A historic NBA Trade Deadline has passed, and Andrew Schlecht and Fred Katz are here to break down what happened and hand out Trade Awards. The awards consist of: - Pau Gasol Award - the trade that makes a team a true contender - PJ Washington Award - goes to the trade that most people didn’t like, but we think could really pay off in the Playoffs - Gordon Hayward Award - a trade that most everyone praises but it will reveal a player is washed - Poeltl Award - to the team that gave up a first round pick for a player and everyone will question it all of next season- Mike Conley Award - a trade for a veteran that will end up helping turn a team around- Simone Fontecchio award - the trade that NBA sickos obsess over, but won’t move the needle at all- Bogdanovic and Burks award - to the most overrated trade of the deadline Host: Andrew Schlecht With: Fred KatzExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio/Video Editor: Jake Kleinberg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened during the NBA Trade Deadline?
Welcome to the Saturday Slammin' Jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show, my good buddy Fred Katz joins to hand out some trade awards in just what was an insane week of trades here with the NBA. Fred, how was your last 24 to 72 hours? Sleepless?
Exhausting. Still trying to get over that Charlotte, Oklahoma City trade where they just traded a 2029 second rounder for a 2030 second rounder.
So that like a pick might convey. I mean, come on.
Unquestionably, my favorite trade of the trade deadline. It was... It was reminiscent of the KZ Akpala pick protection removal. That's right.
That's right.
Years ago that all of us remember so well.
It's one of those trades that you know that there are maybe one or two people in your life that you can talk to that trade about. And the vast majority of people just have no interest whatsoever.
But here's the thing. Two things. Number one, there are one or two people in your life where you can talk about it. But the one or two people in your life you can talk about it with, you can talk about it for like seven hours. And what's amazing is none of the people that you can talk about it with are people listening to this podcast. And that's how we decided to start the show.
So that's exactly right.
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Chapter 2: Who won the Pau Gasol Award for the best trade?
Because it's Luka Doncic to the Lakers. And we've talked about this on many podcasts. I'm sure that you have heard about it if you're listening to this show. But I think that there's nothing else out there, in my opinion. Yes?
Yeah, I mean, it's it's Luka Doncic to the Lakers for a really small package. It's it's a star going to the Lakers for a really small package. Same thing as Pau Gasol. And you know what? The Pau Gasol trade in retrospect ended up being a lot better for Memphis than we realized because there was a completely forgotten guy who was in that deal who nobody thought anything of at the time of the trade.
It happened to be Pau Gasol's brother, Mark, who ended up being a defensive player of the year. and an awesome player and a deserving Hall of Famer, in my opinion. So, you know, maybe Max Christie is going to make the Hall of Fame. Or maybe that Luka trade wasn't as good for the Mavs as it was for the Lakers. But to be clear, I don't think the Lakers are contenders right now.
The difference between the two trades is like, Powertrade made the Lakers title contenders with the Powertrade. I think the Lakers need a little bit more. And I think the Lakers can be contenders maybe next year. I think they need an offseason to kind of add to the roster to bring in a little more perimeter defense. I need to see...
Mark Williams in a winning environment before I know that he's going to be an okay backline defender. If he defends the rim the way he did in Charlotte, which he might not. It's totally possible he might not. But if he does, then the Lakers defense will be in a different situation. So we'll see. But it's definitely the Luka trade.
It's not the DeAndre Hunter move for Cleveland, even though I like that move a lot.
Yeah, no. I mean, this is the one. So where would you put the Lakers in the West at this point as far as contenders in the Western Conference?
Obviously behind Oklahoma City. I think I would put them behind Oklahoma City.
It's tough. Would you put them behind Denver? I think that I'd probably have Denver just due to continuity, and we've seen those guys do it.
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Chapter 3: Which trade received the PJ Washington Award?
really not good this year too and yeah if you can figure out a way like if you have lebron and luca on the court at all times like you're probably gonna eviscerate the non-yokage minutes like you're gonna imagine if you can always have either lebron or luca or maybe both in the game when you'll be we should be able to do that yes you're going to destroy the non-yokage minutes.
So maybe the Lakers go from having lost to Denver a few times to being an okay matchup with Denver now because of this trade. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they are right up there. I think Memphis, even though they play a style that people wonder about because it's a lot of isolation and cuts, and I think there are a lot of people in the league who are skeptical about how it might work in the postseason.
I think Memphis is really good. I think they got a chance. I think Houston's got a chance also. They just play ridiculously physical defense. And I know we're all counting out Dallas because they made this ridiculous trade where they gave away Luka Doncic. But they're still really good. if they're healthy, like they're still deep, they still have talent. They're going to defend.
If you have lively and Anthony Davis protecting the backend, like you are going to be really, really difficult to score on at the rim. It's going to be really difficult to create corner threes. Like that team is still going to be really good. I think I would, I think I'd consider them in that class too. So maybe the Lakers are better than I'm saying. I'm talking to three.
Yeah. Yeah. I kind of think I would put the Lakers at three. I've been asking people this question because it's fascinating and terrifying if you're one of these teams, but only two out of these six teams are going to make the playoffs. Clippers, Mavs, Suns, Kings, Warriors, and Spurs to make the playoffs. Who would you put in there? Because I kind of like where the top six is right now.
OKC, Memphis, Denver, Houston, Lakers, and then the Timberwolves. I just have a hard time believing the Timberwolves will not be in that mix there at the end of the season. You could consider them in this mix, too, if you'd like. But out of those teams that I just listed, only two will make the playoffs. Who would you put there today?
I think Sacramento got worse, clearly losing De'Aaron Fox and making some of the deals that they made. I'm going to say Sacramento falls out. I don't think Golden State is good enough, even with Jimmy Butler. Maybe we'll talk about Jimmy Butler. I think the hole for San Antonio is too large also. And I think Dallas is legitimately good.
Like Dallas will get in there and the Clippers defend every single night. That team is second in the league in points allowed per possession. They're not going to get less out of Kawhi Leonard and the rest of the season than they've gotten so far this year. Norm Powell is having a great year for them. I thought the Bogdanovich trade was good for them.
Terrence Mann is a nice player, and they just extended him. But he has really struggled the last couple of months. And I think the Bogdanovich trade is going to make them better. He's a really good movement shooter. Ty Lue is really good with movement shooters. He's going to be an extra creator in their bench unit as well. He's a good addition for them. I think they got better.
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Chapter 4: What trade is highlighted for being overrated?
we'll see how Kevin Durant responds to the fact that like the sun's just randomly started trying to trade them out of nowhere for Jimmy Butler.
When we still, in what world is that an okay trade? Like why, why would you even consider that? I don't, I don't, I don't understand that at all.
I don't know. I don't know the answer. I don't know the answer at all. And, you know, all these teams are calling about KD. And then they put out that 2.58, two minutes before the deadline, that, you know what? We're keeping Kevin Durant. That's it. We're keeping Kevin Durant. Yeah, that's right. At 2.59, we're giving the heads up. Like...
who knows how he is going to react to that in, on a team that I think is already not super tight behind the scenes. I don't think there are like, I don't think they're like at each other's throats, but they're not a super tight team to begin with. And it comes through in the way they play. And I just, I don't have a lot of faith in what's going on there.
After I was really high on the suns coming into the year, I thought they were going to be a really good regular season team.
Yeah, they had a nice offseason. And now, I mean, they had to sell off Yusuf Nurkic, basically. And that's all they did after spinning their wheels for days. It's weird.
I think they messed up the Nurkic trade, too. Okay, tell me. All right. So they make this trade with Utah where they trade their 2031 unprotected for Zach Lowe calls it the Horcrux, right? It's a Harry Potter reference. Where Voldemort split his soul into a bunch of different pieces and left it in a bunch of different places.
And they traded their 2031 first rounder, which was the only first rounder they had, for three crappy first round picks that are all heavily protected slash swaps.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: Which veteran trade is expected to turn a team around?
So they traded three seconds for Nick Richards. Then they traded one of the firsts to get off of Nurkic and bring back expirings. But if they had done it in reverse and they'd gotten the firsts first, then they could just attach one of the firsts to Nurkic, which maybe would be enough to bring back an expiring and Nick Richards.
And if it's not, maybe throw in a second rounder or something like that. And then not only are you keeping two second round picks that you had to give up or one second round pick maybe that you had to give up, You're also holding on to Josh Akogi, who you signed to an $8.3 million contract before this season with the purpose of trading him in a deal that you traded for Nick Richards.
So now you can attach what's remaining, maybe another first round pick, maybe all the seconds, maybe some of the seconds. You can attach those to Akogi and you can make another move for a player who makes less than $8.3 million. So I feel like they did it backwards. I feel like they rushed to get Nick Richards. They were like, we cannot survive another second without Nick Richards.
And if they just hadn't rushed to get Nick Richards, who has been fine, but is a backup center, then they could have made out with more total. They could have traded Okoge for something else if they wanted to.
Yeah. Just... I mean, they are like... There's been some more than like I was going to say, like their death by a thousand cuts, you know, kind of death for them. But there's been like some really big mistakes.
And this this is one of like the small mistakes that like really good franchises that do things, you know, in a quote unquote, the right way, just don't do like they don't make moves like this. Like they don't they don't make trades like this. It's pretty wild. Let's go on to our next one, which is the P.J.
Washington Award, which goes to the trade that most people didn't like, but this could possibly really pay off in the playoffs. Who you got?
Well, P.J. Washington was like wallowing in Charlotte and we didn't know what kind of habits he would bring once he left Charlotte. Right. It was like, is he actually not a defender? Is he actually like a sometimes defender or is this just the circumstances around him? And it's really hard for somebody to shine when they're in a losing situation like that.
Turns out he went there and he was, he was in a winning situation. He made out well. So I'm not a hundred percent confident in this prediction. However, I do feel like all these signifiers are there. And I'm going to say Mark Williams is the guy who best exemplifies this. The Lakers gave up a lot for Mark Williams. I don't blame Charlotte at all for doing that trade. They got an unprotected first.
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Chapter 6: What does the Gordon Hayward Award signify?
Yeah, they got an unprotected first. They got a swap. They got Dalton Connect out of it, who could be a nice scorer moving forward. That was a good move. For Charlotte, that was a really good move when Mark Williams struggles to stay healthy. His defensive effort is very questionable. And he's extension eligible this summer.
And you're going to have to pay him a decent amount of money in all likelihood. That being said. Like, opponents are shooting 68% on dunks and layups when he's the closest defender this year. That's a really bad number. That is really bad. He is, according to the advanced numbers, one of the worst rim protectors in the NBA. He's also 7'2". He can jump out of the gym. He's got a 9'9 standing reach.
Literally, he stands under the basket and puts his hands over his head and his fingertips are one inch short of the rim. He has the physical tools. it's just not always there. But if you give him LeBron and for what it's worth, I think JJ Redick is a pretty good X's nose coach. They, they, they run nice stuff. Like you give him LeBron, you give him JJ Redick, you give him smart basketball people.
It might look totally different. You give him a competitive environment. Like it might look totally different. And you might be saying the same thing about him defensively that we were saying about PJ Washington defensively last year when PJ Washington was great during Dallas's playoff run. So I'm not just like looking at the defense in Charlotte and being like, Oh, I'm out on Mark Williams.
He's 23. People evolve depending on the circumstances around them. And maybe he won't. Maybe this is who he is independent of his situation, but yeah, I think it's very reasonable to believe that he can get much better there.
Yeah. I also had Mark Williams here. I also just think offensively, it's going to be amazing. Like if you want to have a lob threat and a athletic big man to pair with Luka Doncic, like you just want to. And I'm sure there's a lot of ways that could have gone about this.
You wonder if you would have said, hey, we have Dalton Connect in the 2031 first round pick, which might be the most talked about draft pick ever. How many times have we heard about this particular draft pick? Like so much. But he I think that he's going to be amazing on the offensive end for them. I think he's also just an amazing offensive rebounder, too.
And so I think offensively, it's going to be an incredible match. And then like defensively, we'll see. The numbers are very bad. Like one of I mean, he's he's basically in line with like the same kind of rim defense as like Damanis Sabonis. And like we all know what that means. And so I there's definitely concerns there. But yeah, I think Mark Williams is going to be.
I think he's going to be a good addition to the Lakers. OK, next category is the Gordon Hayward Award, a trade that most people praised, but it will reveal that this player is washed or maybe not as good as we thought. Shout out to Gordon Hayward, who just refused to shoot the basketball and like one of like the weirdest things.
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Chapter 7: Why is the Purtle Award significant in trade discussions?
Okay. Not as consequential a situation as Gordon Hayward was in with a one seed last year. Yeah. But Valanchunas is putting up, Valanchunas was putting up numbers in Washington. When I watched him play, I was like, well, there's a very clear reason why Jonas Valanchunas is putting up numbers in Washington.
And it's because he is going out there and he's like, I'm going to handle getting my numbers in Washington. And it's very easy to get your numbers in Washington because nobody else is getting the numbers in Washington other than Kyle Kuzma, who we might talk about.
Somebody's got to score the points.
Somebody's got to score the points. He does not look to get into any action when he gets the basketball. He's kind of stylistically the exact opposite player of DeMontis Sabonis. I am curious to see how the Kings even use him. It's a weird one. I don't. I don't hate it. Maybe he'll just put up numbers and it'll be fine.
But I could totally see a situation where it's like, this is not the dude who we thought it was.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, it's just kind of like their backup center and they have gone all in on offense only. You know, you get Zach Levine, you get Valanchunas. They do not seem to be concerned about the defensive end of the court at all. And so they'll be fun. I think they'll be a fun, fun, like post trade deadline team. There's kind of see how it all works.
But yeah, I have Kyle Kuzma here, another wizard. Are we 100% sure that even though Chris Middleton is limited and he can't play the minutes that you want him to anymore, are we 100% sure that Kyle Kuzma is going to help the Bucks be a better team? Because he's been one of the worst players in the NBA this season.
And I'm just not totally convinced that you should have given up a swap or really should have traded for him at all.
and so i i just i don't like this i know a lot of people have talked about how this feels like the beginning of the end for the bucks and like the how sad it is as a bucks fan to see a guy like chris middleton go for a guy like kyle kuzma i'm just not 100 sure that this would be the guy that you would want coming in and replacing those minutes i know he can play more which is about the only argument that i've heard that maybe makes a little bit of sense is that he can play more
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Chapter 8: What mistakes did teams make during the trade deadline?
If Kuzma plays the way he did in Washington, then him playing more is not helpful. No, because he was extremely, he was the tank commander. He was, he was, he's been the single most detrimental player to his team's hopes of winning in the NBA this season.
shot selection defensive intensity defensive decision making i actually have a note in my friday morning notebook about kuzma it's funny you met you mentioned kuzma for this and i mentioned williams because i had written this i sent this to you before you sent me the awards for the podcast and i literally called the section of my notebook the pj washington corollary and i wrote about williams and kuzma as the two guys who fit the pj washington corollary
And there's a sequence that I mentioned that Kyle Kuzma had two weeks ago. which I was like the worst decision of the NBA season was not made by anybody making a trade.
It was Kyle Kuzma for these 20 seconds when he grabbed a defensive rebound, went the other way, pulled up for a 21 foot two pointer with both of his feet inside the three point arc, like just barely with 21 seconds on the shot clock, just clanked it. Kevin Durant got the rebound and, Kuzma was guarding Kevin Durant in the other end, and Durant was on the left wing, didn't have the ball.
15 seconds later, Devin Booker tried a step-back move from the mid-range, like 15 feet away from Kuzma. And Kuzma... just sprinted away from Durant and flew at Devin Booker. Like, oh, no way is this guy going to shoot this contested fadeaway 16-footer without me getting in his face. And he just flew by him. And Booker was just like, Booker, Booker.
You can't see his face because the back of his head from the TV camera. I like to think that Booker smiled. I like to think that he smiled based on how the muscles in the back of his head showed. I like to think that he smiled as Kuzma just soared by him.
That's a new level of body language.
Yeah. Soared by him. And Kuzma just unperturbed, just passed it out to Kevin Durant and hit a wide open three because Kuzma decided not to guard him. And it's like, You know who never does that? Chris Middleton. Chris Middleton may not stay on the floor, but you know who's shooting 50 from the field and 40 from three right now? Chris Middleton. You know who's going to make the right decisions?
Chris Middleton. You know how I watched 24, 9, and 5 in a playoff series like nine months ago? Chris Middleton. It gets them out of the second apron.
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