The 2025 NBA Trade Deadline ended at 3 PM on Thursday, February 6th. In its wake, we sat here bewildered at the scope of the moves that happened in the past week. What on Earth happened? Let’s dive in and evaluate.
DraftKings Network is taking a look back at the deadline and picking a few winners and losers. In this column, I’ll be grading the deadline’s biggest moves, while my colleague Griffin will take you through some winners and losers.
Los Angeles Lakers: A+
It’s only appropriate that the biggest blockbuster of the Trade Deadline involved Los Angeles, who dealt Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first round pick for Maxi Kleber, Markeiff Morris, and Slovenian prodigy Luka Doncic. The Lakers were in an uncomfortable spot with Anthony Davis and an aging LeBron James on their roster. They weren’t quite good enough to be championship-caliber, yet it would be disastrous to close their window while James is still clearly an elite player. Nico Harrison heard their prayers and offered Doncic on a silver platter, stripping LA of its star big man and replacing him with the playmaker James had been wishing for. I’m sure even LeBron didn’t know he’d be getting this type of help.
Losing Anthony Davis is certainly significant. He’s one of the best interior defenders in the league and is having another excellent season, averaging 25.7 PPG, 11.9 RPG, and 2.1 BPG on 52.8% shooting from the field. And yet, despite Davis’ impressive defensive prowess, the Lakers are 18th in defensive rating this season, illustrating holes in the defense in other positions or some type of schematic shortcoming. Luckily, they’re the Lakers, and have also picked up a young, athletic rim-runner in Mark Williams, who won’t be quite as good as AD, but is a perfect complement for the playmakers on this roster.
And who needs defense when you can pair two of the league’s best play-makers in Doncic and James. Presumably, James will play more off-ball and cede the offensive load to Doncic, who will now carry the same type of green light he held in Dallas and will likely hold for the rest of his career. We’re hyped to see what happens here, even if we do have some concerns about this team’s defense.
San Antonio Spurs: A
The Spurs did an excellent job at the deadline by acquiring the 27-year-old De’Aaron Fox to pair with their franchise super center Victor Wembanyama. Astonishingly, they also managed to keep Stephon Castle, who will see his role reduced as Fox steps into a starting guard role. For now, Castle has retreated to the bench while De’Aaron Fox takes over the starting SG role on paper. I’m not sure whether you want Chris Paul playing off-ball at this stage of his career, but we know CP can make it work with double – or triple – guard lineups, as we’ve seen in OKC. The Spurs will look to contend as soon as next year.
Chicago Bulls: B
The Bulls have finally let go of Zach LaVine and DeMar Derozan this season, putting the finishing touches on the end of their sad Lonzo Ball-LaVine-DeRozan-Nikola Vucevic chapter. We never got to see this roster fully come to fruition due to Ball’s injuries; they were looking excellent before everything crumbles. The Bulls are now all-in on developing their younger core of Coby White, Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis, and Patrick Williams. Finally!
Golden State Warriors: A+
This is sure to be controversial, but the Warriors have the only other A+ on this list. The manner in which Jimmy Butler left the Miami Heat is reminiscent of his departure from Minnesota, but luckily not quite as dramatic. Regardless, I believe Butler has still got it. It was clear that his issues with the Heat translated into his effort on the court this season. He’s having a fairly mundane campaign so far, and while his dropoff can be attributed to age, we have to wonder how much he’s still got when he’s motivated. And I’ll predict: he’s still an All-Star caliber player when he gives a damn.
Yes, it’s tough to hand Jimmy Butler a max contract in 2025. But Steph Curry’s title window is slamming shut soon, and it would be not only suboptimal, but also unethical for Golden State to not go all-in on Curry’s twilight years to take a couple more cracks at the title. Replacing Andrew Wiggins with Butler affords Golden State to make another run this season, and I’m intrigued by Butler’s fit next to Curry. Curry is still the best off-ball player in the league, and when he isn’t being double teamed, he’s going to reap the rewards of having a play-making slasher in Butler on his roster.
Cleveland Cavaliers: B+
The rich get richer as the Cavs pick up 6MOTY candidate De’Andre Hunter in exchange for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, and a handful of picks and pick swaps. LeVert and Niang have been invisible, and upgrading their wing position to the 19 PPG Hunter will be a nice and over-the-top upgrade to what is already the league’s best offense per offensive rating.
Toronto Raptors: C+
I’m just not sure what Brandon Ingram does for this team. And what does this team even want to do? Do they want to develop their young, rising stars such as Immanuel Quickley, Scottie Barnes, and RJ Barrett? Or are they trying to be a perpetual eighth seed? Acquiring Ingram stunts the development of their younger players. I’m just not seeing the vision here.
Milwaukee Bucks: C
Khris Middleton is probably nearing the end. His ankles are shot and he’s a shell of his former self. However, Kyle Kuzma is probably not the answer. Kuzma has not played meaningful basketball in a long time, so it feels somewhat dismissive to assume that he’ll be low impact, but I think Kuzma’s contributions will be noteworthy only if he locks in on defense.
Washington Wizards: B
Without Kuzma on the roster, the Wizards’ young players shine. Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, Carlton Carrington, and Kyshawn George now have the room to get significant minutes. This team probably won’t be good for a long time, but it’s moving in the correct direction.
Dallas Mavericks: F
Nico Harrison’s moves have been inexcusable, whatever his motives were for them. This was a league-shattering move that will have impact for years to come, and more will become unearthed about this deal as time goes on, but it just doesn’t make sense. Even if the Mavericks’ models suggested that Doncic’s impact was overstated, why not wait and create the bidding war to flip Doncic for the absolute haul? In an era where Rudy Gobert commands Walker Kessler and four first round picks, it’s easy to imagine that Doncic would’ve garnered at least double that much value on the market.
But the funny thing is, despite the NBA world’s shock and outrage, the Mavericks have a pretty good team right now. They’re deep, have two-star players in Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, and are still in contending. And just because I want to see the world burn, I hope they win the title this year.
Charlotte Hornets: B-
Flipping Mark Williams for Dalton Knecht is a strange move, as I had assumed they were invested in Mark Williams’ long term future on this team, despite Williams’ health issues. Acquiring Knecht, who is another young and promising player to develop alongside LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, shifts their personnel around and leaves them without a center. Jusuf Nurkic sure won’t cut it.
New Orleans Pelicans: B+
Trey Murphy has broken out this season, averaging a career-high 22.7 PPG while shooting 47.5% from the floor. He’s done enough to convince New Orleans brass that he’s a better prospect for the future of this team than Ingram is, and I find that hard to disagree with. Next season, they’ll be trotting out an impressive starting lineup of Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy, Zion Williamson, and Yves Missi. They’ll have Bruce Brown, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Hawkins, and Brandon Boston coming off the bench. I’m looking forward to watching what a healthy Pelicans squad can do – so long as they can fade the curse they’ve been riddled with this season.
