The NBA just had one of the most shocking trade deadlines in sports history.
You know things are spicy when, ahead of the Super Bowl, all anybody is talking about is the NBA, which is in the middle of its season.
Below is a breakdown of the three biggest winners and losers of the landscape-changing trades that transpired.
Winners
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The unequivocal victor of the trade deadline is the Lakers, who landed a top-three player in Luka Doncic without having to even compete with other teams to get him. The Dallas Mavericks only told the Lakers that Doncic was on the table, and the purple and gold pulled off one of the most stunning trades in sports by essentially giving up a first-round pick and a 31-year-old superstar in Anthony Davis for a 25-year-old generational superstar who could make them contenders for the next decade. This season, the MVP Award goes to Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, not the current front-runners, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Nikola Jokic. Nothing they could do on the court could surpass the heist Pelinka just pulled off of it.
But Pelinka didn't stop there. The Lakers needed another center when Davis was on the team, and, without him, there was a glaring hole at that position. Pelinka also acquired Mark Williams, a 7-foot, 23-year-old, who's averaging career-highs in points (16) and rebounds (9.8), finishing with at least 20 points and 14 rebounds in his last two games.
The big question here is whether the Lakers, who have won nine of their last 11 games, could actually be contenders this season. How long will it take for James and Doncic to jell? If you ask James, who said Doncic has been "my favorite player in the NBA for a while now," the answer is not long. "It'll be a very seamless transition," James said Tuesday. Heck, this deal could even inspire James to extend his career. Regardless, this trade didn't just make things interesting this season, it puts the Lakers on the map for another 10 years.
You read it here first: The Lakers will win their 18th championship within the next three years.
The Warriors prevailed in the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes, which either makes them one of the biggest winners or losers of the trade deadline, depending on which camp you sit. Sure, Butler can be unpredictable and have behavioral problems, something the Miami Heat know well after suspending him three times for "conduct detrimental to the team" after he decided he wanted off the Heat. But he's also a superstar who took Miami to the Finals in 2020 and 2023, and he's shooting a career-best 54% from the field this season.
The most important thing here is that the Warriors made a move to try and make sure they're not wasting the tail end of Steph Curry's prime. With the Warriors in 11th place in the Western Conference, it was vital that they took a big swing and didn't just let the 36-year-old megastar flail in the wind.
The Warriors wanted Kevin Durant, who helped lead them to championships in 2017 and 2018. But the Phoenix Suns superstar apparently wasn't interested in a reunion. So, the Warriors went after Butler, who had listed Golden State among his preferred trade destinations. Butler got what he wanted, a $121 million contract extension that runs through 2026-27. And the Warriors got a shot at digging themselves out of such a low spot in the Western Conference. Let's put it this way, if the Warriors make the playoffs, who would want to face Curry, Butler and Draymond Green in a seven-game playoff series? No one.
Lost in the craziness of this trade deadline was the Spurs sneakily becoming a very exciting team. They acquired De'Aaron Fox to play alongside Victor Wembanyama, pairing a 27-year-old All-Star-caliber point guard with the future face of the league. If anyone was questioning this fit, which would be an inane endeavor, Fox showed the potential of this dynamic duo in his debut, finishing with 24 points, 13 assists and three steals in a 126-125 win over Atlanta on Wednesday.
The Spurs, who last won a title in 2014 and haven't reached the playoffs since 2019, could become contenders again with this move. It won't happen this season, considering they're in 12th place in the Western Conference with a record of 22-26, two games behind Phoenix for the final play-in spot. But perhaps they could eke into the playoffs this season. And for the future, they now have two of the league's brightest young stars, and they made that happen while retaining most of their assets and draft capital to build for the future. Look out for the Spurs to be good again really soon.
Losers
Sure, there are questions about Luka Doncic's conditioning, but does that justify trading a 25-year-old superstar who averaged a league-leading 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists last season en route to taking his team to the NBA Finals? Uh, no.
Doncic is a five-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA first team selectee who's considered one of the league's brightest stars. Considering he should have a decade of great basketball ahead of him, this move left everyone baffled.
Sure, the Mavericks got Anthony Davis, who is one of the best two-way players in the league. But he's 31, so the Mavericks just greatly shortened their window of being contenders. Davis is a top-10 player who will bolster the Mavericks' defense and could put them in the championship chase this season, alongside Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson. But, in the long run, this move just doesn't make sense for the Mavericks.
The Suns looked into trading Kevin Durant. That became public knowledge. Durant must not be feeling so great about that.
After being an integral part of the Milwaukee Bucks championship team in 2021, including having two 29-point performances and a 40-point performance in the Finals against the Phoenix that season, Middleton was traded to the Washington Wizards in a deal that sent Kyle Kuzma to the Bucks.
So, Middleton went from playing for a team in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 27-22, to playing for a team in the cellar of the league with a record of 9-41. Making the sting of that even worse for Middleton, Kuzma is having one of the worst seasons of his career, averaging 15.2 points and a career-low 28.1 percent from beyond the arc.
It's an unfortunate turn of events for Middleton, who has been with the Bucks since the 2013-14 season and is very well respected, but has had a string of injuries as of late.
Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.
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