NBA trade deadline day has arrived as teams now have just a few hours before the buzzer sounds at 3 p.m. ET. Notable names like CJ McCollum, Domantas Sabonis and Buddy Hield already moved earlier this week. But are those trades just appetizers? The Philadelphia 76ers are still seeking a deal for Ben Simmons. James Harden is suddenly available. The Los Angeles Lakers are desperate to make a move of some kind to support LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and there’s always a surprise or two before the deadline hits. There will be no shortage of action in the coming hours.
Fortunately, we’ve got you covered until then. We’re tracking every deal, monitoring the biggest rumors and grading trades as they arrive, but in this space, we’ll be reacting to the news as it happens. Stay here for the latest updates and reactions during the final stretch of trading this NBA season.
Key trades ahead of Feb. 10 deadline
- The Celtics are moving PJ Dozier and Bol Bol to the Magic in a cost-cutting deal
- Raptors send Goran Dragic to Spurs for Thaddeus Young
- Bucks, Pistons, Clippers and Kings make four-team deal
- Jazz acquire Blazers’ Alexander-Walker, Spurs’ Hernangomez in 3-team deal: Trade Grades
- Kings give up Haliburton to get Sabonis: Trade Grades
- Pelicans land McCollum from Blazers in seven-player deal: Trade Grades
- Pacers send LeVert to Cavs for Rubio, picks: Trade Grades
- Clippers acquire Powell, Covington from Blazers: Trade Grades
- Knicks land Reddish from Hawks for Knox, protected 2022 first-rounder: Trade Grades
For in-depth analysis on every trade, click here.
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BEN SIMMONS TRADED FOR JAMES HARDEN
It’s finally happening! The Brooklyn Nets are trading James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two first-round picks, according to Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski. Daryl Morey gets to keep Matisse Thybulle and is reunited with his former Rockets star in Philly while Ben Simmons gets the breakup he so desperately desired following his terrible postseason.
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A brief thought: I wonder if Brooklyn would send Philadelphia Bruce Brown back to replace Matisse Thybulle if the 76ers ultimately relent. He would give the new-look 76ers some of the defense they sacrificed back. The issue is that Brown has veto rights as an impending Early Bird free agent on a one-year deal, and getting him to agree to waive those rights on such a time crunch would probably be difficult.
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Matisse Thybulle is the last hold up. Everything else in a James Harden-for-Ben Simmons trade has been agreed to, according to Keith Pompey.
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It looks like we’ve found our sticking point. The Nets want Matisse Thybulle in a possible James Harden trade, according to Ian Begley. We’ll see if Philadelphia folds and surrenders their top defender.
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A brief pause in four-team trade analysis to bring you this, from Sam Amick: “There’s a whole lot of optimism coming from the Ben Simmons camp that a deal with Brooklyn gets done.” Woj adds that there “is motivation on both sides to get a deal done.”
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Clippers perspective: They saved a bunch of money! The Clippers were in such a high tax bracket that getting off of Ibaka now will ultimately end up saving them tens of millions of dollars. Those dollars have no on-floor impact, though, it’s just money out of Steve Ballmer’s pocket. From that perspective, this is a great deal for the Clippers because the alternative of dumping him wholly into Oklahoma City’s cap space would have probably cost more draft capital. Ballmer was willing to spend the cash necessary to keep extra draft picks. That’s what the best owners do.
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Milwaukee’s perspective: I always liked the idea of Serge Ibaka as a Bucks target… but felt it was likelier that he came via a buyout. The Clippers could have likely used draft capital to send him into Oklahoma City’s cap space and saved a fortune in luxury tax bills. They’re saving plenty here, but this route makes Ibaka a trade acquisition over a buyout. There are benefits to that for Milwaukee. The Bucks will now have Ibaka’s bird rights in the offseason, for instance.
But Donte DiVincenzo was their one trade chip, and there were probably better players they could have allocated it towards than Ibaka. What this deal suggests is that Brook Lopez, who has been out since opening night with a back injury, is further away from returning than we thought. Milwaukee badly needed another rim protector that could shoot. There are only so many of those in the NBA. The Bucks got one and insured themselves against Lopez’s absence in the playoffs. It’s hard to fault them too much for that even if this might have been a slight overpay.
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Okay, let’s circle back to the four-team trade from earlier. As a reminder, here’s who’s going where:
Bucks get: Serge Ibaka, two second-round picks, cash
Clippers get: Rodney Hood, Semi Ojeleye
Kings get: Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Jackson, Trey Lyles
Pistons get: Marvin Bagley III
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The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers were engaged in trade talks about you know who earlier this morning, per Chris Haynes. No word on where talks stand as of now.
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Doc Rivers has canceled 76ers practice today, calling it the “human thing to do” in light of all of the rumors surrounding his team. Make of that what you will. For now, no Harden-for-Simmons deal appears imminent.
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Minor trade alert! Boston and Orlando are swapping injured youngsters. Bol Bol will head to Boston. Dozier’s going to Orlando, per Woj. Both are out for the year. Cash and a swap of second-round picks will be involved as well. This is now the third time Bol has been traded this season. He failed a physical after Denver tried to send him to Detroit. They rebounded to get him to the Magic, but now the Magic are sending him to the Celtics. Dozier is a more proven commodity as a role player, but Bol’s upside as a big man that can shoot and dribble is substantially higher. It has just never been realized.
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Harden-Simmons latest
The chances of a potential James Harden-Ben Simmons blockbuster happening in the next 2.5 hours could come down to the other players who are (or aren’t) in the deal, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers have “been adamant about not packaging their young standouts Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle,” writes Pompey.
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As for Dragic, he’s headed for the buyout market. Dallas will be the favorite to land him, according to Chris Haynes, and that makes sense given his connection to fellow Slovenian Luka Doncic. Keep an eye on Miami, though. The Heat could not have reacquired Dragic had he been bought by Toronto, but their reacquisition restriction ended the moment he was traded to another team.
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Okay, let’s talk about these deals, starting with the Dragic-Young swap.
That trade is a home run for San Antonio. Days ago, it didn’t appear certain that the Spurs would get a first-round pick for Young. Now they’ve gotten a fairly good one. Hard to do better for a player you were barely using, and it makes the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade look even better for them now. The Spurs got two first-round picks for a player they never planned to re-sign. Not too shabby.
The Toronto side is a bit more complicated. Young will help, but he’s 33 and on an expiring contract. As well as he fits into Toronto’s “we only play 6-8 forwards and Fred VanVleet” ethos, he’s probably a short-term addition. That’s the sort of player contenders add every year, but the cost for Toronto was steeper than it would be for most teams. This front office has landed Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poeltl, OG Anunoby and Scottie Barnes with four of its last five first-round picks. That’s an absurd batting average. The first-round pick Toronto is giving away had far more value to them, specifically, than it does to most teams.
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Dragic to hit buyout market
Unsurprisingly, the Spurs will let Dragic hit the buyout market after acquiring him from Toronto, per Woj. The Bucks, Mavericks and more are expected to try to acquire the veteran guard.
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Four-team trade details
Here’s what appears to be the full, four-team trade between the Bucks, Kings, Clippers and Pistons, per ESPN.
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The four-team deal is starting to round into shape. Semi Ojeleye and Rodney Hood will also go to the Clippers, per Woj. This will leave the Bucks with at least two open roster spots to use on the buyout market.
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An important note on that Dragic-Young trade: if Dragic is off of the table, the Raptors don’t have an easy way to match salary on Talen Horton-Tucker. That’s going to make the rumored three-team swap with Toronto, Los Angeles and New York significantly harder.
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We don’t even know the entire four-team trade yet and we have another deal to report: Goran Dragic to the Spurs, Thad Young to the Suns, per Shams. I would guess there will be some draft compensation headed to San Antonio here.
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Josh Jackson and Trey Lyles headed to Sacramento in the deal, per Shams. This thing just keeps getting bigger.
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Serge Ibaka to Milwaukee, per Shams. Still waiting on the Clippers side of this deal, and the Bucks are going to need to send out more matching salary.
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Ohhhhh boy. We have a whopper on our hands. Per Woj, Donte DiVincenzo is finally headed to Sacramento in this Bagley deal. There are reportedly four teams involved. Full terms should arrive shortly.
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We have a trade! The Detroit Pistons are acquiring Marvin Bagley from the Sacramento Kings, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
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Useful tidbit from Bobby Marks here. A couple of further notes:
- At least half of all tax dollars get allocated out to non-taxpaying teams. That is going to motivate Boston, at the very least, to get below the line. Not only would it save them money, but it would get them a hefty payout after the season because the overall pool of tax money has never been bigger.
- An unexpected consequence of Philadelphia potentially dumping Tobias Harris into Oklahoma City’s cap space? Getting below the line themselves. Resetting their repeater tax clock would be a big break for ownership, though I suspect their preference would just be to trade for James Harden now.
- Utah already saved a fair bit in its first pre-deadline deal. They probably don’t have a path below the line, but they could save a nice chunk of change by redirecting Juancho Hernangomez to OKC if they don’t plan to use him.
- Many of the deals the Lakers are discussing today would increase their tax bill, which is. a little funny considering no player they acquire is going to help them as much as Alex Caruso would have and the only reason Caruso isn’t on this team is taxes.
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Is it just me or do these Dallas rumors share very little connective tissue? Stein reported that Dallas pursued Caris LeVert before the deadline. There’ve been rumblings about impending free agents Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Now there’s this Porzingis rumor. What are the Mavericks actually trying to accomplish at the deadline? Are they simply in asset-accumulation mode?
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As Pacers beat writer James Boyd reported and Marc Stein reiterated, Indiana is probably holding onto Buddy Hield at the trade deadline. If I were an interested party, I’d test their commitment to that stance. Indiana now has five guards on the roster expected to play meaningful roles next season in Hield, Tyrese Haliburton, Chris Duarte, Malcolm Brogdon and T.J. McConnell. I can assure you, all five will not finish next season on that roster. If they’re going to make a move eventually, I imagine the right deal could secure somebody now, though it’s worth noting that Brogdon cannot legally be traded until the offseason because of his contract extension and McConnell is potentially out for the year due to injury.
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Well, at least we have a better idea of price now. Dallas would need “a lot more” than Goran Dragic and draft picks to send Porzingis to Toronto, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. That implies a Raptors starter would need to head to Dallas in any deal.
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Let’s look at this Porzingis rumor from the Dallas side. He’s an injury risk. His tenure in Dallas has been uneven to say the least. And he has two years of max money left on his deal after this one. There’s something to be said for selling high, especially with Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith due for new contracts in the offseason, but at a bare minimum, the Mavericks probably need to get back either Trent or a boatload of picks to make this worth their while.
Remember, this Dallas roster was built on the idea that Porzingis would be its second star. There simply aren’t many other high-upside players here. If they make this trade for someone that lacks star-caliber upside, they’re probably subjecting themselves to more years of free agency pain. Could Luka Doncic recruit a disgruntled star elsewhere? He might have to.
And of course, there’s a common-sense take to this. If Masai Ujiri wants something from you… that thing is probably pretty valuable. All of this makes a Porzingis deal feel somewhat unlikely, but hey, what would the deadline be without surprises?
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Well what’s this? It looks like we have our first surprise big-name rumor of deadline day. Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer claims that the Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks have discussed a deal that would send Kristaps Porzingis north of the border. It is unclear at this team what the Raptors would give Dallas, but Porzingis would certainly fill their hole at center. Porzingis would be the latest in a long line of shooting big men for the Nick Nurse-era Raptors.
But the cost could be steep. Porzingis has had a nice bounceback year in Dallas, particularly on defense. Scottie Barnes is probably untouchable, but would the Raptors break up their longtime core of Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam to land Porzingis? Would Gary Trent Jr. be a viable base? Or would this deal give Dallas a chance to replenish their stock of draft picks?
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