Welcome to part three of SportsEthos’ Mock Trade Deadline! If you haven’t seen parts one or two, click here for part one, and click here for part two. Yesterday was an absolutely wild day, with CJ McCollum being traded to the Pelicans and the Kings and Pacers swapping young stars in Domantas Sabonis and Tyrese Haliburton. Tomorrow is deadline day!

Remember in part two I talked about taking victory laps? Well, in this exercise, we had the Pacers and Raptors blow it up, which the former did. Meanwhile, the Kings pushed their chips in, which it appears they’re going to do. We had Haliburton and Buddy Hield being traded for an all-star, it was just a different all-star than the one our mock GMs targeted. We also had Sabonis, the least likely of the Pacers guys to be moved, heading out, which ended up happening. Here’s how part three shakes out:

KINGS ADD SHOOTING BIG MAN AROUND SIMMONS AND FOX

The first thing I told the Sacramento GM after he acquired Ben Simmons is that he should focus on adding shooting. From there, he shifted his focus to acquiring Porzingis. For those of you who follow my content, you know I think Kristaps is vastly overrated. However, I think this trade is great for both teams.

Holmes gives Luka his new pick-and-roll partner and a rim running center, and Barnes, a career 38% 3-point shooter, who is shooting a career high 40.6% this year, is reunited with the Mavs.

For Sacramento, they’re approaching the longest playoff drought in NBA history this season, so they form a big 3 of Fox, Simmons, and Porzingis. After that, though, the cupboard is pretty bare. This trade, along with Simmons deal, put Sacramento in the tax, so expect a subsequent move (or two) to be made.

THAT SUBSEQUENT MOVE

    Kings trade: Marvin Bagley, Tristan Thompson, and 2025 POR 2nd

    Magic trade: Gary Harris

Good on Orlando for being able to get an asset or two (depending on what you think of Bagley) for Gary Harris. Harris has rejuvenated himself a bit and is shooting 38.8% from 3. As I said earlier, Sacramento needing shooting, and this trade should further solidify that, assuming what Harris is doing is sustainable.

For Orlando, they get a flier on Bagley as well as potentially a good second-round pick depending on the extent that Portland blows it up. Again, Sacramento has Simmons, Fox, Porzingis, and now Gary Harris, but the cupboard remains pretty bare. Davion Mitchell remains on the team, and then they have Terence Davis, but not a whole lot else. And they are still in the tax, so look for a subsequent move.

THAT SUBSEQUENT MOVE, PART 2

Here’s the move that got Sacramento under the tax. Brooklyn can take Harkless into part of the Spencer Dinwiddie Traded Player Exception and he’s under contract next year. He’s a productive player that can help the Nets, but also is an easy movable contract if the Nets need the luxury tax savings next year.

After trading Millsap, the Nets have an open roster spot to convert Kessler Edwards to a standard contract and make him eligible for the playoffs, so that was a subsequent move we had in mind when doing this trade and the Millsap trade.

There’s no such thing as too much wing depth, so this trade helps Brooklyn, and Sacramento had to find a way to get out of the tax.

ANOTHER KINGS TRADE

    Kings receive: Charles Bassey

    76ers receive: Cash

After swapping Ben Simmons for Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield, Sixers had two dilemmas. The first dilemma is that they were one roster spot over the limit, and they had to part with somebody. The second dilemma is that suddenly, they were in striking distance of getting out of the luxury tax. Consider this move an extension of that Ben Simmons trade, since he and Bassey ended up on the same team. Sacramento only had twelve guys on their roster after moves they made, so acquiring Bassey while staying under the tax made sense. It was a minor move that helped both teams.

BUCKS ACQUIRE A BIG MAN

This is a trade I wasn’t a fan of for Milwaukee. Robin Lopez is a perfect example of a buyout candidate, and given his familiarity with the Bucks, as well as his brother being on the team, if the Bucks wanted him in the buyout market, they likely would be the favorite. Here, the Bucks not only gave up a 2024 second-rounder, but also increased their tax bill to get Lopez. In reality, I think the Bucks will move either Hood and/or Ojeyle to save money on their luxury tax bill.

The Magic ultimately waive Rodney Hood to make room for Marvin Bagley and Tristan Thompson, and then the Bulls have been coveting big bodied guys to fill their Pat Williams-sized hole up front, and Ojeyle, in addition to Millsap (see part two), help fill that void. Don’t be surprised to see the defending champs add a big man, but this is not the way they’ll do it.

EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD HOMECOMING

    Lakers receive: Derrick Favors, Garrett Temple, Gary Trent Jr.

    Raptors receive: Malik Monk, Lakers 2026 1st, and Lakers 2025 2nd

    Pelicans receive: Mike Muscala and agree to take Lakers 2024 pick and give up the option to defer to 2025 from Anthony Davis trade

    Thunder receive: Russell Westbrook(!), Lakers 2028 1st, Lakers 2027 2nd, and Lakers 2028 2nd

There are a TON of components in this trade that we need to break down. Basically, the Lakers convinced the Pelicans to take their 2024 1st unprotected rather than the option to defer to 2025, which opened up the ability for the Lakers to trade their 2026 1st, along with their 2028 1st.

In reality, it will take the Pelicans significantly more than Mike Muscala to take away the deferment option on that pick. But even in a hypothetical scenario where that’s all it takes, the Lakers, rather than acquiring a player like Jerami Grant or somebody else that could be the third guy post-Westbrook, basically used both firsts to get off of Westbrook’s deal. That’s a complete disaster.

Sure, the Lakers got Gary Trent Jr., who would be an awesome LeBron teammate due to his ability to shoot and move off ball, but I feel like acquiring GTJ could’ve been accomplished by just giving Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, and the 2026 and/or 2028 firsts, and they still could’ve had Westbrook. But the Lakers wanted to move off of Westbrook so badly that they gave up additional assets to get him off the team. Addition by subtraction, I guess.

Derrick Favors also automatically becomes the best center on the Lakers roster, especially because they refuse to play AD at the five, and Garrett Temple will churn out some minutes for them.

For OKC, they had to get above the salary floor, which they are currently under by $23 million. However, adding Westbrook to the books, along with Kemba Walker’s big number from his buyout, and SGA’s contract extension kicking in, suddenly puts OKC dangerously close to the luxury tax next season, which is obviously something they want to avoid. But OKC got a potentially super-valuable first (who knows how good the Lakers will be in 2028?) and multiple seconds to eat a big contract, which is exactly what I foresee OKC doing tomorrow and even this offseason.

For the Pelicans, they get a shooting big in Muscala to play alongside Zion, if he ever returns.

For Toronto, they really blew it up in this exercise and acquired another first-round pick for Trent. After all the moves Toronto made, they now have roughly $15 million in cap space this summer, but they would have to re-sign Bamba, Sexton, and Malik Monk since they don’t have his Bird Rights. But even without Monk, the Raptors core of Anunoby, Barnes, Patrick Williams, Coby White, Collin Sexton, Mo Bamba, and Isaac Okoro in addition to some unprotected picks, means the Raptors are one of the most exciting young teams in the league.

CELTICS ADD DEPTH WHILE DIPPING THE TAX

Rockets receive: Danilo Gallinari

    Celtics receive: Daniel Theis, Armoni Brooks, Trey Burke, and DJ Augustin

    Kings receive: 2023 2nd (via HOU, MIA, or DAL)

One thing’s for certain for the Celtics this deadline: they’ll get below the tax. We already saw the Juancho Hernangomez trade, which helped them get within striking distance of getting under the tax threshold, but they’ll make another move to get under it.

Here, the Celtics wanted to add playmakers, and they had already parted with Marcus Smart. This trade gave them the ability to add three point guards, and then reunite them with Daniel Theis. Augustin only has $333,333 guaranteed on his deal next year, so the Celtics save money towards the tax next year by using him as a rental, but Theis is under contract for three more years and Burke has a player option for next season.

However, Gallinari has a $5 million guarantee next year, so figure even if Celtics cut him they pay him $5 million to play for an opponent, and they would rather have Theis for a few million more to actually contribute to their team. The Celtics have suddenly won eight of their last nine and six in a row, so it makes sense that they pushed their chips in a little. After these moves, Boston has Schroder, Jaylen Brown, Tatum, John Collins, and the Time Lord as their starting five, with Augustin, Theis, and Grant Williams rounding out their playoff rotation. With the East wide open, that’s a pretty good team.

Sacramento was thrilled to get a pick for Trey Burke. In addition, they acquired a 2024 2nd for taking Burke on in the Porzingis trade, and now they got an additional one for trading him.

I can attest to the trade from Houston’s perspective because I was their GM. With Sengun in the fold, and there not being a huge market for Christian Wood, there was definitely some buyer’s remorse on giving Theis a four-year deal. Here, I was able to get Houston off the contract and need to pay Gallinari’s $5 million guarantee next year as a result. But as Houston, I got off John Wall and Eric Gordon’s deals next year and acquired a decent amount of expiring contracts in return. I already saved Tilman Feritta a boatload of money next year, so it was a small price to pay. Or in the alternative, we can guarantee Gallinari’s deal this offseason and flip him for another asset.

THE FINAL TRADE

    Pistons trade: Jerami Grant 

    Cavaliers trade: Lauri Markkanen, Kevin Pangos, 2022 1st, 2026 1st, and 2022 HOU 2nd

In real NBA land, the Cavs already made their move in acquiring Caris LeVert. That 2022 1st was included, as well as that 2022 HOU 2nd, so we weren’t too far off.

This is an absolute haul for Jerami Grant. Our Pistons GM really liked the idea of pairing Lauri Markkanen with Cade Cunningham, and while the contract is kind of gross, Detroit still has plenty of cap space going forward in their rebuild. If they are able to get a starter-level player in addition to two firsts and a high second for Grant, they’ll definitely be persuaded to do it. Pangos was included with Markkanen because after the Fred VanVleet and Eric Gordon acquisitions for Cleveland, they’d be right at the tax line with this move, and trading Pangos would get them under the threshold.

At the conclusion of this exercise, the Cavs have an All-Star backcourt of Fred VanVleet and Darius Garland, in addition to Jarrett Allen, Jerami Grant, and Rookie of the Year frontrunner Evan Mobley. Add in Kevin Love and Eric Gordon off the bench, and all of a sudden, LeBron will be begging to come back.

WHAT DIDN’T HAPPEN

First off, we’ve already seen the Trail Blazers be extremely active this deadline, shipping off CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., Robert Covington, and Norman Powell. The Blazers were also a tax team prior to these moves, so I was going to assure you guys that they were going to make moves that got them out of the tax. For example, if Memphis hadn’t acquired Caris LeVert, they were going to take Covington for Kyle Anderson and a second, and that would’ve gotten Portland out of the tax this year, but clearly they wanted cap relief beyond this year.

Unfortunately, our Blazers GM was struggling with a bout of COVID right as this started, so he didn’t have the opportunity to thoroughly exhaust all trade options. For this exercise, it’s unfortunate that Portland did not make moves because rumblings around the league were that they were going to be huge sellers at the deadline. One victory lap I will take, though, is that Portland offered the Pelicans CJ McCollum for a similar package that he went for yesterday, but the Pelicans were not interested in acquiring his money.

For Atlanta, you’ll notice we had Cam Reddish stay put. Once he was already traded in real life, it hampered the excitement of another team trading for him in this mock. You’ll also notice Brooklyn didn’t do much. As I said on the SportsEthos Nets Podcast last week, it’s hard for the Nets to make a splashy move because of their lack of assets available. I guess that’s the price you pay when you have to trade four second-rounders to get off DeAndre Jordan’s contract. However, it’s looking increasingly likely that a James Harden for Ben Simmons and Seth Curry type deal is being heavily negotiated as you’re reading this.

You’ll notice that 23 of the 30 NBA teams were involved in trades in this exercise. However, some teams like Utah and Phoenix stood pat here, but there’s no way they sit on their hands through tomorrow. Phoenix could’ve been in the running for Jerami Grant if they were willing to part with Cam Johnson, and Utah inquired about some athletic, defensive minded wings in talks that never came to fruition. San Antonio did not do much, but they rarely make in season moves.

Here, while Phoenix and San Antonio both stood pat, I envision Phoenix having Thaddeus Young as their fallback plan. Jalen Smith, Dario Saric, and a second-round pick should get that done.

Minnesota is also another team expected to be active at the deadline and didn’t make a move here.

Finally, Miami did not make a move either. Miami is in a tough spot in that their roster is cluttered with minimum contract guys so they don’t exactly have the means to salary match unless they’re willing to part with PJ Tucker or Duncan Robinson (who’s apparently available). For Miami, it’s far more likely that they trade KZ Okpala into a team’s open roster spot (spoiler alert, this happened) so they can convert Caleb Martin from his two-way deal without going into the tax.

I wanted to get all three parts of this article out before trades were made, but it worked out well, as I was able to compare players’ real life value to their value in this exercise. And I don’t typically toot my own horn, but we weren’t too far off. Thank you to the 14 GMs who helped me complete this exercise and dedicating over a month of their time to negotiate deals and thank you to SportsEthos for giving me the opportunity and platform to conduct this annual experiment. Please tune in to our trade deadline show tomorrow on YouTube, be on the lookout for my trade deadline article where I discuss each trade that went down, and start looking ahead to my mock offseason! Follow me on twitter @BirdRightsPod, as i’m willing to listen to all constructive criticism, and I also have an updated cap sheet of all trades that were made and teams updated rosters that I’ll gladly share. Thanks for reading!