The 2021 NBA trade deadline is officially in the books. Big names like Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry and New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball did not get moved, but there were 19 trades over the last two weeks, 16 of which came on a busy Thursday.
Overall on the day of the trade deadline, there were 23 teams and 46 players involved in the 16 trades, all of which are records on deadline day, according to the league.
The Orlando Magic were perhaps the busiest team, trading away their two best players in an effort to kickstart the next generation of the team. The Chicago Bulls revamped their frontcourt, picking up three new contributors.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were involved in three trades total: They shipped George Hill to the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, and traded Hamidou Diallo to the Detroit Pistons and Trevor Ariza to the Miami Heat prior to the deadline.
Here, we will rank the importance of each trade: the 16 on Thursday, the two previous Thunder deals and the P.J. Tucker trade to the Milwaukee Bucks.
All reports are from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski or The Athletic’s Shams Charania, unless otherwise indicated.
