Grading BIG NBA Trades A Couple Of Years Later

So over the last few

years

we've seen some massive

trades

in the NBA and I have a feeling we'll see some massive

trades

this offseason as well with guys like Donovan Mitchell, Brandon Ingram and Trey. young constantly in trade talks, this could be an offseason like 2019, so in today's video I want to look at some of the biggest trades over the last few

years

in NBA history and grade them today, obviously, in retrospect. , 2020, this is a revisionist history, but I want to see how well these trades have aged, I'm not making any trades in 2023, so neither Harden to the Clippers nor Dame to the Bucks or Drew to the Celtics.

I really don't think one year can justify whether these trades deserve a Great or not for this video specifically, so let's start with one of the biggest trades we'll talk about in this video. Paul George to the LA Clippers in 2019. This was a trade that sent Paul George to the LA Clippers for danil galinari. Shay gilis Alexander, a 2021 first round pick who ended up being Trey man, a 2022 first round pick who ended up being Jaylen Williams, a 2023 first round pick who was then sent to Miami, that was hameh hakz, there's still a first selection of 2024, a first of 2025 and a first of 26 involved. in this trade too so there are still a lot of picks to decide and I think this trade is the perfect deal for 2020 it's funny just Alexander is better in 2024 than Paul George the Clippers never got a 2019 title to 2024 with this trade and obviously the Clippers would still make this trade today, this is what led them to Kawhai Leonard, they were in a limbo period after Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were no longer on the team, they had the opportunity to bring in possibly the best.

The player at the time Kawhi Leonard, who had just won a title with the Toronto Raptors, went to Los Angeles and brought Paul George, who was coming off an elite season with the OKC Thunder, to hopefully win a title for the Clippers, something they have not done in the franchise. history, but we're

grading

this trade today, so for OKC this is a clear A+, what a rebuild for Sam Prey, they moved Russell Westbrook and Paul George at the right time in that 2019 offseason, they got 200 cents on the dollar, TRUE? Shay GIS Alexander. I mean, who would have thought he would have become one of the top five players in this league?

Possibly five years from now, Shay will finish in the top three in MVP voting this season and that doesn't even include all the other picks they got in this deal. Also, obviously Jaylen Williams becoming one is a plus and they still have this Capital draft in the future to make a move this offseason, so this is a clear A+ for the OKC Thunder for the AL Clippers. I have to give them a c for this right now. I mean, Paul George is leaving for nothing this offseason, this immediately drops to an F, as long as Paul George is on this team they still have a chance to win a title and then that could go up to a safe grade, but the day they Paul George leaves the Clippers or Kawhi Leonard and they don't have a ring to show for it, this trade becomes an F, so yeah, I'm being generous with you right now, but it's a C like I said, although I have a chance to be an F, but If you win a title, I bump it up to an A+ with the NBA Playoffs in full swing, the best way to play fantasy sports is with Underdog Fantasy and in my opinion it's the easiest way to play fantasy sports. fantasy and enjoy playoff basketball in 2024. when I go to these playoff games and stress about the New York Knicks or watch these awesome Western Conference games, I use Underdog fantasy.

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I can't trust that enough and thanks again to Underdog for sponsoring today's video. The 2019 offseason was crazy and we still have another trade after this one to talk about, so this. one will be Anthony Davis to the LA Lakers, the Pelicans sent him, the team that drafted him to Los Angeles to pair with LeBron James, the return was the fourth overall pick, DeAndre Hunter was obviously then traded to Atlanta, they got Lonzo. Ball Josh Hart Brandon Ingram, a 2022 first-round pick, ended up being Dyson Daniels in this deal, a first-round pick in 2023 and then could have been this year's first-round pick, but it looks like the Pelicans are going to postpone this until 2025. so we still don't know what that election will be.

The Washington Wizards were also included in this trade. Cheers to being included like Mo Vagner in this deal and the Lakers won a title, so it doesn't matter what it is. an A+ I don't care that it was the bubble I don't care that it was a strange environment, you make this trade to win a championship and they did it the next season, so it doesn't matter what if they never win a single title again. in franchise history this trade for them specifically will be an A+ that's why you make these trades that's why you play basketball to win an NBA title and they won it in 2020 so this trade is worth 1,000 times the penalty.

If Ad wasn't playing at Pelicans caliber, but Ad is still an elite player today, then this A+ is justified for the Pelicans. In fact, I'm going to give you one on this deal. I thought they obviously did a good job with their rebuild. You wish it were a little different for them. I mean, Bron Ingram broke out that season the next year after they acquired him. It was a little silly of him to give up on Lonzo Ball and let him go to the Chicago Bulls, but they were right in hindsight, they knew about the injury issues with him.

I mean, including Josh Hart in an mcom ceg deal doesn't look great in retrospect either, but with Dyson Daniels in that pick, that might mean they got a nice haul. for Anthony Davis, whose contract was expiring anyway, so there's a chance he took a KD and left for nothing a year

later

, so I thought they got a good return and could get even more pieces from this trade if they move Brandon Ingram this offseason. so I thought it was a solid return for Anthony Davis especially since the Pelicans had no leverage because the ad requested the trade publicly anyway we have two James Harden trades to talk about the first one will be the one that sent him from Houston Rockets. to the Brooklyn Nets in January 2021, so this was a four-team trade that included the Brooklyn Nets and the Houston Rockets, obviously, but also included the Indiana Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I mean, honestly, the Cavs traded a first-round pick to the Milwaukee Bucks down the road. for Jared Allen in this four team deal to keep it simple, yes that's an A+, what a return, Jared Allen could give them a big haul this offseason, they also scouted him for a big contract extension and he's one of the most underrated defenders . In my opinion, he was a great guy in the league, so it was an A+ from Cleveland to just be involved in this trade and steal Jared Allen. Indiana pretty much traded Victor Oladipo for Caris LeVert and honestly, this is going to be an A for Indiana Victor Olo.

It was like a ticking time bomb with his injuries and obviously he suffered some serious ones in Indiana and Caris LeVert was able to move to Cleveland a

couple

of years

later

and ended up getting a first round pick last year that ended up being Ben. Shephard and a second-round pick in the 2022 draft that ended up being Andrew Nard, so they basically turned Old Depot into Shepard and Nard, who are contributing well for them on this year's Conference Finals team, as well which is a great job on the part of Indie, I mean, for Brooklyn, this goes.

Harden played well for them basically in the year he spent his time in Brooklyn but they gave up all of these draft picks which hurt them today as this team wants to start a rebuild and they currently can't do that in 2024 due to this trade they did it in 2021, giving up all of these future first round picks in exchange for James Harden, who was also injured during the best playoff run they had with this core of KD Kyrie and Harden to win a championship and came up short in one single round. two against Milwaukee and now in hindsight for Houston this is an A+ for them, honestly at the time people were clowning them for not taking the Philadelphia 76ers package originally for Ben Simmons, they prioritize picks that could get from Brooklyn and these picks are Super valuable today like I said hindsight will play a big role in this video and they also got ridiculed for not including Jared Allen in this package and basically traded Carris LT for Victor oo so they definitely was questionable at the time with Houston.

I did, but these picks today look great, so honestly, everyone was a winner in this four-team trade besides Brooklyn. Honestly, let's talk about the second Harden trade that was quite notable in recent seasons. It's funny because there's another one who got traded. the cers, but we're not going to talk about that one, we're going to talk about when he was traded at the trade deadline in 2022 from Brooklyn to Philadelphia, it was a random thing, he just spent a year in Brooklyn and then wanted out. so he ends up getting a trade, he gets his wish to play with his former general manager Daryl Mury in Philadelphia.

He was traded with Paul Milstop for Seth Curry Andre Drummond Ben Simmons, a 2023 first-round pick who ended up being a trade for Royce O'. Neal, that player was Bryce Sental and a 2027 first round pick who is top eight protected and could become cash in 2029, so for Brooklyn this is a b. They didn't handle both James Harden trades particularly well, they pretty much lost all leverage on a Harden trade at this point as he publicly wanted out and they didn't have much time to get a deal done before the trade deadline and Ben Simmons was out this year because he wanted to be traded to the 76ers after the 2012 playoff run debacle1 and he was also noticing some injuries and obviously he just hasn't been anything for Brooklyn he has struggled to stay on the court and when he has been on the court he doesn't He looks like the pre-21 Simmons who was all-NBA caliber player, but luckily for them, James Harden didn't really work out in Philadelphia.

I'll still give Philadelphia a negative grade of A here for this trade, obviously giving up that first-round pick in 2023 didn't really mean much. and you hope to be fine in 2027 and with maxi and embiid you think they will and even though they only got a season and a half from James Harden that didn't result in anything from the second round, they held on, they didn't. I didn't trade Ben Simmons for a Bradley Beal or a mediocre package and Daryl Moy played so well and ended up getting James Harden who was still a top 25 player in the league at the time and obviously being how bad Ben Simmons is today in day.

Daryl Mury's work on this deal, okay, let's talk about the 2019 trade between the Houston Rockets and the OKC Thunder. I gave the rockets and props on the James Harden trade before, but right now I have a clown on you for this Russell Westbrook for Chris. Paul Trade After losing to a KD-less Warriors team in the 2019 playoffs, the Rockets decided to blow it up and trade Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Chris Paul and two future first-round picks and two future pick swaps , making this year the twelfth overall. The pick in this draft, the OKC Thunder will get from Houston from this steal, and OKC was just in the Western Conference semi-finals and they will also get the first round pickof Houston in 2026, and it's funny that Russell Westbrook has never been better.

From what Chris Paul was in Houston, they ended up beating Chris Paul's OKC Thunder team in seven games and this was a restructured Thunder team with Shay and Chris Paul in the bubble only to lose to the Lakers in five games in the semifinals of the Western Conference. I am giving this advertising feature for the Houston Rockets. This is definitely property. I don't think dear M would want to make this exchange. You really didn't go any further than you did with Chris Paul and gave up these first round picks that are hurting you today so yeah, you're getting a d here OKC, you're getting an A+, this was a great deal for them and then they were able to send Chris Paul to Phoenix a year later and get even more assets and this was pretty much at the peak of Russell Westbrook's career so great job from OKC here A+ and then it'll be a publicity for Houston man oh man, if I was making this video a year ago about Rudy Gobear being traded from the Utah Jazz to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves wouldn't get a good grade, but how much difference can one year make for Minnesota's wood roles? If they win a title this year this trade is an A+, for now I'll give it an A and for Utah. I also give it a chance. I thought they did a great job getting a great return for Rudy Goar, who definitely had a ceiling being Utah's second-best player, so basically Goar was traded for Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverly. Leandro Balo Walker Kessler Jared Vanderbelt a pick 2023 first round pick that ended up being Konay George and Utah is still getting a 2025 first pick, a 2026 pick swap, a 2027 first pick and a 2029 first pick, so yeah, big haul for the Utah Jazz and still We have so many picks that could end up being quite valuable to them in the future, but like I said for Minnesota, getting to the Conference Finals this year is a huge success and I think that has more to do with Anthony Edwards' jump to becoming in a superior player. in this league instead of this goar trade, if you had to pick the main reason for his jump this year, but obviously goar just won defensive player of the year, he's been phenomenal for them and him and Cat on the court forward together they proved to be Denver's kryptonite. with joic and Aaron Gordon so for now it will be an A for Minnesota, like I said it could be an A+ if they win a title this year but Utah did a great job of resetting the superstar trade market and it didn't happen that way. even a superstar, but the haul they got for him is still amazing today, which is why they are getting an A on this deal as well as a win-win trade and then a

couple

months later they traded Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers by oosa oazi Larry marinan.

Colin ston, a 2025 first round pick, a 2026 trade, a 2027 first round pick, a 2028 trade and a 2029 first round pick, so for Utah this is going to be once again, what a job Danny. I know you had a trade of your best players in franchise history in Donovan Mitchell to get this Hall, but getting Lry Markin, who was an All-Star in 2023 and the most improved player with a big contract, getting Colin Seon, who has been an underrated scoring guard off the bench for them, We were able to get a late first round pick in exchange for Oaji, who will be in this year's draft, so I think Utah did a phenomenal job in this trade by Cleveland.

I'm going to give it a B+ now, I don't think so. They regret this trade, especially if they can work out an extension with Donovan Mitchell. He is the best player they have had since LeBron James in his second stint in Cleveland and a sure change with Cleveland this offseason. If they extend Donovan Mitchell, maybe I'll go up. This is a bit, but if they trade him for obviously 50 on the dollar of this trade, that will affect the grade and obviously if he goes for nothing, this will be borderline an F, but for now, B plus for Cleveland.

For Utah, next we're going to talk about Blockbuster of the 2023 trade deadline. Kevin Durant was traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Suns. He was traded along with TJ Warren for Cam Johnson. Mel Bridges, a 2023 first-round pick that ended up. with Noah Clowney being a first in 2025, a first in 2027, a 2028 pick swapped in a 2029 first-round pick for the Nets. I'm giving you guys an a, this is a great return for Kevin Durant. I know it sucks that they had to move it, obviously. It was a great moment in franchise history to sign him in 2019, but they got a big haul and I think since Matt Isia took over this team, they're sacrificing their long-term outlook to try to win a championship right now with their Kevin.

Durant window, so these first round picks that will be in net possession in 2027 28 29 are going to be very valuable to Brooklyn because who knows what Phoenix will look like then because they are investing a lot of their capital in basically Five Guys next season The Big Three of Beal Booker and KD and then Grayson and Yousef Nurkic with the emergence of all these other young teams in the league like Dallas OKC Minnesota Memphis will be back San Antonio is on the rise I don't know I know if Phoenix is ​​going to win a title with this core, so Brooklyn will get a big grade here for Phoenix, although I'll give it a B+ at the end of the day.

It's Kevin Durant. I think they really screwed this up. when they traded for Bradley Beal and I'm not going to talk about that trade in this video, but obviously that hasn't aged well at all, but you have Kevin Durant, one of the greatest players of all time and the reason they lost in the round. two last year or the first round this year is not because of KD, they have been the pieces around him, but if they don't win a title with KD or they have to leave him or he requests a trade, this trade could drop drastically and Virtually it What made this trade fail was that a week earlier, Kyrie Irving requested a trade from Brooklyn, the Nets traded him to the Dallas Mavericks with Marie Morris for Spencer dwy Dorian finy Smith, a future second, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2029.

Secondly, I mean, obviously, for Kyrie Irving and a player of his caliber, this is not a great return for Brooklyn, but they had no influence on this steal. Kyrie had an expiring contract, he was a serious case in Boston, he was a serious case in Brooklyn at the time, so yeah, they had no influence on this deal, but honestly, for what they got for him, it's not the worst of the world. You have no idea what that 2029 first-round pick might be. If LC is in Dallas, it might not be great. but I'll still give them a B+ and get a somewhat solid return for Kyrie.

I mean, if they had moved Dorian vny Smith for two more first-round picks at a time when they had that offer on the table, this would have been even. better, but they didn't do that, as for Dallas, you'll get an A+ from me, they're in the Conference Finals this year with Kyrie as their second best player, they extended him. I know last year was a disaster, but this year has really stepped up his role as a secondary option on this team and it's really cool to have taken on this role specifically. I think it will carry over with them this offseason and if they win a title like this, it will justify the A+ even more. you have a top 25 player in the league for something you would give up for, maybe as a top 75 player, in June 2022, the San Antonio Spurs traded their best player at the time and Deonte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks with jock londell. for denil galinari a 2023 first a 2025 first a 2026 pick swap and a 2027 first round pick the 2023 first didn't convey because it was a Charlotte protected pick, but what a trade by the San Antonio Spurs sending Jonay Murray who had two years left on his contract at his maximum value and getting multiple first-round picks in return for him was great, it didn't work out in Atlanta for San Antonio.

I give this an A+ for Atlanta. I'm giving him a C+ right now and It's funny because Deon Murray in Atlanta has played well when he's not on the court with Trey Young, they've had two disappointing seasons with this duo together and there's even a chance Atlanta could move from Trey Young to Jonay Murray this offseason, so Atlanta definitely. Regret this trade 100% as Antonio has some really valuable picks in the future, it seems like especially if the Hawks trade Murray or Trey Young this offseason and maybe take a step back, so Lakers I congratulate you before and I give you. your props for his hype trade give him an A+ there but right now I have to give him an f grade for this next trade it will be the Russell Westbrook trade from Washington to Los Angeles so this was in the 2021 offseason , the Lakers came out. a title in 2020, but had a disappointing first-round exit against the Phoenix Suns in 2021.

He was hurt in the series and pretty much the front office owners just panicked and wanted to trade for Russell Westbrook. He was coming off a good statistical season in Washington but man oh man this trade didn't work out they basically traded Russell Westbrook from the Wizards to the Lakers in exchange for kcp yes one of the most valuable players on Denver's championship team last year, Kyle Kozma, who had a real apartment extended to him in Washington DC. spacing power forward Mont Herold on a first-round pick that ended up being Isaiah Jackson in the 2021 draft for Russell Westbrook, the Lakers didn't even make the playoffs in the 2022 season and traded Russell Westbrook and had to add a top four of 20 27. protected first round pick only to get rid of him at the 2023 trade deadline, which was a good move for them at the time, but yeah, this will definitely be an F for the Lakers and an A+ for the Wizards, what a deal for Washington too.

I guess for Phoenix Suns fans, I know I held onto you a little bit for that KD trade back in early November 2020, although you did an amazing job trading for Chris Paul, you got Abell Nater and Chris Paul in return by Ty Jome Kelly UB. rookie Rubio and a 2022 first round pick and he ended up going to Denver and that pick was pton Watson, but yeah, this is an A+ for Phoenix. You really didn't give up that much to get a franchise caliber point guard to help you go to the NBA Finals in 2021 and for OKC it's ab, they were a rebuilding team and they got a decent amount in exchange for Chris Ball who obviously didn't it had the most trade value in the world, so I thought it was a solid trade for both of us. teams, but obviously for Phoenix this is one of their best trades in recent memory, we have a win-win trade, Damont Sabonis for Tyrese Halton, so the full details of where this Tyrese Halberton and Buddy Heeld trade went were from Sacramento to Indiana along with Tristan Thompson for Justin Jeremy Lamb's vacation damont sabonis and a future 2023 second round pick that was sent to Boston so I'm not going to give this the same letter grade all the way around.

I'll give it an A+ for Indiana. and an a for Sacramento Halberton is four years younger than Damont Sabonis Halberton was an All-Star starter this year, had a great start to the year, then got hurt and didn't really play up to what he did in the first half during the entire second half, but he led the Indiana Pacers to an appearance in the Conference Finals, in my opinion, as the best player on the team. I think he's better than Pascal Cakam and I know Sabonis plays in the Western Conference, it's a much more competitive conference than right in the East.

Now, and Damont Sabonis was great this year, don't get me wrong and that's why they're getting an A grade for this trade and they had to separate Fox and Halberton. It seemed like I think that's just Halberton's ceiling as a player. a little taller than damont sabonis and i think having him as a franchise guard is a little more valued than having damont sabonis as his franchise big man, but like i said at the beginning, it's pretty much a win-win trade. I'm tearing my hair out at this point and lastly, I just wanted to talk about a trade that I'm making a big deal out of.

It was basically Russell Westbrook going to the Washington Wizards from the Houston Rockets in exchange for John Wall in a 2023 Lottery protected. first round pick that ended up being traded to OKC on drift night in 2021 to cut Shenon and then OKC moved her to New York, but yeah, I think this trade in a vacuum, although I think it just looks like it's not it worked. Washington, it didn't really work out for Houston at all. I guess the plus side is that they use that pick to get Al perun shingun if you want to look at it that way, but yeah, I feel like a lot of people forget about this trade.

It's pretty forgettable, obviously Trigg could be on the list with some other trades that were made. II'm talking, obviously, a great job by Boston in getting Derek White, the Denver Nuggets, in getting Aaron Gordon, Orlando moving away from Nico Vuich, which ended up going to Vagner, Wend Carter Jr and Jen Howard. or Portland Trading C mccullin, maybe the time is right so let me know what you think of these trades in the comments below and if you agree or disagree with any of my ratings here, please subscribe if you're not already for everything NBA content like this I love you guys and I will see you in the next peace