11 Takes on a Strange NBA Trade Deadline
NBA Substack on this year's trade season and what it all means going forward
We asked 11 leading NBA voices on Substack:
Your take on the 2026 NBA trade deadline?
Check out their answers and subscribe!
Marc Stein | The Stein Line
Delightfully busy ... assuming you’re into trades.
Even as we get deeper into the NBA’s Aprons Era, action prevailed. Numerous recent All-Stars were traded and we went from only one consummated deal as of last Friday (Trae Young to Washington) to 25+ deals (official count TBD).
I’m sure it will be chronicled as a Dudline in some corners because Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant and Domantas Sabonis stayed put. The counter: James Harden, Darius Garland, Jaren Jackson Jr., Nikola Vučević and Anthony Davis all got traded within the last four days. Washington (Davis and Young) and Utah (JJJ) saw trade opportunities that enabled them to take big swings now rather than preserving their projected salary cap space for free agency.
The Aprons have certainly complicated team-building in a lot of ways, but Trade Season — for the third straight winter under this new CBA — was robust.
Mark Whicker | The Morning After
Harden/Mitchell in the same backcourt? Bulls unloading Dosunmu — don’t you have to build something before you rebuild? Clippers trading Zubac just as they’re beginning to win? 76ers letting McCain go? Mavericks officially confirming they traded Dončić for nothing?
I ask myself these questions. Meanwhile, Celtics get Vučević, which might just make for Championship No. 19.
Jonathan Macri | Knicks Film School
The 2026 NBA Trade Deadline was predictably unpredictable.
Sure, there were some moves that we may not have expected — AD to Washington, Zu to Indy, JJJ to Utah, and of course, the Harden-for-Garland swap — but the logic behind all of those transactions was understandable in retrospect.
Even teams like the Kings and Bulls that tend to come out on the lesser end of the transaction game were operating within the logical (if poorly executed) confines.
Maybe it’s just the residual shock of the Luka trade one year later, but this deadline felt incredibly tame compared to the norm.
Jake Fischer | The People’s Insider | Contributor to The Stein Line
This year was another example of just how prevalent “pre-agency” has become in the NBA.
It’s not just for players who want to find a new team that will deliver a payday they wouldn’t have gotten from their incumbent team — like James Harden and Trae Young. It’s also for teams looking to add players they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford with cap space this summer — see the Timberwolves’ addition of Ayo Dosunmu.
The Utah Jazz filled their expected cap space this summer by prying Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Grizzlies. The Wizards followed up their Young acquisition with Anthony Davis to use up their own summer spending power.
Is free agency dead? Not necessarily. The Lakers will look to be real players in the summer. The Nets have a ton to spend. The Bulls loom with all kinds of wonky optionality.
But teams are working ahead of a schedule more than ever before — as evidenced by Indiana’s aggressive move to add Ivica Zubac now, so that he’ll be ready to help Tyrese Haliburton contend for a title in 2027.
Pre-agency has arrived.
Elio Martínez | 82 partidos
When it comes to managing assets, intelligence is vital to build a viable project in the medium- and long-term, even if players change teams incessantly.
Four examples from this trade deadline:
The Clippers are preparing for the future without tanking.
The Pacers replaced Myles Turner, but at half the salary.
The Cavs cleaned up their payroll while doubling down to win the 2026 NBA title.
The Wizards are transforming themselves without sacrificing their future.
Some teams play chess, not checkers.
Keith Smith | The Basketball Bulletin
My take on the trade deadline is that no one should ever say again that it will be slow or boring or that the CBA has made trades too hard.
This was the third deadline with the current CBA, and each has featured blockbuster trades. As Jurassic Park taught us, “Life finds a way.”
NBA teams are motivated by a lot of factors (loading up for a run, rebuilding, saving tax money, etc.), and the trade deadline never disappoints with action.
Mike Shearer | Basketball Poetry
Everyone hates offense-first guards. Nobody wanted Ja Morant. Nobody wanted Cam Thomas, not even his incumbent team, who dumped him. Washington was willing to take Trae Young if the price was a moldy bag of chips and some couch change. Coby White didn’t return a first; Darius Garland’s eight good toes returned, uh, James Harden.
One curious exception didn’t get the memo: Chicago, who zagged by adding a quartet of the least fashionable archetype in the league. I respect the commitment to the bit.
Aaron Bollwinkel | Live. Breathe. Ball.
I’m old enough to remember when all the chatter was that the new CBA had killed the trade market. So much for that! This trade season felt as wild and active as any I can remember.
What the new CBA has done is severely deflate the value of players who are in line for extensions, making some exciting young talent and big names eminently gettable at relatively paltry prices.
As a fan of chaos, I’m here for all of it.
Kike García | NBA con Contexto
Second apron or not, trades find a way. Since the signing of the current collective bargaining agreement, we were warned that the restrictions could slow down the trade deadline, but we’ve continued to see a high volume of trades regardless.
Even if they are smaller ones, trades always find a way … especially with James Harden. He always finds a way, too.
Jacob Sutton | JSuttHoops
One particular trade caught my eye: The Pacers/Clippers Zubac deal.
To get Zubac from the Clips, Indiana gave up both their unprotected 2029 first and this year’s first, with a strange protection range: 1-4 and 10-30. In other words, they’re taking a risky gamble here that we rarely see.
Indiana has top-3 odds in the lottery at the moment, but with Zubac, they could end up being too good too late, making the weird 5-9 range a distinct possibility.
Ray LeBov | Basketball Intelligence Newsletter
Fascinating fact: The published grades by knowledgeable analysts for the Wizards’ side of the Anthony Davis trade ranged from A to F, with virtually every grade in between present and accounted for.
I can’t recall ever seeing anything remotely similar to that sort of nearly all-inclusive range for any trade in any previous year.
Love the range of perspectives here. The observation about pre-agency becoming the new norm is spot on tho, teams are basically treating the trade deadline like free agency 2.0 to lock down guys they cant afford otherwise. Back in 2022 I watched my team miss out on targets in actual free agency because everyone already had thier money locked up. Maybe thats why this deadline felt more impactful than July signings lately.
if you look at the NFL front offices you see mostly ex players and coaches. In seam, you see old time baseball men making decisions. Not in hoop. As kelley dwyer once noted, its the cufflinks and cologne crew. And this level of stupid for sacremento, washington and dallas is hard to fathom honestly.. Look at the wizards draft picks: to be kind I ll start with deni avidjas the best pick (then traded!!!!!), and then corey kispert, which is a push, if Im kind, then yannick nzosa... never did play in the NBA (ok he was late 2nd round), then johnny davis (ouch), then tracey jacckson davis, taken late 2nd, but they didnt develop him either, and jarace walker, which was, i felt and still do, a good pick but hes not with washington either, but was traded to the pacers for Bilal Couliby . Then ....kyshawn george, bub carrington, alex sarr, tre johnson. IMHO not one of any of these picks is an NBA player. Couliaby might be, but seems injury prone. This is why washington is the dregs of the East. The pick after corey kispert was Aspern Senguin. Two picks AFTER johnny davis was jalen williams and jalen duren, and after Alex Sarr was reed sheppard and stephen castle. My point is the league should talk to the Wizards, hold an intervention. For the Kings, too. This is team malpractice. Now they have trae young, which is ok, at least entertaining, but it wont help you win. And now Anthony Davis ffs. A washed up cripple who was always overrated anyway. Good now he can clog up the middle for trae. AND DALLAS....its too painful to discuss. The death of the franchise. Why did the cavs get harden AFTER they got keon ellis???????? Because donovan mitchell thought it was a good idea (do not let star players make roster decisions). Ellis was a great pick up. Even schroder has value and use. Harden? Not so much as he is unplayable post season. Zubac to the pacers....i simply cannot explain the clippers front office. I already commented on JJJ to utah, but i dont like the move. Utah's drafts under AINGEL rival the wizards for stupidity. The only team to improve is memphis.....if.... if.....IF.... they draft well.-