2021/22 In-Season NBA Trades
As we did with 2021’s offseason trades and the in-season swaps from 2020/21, we’ll be keeping track of all the NBA trades completed this season, updating this post with each transaction. This post can be found anytime throughout the season on our desktop sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or in our mobile menu under “Features.”
Trades are listed here in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been dealt multiple times, the first team listed as having acquired him is the one that ended up with him. Trades listed in italics have been agreed upon but are not yet official. For more details on each trade, click the date above it.
For more information on the specific conditions dictating if and when draft picks involved in these deals will actually change hands, be sure to check out RealGM.com’s breakdown of the details on traded picks.
Here’s the full list of the trades completed during the 2021/22 NBA season:
- Celtics acquire Derrick White.
- Spurs acquire Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, the Celtics’ 2022 first-round pick (top-four protected), and the right to swap 2028 first-round picks with the Celtics (top-one protected).
- Wizards acquire Kristaps Porzingis and the Mavericks’ 2022 second-round pick (top-45 protected).
- Mavericks acquire Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
- Sixers acquire James Harden and Paul Millsap.
- Nets acquire Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, the Sixers’ 2022 first-round pick (unprotected), and the Sixers’ 2027 first-round pick (top-eight protected).
- Note: The Nets have the option to defer the 2022 first-round pick to 2023.
- Celtics acquire Daniel Theis.
- Rockets acquire Dennis Schröder, Bruno Fernando, and Enes Freedom.
- Suns acquire Torrey Craig and cash.
- Pacers acquire Jalen Smith and the Suns’ 2022 second-round pick.
- Kings acquire Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Jackson, Trey Lyles, the Kings’ 2024 second-round pick (from Pistons), and the draft rights to David Michineau.
- Pistons acquire Marvin Bagley III.
- Clippers acquire Rodney Hood, Semi Ojeleye, and the draft rights to Vanja Marinkovic.
- Bucks acquire Serge Ibaka, either the Warriors’ or Cavaliers’ 2023 second-round pick (whichever is less favorable; from Pistons), the Trail Blazers’ 2024 second-round pick (from Kings), and cash ($3,285,000; from Clippers).
- Note: The Kings traded away their own 2024 second-round pick in a previous deal.
- Hornets acquire Montrezl Harrell.
- Wizards acquire Ish Smith, Vernon Carey, and the Celtics’ 2023 second-round pick (top-45 protected).
- Suns acquire Aaron Holiday.
- Wizards acquire cash.
- Raptors acquire Thaddeus Young, Drew Eubanks, and either the Pistons’ or Bulls’ 2022 second-round pick (whichever is more favorable).
- Spurs acquire Goran Dragic and the Raptors’ 2022 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
- Magic acquire Bol Bol, PJ Dozier, the Celtics’ 2028 second-round pick (top-45 protected), and cash.
- Celtics acquire the Magic’s 2023 second-round pick (top-55 protected).
- Jazz acquire Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Juan Hernangomez.
- Spurs acquire Tomas Satoransky and either the Thunder’s, Rockets’, Pacers’, or Heat’s 2027 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Jazz).
- Trail Blazers acquire Joe Ingles, Elijah Hughes, and the Grizzlies’ 2022 second-round pick (from Jazz).
- Thunder acquire KZ Okpala and amended terms of a first-round pick owed to them by the Heat.
- Heat acquire either the Thunder’s, Mavericks’, or Sixers’ 2026 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
- Note: The Heat previously owed the Thunder their 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected). They now owe their 2025 first-round pick (top-14 protected).
- Kings acquire Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and the Pacers’ 2023 second-round pick (56-60 protected).
- Pacers acquire Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson.
- Pelicans acquire CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., and Tony Snell.
- Trail Blazers acquire Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, the Pelicans’ 2022 first-round pick (top-four protected and 15-30 protected), either the Pelicans’ or Trail Blazers’ 2026 second-round pick (whichever is more favorable), and the Pelicans’ 2027 second-round pick.
- Note: The Pelicans had previously acquired the Trail Blazers’ 2026 second-round pick.
- Cavaliers acquire Caris LeVert and the Heat’s 2022 second-round pick.
- Pacers acquire Ricky Rubio, the Cavaliers’ 2022 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Rockets’ 2022 second-round pick, and the Jazz’s 2027 second-round pick.
- Clippers acquire Norman Powell and Robert Covington.
- Trail Blazers acquire Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, and the Pistons’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Nuggets acquire Bryn Forbes.
- Spurs acquire Juan Hernangomez, the Nuggets’ 2028 second-round pick (top-33 protected), and cash ($2.15MM from Celtics; $200K from Nuggets).
- Celtics acquire Bol Bol and PJ Dozier.
- Knicks acquire Cam Reddish, Solomon Hill, the Nets’ 2025 second-round pick, and cash ($834,589).
- Hawks acquire Kevin Knox and the Hornets’ 2022 first-round pick (top-18 protected).
Pistons acquire Bol Bol.Nuggets acquire Rodney McGruder and the Nets’ 2022 second-round pick.
This trade was voided when Bol didn’t pass a physical with the Pistons.
- Thunder acquire Miye Oni and the Jazz’s 2028 second-round pick.
- Jazz acquire cash.
- Cavaliers acquire Rajon Rondo.
- Knicks acquire Denzel Valentine, the draft rights to Wang Zhelin, the draft rights to Brad Newley, and cash ($1.1MM; from Lakers).
- Lakers acquire the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie.
Kyrie Irving Expected To Return On Wednesday
JANUARY 4: Irving isn’t listed on the Nets’ injury report for Wednesday’s game in Indiana, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. That means the plan is for him to be available for the first time this season.
JANUARY 3: Nets point guard Kyrie Irving is expected to make his season debut on Wednesday vs. the Pacers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Irving has targeted the game in Indiana for his return.
Irving has been held out of action for most of the first half because he’s ineligible to play games in New York due to the city’s COVID-19 vaccinate mandate and the Nets initially didn’t want him to be a part-time player only active for road games. However, after being hit by a flurry of injuries and COVID-related absences in December, the team reversed course on that stance.
Irving was immediately placed in the health and safety protocols due to a positive COVID-19 test when he reported to the team last month, which may have further delayed his debut. Still, he would have required a week or two of ramp-up work to get back in game shape.
The Nets, who are hosting Memphis tonight, will play just two road games in the next couple weeks — Wednesday in Indiana and January 12 in Chicago. However, the team will begin a four-game road trip on January 17, which should give Irving an opportunity to be a regular part of the lineup for a little while.
With no indication that Irving plans to get vaccinated or that New York City plans to change its vaccination guidelines any time soon, it’s unclear how long the new arrangement may continue for Kyrie and the Nets.
Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell Named Players Of The Month
Sixers big man Joel Embiid has been named December’s Player of the Month for the Eastern Conference, while Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell has earned the honor for the Western Conference, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
It was a healthy month for Embiid, who appeared in all but one of Philadelphia’s 14 games in December and led the team to an 8-5 record in those contests — the 76ers were blown out by 35 points in the only game he missed. The star center averaged 29.2 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 3.9 APG, 1.5 SPG, and 1.3 BPG on .496/.391/.845 shooting in 34.5 minutes per game for the month.
Mitchell, meanwhile, appeared in 12 of Utah’s 14 December games, putting up 30.2 PPG, 5.0 APG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.2 SPG with a shooting line of .502/.377/.870 in 34.2 minutes per night. The Jazz had a 12-2 month, including 10-2 in games with Mitchell available.
Embiid beat out fellow nominees Giannis Antetokounmpo, DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Durant, Darius Garland, Kyle Lowry, and Fred VanVleet in the East. The other Western nominees were Stephen Curry, LeBron James, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Twitter link).
The NBA also announced the Rookies of the Month for December today, with Magic forward Franz Wagner and Thunder guard Josh Giddey earning the honors in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, respectively.
Wagner’s Magic went just 3-11 in December, but he solidified his position as a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate, averaging 19.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 3.1 APG on .476/.404/.889 shooting in 34.0 MPG. Giddey, who won his second straight Rookie of the Month award, missed five games, including the Thunder’s 73-point loss to Memphis. In the 10 games he played, Oklahoma City went 6-4 and he averaged 11.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG, and 6.7 APG.
COVID-19 Updates: Raptors, Thunder, Stewart, Freedom, Strus
After briefly having no players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols for the first time in weeks, the Raptors placed Svi Mykhailiuk and Yuta Watanabe in the protocols today, tweets Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (via Twitter), only three players on the Raptors’ roster have avoided entering the protocols in the last month. Two of those players – David Johnson (injury) and Goran Dragic (personal) – have been away from the team, leaving Chris Boucher as the lone active player not to be affected.
Here are a few more protocol-related updates:
- Thunder guard Tre Mann and big man Darius Bazley have cleared the health and safety protocols, acting head coach Mike Wilks said today (Twitter link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). That leaves rookie Jeremiah Robinson-Earl as the only Oklahoma City player still in the protocols.
- Celtics center Enes Freedom returned to practice today, having exited the COVID-19 protocols, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). Aaron Nesmith is the only Celtic who remains in the protocols.
- Isaiah Stewart has cleared the protocols and met the Pistons in Charlotte, tweets James Edwards III of The Athletic. It’s unclear if the big man will be available on Wednesday vs. the Hornets or if he’ll need more time to get back into game condition.
- Heat guard Max Strus is no longer in the protocols, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link). Miami now has four players in the protocols, with six hardship additions on 10-day deals, so not all of those players will be able to be active going forward.
- The full list of players in the COVID-19 protocols can be found right here.
Rockets Notes: Silas, Mathews, Wood, Porter, Sengun
The Rockets lost big on Monday night in Philadelphia with Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. both serving a one-game suspension, but coach Stephen Silas said the game with the Sixers wasn’t a consideration in deciding how to discipline two of his starters, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Both players were suspended for their actions on Saturday, with Wood being late for a COVID-19 test and refusing to enter the game in the second half and Porter leaving the arena at halftime after a confrontation with assistant coach John Lucas.
Silas, the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas, said he turned to his father’s advice of “follow your gut” in deciding how to handle the situation. Especially with a young team, he believes it’s more important to set boundaries about proper behavior than to worry about the results of one game.
“There isn’t a balance (between winning and disciplining) to me,” Silas said. “There’s doing what’s right and doing what’s best for this organization. That’s how you build culture. You do it through a lot of different things. Accountability is huge, making sure everybody knows what is acceptable and is not acceptable and learning from that. That’s the big part, learning from those moments and learning from those experiences so we can improve and we can be better.”
There’s more on the Rockets:
- Garrison Mathews tied his season high with 23 points Monday shortly after clearing the league’s health and safety protocols, Feigen adds in the same story. Mathews described his time off as “boring” and was happy to be back on the court. “From the jump, I felt good,” he said. “Having six, seven days off, it’s hard to take that many days off and come back and get right to it. My body felt fresh. It wasn’t sore like it was before. It was good to have a few days off, but when you take seven days off, your conditioning starts to wear down at the end.”
- In the wake of Saturday’s incident, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated believes the Rockets should get rid of Porter and Wood as soon as possible, even if that means waiving Porter, whose contract is guaranteed for $3.2MM next season. Mannix also criticizes general manager Rafael Stone for assembling the current roster, which Mannix claims is becoming a distraction for talented young players such as Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Jae’Sean Tate, and for having Silas deal with the media whenever there’s a personnel issue.
- Fans have been calling for Sengun to get more playing time, but the rookie center told a Turkish magazine that the Rockets are bringing him along slowly so he can adjust to the NBA, relays Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle. “(The Rockets) played nine games in 15 days, we used to play nine games in nine weeks in Turkey, we did it in two weeks here,” Sengun said. “It’s hard to get used to it right away.”
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 1/4/2022
Hoops Rumors’ first live chat of 2022 took place today at noon central time.
Click here for today’s chat transcript.
Our next live chat will be on Tuesday, January 11 at 12:00pm CT.
Clippers Re-Sign Xavier Moon To Second 10-Day Deal
The Clippers have signed wing Xavier Moon to a second 10-day contract via a hardship exception, the team announced today. Moon’s initial 10-day deal with the club expired overnight.
The nephew of former NBA forward Jamario Moon, Xavier Moon appeared in four games during his first 10 days with the Clippers, averaging 5.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 1.3 SPG in 16.8 minutes per contest.
Those numbers were buoyed significantly by a strong showing on Monday night, when Moon recorded 13 points, four assists, four rebounds, and four steals in 26 minutes vs. Minnesota. Prior to that game, he had scored just 10 points on 5-of-17 shooting (0-for-4 on threes), but acting coach Brian Shaw has been impressed by what he’s seen from the 27-year-old.
“He belongs in this league, he has a good feel for the game and I think you saw that tonight,” Shaw said on Monday, per Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group (Twitter link). “He plays hard, gets off the ball at the right time and he competes. Just a matter of finding the right fit, but I do believe he belongs on an NBA roster.”
The Clippers still have three players in the health and safety protocols and Moon is their third hardship replacement, along with James Ennis and Wenyen Gabriel.
COVID-19 Updates: Randle, Williams, Nurkic, Burke, Bradley
Knicks forward Julius Randle has exited the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced today (via Twitter). Randle, who only entered the protocols last Thursday, will be listed as questionable for Tuesday night’s game vs. Indiana.
The Knicks were hit hard in December by COVID-19, but are in pretty decent shape for the time being. Nerlens Noel is the only player on the roster who is still in the protocols.
Here are more protocol-related updates from around the NBA:
- Suns head coach Monty Williams has cleared the COVID-19 protocols and will return to the club for Tuesday’s game against New Orleans, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Kevin Young, who temporarily replaced Williams as Phoenix’s head coach, will revert to his assistant role.
- Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic broke the news on Monday that he had cleared the health and safety protocols and would be back in Portland’s starting lineup. He logged 26 minutes on Monday in his first game since December 21.
- Mavericks guard Trey Burke took part in the team’s shootaround on Monday, a pretty good indication that he has exited the protocols, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Burke didn’t play on Monday, but could be back later this week.
- Bulls center Tony Bradley apparently cleared the protocols on Monday, having been listed as out due to return to competition conditioning on the team’s injury report.
Justin Jackson Signs Hardship Deal With Suns
JANUARY 4: The Suns have officially signed Jackson to a 10-day deal, the team announced today (via Twitter).
Phoenix has four players in the health and safety protocols (Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, JaVale McGee, and Abdel Nader) and four players signed to 10-day hardship deals (Emanuel Terry, M.J. Walker, Paris Bass, and Bismack Biyombo), so the team was ineligible for another hardship addition without either another player entering protocols or one of its current 10-day deals being terminated.
As it turns out, both of those things have occurred. The Suns have released Terry and also placed Landry Shamet in the protocols, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter links).
DECEMBER 30: Justin Jackson is close to signing a 10-day contract with the Suns, tweets veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein. Jackson signed a 10-day deal with the Celtics on Dec. 18, appearing in one game (two minutes) with the team prior to entering the league’s health and safety protocols.
The 15th pick of the 2017 draft, Jackson has appeared in 248 NBA games. Last season, he played 33 games for the Thunder and another for the Bucks. He began his career with the Kings and also played one full season and part of another for Dallas.
The Mavericks waived Jackson during training camp prior to the season. In 10 games this season with the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate, Jackson averaged a stellar 22.7 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 2.9 APG in 36.1 MPG.
Southeast Notes: Hawks, Butler, Kuzma, Fultz, Okeke
It’s clear that changes are necessary to improve the Hawks‘ defense, but the team’s current personnel may not provide any quite fixes, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, who suggests that it’s an area Atlanta could look to address on the trade market.
Trae Young scored 56 points with 14 assists for the Hawks on Monday night, but it wasn’t enough for a victory, since the club surrendered 136 points to a Portland team missing Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Acting coach Joe Prunty acknowledged after the game that something needs to change on defense.
“There are a lot of things that need to be addressed. A lot of things that we have to do as a team to get better at,” Prunty said, per Kirschner. “There are things we have talked about, things we have worked on, but clearly we need to continue to do it. It’s going to be hard to win a game giving up 136. We’ve done this a few times now. We have to get better across the board as a team, that’s coaches and players.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Jimmy Butler exited the Heat‘s game in the third quarter on Monday due to a right ankle injury and will undergo further testing today to assess the severity of the ailment, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. For his part, Butler – who has already experienced some right ankle problems this season – doesn’t seem to believe it’s a significant injury. “If you talk to Jimmy right now, he says he’s fine,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We will have to evaluate it and see how he feels.”
- Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma had a career night on Monday, putting up 36 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists in a win over Charlotte. As Ava Wallace of The Washington Post writes, Kuzma is getting more and more comfortable with his new team and believes he’s in a “great situation” in Washington. “Fit and opportunity is everything in this league,” Kuzma said on Monday.
- Magic guard Markelle Fultz, who continues to recover from ACL surgery, is now in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, but forward Chuma Okeke has exited the protocols, tweets Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. Okeke missed Monday’s game due to return to competition reconditioning, but should be nearing a return.