NBA Trades, Winners, And What’s Next?!?!?!

We break down a wild trade deadline and focus on the teams that quietly set themselves up for next season. From Giannis staying to Harden in Cleveland, we weigh the real winners, the risky bets, and the sleepers that could jump the line.

• Giannis stays and Bucks pivot to offseason options
• Harden to Cavs and why Mobley must be the alpha
• Lakers stand pat and risk losing LeBron for nothing
• Wizards’ upside with Anthony Davis and young length
• Warriors add Porzingis while Hawks land Kuminga
• Jazz build a long, defensive core with Jaren Jackson Jr
• Pelicans keep Zion and lock in Herb and Trey
• Pacers pair Zubac with Haliburton for balance
• Why deadlines now feel like mini free agency
• Surprise teams to watch in the East and West

Please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. What was your favorite trade or non-trade? Just don't mention Giannis.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening And Trade Deadline Setup
• 0:41 Giannis Stays And Bucks Scenarios
• 2:04 Harden To Cavs And Cleveland’s Ceiling
• 4:36 Lakers’ Standstill And Braun Options
• 7:08 Why The Wizards Suddenly Look Interesting
• 9:05 Warriors, Hawks, And The Porzingis Swing
• 10:28 Jaren Jackson Jr. To Jazz And Their Core
• 12:08 Non-Moves: Ja Morant And Grizzlies Fallout
• 14:06 Pelicans’ Untouchables And Rising Core
• 15:30 Pacers Add Zubac And East Watchlist
• 17:05 The New Normal Of Aggressive Deadlines
• 18:18 Closing Thank Yous And Listener Question

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. We back at it. You know, life's been life, and I've been out and about in these streets. Not really, I've just been enjoying a lot of stuff life-wise, right? But we back at it. And ladies and gentlemen, we got a couple things to talk about, right? Like the NBA trade day, the NBA trade deadline, excuse me. That has happened. It's finally concluded. So now we can take a look at a couple of teams and see just how they made out. But I got to bring this up, right? Because we were all expecting this to occur. Um, Giannis trade talks. No more this season. And I'm happy to hear about it. I thought he was gonna get traded. I thought this was gonna be the end of the Giannis and Bucks tenure, right? Uh-uh. Um, there were a couple of interesting teams. We got Miami, Warriors, Wolves, Knicks, um, outside of the whole NBA, right? Like, those are the teams that looked realistic. Then you were hearing about OKC, the Spurs, Rockets, Cavs. It was interesting. Like, there were there were notions thrown out there that maybe the Warriors could get someone like MPJ and Giannis to pair with Steph. I thought that could have been an interesting big three. That could have been nice to look at, right? Now we switch to not worrying about the Bucs for the remainder of the season. Because realistically, Giannis might get shut down. Bucks could retain Giannis. Maybe the Bucs get a top three pick, and maybe they can trade that for a star, disgruntled star, to pair with Giannis to potentially keep Giannis there. I don't know. All I do know is that I ain't gonna talk about the Bucks no more after this. Because the off-season is really when I need to focus on the Bucs. So thank you, Giannis, for staying, I guess. But if he had gotten traded, it would have been interesting to see just how um just how this NBA season was finished. Because remember, he is injured too, to be clear. So that was another element to talk about, also. But let's go ahead and move on and talk about another trade that happened. Now we got here, James Harden is no longer on the Clippers, right? Um, he is now on the Cavs, and they traded James Harden for Darius Garland. I want to say a second round pick. Now, here's the thing, ladies and gentlemen. I still don't believe in the Cavs. I still don't. Um You got James Harden paired with Donovan Mitchell. On paper, it looks alright. You got a quote unquote pass first point guard at 6'5, and you got a trigger happy shooting guard at 6'2. Problem is Donovan Mitchell's still 6'2 as a shooting guard. James Harden is still not good defensively. Like he his effort not really there no more. He was cool on OKC, and then once he got to the Rockets, buddy just said, we're fine. So clearly that's not the case because he has not been a champion. Gotten a little closish, gotten a little closish, like Western Conference Finals. You know, it's he's decent. I just don't believe in the Cavs. And I already didn't believe in the Cavs because Donovan Mitchell was their best player. The only way I can believe in the Cavs and this team winning is if Evan Mobley's their best player. And I don't see that happening. So again, ladies and gentlemen, while this was cool, it would have been good to see maybe if the Cavs had acquired a wing, that would have been good. Uh they lost DeAndre Hunter. So, yeah, they kind of they kind of reverting a little bit. Don't get me wrong, they have some interesting pieces, but Evan Mobley needing to be their best player is key for me because Donovan Mitchell, respectfully, what are we about 29 now? So we might be nine seasons in. Never got into a conference finals, and for somebody who has been called overrated, not Donovan Mitchell, Tyree Talliburton, has got to two of them things. So the fact that we're calling Tyrese Halliburton overrated, but we're praising Donovan Mitchell and acting like he's never had help when Evan Moby just last year was given them by 18, 19, and 10 points a game in the playoffs. And we lose in five to the Pacers. I'm just saying. I don't believe in the Cavs. But kudos for getting James Harden, though. Kudos for getting James Harden. And you know what? They did say I want James. Maybe they they should have been a little more specific and said LeBron James and not James Harden. But hey, maybe LeBron leaves my Lakers and goes to the Cavs the next season. I don't know. We'll see what happens. Speaking of, right? Speaking of, let me just talk about my Lakers right quick. I'm a little disappointed, a little frustrated in the Lakers. We didn't trade Austin Reeves nor Braun. So we're willing to just let Braun go for nothing. That hurts. Now, unless you got a player in mind, or unless we're going to re-sign Reeves to make the money work and get a big star, I'm not a fan of us. This trade deadline personally. It also says, hey, we're going to lose this season, anyways. Let's just see what we can make work in the next couple seasons or the next couple offseasons. And Lakers, we haven't really been doing too, too hot personally, for me, at least for my liking. So until we get rid of Austin Reeves, because again, Luca Dontric is the best player on the team. Austin's not better than Luca by no stretch of the imagination. And that's my backcourt, Luca and Austin. That's not going to work out well. Off top, we probably would lose to a team like the Wolves. And their best attribute is Anthony Edwards, which is cool, don't get me wrong. But then Jaden McDaniels is going to be going right at Luca or Austin Reeves. And he can defend too. So the fact that he could probably average 20 plus against us is kind of crazy. So again, I'm not the biggest fan on us not trading one of those two players, Reeves or Braun, because Braun can walk this year, like I said, and we not get nothing back for him. That's tough. But I guess JJ and them believe that our perimeter defense as a team is fine. Uh-uh. And then our bigs, he guess, thinks they're not shaky. Hell no. Like that, that is, I don't agree. Sorry. So again, Lakers fans, if you're disappointed like myself, I'm not mad at you. Also, Braun potentially leaving. I've been waiting for this day since J since July 1st, 2018. I promise you. I really have. Because now he can go to teams like the Knicks, the Heat, the Cavs, the Warriors, the Nuggets, the Mavs, the Suns. How about even a team like the Wizards? That would be interesting. Seeing Braun go to all these potential different places. Let's see how that shakes out. Speaking of the Wizards, though, ladies and gentlemen, they have been doing okay-ish, at least on paper, in terms of getting back on track. Like there are team, there are people who are trying to say that Wizards are contenders next season. Wizards top three, top five, for the playoffs in the East. And that's a possibility because we started off with them acquiring Trey Young, right? Okay, cool. Ain't too shabby. Like they were looking interesting at that point in time. But then we factor in Anthony Davis. That was a big one. Because one, they didn't have to give up that much to get Anthony Davis. So that actually is a knock on the Dallas Mavericks. Because you gotta remember they traded Luca, got lucky to get Cooper Flag, and then you virtually give him up for nothing. That's kind of piss porish, Mavs. That's kind of piss porous. But we'll talk about that another day. But with the Wizards this season, um, ladies and gentlemen, we got a couple of young pieces. Anthony Davis has Alex Saw. I think they're a backup big away from really making some interesting noise, as long as health is a factor. And we got to see who on the team is gonna be the lockdown defenders that they need to have. Anthony Davis is there, cool. Alex Saw was leading the league in shot blocking, cool. Bilal Kubali is a solid defender as well, too, cool. Keyshawn George is alright as well. Who gonna be the lockdown wing wing defenders? That's what I'm looking to see out of this Wiz team. And again, they're young. Oh, let's keep in mind, too, they could potentially get a lottery pick as well. I'm talking about a top five. That's not bad. So again, I do like the Wizards next season. I don't know if they're gonna make me want to go to the games actually, because maybe I'll catch the early games. But health is the reason why I might not look to go to the later games because they got to be healthy, and that has been questionable over, especially Anthony Davis' tenure, especially when he started going to my Lakers. Ain't that some stuff? Ain't that some stuff? But again, Wizards, y'all not looking too bad. Y'all not looking too shabby. Um, here's here's what kind of caught my attention, ladies and gentlemen, on one of these trades. We had the Warriors and Hulks, they swapped Jonathan Kaminga and Buddy Heel for Christoph's Porzingis. This is another health thing that I gotta worry about because realistically, as long as Christophs Porzingis is healthy, they got something. The Warriors meaning you got somebody paired with Steph now who can give you about 20 a night, be a rim protector. They ain't had nobody seven foot since Kevin Durant and Andrew Bogot, and those are at different tenures. So it's gonna be interesting to see what the Warriors do with this. Also, I'm looking for them to part ways with Steve Kerr, but that's another discussion for another day. But the Hawks getting Jonathan Kaminga, that's a good one too. Because that's a versatile forward who can give you about 20 at night, and he got a chip on the shoulder because the Warriors just mistreated him for the longest. So I think they got I think the Hawks got a little interesting situation on their hands over there. And if they get a backup big for real, for real, I do like a kongu starting. They can switch damn near everything, and they can scroll, they can be run and gun. That's a really solid transition team. Very curious what the Hawks do. Only thing is, Hawks don't develop their players well enough for me to be like, they gotta, they can go the distance. That's the only that's my only worry about that. But outside of that, the move was solid. I do like that. Jaron Jackson Jr., ladies and gentlemen, to the huge to the Utah Jazz. That was very interesting. Because I'm talking about I'm thinking about next season, right? Not this season, next season. What if they get a top five pick, which they're in line to do, and they still have Laurie Markinen, Jaron Jackson Jr., and Walker Kessler to boot. And then you got Ace Bailey, Keontae George. Let's say Ace pans out to where he's supposed to be. That could be a little, that could be a little dangerous squad. I'm not gonna lie to y'all, ladies and gentlemen. And then if he doesn't, you can have him come off the bench and have Isaiah Collier and Keontae George starting both of them 6'4, 6'5 guards. That's not bad. So this Utah Jazz team, it's looking a little shabby. It's looking a little shabby. I can't hold you. Like not it's it's it's looking a little shabby, ladies and gentlemen. I'm looking forward to seeing them next season. Um all right. So we talked about all those teams that did move players, right? Not all of them, but we talked about a decent amount of them, okay? Some teams that did not move players that I think would be a little interesting. We already talked about the the Bucks not trading Giannis, right? That's not because of his draft stock, that's because they wanted to get the most bang for their buck. No pun intended. John Morant, I'm gonna just say this off top, he's damaged goods. I wouldn't want him on my team. He's stupid, his daddy's stupid. Um, and I'm not trying to be too slanderous when I say that, but I just wouldn't want that in my locker room. Remember, John Morant is the same guy who tried to fight a 17-year-old. He had four back-to-back instances in one season. He keeps wanting to do the gun celebration when he's known for getting in trouble over a gun. Like, I can't have that level ignorance in my locker room. I'm sorry. I can't. He's not good enough for me to want him on my team, respectfully. He also injured quite a bit. Not the best leader from what I've seen. And again, I don't know him. All right. I'm just going off what I've witnessed in his tenure in the NBA. So I personally think it's gonna be very tricky for the Grizzlies. Because you just got rid of JJ Jay, Desmond Bain, and remember, just a couple of years ago, they were saying they weren't worried about anybody in the West. Now, nobody in the West is worried about the Grizzlies right now. And Ja Morant, too, by the way. So it's very unfortunate that Ja went the way that he did. But it's also a good lesson to show the upcoming kids. Act, like, act like you got some common sense. Or else your brand gets messed up, and next thing you know, you're gonna be taking a little bit less money than what you probably could have made. Ja Moran's supposed to be one of the faces of the NBA. Damaged goods, like I said. So he's gotta do a lot of work to turn this thing around. And I don't think he got it in them personally, but we're gonna wait and see. We're gonna wait and see. Um, the Pelicans, the Pelicans not moving Zion. That was big for me. Okay. I thought I thought the Pelicans were gonna potentially keep him, I mean not keep him, trade him maybe, and they did. And I think it's very interesting to note that they also made Trey, not also, they made Trey Murphy the third and Herbert Jones untouchable in trades, in trade conversations, which I do think was the right move, which tells me that the Pelicans might be on to something, and I could be, we could be paying attention to the Pelicans next season, all right? Because the Pelicans having a decent little squad on them is something to note. Derek Queen hooping as a rookie, Zion looking somewhat healthy. Herbert Jones is still one of the best defenders in the NBA. Trey Murphy is one of the best 3 and D players in the NBA. You got the right players around Zion. Even Jeremiah Fears is looking like he can do something out there. So you're it's looking like you got the right players around Zion. And Zion's looking healthier. Maybe he's figuring it out. Who knows? We'll see what happens. But the Pelicans as a as an organization, they're moving okay. They're moving okay. And and I gotta mention this one only because, you know, he used to be one of my boys, but shout out to Vecka Zubak. He is on the Pacers, so I will be curious at how the Pacers are moving when Halley returns, okay? Because they got rid of Benedict Matherin, which was an interesting move. But you getting Zubak. Pairs well with Halley. Let's see what they do going forward, okay? Um, but my future teams to pay attention to, we got the Wizards, we got the Jazz, we got the Pelicans, and we got the Pacers, because those teams have positioned themselves decently for next season and also have a top five pick, potentially. That ain't nothing bad to look at. Like those could be four of the top five right there next coming in this upcoming draft, ladies and gentlemen. As well as the Hornets and Hulks, because both of those teams, again, made moves or have been playing really well and are in the playoffs or playing currently, and they're really young. And I like the foundation. This is this is when I'm not talking about the contenders like OKC and the Nuggets and the Rockets and the Cell. I'm not talking about those teams, alright? I'm talking about the surprise team that you don't that you don't typically think about. Those are the teams that I actually liked after this trade deadline. So, again, that's the Wizards, the Jazz, the Pelicans, the Pacers, the Hornets, and the Hawks. I'm telling you right now, those teams you may want to pay attention to because those teams can beat eventually the Knicks and the Cavs and potential Celtics could be a little tough to beat, but the Heat, like those teams, could be losing to the teams I just mentioned. That's just in the East. West, we gotta see what happens. But the West could be a little interesting too. I'm telling you right now, the Jazz team does not look bad. They just need a little bit more experience, and then boom, we might have something. And what happens if they trade Lori Marking in to make some L shake? I'm just saying they got a couple options to make. They really truly do. So, again, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the trade deadline, it happened. And I was told too that it caused a lot of frenzy. Um, this happens every year. There's a lot of trades that are made. Someone told me that this felt like free agency. It's going to be more of a norm. You're we're having more talent enter the NBA. So you best believe that more stars are gonna start getting traded by the trade deadline. It's just gonna happen because teams are trying to get younger, teams are trying to retool, they're trying to rebuild, and it's gonna be at a faster pace now. So you might want to be you might want to pay attention to some of these stars on these teams because before you know it, you might blink two two or three times and they gone. There's no disrespect, it's just a business type deal. Remember, NBA is still business. National Business Association, not basketball. No, but seriously, though, it is a business. So teams are gonna be making trades. So I hope you like this uh trade deadline because it's gonna be a little more active the next year and the next year, and it's gonna be ongoing. There might be an anomaly, but I expect it to go like this consistently. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So I greatly appreciate y'all for listening. Thank you all, right? Please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. And before we go, I'm curious, what was your favorite trade in the in the in the trade deadline? Or you know what? I'll even spice it up a little bit. What was your favorite trade or non-trade? Just don't mention Giannis. Because again, I ain't trying to talk about the bucks for the rest of the season. So please give me something non bucks oriented, and I'd love to hear, I'd love to hear from you. Let me know. But till next time, ladies and gentlemen, hope you all have a good one. Like I said, my name is Trey I'm the host of Get the Bucket. Hope you all have a good one. Take care.