NBA 2025 Trade Deadline Winners and Losers

The NBA Trade deadline has passed, and it’s shaken up the entire league

This past week in the NBA has completely changed the way the league is shaped.

Seriously, who had Luka Doncic getting traded on their bingo cards? The league is shaken up and it’s clear many teams have moved around on the pecking order of contenders and pretenders. But who won at the deadline? And who lost?

Winner: The Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers swung one of the biggest trades in league history when they took Anthony Davis and flipped him for Luka Doncic. That’s right, one of the young superstars, billed as one of the future faces of the league, was traded from a team he just had taken to the Finals for a guy Los Angeles has been trying to find a way to offload.

Luka for Anthony Davis was certainly one of the best moves the Lakers could make. AN aging and injury-prone AD wasn’t offering much for the long term plans the Lakers might have had, but a 25 year old Luka Doncic certainly is a piece they can build around for at least the next 7 to 8 years.

Loser: Everyone involved with the Dallas Mavericks

Dallas is screwed. Coming off a Finals appearance and adding Klay Thompson, you’d imagine the Mavericks would be in a great position to win the NBA finals. Yet, a mix of injuries and inconsistency has led to the Mavs being put into selling mode at the deadline.

And sell they did, offloading the future of their franchise to the Lakers. I see no way in which Anthony Davis is an upgrade for Dallas. The contract looks friendlier and AD is known for defense, but you can’t just trade away a hall-of-fame caliber player because you’re scared to pay him and are worried about defense or conditioning. Luka is an all time great in the making.

Nico Harrison should be fired, Mavs fans are screwed over, and the supporting cast is a mishmash of guys who were all supposed to be helping Luka finish the job. There is no winner in Dallas.

Winner: The San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs found themselves in a buyers position at the deadline as they are close to the NBA’s playoff picture. Victor Wembanyama has been unreal this season, but the Spurs have been missing the final pieces necessary to push them into the contender status. Chris Paul has been a serviceable point guard, and Stephon Castle has played well as the future of the position in San Antonio in his rookie year.

However, getting a disgruntled star in De’Aaron Fox from the Kings for a low price is a major win for the Spurs. Fox and Wemby now are a powerful duo who will be making noise in the NBA’s Western Conference. Bigger still is the fact they kept Castle and Paul, keeping the Spurs strong.

Loser: The Milwaukee Bucks

It’s not a great time to be a Milwaukee Buck. On the fringes between being a contender in the NBA with Giannis and Damian Lillard, they have had limited success. The supporting cast hasn’t been all that great, but the Bucks are well within playoff striking distance. You’d think at the deadline, they would make some moves to try and keep building around the Giannis and Dame duo while possibly shedding some salary, right?

Well, they made one move, and that was to take the struggling Khris Middleton and ship him to the Wizards for Kyle Kuzma. Middleton has been inconsistent recently, but he hasn’t been bad. In fact, it was only a few days before the trade when he dropped a crisp 21 points against the Spurs.

Now, Middleton is forced to be in the dumpster that is the Washington Wizards, and the Bucks got a huge downgrade in Kuzma, who has not been having a great season and does not figure to help the Bucks push for the NBA title. Kuzma’s struggles do not help MIlwaukee at all, and losing a veteran in Middleton puts the Bucks in a weird place on the cusp of fully rebuilding. The Greek Freak’s days with the Bucks could very well be numbered.

Winner: Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler has spent the entirety of this season being the biggest diva in the NBA. Constantly complaining and quitting on the Heat as he reaches the end of his prime, Butler wanted to be a winner- and be paid handsomely.

Golden State was interested in getting Butler, and shipped off pieces of their young core in order to pair Butler with Steph Curry. It’s an intriguing move for the middling Warriors, but a great move for Butler. It gives him a chance to win and pairs him with the greatest shooter in the NBA. He also is getting paid with a new 2 year extension from the Warriors Pat Riley surely wouldn’t have dished out.

Overall, Butler made the best move for himself short term, and the Heat recouped young Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson in exchange. The only problem comes from Golden State making the move for Butler instead of gathering assets for a rebuild, only delaying the inevitable when Curry and Draymond Green retire. Keeping Jonathan Kuminga was a good move, but he can only take you so far.

Loser: The Phoenix Suns

The hope was that the Suns would be able to shed some of their extremely expensive contracts at the deadline from a superteam that was clearly not working out. The rumors around Kevin Durant being traded swirled, but nothing materialized. All Phoenix did was offload a future pick in the NBA draft for some future draft capital and dumping the salary of Jusef Nurkic.

But Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Durant all remain in the valley, all owed gargantuan amounts of money and not winning anything anytime soon. Maybe they set their asking prices too high, or maybe it’s the fact that the Suns are shelling out insane amounts of money to these guys, but either way, Phoenix isn’t in a good place to contend and will likely be in the Play-In tournament this spring.

Winner: The Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs are one of the best teams in the NBA right now, but that doesn’t mean they had to stay pat at the deadline. Not when they’re in a conference with the Boston Celtics, reigning NBA champs. Cleveland had some moves to make to ensure they stayed at the top of the Eastern Conference.

The Cavs sent a few pieces to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for DeAndre Hunter, a solid wing who provides depth and shooting when healthy. Health is a big concern for Hunter, who otherwise provides major value at the wing position for Cleveland on thei way to a hopeful NBA Finals appearance.

Loser: The Sacramento Kings

The Kings seem to be completely directionless. Just a few seasons ago, the Kings were contenders in the playoffs, and seemed to be one of the best up-and-coming teams in the NBA. The core could have taken advantage of an aging Western Conference and become a really solid Finals team with a few solid moves in the off-seasons that followed a playoff appearance in 2022.

Now, they sit without their leader De’Aaron Fox, and yet they didn’t pick up a lot in exchange. A young gun with superstar potential for Fox? That seems like a good trade, yet the Kings only ended up with Zach LaVine. And this version of LaVine has found his trade value at an all time low due to health concerns and a low level of play. Not the greatest moves to make if you want to contend in the NBA.

YouTube

Please also help us continue growing on our YouTube Channel by subscribing if you haven’t already. Also like and comment on any videos you enjoy! Thank you for your support and we hope you continue to tune in!

Community

Are you on discord or facebook? Join our server/groups to jump in the conversation, stay up to 

date on your favorite leagues and give us your hot takes. You can also promote your content!

Shady Sports Discord Server

Shady Sports Facebook Group

The NHL Great Fanbase

The Real Sports Zone