NBA teams had until 3 p.m. and Thursday to Rad and Deal after what was already a wild week-long trading deadline. The authors of theScore NBA, Joseph Casciaro and Joe Wolfond, break all agreements.
Sixers get their Superstar
76ers received: James Harden, Paul Millsap
Nets obtained: Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, 1st-Round Pick, 1st-round pick
Daryl Morey and the 76ers have dragged him out for as long as possible this Season, but in the end, Philadelphia ended up getting the Superstar Talent Joel Embiid deserves.
There is a lot to give to an aging, unpredictable, sometimes quarrelsome Star, whose contractual status was up in the air, but Harden’s relationship with Morey certainly played a role in the fact that Bart would have already decided on the last year of his contract next Season.
While Harden’s floor has looked significantly lower this Season than in previous years, he still has the best gear of a true superstar. The 32-year-old has played in seven games with more than 30 points and more than 10 assists this season, averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 assists and eight rebounds in a “Down” year.
The addition of this type of revolutionary presence to a team with an MVP star playing some of the best Big Man basketball games the League has ever seen amounts to an immediate championship claim.
Millsap dropped out of Brooklyn’s Rotation after a disappointing start to the season, an absence for personal reasons, and time spent in health and safety protocols, but he’s an experienced big man with some defensive versatility, if nothing else.
As for the nets, it’s easy to mock the team for the 16-game farm sale by Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but if Harden had a foot on the door anyway (as his recent sluggish efforts have shown), it’s an outstanding comeback for Brooklyn.
Simmons’ problems with creating half-court and striking problems will be alleviated on a team with Durant and Irving (if Kyrie is available), and he will give the nets a defensive edge this Version of the team has never experienced before. If Simmons has stayed in anything close to game form and can wreak havoc defensively-while the nets come out in transition-when the playoffs begin, Brooklyn still has the goods to action for a title, just in a different way than was originally intended.
Curry, meanwhile, remains one of the game’s sharpshooters and is playing the best basketball of his career. The 31-year-old is playing well with Durant and Irving, can create for himself while making room for the team’s Stars, and has improved as a point guard.
And while it’s obviously not the same draft pick the Nets made for Harden 13 months ago, acquiring two top Rounders in this Blockbuster helps replenish Brooklyn’s coffers. – Casciaro
Mavs ship Porzingis to Wizards in puzzling deal
Wizards acquire: Kristaps Porzingis
Mavericks Acquire: Spencer Dinwiddie, Davis Bertans
The most surprising move of the day saw Dallas and Washington trade a trio of summary contracts, but this trade makes the least sense for the Mavericks.
The only logical explanation from Dallas’ perspective is that Porzingis’ ailing right knee – which has kept him out of six straight games – continues to raise concerns after the big man surgically repaired it in August. That possibility, plus Porzingi’s player option in two years, would make it quite worthwhile to get rid of his contract. But Porzingis played his best basketball in years, when he was healthy this Season after recovering some of the defensive mojo he lost after tearing his right ACL, and the Mavs already didn’t have many opportunities to improve usefully around Luka Doncic. This makes this return an abomination.
Dinwiddie (and the ever-improving Jalen Brunson) should provide much-needed secondary creation and playing technique behind Doncic, and the veteran’s contract is only fully guaranteed for another season after this year, but Dinwiddie’s individual offense has been a train wreck since he returned from a knee health-issue that required surgery last Season. Since averaging 20.6 points two years ago, Dinwiddie has averaged 12.3 points, while striking 43.3 percent from 2-point range and 30.9 percent on five 3-point attempts per game.
Dinwiddie is also a poor defender, but he is nowhere near as bad as Bertans, whose contract stands and three years out after this Season (although his total salary is not guaranteed). Bertans’ striking has torpedoed this Season (31.9% from deep), but even if he reverts to the 40% career 3-point striking we’re used to, his contract is still an Albatross.
A defensively competent Mavs team can afford to trade defenses for rude, but one still can’t call this particular trade anything more than a head-scratching for Dallas. – Casciaro
Theis back in Boston, Schroder out
Buy Celtics: Daniel Theis
Rockets acquire: Dennis Schröder, Enes Freedom (waived), Bruno Fernando
Boston was able to afford to move Schröder after acquiring Derrick White earlier in the day, thus managing to bring back Theis, who started at center for the Celtics team, which left only two wins behind the Finals.
Theis is closer to fein than fine at this point, but he knows the Celtics’ system and personnel well, and that’s a huge defensive upgrade from what Boston got from Freedom as a backup center (or third string center, depending on how they would rank Al Horford and whether he stays on the starting grid as soon as White arrives).
For the Rockets, it was about getting out of the contract of Theis, who has a two-year, He never really matched Houston, and the Rockets would certainly like to give his minutes to their young Frontcourt players. They have already renounced freedom and could also buy Schröder back; he is another player who does not seem to fit a rebuilding team that has to hand out ball-handling tasks. – Wolf?
Trez goes to Charlotte
Buying hornets: Montrezl Harrell
Wizards acquire: Vernon Carey, ish Smith, 2nd-round Pick
Hornets have long been on the market for Medical Help. At the same time, Harrell is not exactly the kind of Center you would expect to follow after considering your limitations. Charlotte ranks 24th on defense, and rim protection was a big part of the problem. There is a reason why hornets have appeared so often in rumors about Myles Turner and Jakob Poeltl. Harrell does a lot of great things, but Rim Protection isn’t one of them.
That is, if the likes of Turner, Poeltl and Richaun Holmes weren’t available (or at least weren’t available at a price that satisfied Charlotte), Harrell was still worth an acquisition at that minimal cost. He’s been one of the top two players in the league this season, and he’s an absolutely lethal Pick-and-Roll finisher running around like crazy on the floor. It should be both on the half-court and in the transition to the receiving end of many Dimes of LaMelo-Ball. If you can’t tackle a weakness, you may as well double down on a strength, and that’s what Charlotte did.
Carey, who the Hornets ranked 32nd in played little and didn’t seem to be playing a long-term role despite a fascinating tool set. Smith’s departure leaves you with no Backup Point, but his minimal production at this point means you should be able to replace him in-house (or in the buyout market) without much difficulty.
It’s a little disappointing from the wizards’ end that they couldn’t get here, but maybe they see an untapped advantage in Carey (who is still only 20), and this second round could prove decent. For a player who has an expiring deal with known playoff restrictions, that seems like the best thing he could have done. – Wolf?
