NBA: The end of The Process tops a busy trade deadline.
The Simmons-Harden trade shook up the top of the Eastern Conference, but it wasn't the only swing taken before Thursday's mid-season deadline.
The trade deadline is one of the most fun parts of the season, because anything can happen. That also means that it can be one of the most frustrating parts of the year too, either because a front office fails to execute a much-needed trade (looking at you, Rob Pelinka), or because they make a trade that infuriates their fan base, at least at first (Monte McNair).
What I learned this year is that you should never try writing your trade recaps before everything is done. Sure, there were some guys who got traded and were clearly destined to stick with the team they were sent to, but some others who we might have expected to stick around were shipped off less than 24 hours later (cough, Joe Cronin, cough).
Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons part ways, and James Harden reunites with Daryl Morey.
The most impactful trade of the deadline is clear. After months and months of waiting, the Philadelphia 76ers have finally found a solution to the Ben Simmons dilemma.
Along with Simmons, the Sixers are sending Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for former MVP James Harden and veteran Paul Millsap. While Harden hadn’t exactly made a public trade demand like he did in Houston last year, his desire to leave Brooklyn became increasingly apparent as the deadline approached, especially in the last week after going just 2-11 with four points in a loss to the Kings in Sacramento in what would end up being his final game in a Nets uniform.
Harden, who was just named to his 10th consecutive All-Star team, played only 80 total regular season games across two partial seasons with Brooklyn after forcing his way out of Houston just over a year ago. Against the Celtics in the first round last year, Harden averaged an excellent 27.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 10.6 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks while shooting 56% from the floor and 47.5% from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, he was limited by a hamstring injury in the second round against Milwaukee, playing just three games in which he shot just 30.6% from the field and averaged less than 15 points per game.
What Harden did prove during his time with Brooklyn is that he is willing to be the number two option alongside a bona fide star like Kevin Durant, or now his new running mate and regular MVP candidate Joel Embiid. After three consecutive scoring titles with the Rockets in which he averaged 22+ field goal attempts per game, Harden was willing to take a different role with the Nets, averaging six fewer shots per game and putting more effort into operating as a playmaker and secondary scorer. In 44 starts this year, he averaged just 22.5 points, his lowest since he left Oklahoma City a decade ago.
Philadelphia now stands to run out a starting lineup of Harden and All-Defensive guard Matisse Thybulle in the backcourt, veterans Danny Green and Tobias Harris at the forward positions, and the now five-time All-Star Embiid. Say what you want about the fact that the bigs Harden has played with in the past were guys like Dwight Howard and Clint Capela who were both athletic rim runners, that’s because no one really even close to the size, skill, and force of Joel Embiid (7 ft., 280 lbs.) outside of maybe Nikola Jokić (6 ft. 11 in., 284 lbs.) exists in this league.
Joel’s game will be a whole new style for Harden to play with, and he’s going to have to prove that he can successfully play around someone else’s style and not his own. I think he can do it. He was somewhat deferential in Brooklyn with Kevin Durant, but he also did take over point guard duties from Kyrie Irving. In Philadelphia he’s going to have to learn how to play with another guy who needs to work with the ball in his hands.
Harden is going to get to choose what he wants to do while Joel has the ball—he can move, which would actually help Embiid become a better playmaker, or he can just hang out and wait to get the ball back. I’d like to think that he’s only choosing to go to the Sixers because he really wants a chance to win a title and is committed to doing what it takes in order to make that happen while he’s still in his prime window. Either way, we’re going to see how it works pretty soon, depending on how long Harden takes to feel better.
Ben Simmons is allegedly going to join the Nets on their road trip in Miami tomorrow, and the people of the internet are ablaze at the idea that he might be feeling better after the trade and now wants to play basketball again for real. But I don’t think that anyone really, in Philadelphia or the Simmons camp, is at fault for what happened between the organization and the player since he was drafted number one overall almost six years ago. The truth that I want to believe in is that it’s okay for a person in their 20s to not be able to figure out how to rectify a situation and to need to move on to a new environment and a new set of people after four years of serious emotional investment in both the highs and the lows with the team. I always wanted them to be able to reconcile, but I know that isn’t always possible to do.
Simmons is a three-time All-Star, and a first-team All-Defensive selection for the last two years. He can guard the best player on the other team, no matter what position they play, and he’s also one of the fastest guys in the league with a point guard’s instinct on both sides of the ball. In fact, in the 2019-20 season he earned an All-NBA selection with eight assists per game and a league-high 2.1 steals to go with it. He’s 6 ft. 11 in. and a strong 240 lbs., and he’s still been working out while he’s been away from the Sixers.
Simmons is going to a team where he can also have the ball in his hands when he needs to, although he has already developed great skills when he’s. He’ll be getting to work with two great finishers, and when they have the ball in their hands he can run and adapt any off-ball action they need.
Neither Kyrie nor KD need to be the initiators of the offense the way that Embiid does. That means that Ben will get to keep leading fast breaks and pushing the pace, hopefully giving the Nets an energy similar to what it felt like when the first iteration of the big three played together. He should give them a great boost on offense, and a hugely important presence on defense that they really lacked and take a big burden off of Durant, who they need to keep healthy if they want to do anything at all.
So, everyone wins! The Sixers are in a position to compete for home court advantage at least in the first round of the playoffs, and the Nets might stand a chance of avoiding the play-in if they can get Durant and Simmons to both return soon. And if we get a Brooklyn-Philadelphia series? That’s just gravy.
“The Kings did WHAT?” and then, “Oh, okay maybe.”
On Tuesday, the Pacers somehow persuaded the Kings to part with a huge asset, arguably the best player present and future on their team. Sacramento sent second-year point guard Tyrese Haliburton, sharpshooter Buddy Hield, and veteran center Tristan Thompson to Indiana in exchange for All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis and guards Jeremy Lamb and Justin Holiday plus a 2027 second-round pick. While this trade isn’t quite as one sided as the Blazers-Clippers deal, it did involve Sacramento giving up arguably their best or at least most promising player, and also one of their youngest.
The Kings, in trading Haliburton, seem to be doubling down on a future De’Aaron Fox and Davion Mitchell backcourt, which may have been more of an effect of the fact that they were unable to find a trade partner for Fox and not a lack of faith in Haliburton. They’re losing a whole lot giving him up, and it really has to be understood that this is about a franchise that doesn’t care about a whole lot other than making the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
He’s one of the most efficient jump shooters in the league and is 12th in steals and 11th in assists across the whole league. Per ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry, he also ranks second in efficiency amongst all players who have attempted at least 100 off-the-dribble threes and averaged 19.2 points and 10 assists in the 12 games he played without Fox this season.
However, I have always liked Sabonis (can I get a “go Zags”?), and he showed Kings fans exactly what he can bring to the table in his debut on Wednesday at Golden 1 Arena. Against the Timberwolves, the two-time All-Star had 22 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists while shooting 10 of 19 from the floor. Jeremy Lamb added 14 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two blocks in a season-high 31 minutes, and even though Justin Holiday had a bad shooting night it’s clear that the Kings are hoping to recoup some of the efficiency they’re losing in Haliburton with the two wing acquisitions alongside Sabonis. Holiday was a 39% three-point shooter over the last two and a half seasons with Indiana and can be a valuable perimeter threat, either in the starting lineup or coming off the bench.
For a team that has yet to put together a serious winning streak and has lost 14 of its last 20 games, Wednesday night was a whole lot of fun. It was one of their fastest games of the season, their second-highest assist total, their third-highest scoring game, and one of their best rebounding games all year.
In addition to the new guys, who hadn’t even gotten a real practice in with the team, the guys they joined had a great game too. Harrison Barnes finished with a game-high 30 points and eight rebounds while shooting 8-11 from the floor and going 10-10 at the line. De’Aaron Fox had 27 points and eight rebounds and zero turnovers, while rookie Davion Mitchell came off the bench with 18 points, seven rebounds, and a team-high seven assists and zero turnovers while shooting 7-12 from the field and 3-6 from beyond the arc. In fact, the Barnes-Fox-Mitchell trio finished a fantastic 25-43 on field goals and 9-15 from deep, combining for a huge 75 points. It’s easy to see how a few practices with the new additions could help them do this on a regular basis, with the playmaking prowess added by Sabonis plus the perimeter offense from Lamb and Holiday complementing the existing pieces quite well.
But the Kings weren’t done and made another move that really should make fans just as happy as the great debut from the Pacers boys. On Thursday, prior to the deadline, Sacramento finally unloaded Marvin Bagley III, and brought on Donte DiVincenzo, Trey Lyles, and Josh Jackson. It was a trade that Milwaukee probably regrets now after their wing depth suffered a major blow when Pat Connaughton fractured a metacarpal bone on Thursday night, but it’s too late for that now.
DiVincenzo missed most of the Bucks championship run after tearing a ligament in his left ankle in the first round, but before then he was averaging a career-best 10.4. points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 38% from deep and playing almost 28 minutes a game as a full-time starter. With the Kings sending Buddy Hield to the Pacers, adding DiVincenzo as a shooter four years younger than the guy he’s replacing is a total win, and the fact that they were able to end the Marvin Bagley era in the same trade is honestly pretty ridiculous.
The Kings also replaced Jahmi’us Ramsey and Robert Woodard II with Lyles and Jackson, which actually increases their number of big men, something that they seem resigned to accepting for some reason. That was obvious in the Minnesota game, as Richaun Holmes played just 12 minutes off the bench in his first non-start of the season with Sabonis and Chimezie Metu getting the nod instead. They now have Sabonis, Holmes, Metu, Lyles, Damian Jones, Neemias Queta, and Alex Len. Aside from Len and Lyles, all of those guys are relatively young bigs who need time on the floor to continue developing, and with the addition of Sabonis there’s even less time available for them to do so.
These two shot distributions from Holmes and Sabonis are pretty difficult to play alongside one another, especially when neither of them has shown an ability to be a real defensive anchor in the front court. And although Holmes has become a beloved member of the team who can put up dunks and midrange floaters with the best of them, Sabonis has a clear edge.
For starters, he’s three years younger than Holmes, and is about as good of a fit as you can get if you’re a team looking to commit to De’Aaron Fox’s timeline. Second is rebounding—since becoming a full-time starter for the Pacers in the 2019-20 season, Sabonis has averaged at least 12 boards per game compared to a high of 8.3 in that span from the smaller Holmes.
Sabonis also has a great ability to be patient when he’s working in the post, using as much time as he can to either get optimal positioning for himself or to draw help defenders and kick out to a teammate. Finally, there’s a completely non-overlapping skill—Sabonis can be a primary ball handler and he can run the floor, leading fast breaks and scoring on his own or dishing out to the perimeter. Holmes has recorded more than four assists just seven times in his career. Sabonis? More than 50.
Holmes is under contract through the 2024-25 season for around $12 million a year, while Sabonis has two more seasons on his contract, making about $20 million each year. Sabonis is closer to the size of a traditional center, so the two could technically play alongside one another, but it’s much more likely that Sacramento will look to flip Holmes in the offseason for another more complementary piece. Ultimately, despite the loss of Haliburton it seems like the Kings may have just chosen to opt for a slightly earlier timeline that may still stand a chance of paying off, even if they don’t make it to the playoffs this year.
Sacramento is 12th in the Western Conference at 21-36, but they’re only a few games back of the Blazers, Pelicans, and Lakers with 25 games left to play.
“The End of an Era in Portland,” or “They Better Hope This Works.”
At the beginning of December, I wrote a plea for help. Not for myself, but for six-time All-Star Damian Lillard.
The Blazers entered the season coming off of a first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets where Dame averaged a monster 34+ points and 10+ assists and shot almost 45% from deep across the five-game series. When I wrote my article, the Blazers were 11-13, coming off of losses in five of their previous six games. Lillard was struggling, averaging just 21.5 points on sub-40% shooting from the field, looking nothing like the guy who led the team with 28.8 points per game and just five missed games last season.
Since then, Lillard has played in just nine of Portland’s following 32 games, and the Blazers have slipped to 22-34, going 11-21 in that stretch and falling to 11th in the Western Conference. In those nine appearances, Lillard was definitely better, averaging almost 30 points and shooting 36% from deep, but he was still far from peak form and the Blazers were just 2-7 in those games, resulting in the decision to rest their star point guard indefinitely and see what the team would do without him on the floor.
It turns out, they can’t do a whole lot without Dame.
One highlight has been 22-year-old guard Anfernee Simons, who has put up 22.4 points and 6.1 assists per game while shooting 41% from deep in 18 starts since Lillard was put on ice. That included a win against Atlanta in which Simons dropped a career-high 43 points and nine threes to outdo Hawks star Trae Young, who had a career-high of his own with 56 points in the loss. Simons is one of the few guys on the current roster who seemed like a pretty solid lock to stay with the team past the trade deadline, along with (maybe) forward Nassir Little.
Trade #1: Offloading Salary
The Blazers started things off with a simple decision—a salary dump. Portland traded Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Clippers for… not a whole lot. Portland got back veteran Eric Bledsoe, rookie Keon Johnson, and former top-ten pick Justise Winslow, plus a second-round draft pick that probably doesn’t matter a whole lot. They took Bledsoe largely to balance out the money with the $19 million he’s going to make next year, but the core upside of the trade comes from a bet on Winslow and Johnson.
Prior to joining the Clippers, Winslow had played in just 37 games over the previous two seasons with Miami and Memphis, shooting below 20% from deep and below 40% overall in that span. A series of injuries sidelined what was once a promising career with the Heat, but there’s still some upside to take a chance on, and that’s what Portland’s front office decided to do. Winslow is 6’ 6” and around 220 pounds, with the combined bulk and athleticism to guard guys of all size, from larger guards to small-ball centers.
Per Jason Quick of The Athletic: “He has a really good understanding of the game, a good feel out there,” Billups said. “I think his two best attributes are he can really guard and he can pass.”
Johnson, to me, is a much weirder fit with the Blazers. The 19-year-old Tennessee product is a shooting guard who just can’t really shoot all that well. In 15 games with the Clippers this season, he’s shot 33% overall and is 3-11 from deep while playing around nine minutes per game. Winslow at least has two seasons to his name where he shot better than 35% from deep, but it’s hard to see Johnson getting any significant minutes in the backcourt alongside Lillard or Simons unless he can improve his shot.
Trade #2: The End of an Era
Following the Powell-Covington trade, the Blazers finally did what many have been expecting for months—they traded C.J. McCollum. In a big move, Portland sent McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., and Tony Snell to the Pelicans for Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomáš Satoransky, Didi Louzada, and a few picks.
The key parts of the haul for Portland were Hart and Alexander-Walker. Hart is in his fifth year in the league, averaging 13.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting a career-best 50.5% from the floor in 41 games. He turns 27 in March and has been consistently developing since his debut with the Lakers in the fall of 2017. After starting out playing primarily as a shooting guard, he switched to small forward in his two and a half seasons with New Orleans, corresponding to an increase in both attempts and efficiency on shots near the basket. He’s making a career-best 60% of his twos this year, including nearly 70% of his attempts within three feet of the basket. That ability to expand his game is key to the appeal, and Portland has him under contract for at least one more season to see how he might fit alongside Lillard, Simons, and any other supporting cast members.
What I think was the real mistake was letting go of Nance, who has been a great power forward for a while now, especially given what they decided to do next…
Trade #3: ???
Instead of holding on to the promising Alexander-Walker, the Blazers shipped him off to Utah in exchange for the expiring contract of the injured Joe Ingles, plus second-year small forward Elijah Hughes, who has played in a grand total of 32 games in his career. Hughes did average 19 points per game in his junior year with Syracuse in 2019-20, but he’s also on an expiring contract and it isn’t exactly clear where he would fit in alongside the numerous other small forwards that Portland now has to work with.
As Zach Harper wrote for The Athletic, sending off both Alexander-Walker (to Utah) and Satoransky (to San Antonio) a day after getting them seems a little ridiculous, and leaves Josh Hart as the only remaining upside of the McCollum trade they executed the day before. The odds that either Ingles or Portland are interested in a new contract in the offseason is basically zero, so in the end it seems like nothing more than another way to move salary off of the books, looking towards a Hail Mary in the offseason to bring a high-caliber star to the Blazers to pair with Lillard. That’s a lot of faith to put in the idea that a top-15 player will (a) be available, and (b) want to come to a franchise that doesn’t seem to have much of a recruiting plan beyond pure hope.
Oh, to have a billionaire paying the bills.
The other side of the Blazers-Clippers trade was a total win for LA. The Clippers are without both of their stars, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and yet they are still holding on to the eighth seed in the West and have one of the best defenses in the league under head coach Ty Lue in his second season with LA. Kawhi hasn’t played all year, recovering from a torn ACL, and George has been out with an elbow injury since late December. Nonetheless, the Clippers are a remarkable 13-16 without either of their stars, including wins against playoff-bound teams like Phoenix, Boston, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia, and Charlotte.
The addition of Norman Powell really can’t be underestimated. This will be his second turn on the same team as Leonard, who led the 2019 Raptors to the first title in franchise history. Powell was playing as an undersized small forward for the Blazers, but with the Clippers he can instead be a great defensive guard and an elite perimeter threat. He showed as much in his first game with LA, putting up 28 points on 56% shooting including 4-8 from downtown. He will basically never be expected to put up those kinds of numbers with Kawhi and PG taking the scoring load, but the fact that he can pop off like that will make him a fantastic release valve alongside the two stars.
Then on Thursday they also added veteran wing Rodney Hood along with the chance to take a flyer on Semi Ojeleye for next season. Hood is on an expiring contract, with $2 million coming off the books, and while Ojeleye had a terrible season with the Bucks he was definitely worth a look after his last two seasons in Boston. They gave up Serge Ibaka to Milwaukee, but given his back problems it wasn’t a terrible idea to give Isaiah Hartenstein more minutes and see if he can continue to develop his efficiency in the paint against opposing bench players.
And imagine the crunch-time lineups with Powell, George, Leonard, and two of Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Rodney Hood, and Marcus Morris. Oh yeah, and they can still have Terance Mann, Nicolas Batum, Ivica Zubac, and now Robert Covington on top of that.
The Clippers may have been the title favorites heading into their first year with Leonard and George, but the 2022-23 team with a revived Reggie Jackson and the addition of Powell looks to me like a step above the 2019-20 team that was still relying on holdovers like Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, and Montrezl Harrell. Right now, they’re trending towards having one of the best two-star rosters in the league, and should be right back on track whenever they’re able to get Leonard and George back on the court. If they can also play some competitive games between now and then, all the better.
Honorable Mention: Celtics, Pelicans, Pacers, and Jazz.
While none of these teams could top the trades above, each of them still took good steps towards getting better.
Boston added Spurs guard Derrick White in exchange for the chance to unload Josh Richardson, giving up young shooting guard Romeo Langford but getting White back as a great upgrade to play alongside Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. They also gave up P.J. Dozier and Bol Bol, who were both already out for the season, in order to get under the tax threshold, netting them a few extra million in savings on the year.
The Celtics are 31-25, 7th in the East and are looking lately like they could push up to the 5th seed if things break their way. They have the best net rating in the league over their last 15 games, going 11-4 thanks to a top defense that should only get better with the addition of Derrick White. They’re definitely still a tier below the real contenders in the East, but they should be able to cause some problems and put up a fight if Brown and Tatum can put together the big performances they need. The duo is averaging a combined 50 points, 15 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in the new year, and Tatum is set to make his third straight All-Star appearance next weekend.
The Pelicans, even without Zion Williamson all year long, have risen to the 10th seed after a brutal 2-14 start to the season. They’ve won four of their last five, and Brandon Ingram has averaged 24.6 points and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 51% from the floor and 37.5% from deep in that span. Jonas Valančiūnas has been great in his first year with New Orleans, averaging a career-high 18 points and 11.6 rebounds while shooting 40% on threes and 66% within three feet of the basket.
Adding CJ McCollum to go alongside Devonte' Graham creates another undersized backcourt, so there may be some rotation tweaking that needs to be done, but I like the move for the Pelicans. CJ is a locker room legend, and can be a great creator with the ball in his hands and has the shooting to help space the floor when he’s off the ball. New Orleans is 22-33, just a few games behind the struggling Lakers and would be in their first postseason since 2018 if the season ended today.
Although the Kings ended up with a pretty solid set of deadline moves, but in the first case it was the Pacers who won when they were able to bring Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield to town. Indiana needed to make a decision on their Domantas Sabonis—Myles Turner front court logjam. Sabonis is a great offensive big man, but really isn’t going to anchor a defense the way that Turner can. Getting the Kings to give up Haliburton in the trade shocked a lot of people who didn’t think Sacramento would even consider putting him on the block.
Indiana has space for Haliburton to start and get good minutes, and in the offseason they can decide if they want to keep or Malcolm Brogdon, who averaged 21 points, five rebounds, and six assists last year before suffering achilles problems that have limited him to 28 games in the 2021-22 season. Brogdon could bring back a pretty solid return, but he’s still just 29 and could probably stick around for another year to be helpful and rehab his value a bit more. If they decide to keep him, a three-guard lineup with Haliburton, Brogdon, and Hield plus a healthy T.J. Warren (who has played about a third of his career minutes at the 4) and Turner at center would be a whole lot of fun to watch.
Turner is averaging 13 points, 7.1 rebounds, and a league-leading 2.8 blocks per game while shooting a career-best 75% at the rim. The Pacers may be 19-38 and out of the playoff picture in the East, but with Rick Carlisle at the helm and a group of solid young guys who want to play and get better, fans in Indiana should be really optimistic going into the 2022-23 season.
The Jazz, last but not least, made one key move with the Blazers to give up the injured Joe Ingles and get back Nickeil Alexander-Walker with the chance to see if the third-year guard can break out of his current slump when he can benefit from the attention drawn by the rest of Utah’s league-leading offense.
Dallas is threatening to break into Utah’s tier in the conference, but after punting on Kristaps Porzingis it’s not entirely sure what the Mavs are hoping to get out of the rest of their season. The Jazz snapped a five game losing streak with four straight wins to stay in 4th in the West, and had a great win against Golden State on Wednesday without Rudy Gobert, led by a balanced 14 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists from Donovan Mitchell, and a great defensive effort from the whole team.
The biggest non-trade that should influence the offseason—the Wiz want to keep Brad Beal.
Wizards star shooting guard Bradley Beal is going to undergo surgery on his left wrist, ending his season after just 40 games played, the lowest in his career. The three-time All-Star was struggling this year, shooting a career-worst 30% from deep and averaging just 23.2 points per game, his lowest scoring output since the 2017-18 campaign. After two losing seasons, Beal helped bring the Wizards back to relevancy last season, averaging a career-best 31.3 points per game with co-star Russell Westbrook. Washington entered the season with high hopes, after general manager Tommy Sheppard orchestrated a five-team trade that added Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Aaron Holiday in exchange for Westbrook and a few picks. But at the time of the decision to proceed with the surgery, the Wizards were just 24-29, trailing the Hawks for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Beal is eligible to sign a five-year, $245 million contract with the Wizards this summer, taking him through his age-33 season, and Washington’s front office has shown every intention to keep him around as long as possible. However, it isn’t entirely clear that keeping Beal is the right thing to do—he may not be capable of being the number one option on a contending team—but they nevertheless extended their commitment by trading Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans to Dallas for Porzingis. They also sent off Harrell’s expiring contract to Charlotte, in exchange for 20-year-old Vernon Carey Jr. and veteran Ish Smith, who should help the team field a feasible lineup while Beal is out.
The moves seem to signal that Tommy Sheppard wants to try to appeal to Beal and clear space on the team to try to add a free agent in the offseason. Beal’s best option if he wants to get majorly paid is to sign an extension with the Wizards, regardless of whether he later wants to ask for a trade, but in the short term the front office has a chance to try to make him want to stick around. There are potential free agents out there and a whole lot of guys close to it who teams might be willing to part with for some of the solid assets that the Wizards do have right now. After Beal’s surgery decision they were never going to do anything too ridiculous before the deadline, and getting off of the Bertans contract was a big win for the front office, so the real interesting moves will come in the offseason when they have a whole new set of options to work with.
There are eight weeks left in the regular season, and around 25 games or so for each team. The 71st All-Star Game is on Sunday, February 20th, and brings with it a chance for some much needed rest and recovery time for a number of teams waiting for key players to return.