2023 NBA Trade Deadline: Winners And Losers

Recapping The 2023 NBA Trade Deadline

The 12 hours leading up to the NBA Trade Deadline were a whirlwind. We went from the East being arguably the tougher, deeper conference to the West being stacked with All-Stars in new uniforms. Some moves made a ton of sense and set teams up to contend for a championship and others seem like they're bound to fall flat. Let's take a look at who I think this year's winners and losers are and how these moves have affected the betting market.

Winners

Phoenix Suns

Whenever you're able to bring one of the best players in the world onto your teams, it's going to be a win. Trading for Kevin Durant shot the Suns up the odds boards where they currently sit as the favorites to win the Western Conference at +230 on DraftKings and are second to win the NBA championship at +425 behind the Boston Celtics at +350. That's despite the fact that they were sitting at 30-26 on the season and fifth in the conference standings at the time of the deal.

With Durant in the mix, the starting lineup now consists of Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Durant, Torrey Craig and Deandre Ayton. That might just be the best starting five in the league right now. The one caveat for Phoenix is that they need to win a championship with this group in order for me to really consider it a win. General manager James Jones gave up Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges who were two young players with tons of talent that the fanbase loved. Bridges is one of the best three-and-D players out there and was named runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year last season. Johnson was a floor spacer with the ability to knock down threes at an extremely high clip. Jones also sent Jae Crowder and four first-round picks to Brooklyn (Crowder then went to Milwaukee) in return for Durant. Right now, I'll say this is a winner, and the books clearly agree with me based on where Phoenix sits on odds boards, but if they don't win a championship by the end of next season, the Suns are going to turn into the Nets 2.0.

Brooklyn Nets

Speaking of the Nets, Brooklyn is a winner in the sense that it's moving on from the massive mess that it had on its hands over the last three seasons. The experiment of bringing Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden backfired on them in a way I don't think anyone expected. That was a major loss. Not getting an All-Star back for Durant or Irving was a loss. But in the grand scheme of things, there were too many issues in Brooklyn over the last few years for them to have the type of success needed to win a championship. They made the decision to blow things up and got solid players in return, plus plenty of draft capital. The win here is being on a path where they can start fresh.

Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets have the best record in the Western Conference, leading the second-place Grizzlies by 4.5 games. Clearly what they have going with back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. is working. They didn't need to add a whole lot to their squad, nor did they have the means to do so. Denver did, however, trade for Thomas Bryant who was having a solid year with the Lakers. Adding a big man that can come in and back up Jokic was certainly a need for the Nuggets who struggle to defend when their All-Star is off the floor. Did Denver get significantly better? No. They were +700 to win the title prior to the deadline and remain at +700 after. The only issue is that other teams in the West, such as the Suns, got better. Still, the Nuggets are a complete team in my mind and someone I'd recommend putting a few dollars on them to win the West at +370.

Losers

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers fall into my loser category for a few different reasons. First, they're a loser because they lost out on Kyrie Irving. Now, I'm not a Kyrie fan off the court and think any team with him on its roster is ultimately doomed, but on the court, he would have given the Lakers a chance to compete for a championship. The second reason the Lakers are losers is that while they made some positive moves, none were quite big enough to make them true contenders. Getting rid of Russell Westbrook and his massive contract was a positive and adding D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt provides better guard/wing play with added shooting depth.

But the problem is that the Lakers' window to win another championship with LeBron James is nearly closed and while those three players might help them move up a few games in the standings, they aren't going to help them beat teams like the Suns or Nuggets in a seven-game series. I know Los Angeles didn't have a whole lot to work with because of what they gave up for Westbrook last year, but that just further cements my point that the organization was in a lose-lose situation from the beginning.

Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies were lacking outside shooting and they addressed that need by trading for Luke Kennard in a three-team deal with the Rockets and Clippers. At -475 to win the Southwest division, +750 to win the West and +1400 to win the title, Memphis is definitely still in the mix with the talent they already had on board. However, the Grizzlies are a young team without any veteran leadership. We're starting to see how that is negatively affecting them with Ja Morant running his mouth and the recent laser pointer issue with the Pacers. Memphis didn't get any worse over the last 24 hours, but they just didn't get better. Adding a veteran would have made them a step better.

Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls

The Raptors got slightly better with the addition of Jakob Poeltl from San Antonio, but other than that, both teams were much quieter at the deadline than expected. Chicago and Toronto are two teams that have a few really talented pieces but also need major help in a few areas. The Bulls need a point guard with Lonzo Ball out, yet they didn't do anything to try and acquire one. Instead, both teams will be on the bubble for the play-in tournament without any hopes of making a deep postseason run. Fans of these organizations should be disappointed that the front offices didn't do more.

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2023 NBA Trade Deadline: Players On New Teams

In alphabetical order, these were all the players to switch teams in the days before the deadline:

Nickeil Alexander-Walker - Wolves

Mo Bamba - Lakers

Darius Bazley - Suns

Malik Beasley - Lakers

Patrick Beverley - Magic

Saddiq Bey - Hawks

Mikal Bridges - Nets

Thomas Bryant - Nuggets

Mike Conley - Wolves

Jae Crowder - Bucks

Spencer Dinwiddie - Nets

Kevin Durant - Suns

Kessler Edwards - Kings

Dorian Finney-Smith - Nets

Eric Gordon - Clippers

Devonte' Graham - Spurs

Josh Hart - Knicks

George Hill - Pacers

Bones Hyland - Clippers

Kyrie Irving - Mavs

Reggie Jackson - Hornets

Cam Johnson - Nets

Luke Kennard - Grizzlies

Kevin Knox - Blazers

Jalen McDaniels - Sixers

Mike Muscala - Celtics

Jordan Nwora - Pacers

Gary Payton II - Warriors

Mason Plumlee - Clippers

Jakob Poeltl - Raptors

Cam Reddish - Blazers

Josh Richardson - Pelicans

D'Angelo Russell - Lakers

Dario Saric - Thunder

Matisse Thybulle - Blazers

Jarred Vanderbilt - Lakers

John Wall - Rockets

TJ Warren - Suns

Russell Westbrook - Jazz

James Wiseman - Pistons