NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone, and there were plenty of big names left on their respective rosters.

Rumours were floating around all week about moves being made for the likes of Dejounte Murray, Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso to name a few, but all have stayed put.

There were plenty of winners and losers though on deadline day, and a team everyone loves is high on that list of winners!

Winners:

• New York Knicks: What an end to deadline this was for the Knicks! New York made the move for OG Anunoby first things first a few weeks ago and it was known they were not done there. Enter Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. The two sharp shooters come out of the lowly ranks of the Detroit Pistons to the heights of the top out East. This move makes the Knicks an immediate threat to the heavy hitters (Boston, Cleveland and Milwaukee) and just about locks them in as a Top 4 seed. As long as Julius Randle can stay healthy, the Knicks are every chance of getting to the Eastern Conference Finals at the very least and give this thing a shake!
• Dallas Mavericks: Dallas made a move to acquire PJ Washington from the Charlotte Hornets in a move to upgrade their wings. They desperately needed something like this, given outside of Luka and Kyrie, it’s pretty slim pickings for another auto threat. Josh Green remaining on their roster is also a win for the Mavs and Aussie Hoops fans, as they continue their charge to an auto playoff spot (avoiding the play-in) and gives them a chance at knocking off one of the higher seeds out West in round 1 when the playoffs begin in a couple of months.
• OKC Thunder: As much as it would’ve been good to see the Thunder acquire a big man to help out Chet Holmgren come playoff time, the addition of Gordon Hayward is a big help to this team. The experience of Hayward to a young thunder team shouldn’t go unnoticed, and similar to the Detroit duo to the Knicks, coming across from cellar dwellers Charlotte will be a huge boost to Hayward’s desire come late in the season!

Losers:

• Los Angeles Lakers: Rob Pelinka must think this roster is good enough to once again come out of the Play-In Tournament and try cause an upset in the 1st round of the playoffs. The Lakers made 0 moves, although are rumoured to make a move at Spencer Dinwiddie (released from his trade with the Raptors). The Lakers have to land Dinwiddie, otherwise the acquisition of no one makes 0 sense. They should have made a play to get Kuzma back on their books as it would have been an immediate upgrade to their wings. Caruso was also heavy in discussion, and having him on board would’ve helped come playoff time given how tough he is with defending superior Western Conference guard play.
• Utah Jazz: What on earth are the Jazz doing? Utah traded away 3 legit studs to a roster who was on the rise and heading for Play-In contention. Simone Fontecchio, Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji were moved on for a packet of chips. With all due respect to who they picked up (Knox, Porter and Lewis), all 3 were riding pine whilst the 3 they moved on from were big time contributors to their team! Will go down as the weirdest move this franchise has made in quiet some time.
• Golden State Warriors: If there was ever a badge for Loyalty, the Warriors win. They aren’t winning at all with this roster, and may not even make the playoffs at this rate. Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson were the names mentioned coming into deadline week and both have hung around. Kuminga has been a bright light for the Warriors over the last couple of weeks so that has to be a positive for this Warriors team at least, as there was every chance they were to move him on and keep their veteran core together to make a move from an established star. 

With two months left in the regular season, it’s sure to be an exciting finish!

Cheers

Bauky