Winners and Losers of the NBA Trade Deadline






            Written by: Spencer Teman of Swish Tribune

            The best NBA trade deadline that we've ever seen wrapped up on Thursday and I'm still processing all of the drama that went down. So many drastic changes throughout the league makes you wonder who was a winner and who was a loser?

            Let's start off with some winners, especially the Phoenix Suns. The Suns shocked the NBA by trading for Kevin Durant without giving up any of the rest of their original big 3: Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Deandre Ayton. To acquire a player like KD and not give up any of your best players is pretty unbelievable and a fleece by the Suns front office.

            The Suns have struggled a lot this year with injuries and not winning games and adding KD solves this major hole. When KD is healthy, pairing him with Booker will be an eyeopener in Phoenix. Watch out for the Suns in the west because when they are healthy, it's a whole different ball game.

            My next winner is the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs, like the Suns also acquired a superstar in Kyrie Irving to pair with their superstar and MVP candidate Luka Doncic. We finally get the opportunity to see how Luka can pair with another superstar by his side.

            Throughout Luka's first couple of seasons, he has not gotten much support from his surrounding teammates and acquiring a star like Kyrie Irving will make an instant impact on how far this team can go. Kyrie can definitely get the Mavs over the hump and come out on top of the west. Kyrie is missing piece the Mavs needed. 

            Finally, my biggest winner of the trade deadline has to be the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers didn't acquire any superstars like the Mavs and the Suns did, but they made a lot of beneficial trades that can certainly help their team out this season. Trading away Russell Westbrook and acquiring a new point guard in D'Angelo Russell, who is now in his second stint with the Lakers, was a perfect addition to the point guard position for this team.

            Acquiring role players like Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Mo Bamba will also help this team in the long run. For the past couple of seasons, it has been Anthony Davis and LeBron James doing most of the work, now they get additional help that will create a deeper bench and help their starting lineup. The Lakers are my biggest winners of the deadline, but can they use these additions to make a run in the playoffs?

            Now onto my biggest loser of the trade deadline, the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls feature the likes of Zach LaVine, Demar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic, but they sit in the 11 seed and just on the brink of the play-in. This roster has needed a change ever since last season and the Bulls decided to sit on their hands and not make a single move at the deadline.

            There were many rumors that the Bulls would move LaVine which they could have gotten back a haul for, but instead he remains on the roster past the deadline. This team needed to make a move or two to get into a better position for the rest of the season and looking for next year's offseason, yet they did nothing. 

            The NBA is going to look a lot different heading into the home stretch of the season and into the playoffs with all of the new additions these teams have made. The Mavs, Lakers, and Suns are looking like they will be some contenders in the west, while teams like the Bulls are in bad situations and dug themselves into an even hole.

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