While most of the moving and shaking around the league happens in the offseason, the trade deadline allows teams one of their last opportunties to make substantial change to their rosters to attempt to achieve their ultimate goal, whether that be to compete or improve their odds of earning a top pick in the draft. In this article, we’ll be focused on analyzing the fantasy impacts of all the notable trades that go down between now and February 9.

February 9

Thomas Bryant

C, Denver Nuggets

Davon Reed

SG, Los Angeles Lakers

No, we aren’t recommending a Bryant add with Nikola Jokić a reigning two-time MVP who soaks up all of the center minutes. Leave him on waiver wires across almost all formats. The move to Denver is likely a downgrade for Bryant’s fantasy value. The deep-league appeal of Zeke Nnaji takes a significant hit with this trade should he remain with the Nuggets past the deadline.

Reed has absolutely no relevance in the fantasy landscape and can be ignored across all formats.

Jae Crowder

SF/PF, Milwaukee Bucks

Crowder finally finds his home after being sidelined for the entire season due to an ongoing disagreement between him and the Suns. With Bobby Portis sidelined with a right MCL sprain, the Bucks acquired an additional power forward and it’s possible that he slides right into a starting role with Milwaukee alongside Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez with Grayson Allen likely heading to the bench. Crowder is by no means an automatic add across shallow category leagues, but it’s quite possible that he finds his way into the top-120 in per-game value if given a starting role. Allen is likely the big loser of this deal as Crowder provides more of a two-way option that the Bucks likely prefer over Allen. Crowder is a watch-list player in shallow formats, while deep-league managers can go ahead and add the 3-and-D forward.

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Matisse Thybulle

SG/SF, Portland Trail Blazers

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February 8

Jakob Poeltl

C, Toronto Raptors

Reunited and it feels so good. The Raptors, the team that drafted Poeltl originally, reacquire the Austrian center after dealing him to the Spurs in the Kawhi Leonard trade, which seemed to work out for them. He fills a massive void for Toronto, whose all-switch lineups lack the rim protection to really click on defense. So many possessions are burned flying around the perimeter before teams find one small opening and get to the rim unencumbered. Poeltl doesn’t fix the team’s lack of shooting but he’s a massive defensive upgrade immediately — the Raptors defensive numbers with Christian Koloko are respectable, so getting a legitimate starting center should do wonders. It means that Poeltl is back in the mix as a middle-round guy after the Spurs have been dialing back on his minutes in preparation for this move. This is a move that figures to have a negative impact on Precious Achiuwa and Chris Boucher, who were both looking like potential 12-team guys for the rest of the year, but we’ll have to see what other moves the Raptors have in store before declaring that definitively. Achiuwa in particular may hang on to late-round value as the top frontcourt reserve. Going the other way are Khem Birch, who is not fantasy-relevant, a lightly protected 2024 first-rounder and some second-round choices.

Kevin Durant

PF/SF, Phoenix Suns

A late-night bombshell totally changes the balance of power in the league. The Suns, owners of the league’s best record last year, went out and got the best player on the block on their new owner’s first day on the job. Phoenix gave up a ton to get him, including four unprotected first-round picks and a pick swap, but he’s Kevin Durant. The Suns should be considered title favorites if they can get everyone healthy. Again, he’s Kevin Durant; his fantasy value remains elite regardless of uniform.

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Mikal Bridges

PF/SF, Brooklyn Nets

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February 6

Kyrie Irving

PG, Dallas Mavericks

The Mavs also acquired Markieff Morris in this deal, but he doesn’t figure into the team’s rotation as long as their other frontcourt options are mostly healthy. The arrival of Irving will definitely boost the team’s chances at winning more games as he is the superior talent to Dinwiddie. However, there is probably no change to his per-game value whether he is in Brooklyn playing alongside Kevin Durant or in Dallas playing alongside Luka. While this is a major trade that impacts the reality landscape of the league, it does little to move the needle from a fantasy perspective on the Kyrie front.

Spencer Dinwiddie

PG, Brooklyn Nets

Dinwiddie was enjoying a career-year from a fantasy perspective given the Mavs’ lack of talent behind Luka. His move to the Nets definitely puts a large downward arrow to his fantasy appeal and managers should look to sell him for anyone close to top-75 per-game value ROS. There are just so many more offensive options on the Nets which include Seth Curry, Joe Harris, T.J. Warren and now emerging youngster Cam Thomas. And we haven’t even gotten to Kevin Durant’s eventual return.

Dorian Finney-Smith

SF, Brooklyn Nets

Royce O'Neale

SF, Brooklyn Nets

DFS stands to lose value with his arrival to the Nets for similar reasons to what we mentioned with Dinwiddie, although DFS’ problems a bit different since his fantasy game isn’t reliant on usage. It appears on the surface that he and Royce O’Neale have overlapping skill sets and while that might be a positive from a reality perspective, it might not be good for either player’s fantasy value. O’Neale has enjoyed a very large starting role for the majority of the season but Finney-Smith’s arrival might force that minute load to slowly decline in the near future. That likely means that both are below the cut-line barring an injury or further trades that shake up the Nets roster.

January 23

Rui Hachimura

PF, Los Angeles Lakers

Kendrick Nunn

G, Washington Wizards

Let’s just get Nunn out of the way first. He has absolutely no value in redraft formats as his inclusion in the trade was likely just for salary-matching purposes. The Wizards might even cut Nunn in order to free up a roster spot for the impressive improvement they’ve seen from two-way standout Jordan Goodwin.

Now on to the meat of this trade. While Rui Hachimura could have some standard league value in category formats with the Lakers and this trade definitely increases his fantasy value overall, his stat set allows us to doubt his ability to get inside the top-100 this season. It’s possible, so be sure to add him to watch-lists to see what kind of opportunity he sees over the next 14 days. The shallow formats that Hachimura is more likely to have impacts in are points leagues since his inability to garner defensive stats don’t sting nearly as much as they do in category leagues. He’s definitely worth a low-end grab in 12-team points leagues with his move to Los Angeles.