With all the moves that have occurred before the NBA trade deadline, it can be difficult to keep track of who’s gone where and why, so we’re going to sort through the early trade list by playing a self-explanatory game called “Are they better?”
You might think the point of the trades is to get better, although “a lot of it is about clearing the salary cap and competing for draft picks to extend your tenure,” one league insider said.
advertise
[NBA trade deadline: The latest updates]
So, let’s separate the wheat from the chaff. (You’re wondering what chaff is? It’s the inedible outer shell around the edible parts of the grain. Look: we’ve learned something.)
By the way, this is Contenders’ version of “Are they getting better?” We only talk about teams that can win the championship this season. (Other teams? They’re just chaff. Look: we can already use our new vocabulary in sentences.)
What they did: The Cavaliers traded 26-year-old two-time All-Star guard Darius Garland and a 2026 second-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for 36-year-old future Hall of Famer James Harden. In another deal that didn’t include any draft picks, they traded De’Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder.
advertise
Are they getting better? This is up for debate. Overall, they probably did. slightly.
Big picture: The Cavaliers traded a young star (Garland) for an old star (Harden) and used a small asset (their June second-round pick) to do so, which is never a good idea.
However, in this case, it was difficult for the young star to stay on the court. Garland missed half the season, including the final nine games, with a series of toe injuries, a big deal for a ball-handler whose sharp penetration and cutting are key to his game. He was coming off a rebound from a toe injury that had bothered him since late last season.
Garland doesn’t turn 27 until January 2027. He averaged 21.7 points and 8.6 assists as a 22-year-old on a 44-win team and was an All-Star alongside Donovan Mitchell on a 64-win contender. In the meantime, he missed even more time.
advertise
The older star, on the other hand, has been a workhorse, at least since ailing health and a series of quad injuries threatened his stardom in his early 30s. Of course, we’re talking about Harden, who has only missed a handful of games in each of the past three seasons, including last season, when he was named to his 11th All-Star team.
Harden has been an MVP candidate for four consecutive seasons. This year he played 44 games for the underperforming Clippers, averaging 25.4 points and 8.1 assists per game. He and Kawhi Leonard were the driving force behind a Los Angeles team that started the season 6-21 and bounced back to a 16-3 record with a top-five lineup on both sides of the ball.
It’s this that has the Cavaliers interested in Harden. Exactly why, that’s a bit of a mystery and beyond his availability. Neither Garland nor Harden are defensive finishers. In fact, both are a defensive liability in the playoffs, and both will continue to be attacked until either one proves the strategy isn’t working. In Harden’s case, we have 17 years of evidence.
advertise
Those 17 seasons also included plenty of high usage. Harden is used to having the ball in his hands and stimulating defense, whether in singles or pick-and-roll offense, and Mitchell is also used to doing the same. Putting it all together may take longer than the remaining 31 games of the season, and if that’s the case, it’s a trade disaster since Harden has the option to opt out of his contract at the end of June and he wants more money.
[NBA Power Rankings: Trade deadline edition]
Giving Harden more money, or anything other than a significant pay cut, would be a mistake. When he sought to leave the Clippers, he wasn’t seeking a significant pay cut.
You see, even in his prime, Harden’s style of play — high usage of the ball and porous defense — was never able to lead his team past the Western Conference Finals.
advertise
Is it worth a second-round pick? If Harden is more available than Garland this season, and if he leads the Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Finals or beyond, then, maybe, yes, it’s worth it. But these are some pretty big assumptions. One could argue that Harden limits them to the same second-round playoff ceiling, maybe even more.
Maybe the Cavaliers just don’t want to take the risk of Garland being injured through the end of the 2027-28 season, with a $40 million salary. Which brings us to the Hunter trade, which also saves them considerable luxury tax savings and increases salary cap flexibility.
It also added two useful players, Ellis and Schröder, who make Lonzo Ball’s $10 million salary expendable. Unloading him gives them the flexibility they need to pursue Giannis Antetokounmpo, which will now make them better.
What they did: The Celtics are reportedly trading 26-year-old backup guard Anfernee Simons and their 2026 second-round pick to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vucevic.
advertise
Are they getting better? Are they… different?
Simmons was a helpful player off Boston’s bench who consistently provided great shooting and improved defense and was one of the few players who made the Celtics better than we thought. They’ll miss him, although when Jayson Tatum returns to the lineup, his absence will be mitigated a lot, or not at all.
Vucevic joins a crowded (albeit not great) frontcourt rotation that includes Nemeans Queta, Luka Garza, Amari Williams and Chris Boucher. The 35-year-old two-time All-Star is better than all of them except their starter Queta, who is the league’s second-best rim-running force on offense and the league’s 11th-best rim protector on defense.
advertise
Vucevic, meanwhile, is a key player on a Chicago defense that ranks 24th in efficiency. He has really opened up the offensive space on the offensive end, averaging 4.5 three-pointers per game in the past two seasons and shooting 39.1%. He is also a double-double machine, averaging 17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in his 15-year career. He is one of 28 players ever to reach 15,000 points and 10,000 rebounds.
Vucevic is hardly the centerpiece of their future, and Jaren Jackson Jr. might not be if Utah Jazz executive Danny Ainge hadn’t swooped in to score the 26-year-old two-time All-Star and 2023 Defensive Player of the Year. Now this will make them better.
Instead, the Celtics saved nearly $30 million in salary and luxury taxes and upgraded their reserve center position in the process. If Tatum returns, Boston will be a serious contender. If not, they aren’t. Simple and clear. Whether Vucevic helps advance that goal is now debatable.
He might be more helpful than Garza in a first-round playoff series, especially as a shooting threat. He must be respected. He has never been to the conference semifinals. Good luck to him as he tries to guard more talented big men in Detroit, New York and Cleveland.
advertise
What they did: The Pistons traded Jaden Ivey for Kevin Huerter and Dario Saric in a three-team trade with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Are they getting better? They went a little deeper. perhaps.
Ivey is the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, but he doesn’t live up to that standard. He averaged 17.6 points, 5.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game, but he was unable to stay consistently healthy over the past two seasons. He was owed a contract after the season, which is undoubtedly why Detroit moved on from him. They don’t want to invest in his future.
Ivey turns 24 on February 13 and would be a worthwhile investment for the Bulls, who have been looking for young talent and places to fill their salary cap space over the summer.
advertise
The Pistons will receive the expiring contracts of Huerter and Saric. The latter is unlikely to play in a frontcourt rotation that includes All-Star center Jalen Duren and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Isaiah Stewart. Huerter will join Duncan Robinson on the wing, allowing the Pistons to take advantage of a full 48 minutes of floor space.
That’s not to say Huerter or Robinson — or Tobias Harris, for that matter — are the kind of wings we should expect on a team expected to be a contender. Then again, with only Robinson as the sharpshooter, the Pistons lead the Eastern Conference by 5.5 games.
