One year removed from the most boring NBA trade deadline in recent memory, the league over-compensated.
The first six days of February were thrilling, bewildering, astonishing and heartbreaking. While the Nuggets remained idle, the roster movement around the rest of the NBA was significant.
Here are our winners and losers of trade season.
Winner: Lakers exceptionalism
Shield your eyes, Nuggets fans. Even small-market king Giannis Antetokounmpo has bought in. “You know what I want? I want Luka to the Lakers. I want Jokic to the Knicks,” the Milwaukee Bucks superstar said in jest after the Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to Los Angeles.
“I want all the Europeans to go to all the big markets to see something incredible. This is what I want. This is my dream.”
The tradition of NBA superstars being rerouted to Hollywood is inevitable. Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Pau Gasol, LeBron James and Anthony Davis have company. History will always repeat itself. This is the prevailing lesson of the 2025 trade deadline. If you’re thinking that surely the Lakers can’t keep getting away with this, know that they always will.
Loser: Nico Harrison’s aggressive legacy
Thrown out the window faster than you can say “defense wins championships.” That was the Dallas general manager’s first on-the-record comment after trading Doncic for Davis. The Mavericks proceeded to give up 91 points in the first half of their next game. Sure, Davis wasn’t available to suit up yet. Sure, they were missing other key players. The irony was palpable nonetheless.
Here’s the thing: Harrison’s last two trade deadlines were outstanding. I called the Mavs losers a year ago, an opinion that I’ll gladly admit aged poorly. P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford turned out to be the final pieces of a starting lineup destined for the NBA Finals. Kyrie Irving has been a revelation since Dallas traded for him in 2023 — a move as risky as it was splashy. Harrison was ridiculed for that one at the time, too.
But each of those transactions orbited Doncic. They’re all nullified now. Harrison was able to build a contender despite trading Kristaps Porzingis and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency for one reason. Now that centerpiece has slipped through the Mavs’ fingers as well. Maybe Harrison will prove me wrong once again, but I feel pretty comfortable betting on a spite-driven Luka.
Winners: Jimmy Butler. And Pat Riley. And Golden State.
Kumbaya! Butler gets his money, gets out of Miami and gets to play with a top-10 player of all time.
Riley gets rewarded for holding out until the last 24 hours of trade season, despite Butler’s best efforts to force the issue since December. Miami’s return for Butler managed to transcend his torpedoed value. The top-10 protected first-round pick this year should convey. And Wiggins provides a starting small forward replacement on an expiring contract, saving the Heat from being tied up in any long-term money. That was the fear that started this whole saga, after all. Miami was understandably reluctant to extend Butler at his age (35) and asking price, given the current CBA landscape.
Shouldn’t the Warriors have been equally skeptical, then? Maybe, but at least Butler’s reported two-year, $121 million extension is a more reasonable roll of the dice for them. Golden State gets a second star to pair with Steph Curry for the twilight of his career. When Curry is off the court, the Warriors’ offense is 12.3 points per 100 possessions worse than it is when Curry’s playing. That’s the third-most dramatic on/off scoring difference in the league, behind Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Butler is no longer burdened with being his team’s first option, but there’s room for him to dictate the offense during those crucial non-Steph minutes.
The contract is risky (think Paul George in Philadelphia), but the trade itself didn’t cost Golden State anything drastic. This made sense on all sides.
Loser: Phoenix’s locker room
The Suns spent more than a month openly pining for Butler, alienating Bradley Beal in the process. Most teams wanted no part of Beal’s contract, and Beal was unwilling to waive his no-trade clause — backing the Suns into an inescapable corner.
Then they changed course at the last minute and invited trade offers for Kevin Durant instead, only for Durant to reportedly dissuade Golden State from pursuing a reunion.
And so owner Mat Ishbia was out of options as the trade deadline passed, left with two disgruntled stars, the most expensive roster in the NBA and a future long since mortgaged. The Suns were tied for 10th in the West entering Thursday’s slate of games.
At least they were able to get rid of Jusuf Nurkic.
Winner: De’Aaron Fox
The biggest individual winner of this trade deadline, and it’s not close. Fox has immediately catapulted himself from a guy who received third-team All-NBA honors once to someone who could feasibly end up in the Hall of Fame — by virtue of being Victor Wembanyama’s partner.
I’m not even sure Fox is the best possible long-term point guard match for the French phenom. That’s why Fox is the winner here, rather than the Spurs as a team. Attaching yourself to a generational talent like Wembanyama early is a brilliant stroke of business.
And on top of that, Fox gets to be closer to home. He went to high school in Houston.
Loser: Your built-up emotional investment in your favorite team
I feel for Mavericks fans, some of whom literally showed up to American Airlines Center with a casket to mourn the loss of Doncic. I feel for Bucks fans, who lost a bonafide local hero in Khris Middleton on Wednesday. (And for what? Kyle Kuzma.) Middleton spent most of 12 seasons in Milwaukee, partnering with Antetokounmpo to lift a franchise from a 15-win season to a Larry O’Brien Trophy. His jersey number belongs in the rafters.
I feel for all the perennially tortured Kings fans out there, who spent eight years getting to know Fox before he asked out and got his wish. I still feel bad for the Karl-Anthony Towns loyalists in Minnesota, if we’re counting that 6-month-old deal as part of this wacky trade cycle.
“Nobody is safe in the league,” a solemn Nikola Jokic said this week, “and it probably should be that way.”
Maybe from a roster-building perspective. Not so much for the fans who lead with their hearts. Even if some of these trades age like wine, they’re all kind of a bummer.
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Winner: Charlotte Hornets
A brief and hearty shoutout to Charlotte for getting back Dalton Knecht in the Mark Williams trade to the Lakers. The rookie sharpshooter from the Denver area should be in Dallas right now.
Loser: Super Bowl LIX
Who’s playing, again? Move aside, NFL. After months of chatter about declining NBA television ratings, basketball stole your biggest week.