The NBA trade deadline is in the books, and while it didn't produce a deal involving one of the All-Stars whose names appeared in rumors over the last month, teams did make nine trades before Thursday's deadline and two more on Tuesday. All told, 18 of the league's 30 teams changed their roster via trade this week.
The whirlwind of action can make it easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, so after grading every trade Thursday, I also wanted to stop and assess the winners and losers from deadline week.
Winners
Of the teams in the hunt for the last couple of playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, the Hornets did the best job of solidifying their chances by grabbing shooting guard Courtney Lee from the Grizzlies to replace injured small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
For a team that has made two playoff appearances since returning to Charlotte via expansion in 2004, and has yet to win a postseason game, just being part of the dance is a big deal. And the Hornets didn't pay an exorbitant price for Lee (two second-round picks), particularly in comparison to what the Clippers gave up for his former teammate Jeff Green.
I don't know how much dealing for Channing Frye actually does to help the Cavaliers' chances of winning a title this season, but another big man who can stretch the floor is certainly an upgrade over little-used Anderson Varejao. Considering that Cleveland also saved money by cutting its tax bill, giving up what will almost certainly be a 2018 first-round pick was worth it even though the Cavaliers now can't trade a first-rounder until 2020 at the earliest.
The other reason Cleveland is a winner is none of the other East contenders improved their teams for a possible showdown in the conference finals. So the Cavaliers' chances of returning to the NBA Finals for a second year in a row look better now than they did Thursday morning.
Though I didn't love the value on the Pistons' deal Thursday giving up a top-8 protected first-round pick for Donatas Motiejunas, Detroit still had a good week. After Thursday, the low price for Tobias Harris looks even better, and Motiejunas can be part of a young Pistons core that now includes seven rotation-caliber players age 26 or younger.
By getting ahead of free agency, Stan Van Gundy has built a team that could grow together for a few years into a contender. Give him credit for resisting the temptation for a dual coach/executive to sacrifice the future to win now.
The Grizzlies' chances of making the playoffs this season might take a hit without departed wings Green and Lee, but realistically speaking Memphis isn't going to be a threat in the postseason unless center Marc Gasol is able to return from a broken foot.
Better instead for the Grizzlies to focus on building back up their store of draft picks, depleted in recent years by trades (including one to acquire Green). And if Memphis can get anything out of replacements P.J. Hairston and Lance Stephenson, the team might not be substantially worse in the here and now.
No, the Heat didn't land Dwight Howard or another big name. Those kind of deals were never particularly likely. Instead, Miami was able to achieve the more realistic goal of getting out from under the luxury-tax line after starting the season set to pay more than $20 million as taxes.
The Heat's tax bill was so enormous because of the more punitive repeater tax, and Miami no longer needs to worry about that until the 2019-20 season.
Good thing, too, because the Heat don't have much left to trade. While the price for shedding contracts wasn't especially high, it did cost Miami all remaining tradeable draft picks through 2022. Barring changes to the early-entry rules, the youngest players eligible for the next draft where the Heat can trade a pick (a second-rounder, naturally) are currently in the seventh grade.
There was no better case of addition by subtraction at this year's deadline than the Suns moving disgruntled forward Markieff Morris, whose play and conduct had been a problem since Phoenix traded his twin brother last summer and Morris requested a trade.
The Suns made a mistake holding on to Morris, hoping they could revive his value. That never happened, but a strong five-game stretch under interim head coach Earl Watson was enough to land Phoenix what should be a solid first-round pick from the Washington Wizards. The Suns' front office will sleep soundly tonight no longer having to worry about what Morris might do next.
Armed with more cap space than any other team in the league, as well as the ability to save money by taking on contracts because they were under the salary floor, the Blazers ended up with a first-rounder and second-rounder for their trouble. It was a sellers' market for bad contracts this year, so Portland had to eat nearly $10 million in guaranteed salary for Varejao in 2016-17 to get that, but the Blazers still ended the day with more picks than when they started it.
Whether it was because of their own discretion or because the Chicago Bulls simply weren't interested in what they had to offer, the Kings managed not to trade additional future value in a futile chase for a playoff spot this season. Simply standing pat makes Sacramento a winner.
Losers
The Clippers became the second team in as many years to give up a first-rounder for Green, and while their pick probably won't be as good as the one the Grizzlies sent to the Boston Celtics for Green last January, he's also now an impending free agent the Clippers might have to overpay to re-sign.
Green was a disappointment in Memphis in virtually the same role the Clippers envision for him, and it's hard to see things ending much differently in L.A. I think the Clippers would have been better off dealing for Frye, who would have brought a different skill set than they already have on the roster.
I liked the one trade the Pelicans did make, grabbing second-year post Jarnell Stokes and getting paid by the Heat to do so.
However, New Orleans should have been more active with forward Ryan Anderson and guard Eric Gordon both about to hit free agency. The Pelicans can no longer plausibly consider themselves playoff contenders and Anderson is likely to get a huge raise in a market where there's more money than players to go around.
Unless it required taking back long-term salary, even getting 50 cents on the dollar for Anderson would be better than letting him walk in free agency.
After the Grizzlies got a first-rounder for Green and the Houston Rockets got one for Motiejunas, both in the final year of their contracts, it became even tougher to understand how Orlando got no pick value whatsoever in return for Harris.
Whether the Magic thought Harris was a fit with the rest of their young core or not, this was a case of selling low. As Danny Leroux of RealGM noted on Twitter, there surely would have been more suitors this summer when teams could have taken Harris into cap space. Now, Orlando faces pressure to sign a big name with the space freed up by dealing Harris and Frye. That could translate into overpaying a past-his-prime veteran.
I can't help but fear the Raptors may look back on this season and feel they missed their moment to strike.
Toronto sits second in the East with a relatively comfortable path to the conference finals. yet there was a spot ripe for upgrade at power forward. Despite their 35-17 record and plus-4.4 net rating, per NBA.com/Stats the Raptors have actually been outscored this season with starting 4-man Luis Scola on the court.
Replacing Scola with a rental like Anderson would have solidified their chances of getting to a series against the Cavaliers, and possibly even beating them.