National Basketball Association

NBA Trade Deadline: Winners, losers and biggest surprises

Published Feb. 8, 2024 5:31 p.m. ET

The 2024 NBA trade deadline has passed, and while a few teams at the top of the Eastern Conference arguably got better, it was a quiet day in the Western Conference.

Let's take a look at the biggest winners, losers and surprises from the trade deadline with FOX Sports' NBA reporters Yaron Weitzman, Melissa Rohlin and Ric Bucher.

1. This year's trade deadline was notably unexciting. What do you attribute to the lack of blockbuster trades at the deadline this year?

Weitzman: The trade deadline might have been quiet, but the trade season was not. Remember, both OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam were traded to playoff teams earlier this season. But, yes, the play-in tournament has changed the landscape. More teams can now make the postseason, which means there are fewer sellers. Look at the Chicago Bulls, for example. They stink, and should have dealt Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan and Andre Drummond. Yet, at 24-27, and with the bottom of the East populated by teams like the Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons, they appear to be a lock for the play-in tournament, which is clearly something the front office (inexplicably) cares about.

Rohlin: After last year's explosive trade deadline that helped restructure the power in the league, this one seemed eerily quiet. But the big moves with James Harden, Damian Lillard, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam just happened a bit earlier this time around. Now, with many teams in the playoff race, it seems as though the focus was on solidifying rosters to at least make the play-in tournament, rather than blowing up teams and risking the unknown. I expect the offseason to be much more interesting.

Bucher: Parity and the new CBA definitely threw sand into the deadline trade machine. Teams that wanted to make a big move did it early — Milwaukee getting Damian Lillard, tne Clippers getting James Harden — knowing the onerous new rules would put a chill on the market. And why make a move that could be über-costly if you're one of the 24 teams with a shot, at the very least, at the play-in tournament? And if you can make the play-in tournament, you can, ostensibly, make the conference finals, as the Lakers proved last year. The new rules on where players can go if bought out are also a major factor. Players aren't as eager to accept a buyout as they've been in the past.

2. Who was the biggest winner of the 2024 NBA trade deadline and why?

Weitzman: It's got to be the New York Knicks. They acquired Bojan Bogdanovic, who was probably the best player to be moved today, and did so without surrendering any of their future first round picks or primary rotation players. They bolstered their current roster and maintained flexibility to chase a star in the off-season. And this current roster, if healthy, is now good enough to make the finals.

Rohlin: Hands down the Knicks. After bolstering their roster by adding Anunoby, they have now acquired Bogdanovic, who is averaging 20.2 points on 46.8% shooting from the field and 41.5% from beyond the arc. Alongside Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Julius Randle, the Knicks now have a very strong roster that could make some real noise in the playoffs. Bogdanovic gives them size, scoring and efficiency, making them a tough team for anyone to stop.

Bucher: The Knicks certainly made some nice moves, but they didn't do anything to make themselves less Jalen Brunson-dependent and I need to see Thibs incorporate the added offense of Bojan and Burks before deciding just how much better they are. I'm going to go with the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder acquiring veteran Gordon Hayward without impacting their cap space or their rotation. The Thunder are going to be in the playoffs, which is a foreign place to the better part of their roster; according to this Substack piece, only San Antonio has less playoff experience, minutes-wise, than OKC. They still only have four players who have tasted the postseason after including Davis Bertans in the deal for Hayward, but Hayward has a much better chance of actually playing (if healthy).

3. Who was the biggest loser of the 2024 NBA trade deadline and why?

Weitzman: The Chicago Bulls, by a mile. For a below-.500 team like the Bulls to not deal Alex Caruso — a player who every contender would want, and who could fetch a nice return — is malpractice. Holding onto DeRozan, who's on an expiring contract, and Drummond, is nuts, too. The Bulls should have finished deadline day with an influx of young assets to pair with Coby White and Patrick Williams, two solid young players. Instead, they've chosen to chase mediocrity. It's embarrassing.

Rohlin: It's the Bulls. But I'm going to use this prompt to actually praise the Lakers for their restraint. For a team that's in ninth place with a record of 27-25 despite LeBron James and Anthony Davis being mostly healthy and playing at very high levels, they may seem like losers for not making a move at the trade deadline. But D'Angelo Russell has shined as of late and losing Austin Reaves would've been a huge hit. Once the team gets Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt healthy, if guys play to their potential, this roster could be very good.

I think patience was the right call here, instead of blowing up a team that reached the Western Conference Finals last season at too high of a cost without the potential right return. So they might seem like trade deadline losers. But I think their decision to stand pat could be viewed differently soon, if guys play to their abilities.

Bucher: I'm not going to say the Bulls only because I haven't seen or heard they were offered the kind of assets necessary to rebuild. It's all well and good to do a teardown, but you need buyers to be sellers. Kawhi Leonard re-signed with the Clippers on a club-friendly deal; I have no reason to believe DeRozan won't do the same for the Bulls. So, with that in mind, I'd say there's more to gain from finding out what kind of playoff performers Coby White, Patrick Williams and their other existing young building blocks are, and to do that they have to make the postseason. So, who is my pick? I'm going to go with the Lakers, just because of the innuendo of dissatisfaction that LeBron James has created with his post-game comments and social-media emojis. I don't know what they could've done that would've made them appreciably better, but the impression has been created that LeBron wanted them to do something — and they didn't. How he approaches the rest of the season will be interesting.

4. Is there a team that didn't make a trade that you think should have? Why or why not? Please explain your answer.

Weitzman: My answer is the Bulls, the reasons for which I outlined above, so I'll highlight a couple other teams here. I would have liked to see the Magic add a guard and/or some shooting — nothing major, just a small move to bolster the roster entering this stretch run. And I'm surprised the Wizards didn't flip Tyus Jones to a contender in need of some backcourt depth.

Rohlin: What were the Bulls thinking? This isn't working. And it hasn't been working for a while. They were long expected to be among the biggest sellers of the trade deadline. And for them to not take advantage of their capital to try to improve something that's clearly broken is surprising. They're in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 24-27, without Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine or Patrick Williams. They could've leveraged Alex Caruso or DeMar DeRozan or gone a bunch of different directions to try to improve, but instead are seemingly going to keep trudging through the mud.

Bucher: I'll go with the Magic. They are major playoff neophytes — much like OKC — and have a healthy reserve of trade assets, much like OKC. The kind of assets that might've procured a DeMar DeRozan. And how different would we look at the Magic if they had a veteran go-to forward in the mix?

5. The end of the trade deadline means the start of buyout season. Which player has the best chance of helping a title contender and where would you like to see them end up? Please explain your answer.

Weitzman: Kyle Lowry is the obvious answer here. He was never going to suit up for the Charlotte Hornets after being dealt there for Terry Rozier, and there's no chance that he will. Lowry is a Philly native who played at Villanova and also played for Nick Nurse in Toronto, and the Sixers desperately need a backup point guard. I'd be stunned if Lowry doesn't end up signing with the Sixers.

Rohlin: I've gotta go with Lowry, too. He's a savvy veteran who brings character to a locker room and there will be numerous suitors after his ball-handling skills, needing to bolster the point guard position. Count the 76ers and Lakers among them. Lowry still has a lot of gas left in the tank and could be a difference-maker for multiple borderline teams trying to be in contention.

Bucher: I agree Lowry is the likeliest, but are we really looking at Lowry as a difference maker at this point? He's 38 and currently injured. I'm not expecting the buyout market to be any more robust than the trade market was. All that said, other than the hometown connection, Philly wouldn't be my first choice if I'm Lowry – Denver would be. I don't know if they have any interest in him, but they could use a little more depth and playing with Nikola Jokic would minimize how much playmaking he'd have to do. He could simply provide his big-moment shotmaking. If Zach LaVine were a buyout candidate I could see him being a value to a whole host of teams, but I just don't see a buyout as realistic.

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, "Rebound," on NBA forward Brian Grant's battle with young onset Parkinson's, and "Yao: A Life In Two Worlds." He also has a daily podcast, "On The Ball with Ric Bucher." Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He is the author of "Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports." Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.

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