If you don’t recognize some faces the next time your favorite team is on the floor, don’t be surprised. Tons of players have changed teams.
While this was expected to be a quiet trade deadline, basketball fans saw a massive reshuffling of the deck among franchises and front offices. After the action today, nearly fifty players around the league are now set to wear a new uniform for the rest of this season.
In fact, based on our research, we have never witnessed a deadline with more players relocating. In total, there were 45 active players who are no longer on the team that they were on yesterday. For some context, that is more than ten percent of the league.
This total includes the move between the Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons, who swapped Delon Wright and Cory Joseph, because ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the move after midnight on the east coast. It does not, however, include draft rights (e.g. Cady Lalanne was sent from the San Antonio Spurs to the Golden State Warriors).
Those who were rooting for utter chaos may have been disappointed because big man Nikola Vucevic was the only All-Star who changed teams. But when it was all said and done, this was a busier day than the previous record, which was set in 2015 when 39 players were moved at the deadline.
Whether this can be attributed to recently expanded rosters or an increased willingness to gamble by emboldened front offices, fans experienced a busy day filled with exciting transactions.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report
