We saw quite a bit of activity during the final days leading up to last Thursday afternoon’s trade deadline, though there were no earthshaking moves.
The biggest names in the rumor mill — Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and Pau Gasol — stayed put. There were still some eye-catching trades.
The Pistons and Magic fired an early salvo as Detroit acquired a young, prolific scoring forward in Tobias Harris in exchange for point guard Brandon Jennings and power forward Ersan Ilyasova. Both were previously coached by Scott Skiles and can help Orlando’s playoff push while giving the Magic flexibility this summer. Jennings has an expiring contract, and Ilyasova’s contract for next season isn’t fully guaranteed.
The Clippers dealt away Lance Stephenson to the Grizzlies for Jeff Green, giving Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers a better scoring option at small forward.
The Grizzlies were also involved in a three-team deal earlier in the week, sending shooting guard Courtney Lee to the Hornets.
The Thunder picked up a quality guard in Randy Foye from the Nuggets, shipping out guards D.J. Augustin, Steve Novak and a couple of second-round picks for him.
The Wizards made a significant frontcourt move, acquiring talented but controversial power forward Markieff Morris from the Suns. Phoenix received Washington’s first-round pick (top-nine protected) and a couple of veteran power forwards, Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair (who was waived).
Channing Frye was shipped by the Magic to the Cavaliers, giving the Cavs a stretch four at their disposal for the playoffs. Orlando got rid of Frye’s contract, which runs through the 2017/18 season, while also receiving Jared Cunningham and an unprotected second-round pick.
The Trail Blazers received the Cavaliers’ top-10 protected 2018 first-round pick as an incentive to take Anderson Varejao‘s contract off their hands and help their luxury-tax situation.
This leads us to our question of the day: Which team made the best trade last week?
Please take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the subject. We look forward to what you have to say.
Gonna go with the Suns on this one. That pick could become very valuable in trade talks if someone like Cousins became available again.
That will certainly come in handy, plus it was clear they had to do something about Morris.
3+ yrs of Tobias Harris for 2 expirings is the best long term deal.
Definitely helps the Pistons long term for two players who didn’t have a future there.