The NBA Trade Deadline brought multiple deals that shook up the foundations of the league. Blockbuster deals sent All-Stars across the country, and teams have reformed their identities with new assets. 

We decided to grade the teams that made the biggest transactions and break down what it means for the future of these organizations.

Lakers: A+

The Los Angeles Lakers were able to pull off one of the wildest trades in NBA history. The team received the next future of the Lakeshow, Luka Doncic, without losing many assets. At 25, Doncic has already become a top-five player in the league and has the potential to become an all-time great. He’s a perfect fit to replace LeBron James, but also gives the team a chance to make a playoff run this year, which was unlikely prior to this acquisition.

The team does lose its star center, Anthony Davis, but he’s an aging talent who is too injury prone to really build a new team around. The biggest thing the team loses is defense. Losing Davis, a 5-time All-Defensive Team player, leaves a gaping hole in the frontcourt. Doncic doesn’t help either, as his ball dominance often leaves him slow to get back on defense. 

But ultimately, this is the best trade the Lakers could have ever made. The organization brings in a young superstar to one of the biggest markets in the world, and leaves a light at the end of the tunnel after James retires. We might look back on this trade decades later to see that the Lakers made the best deal in league history.

Mavericks: C-

The Mavericks absolutely stunned the world this trade deadline by trading away one of the best young players in the league and the face of their franchise, Luka Doncic. Sources told ESPN that the Mavericks had major concerns about Luka’s “constant conditioning issues” and the supermax contract that he would sign this offseason.

Even with the conditioning issues, Doncic is too offensively talented to trade away. His unique ability to decelerate and stop on a dime makes him nearly impossible to guard anywhere on the court. Nearly averaging a triple-double for the past two years, Doncic’s heliocentric ball dominance led the Mavericks to the finals last year. With all of this in consideration, trading Doncic was a completely unnecessary move for a team that had another chance of making a finals run.

The Mavericks still don’t come away empty-handed, receiving Anthony Davis, who when healthy is a top-10 player. His two-way ability adds to the already solid paint defense that the Mavericks have been building with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II. The additions of Max Christie and Caleb Martin show the mindset switch for the team, converting from an offensive powerhouse to a defensively dominant roster. 

But this trade will end up going down in history as one of the most out-of-nowhere, unnecessary trades in NBA history. With Davis in his 13th year in the league at 31 years old, the Mavericks’ time to win a championship with this roster is dwindling. If Davis can’t get healthy, and if the new scheme doesn’t begin to materialize soon, the Mavericks will regret this one for decades.

Warriors: B+

At a glance, the Warriors and Stephen Curry seem to have hit their decline, a final nail in the coffin in the once-great dynasty. Since their electric 12-4 start to the season, the Warriors have plummeted back to Earth, currently standing at 30-27. Curry himself looks like he’s lost a couple steps, with shooting percentages and raw stats dropping from last season. It makes sense, after all. Small guards rarely maintain All-Star level play into their mid 30s. Yet a closer look at the games reveals that a distinct lack of other ball-handling options let the opposing defense laser in on Curry, effectively shutting off the entire offense. The reliance on Curry is so pronounced that when he goes to the bench, the Warriors drop from an average offense to the worst in the league by nearly 10 points. 

The addition of Jimmy Butler provides a secondary offensive option, with Butler’s ability to create his own shot. This move bolsters the ceiling of the Warriors, trading away defensive pieces like Kyle Anderson and Andrew Wiggins for much-needed offensive help.

Heat: B+

Finally, the Jimmy Butler saga is over for the Heat. After months of suspension, tension, and sneak disses, it was clear that there was an irreparable rift between the organization and Butler, due to an unwillingness to give a contract to Butler for the amount he wanted. For what seemed like the entire season, there were rumors of potential trades from multiple organizations like the Suns, Grizzlies, 76ers, and Warriors. The winner of the Butler sweepstakes was ultimately the Warriors after months of reported packages and trade ideas, a sign of hesitance on both sides, with the Heat looking for a good haul back for their superstar, and other teams unwilling to place that much capital on Butler. 

But as the deadline loomed, the Heat and Warriors worked out a deal. Even with Butler, the regular-season success of the Heat was not that great, due to missed time and inconsistent play. While the postseason brought forth the ultimate form of the Heat, a machine of pure basketball destruction in 2020 and 2023, oftentimes the harder path to the finals that came from their regular-season woes or health issues negatively impacted their championship aspirations. This season, it looked like the worst of the worst, with inconsistent, mediocre play across the board. Yet they weren’t good enough to get a good pick from the season. 

So the move accomplishes the goal of offloading Butler, and acquiring picks and decent players in return. We can’t really be mad at the return, but the Heat are still in a state of half-commitment, not bad enough to get a truly great player in the draft and not good enough to make a postseason run.

Cavaliers: A-

We like Cleveland’s move for De’Andre Hunter, who’s a good wing, a position that the league-leading Cavaliers had a pretty big hole at. He’s a play-finisher on offense, able to knock down the three and finish in the paint, while also flashing some decent mid-range creation skills. He has a monster wingspan of 7-foot-2 while standing at 6-foot-8, incredible size for the small forward position. He uses this effectively to lock down opposing wings, but his team defense does leave a lot to be desired.

We look at this pickup as a Boston Celtics-centric move. In previous matchups, the wing duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown picked on the Cavaliers defense, attacking in isolation to create easy shots for their team. Hunter provides an answer to this issue. 

Plus, the haul they gave up for him was not that bad. Caris LeVert’s role on this team has been minimized as a ball-handling guard, given that the Cavaliers have two All-Star guards that do the same thing, while Georges Niang was the 10th man off the bench. This is a very positive move that reinforces the idea that the Cavaliers are legit championship contenders this year. 

Hawks: B-

This is an alright deadline. The Hawks are giving up one of their most productive players for essentially two role players. While LeVert is able to provide some shot creation to alleviate the offensive load that is placed on Trae Young, the Hawks are still stuck in basketball mediocrity. They do have some really exciting young players like Onyeka Okongwu and Dyson Daniels, but they haven’t experienced that much success recently. 

We think this is a sign that Young will be moved to another team in the future, given this trade’s focus on a future rather than a win-now mindset.

Kings: B-

After a rocky start to the season, the Kings decided to part ways with their face of the franchise, De’Aaron Fox, and bring in Zach LaVine and a load of picks to try and start things over. After the unexpected firing of Mike Brown, the organization decided to shake things up a little more. They reunite the former Bulls duo of LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, which should bring a new spark to a team that has had a strange past couple months. 

LaVine has been having a solid year with the Bulls so far, and adding Jonas Valanciunas brings in a veteran force down low. Although trading away Fox may not have been the wisest idea, a shakeup was needed in Sacramento, and they walk away from the trade deadline with a ton of assets to rebuild their future with.

Spurs: A-

With the acquisition of Fox, the Spurs found a partner for Victor Wembanyana. They have a chance to be a dominant duo for years to come. With Chris Paul nearing the end of his career, the Spurs needed to find a guard to pair with Wembanyana, and they got one of the best young guards in the league. Fox’s speed and playmaking make him a perfect match for Wembanyana. He also adds to the two-way abilities of Wembanyana, as Fox is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, averaging 1.6 steals per game. The Spurs grab Fox just as he’s entering his prime years, and have a bright future ahead of them. 

The Spurs do end up giving away a hefty amount of picks, but aren’t left empty handed. The team still has two first-round picks in 2025, and holds onto at least one first-round pick in every draft in the upcoming years. They also were able to keep Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell, two promising young guards who help add depth. In the end, the addition of Fox, while being able to hold onto their young assets, makes this an aggressive but cunning move for the Spurs.

Bulls: C+

The Bulls pulled the trigger at the wrong time. After a 2021-22 season which saw a meteoric return to the playoffs, followed by a disappointing first-round exit, the Bulls have been steadily declining ever since. In the following years, they failed to make the playoffs, achieving the 10th and 9th seeds in 2023 and 2024, respectively, staying around a .500 record. As a result, they haven’t seen any current franchise success, but they also don’t have high enough draft picks to change the direction of their future. Over the summer, the Bulls took a step forward by trading one of their franchise stars in DeMar DeRozan. However, they still retained Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević because they couldn’t find trades for either, partially because of the massive contracts that were attached to the players. 

This deadline, they shipped out LaVine, getting back their own first-round pick for this year, which projects to be a late lottery one. Despite this trade, they didn’t find a deal that was good enough for Vučević. While this isn’t the complete overhaul that was necessary to become a competitive franchise, it is an albeit late step in the right direction.