NBA trade deadline tracker: James Harden-Ben Simmons swap is happening
Feb 10, 2022, 10:35 AM | Updated: 2:17 pm
C.J. McCollum is headed from the retooling Portland Trail Blazers to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Kings traded one of their best young players in Tyrese Haliburton for an All-Star big man in Domantas Sabonis in a package deal with the Indiana Pacers that said Sacramento wants to end a playoff drought this year rather than look too far into the future.
Those were among the deals before the NBA trade deadline at 1 p.m. MST on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns sit at 44-10 before playing the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night in primetime. That’s the best record in the league.
Below we’ll roll through the moves from Thursday and what they say about the hierarchy of the NBA in relation to the Suns. Important moves are up high, boring ones down below.
The Suns make the most Suns move
Suns get: Torrey Craig
Pacers get: Jalen Smith, future second-round pick
You wondered if the continuity-over-everything Suns would break from that pattern with a title window rightfully focused on this year. Would they do something a tad drastic?
The answer is “no,” and Phoenix’s front office did so by making the most obvious move you could imagine. They traded the young player whose option they didn’t pick up for the guy that they acquired before last season’s deadline, Torrey Craig. That “What’s the Torrey Craig trade of 2022?” question we’ve all been mulling turned out to just be the Torrey Craig trade.
What a bunch of idiots!
Well, it makes sense. His salary and Smith’s are nearly identical, and the Pacers get a late draft pick the Suns could care less about.
Phoenix will have $5 million of Craig on the books next year, too.
Craig is averaging 6.5 points and 3.8 rebounds per game on 47% shooting this year. He’ll give Phoenix a bigger wing body for them to go small with Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder also still around. Sorry about the lost minutes, Ish Wainright.
Wizards deal for Porzingis, ship off Dinwiddie
Wizards get: Kristaps Porzingis, second-round pick
Mavericks get: Spencer Dinwiddie, Davis Bertans
This gets Porzingis’ $33 million next year and a $36 million player option for 2023-24 off Dallas’ books. Dinwiddie’s deal is about half that, and he should provide Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson with some ball-handling relief.
The Mavs also received a stretch big man to replace Porzingis.
It’s basically a two-for-one deal; still a lot of money, but more bodies for Dallas.
For Washington, our thoughts are out to Bradley Beal.
The Wizards are dumping everything in sight, including a separate deal by shipping Montrezl Harrell to a competitive Charlotte team.
Suns get salary-cap sneaky
Suns get: Aaron Holiday
Wizards get: Cash
Phoenix used a rare disabled player exception via the trade route. Per the CBA, the exception allows a team to convince the NBA that one player — in this case Dario Saric — cannot return to health by the end of the playoffs. To acquire a player in this scenario, the new player’s salary must be half of the old player’s plus $100,000 and no more (if that is less than half plus $100,000 of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception).
Holiday’s $4 million satisfies that compared to Saric’s $8.5 million contract.
The point guard is 24 years old and has shooting and playmaking to lend. Time will tell if he’s a better fit than anyone else, but the Suns have to exhaust every opportunity at adding talent while chasing a title.
The trade also signals that Saric won’t be back anytime soon.
The blockbuster happens
76ers get: James Harden
Nets get: Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, two first-round picks
We’ll see if Sixers GM Daryl Morey knows what he’s doing. The former Houston Rockets exec is banking on James Harden finding the form that made him an MVP-caliber player a few years back and that the sluggish, lazy play flashed to get out of Houston and then Brooklyn was more about pouting than his current abilities.
Philly’s depth will be tested after this deal that was first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania. But if healthy, the core of Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle is pretty dang good. Props to not giving up Maxey or Thybulle in this one.
The Nets, however, look like winners. Simmons in theory should pair well with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, giving the team an elite wing stopper. Brooklyn has enough shooting to still space the floor.
The depth on Brooklyn’s end also gets a huge boost, and that might be as big of a deal as the Simmons acquisition. Drummond can bang in spots, while Curry is the perfect gunner alongside a new trio of stars. Also, two picks that look like so:
The Nets will get the Sixers' 2022 first-round pick unprotected with a right to defer until 2023 and a 2027 first-round pick protected 1-to-8, sources tell ESPN. The 2027 pick would roll over to 2028 protected 1-to-8 again. The pick turns into two seconds and $2M in 2029.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 10, 2022
We shall see if these two teams can find the right chemistry for an NBA Finals push, but you’d expect that the reigning champion Bucks will have a say as well.
Possible Suns target Thad Young is swapped
Raptors get: Thaddeus Young, Drew Eubanks, 2022 Pistons second-round pick
Spurs get: Goran Dragic, 2022 Raptors first-round pick (top-14 protected this year, top-13 protected next year)
Both Young and Dragic were linked to Phoenix. There was more weight on Young landing with the Suns via trade or buyout, and it appears this is not going to happen with Toronto currently sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Dragic was a fun name to toss around with his prior stints with the Suns and their backup guards’s relatively minor struggles this year.
Regarding Dragic, a buyout is more likely but not certain. Wojnarowski reports that Dallas, Milwaukee, Chicago and the Los Angeles Clippers are in play as landing spots. Marc Stein reports a buyout may not happen immediately.
Young should give the Raptors a little more offensive juice, probably off the bench?
4-team deal gives Bucks a big
Bucks get: Serge Ibaka from Clippers, two second-round picks, cash
Clippers gets: Rodney Hood, Semi Ojele from Bucks
Kings get: Donte DiVincenzo from Bucks; Trey Lyles and Josh Jackson from Pistons
Pistons get: Marvin Bagley Jr.
The big takeaway here from a deal reported in pieces by Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania is that the title-contending Bucks got a very capable big man in Ibaka. With center Brook Lopez sidelined since the start of the year with a back injury, Milwaukee has been rolling with Bobby Portis as an undersized center with veteran Greg Monroe backing him up.
This move could flip Portis back into his role as a ball of big-eyed energy off the Bucks’ bench that propelled the Bucks to a Finals victory over the Suns. If Lopez returns — it could be soon — Ibaka gives great depth.
Elsewhere, the Clippers, who are in eighth place in the Western Conference, get more wing scoring punch after landing Norman Powell and the defense-first Robert Covington last week via trade. From shooting guard to power forward — or even center in small-ball lineups — their roster is super multiple in how they can defend or attack. Ty Lue will love it.
Elsewhere, Marvin Bagley Jr. gets to reset his career in Detroit (Is that a good thing?), while former Suns first-round pick Josh Jackson is back in the Pacific Division.
Spurs-Celtics swap shooting guards
Spurs get: Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, 2022 first-round pick (top-four protected)
Celtics get: Derrick White
With the trade broken by Charania, the Spurs appear to be on a cost-saving run and get off White’s deal that escalates to $18.8 million by 2024-25. Richardon is 28, just a year older, and a productive vet who plays defense and scored nearly 10 points over 25 minutes per game this year.
Langford, who Wojnarowksi adds is also included, is just 22 years old and under contract through next season. He found a little traction in the Boston rotation for the first time this year.
White gives the Celtics’ perimeter a bit more offensive juice. He is averaging a career-high 5.6 assists per game but isn’t shooting it so hot. He does not dominate the ball, so ideally he won’t exascerbate the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown my-turn-your-turn offense even further.
Celtics cut costs
Magic get: P.J. Dozier, Bol Bol
Celtics get: Second-round pick, cash
Brad Stevens saves a little money by trading both players acquired in an earlier trade with the Denver Nuggets. Dozier (knee) is out for the year, and Bol (foot) might not play this season either.
In a separate trade, Boston also sent point guard Dennis Schroder to the Houston Rockets for center Daniel Theis.
