used to sign Deandre Ayton to an offer sheet … just to watch the Suns match it. So instead, the Pacers are left with nothing to show for the trade, but they have more money than they had before, and were gonna lose Brogdon in free agency next summer anyway, so do they really care?
Grades:
Boston A
Indiana B
Bojan Bogdanović also leaves Utah
Detroit Pistons receive: Bojan Bogdanović
Utah Jazz receive: Saben Lee, Kelly Olynyk
How Detroit feels: Presumably pretty good, because they’ve already inked Bogdanović to a two-year extension. I’m not sure a team in their position should be so invested in a player like Bogdanović, but they clearly are, and they got him for the right price.
How Utah feels: The Jazz waived Lee, but Olynyk has been a huge part of their shocking wizardry to start the season. He’ll draw a lot of interest at the deadline if Utah decides to sell. The Jazz, as they’ve been with all of their moves this offseason, are likely happy. Speaking of which…
Grades:
Detroit B+
Utah A
Royce O’Neale moves on
Brooklyn Nets receive: Royce O’Neale
Utah Jazz receive: future first-round pick
How Brooklyn feels: Trading a first-round pick for a solid three-and-D starter is a perfect move if you’re a championship contender. Brooklyn’s mistake wasn’t in their evaluation of O’Neale, but in thinking that, despite the five million red flags, they were a championship contender.
O’Neale isn’t the difference maker for the Nets, because they’re too far from where they need to be. It feels like there’s a decent chance that they blow it up halfway through the season, in which case they won’t even be rewarded with their own pick in the draft.
How Utah feels: More first-round picks for veterans that don’t factor into their plans? Brooklyn’s collapse – which could make the pick, a 2023 first, very enticing – only makes a good trade better for the Jazz, darlings of both the NBA offseason and the first month of the actual season.
Grades:
Brooklyn C
Utah A+
Maybe Ainge knows what he’s doing.
