NBA 2024 Trade Deadline: Winners & Losers

For the Knicks, this trade needed to happen to not only improve their title chances, but to be able to actually field a team over the next few weeks. The Knicks have been riddled with injuries, first it was Mitchell Robinson early on, then Julius Randle separates his shoulder, then OG Anunoby gets surgery on his elbow, Jalen Brunson tweaks his ankle, and Isaiah Hartenstein narrowly avoided a bad achilles injury. Right now, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo are the only ones who were getting big minutes left standing.

With Quentin Grimes essentially losing all his playing time to a scorching hot DiVincenzo, dealing him and other contracts, without relinquishing any firsts, for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks (both of whom can contribute good, veteran minutes) is exactly what the Knicks needed.

In the long-term, when the Knicks get healthy towards the latter part of the season and into the playoffs, they’ll have great depth to make a real push for The Finals.

Loser: Los Angeles Lakers

It feels like the Lakers have always been in the thick of the trade deadline since LeBron James arrived there six years ago (side note: it is absolutely insane to me that LeBron has played six years in LA to his four in Miami).

This year, there were rumors that the Lakers were looking to make a push for Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray, who LeBron has publicly praised multiple times, even dating back to his days as a rookie in San Antonio.

However, GM Rob Pelinka stated, “We tried everything we could, and again, the market is the market,” according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Pelinka added, “…this summer in June, we, at the time of the draft, we’ll have three first-round draft picks to look for deals, which I think will really unlock an access to potentially a greater or bigger swing.”

So maybe not all is lost in La La Land, despite the rumors that both LeBron and Anthony Davis were being shopped around, it looks like Pelinka is determined to maximize the rest of LeBron’s career in LA and continue to look for big moves.

Winner: Dallas Mavericks

The Mavs reportedly wanted ‘out of the Grant Williams business’ really badly. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were also reportedly less than enthusiastic about Williams’ personality in the locker room. Williams hasn’t made a huge impact on the Mavericks this year, and neither has Seth Curry (in his second stint with the team).

Turning them loose to the Charlotte Hornets for PJ Washington, who has been solid off the bench for a young Hornets team, is a nice flip in terms of production; and when you factor in the locker room stuff, the Mavs are probably better off.

Loser: Chicago Bulls

The Bulls, sitting at 24-27 and ninth in the Eastern Conference, didn’t make a trade at the deadline for the third consecutive year.