Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. It’s starting to look like Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t be traded before the deadline, isn’t it?
In today’s SI:AM:
🏀 Anthony Davis dealt
✅ Super Bowl picks
🏈 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists
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Another superstar on the move
The NBA trade deadline is hours away (3 p.m. ET today) and the deals are starting to pick up. The biggest deal made on Wednesday was the blockbuster that sent Anthony Davis to the Wizards, but there were several other trades worth mentioning as well. Let’s look at a few of the most important ones.
AD to DC
The Wizards have been unexpectedly active on the trade market this season. After trading for Trae Young in early January, Washington has paired another star with him by acquiring Davis on Wednesday.
The deal looks like this:
- Mavericks get: Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, 2026 Thunder first-round pick, 2030 Warriors first-round pick (protected), three second-round picks
- Wizards get: Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D'Angelo Russell, Dante Exum
It isn’t all that hefty of a price to pay for Washington. Branham and Johnson have seen minimal playing time this season. Middleton is part of the starting lineup, but he’s 34. Bagley comes off the bench. The Thunder’s pick will be at the end of the first round, and the other first-rounder is top-20 protected.
Davis is a flawed superstar, but a superstar nonetheless. When healthy, he’s one of the best players in the NBA. He will surely spend plenty of time familiarizing himself with his new team’s MRI machine, but he also gives the Wizards an interior presence on both ends, which will complement Young’s perimeter scoring ability and help make up for Young’s lousy defense. Eventually. Davis hasn’t played since Jan. 8 due to a left hand injury, and Young has yet to make his Washington debut as he recovers from a sprained knee and bruised quad that will keep him out until at least the All-Star break.
The trade won’t make a difference for the Wizards this season—they’re 13–36 and way out of playoff contention—but they’ll be interesting to watch next season as they pair Davis and Young with a core of promising young players like Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George and Tre Johnson. It isn’t guaranteed to work, but it at least makes the Wizards worth paying attention to for the first time since John Wall was on the team.
Warriors finally dump Jonathan Kuminga
The messy relationship between Golden State and Kuminga ended on Wednesday when he was traded to the Hawks. Atlanta receives Kuminga and Buddy Hield in exchange for Kristaps Porziņģis.
Kuminga was selected with the seventh pick of the 2021 draft and showed flashes of brilliance in his five seasons with the Warriors. But he grew frustrated with inconsistent playing time (partially a result of his inconsistent play), and his relationship with the team became frayed. The two sides spent most of the offseason in a contract negotiation standoff that finally ended in late September. On Jan. 15, the first day that he was eligible to be traded, Kuminga requested to be dealt.
When healthy, Porziņģis can be an impact player, as he showed during the Celtics’ 2024 championship run. But he’s been injured throughout his career and has only played 17 games this season. He is, however, on an expiring contract, so the Warriors can use the salary cap savings to improve the roster for next season.
The Kuminga trade appears to eliminate the Warriors from the race to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo. Golden State had been considered to be among the favorites to land the disgruntled Bucks star, but Kuminga would have been the centerpiece of any trade package.
Thunder add a shooter
Oklahoma City is the best team in the NBA for the second season in a row, but it’s still looking for reinforcements. The Thunder acquired guard Jared McCain from the 76ers in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick belonging to the Rockets and three second-round picks.
McCain gives the Thunder another capable outside shooter, something they actually need. OKC ranks 15th in the league this season in three-point percentage (36.0%) and only has three players who’ve hit their shots from beyond the arc at a higher percentage than McCain has (37.8%).
McCain had a very promising start to his rookie year before a January knee injury sidelined him for the rest of the 2024-25 season. He played a smaller role this year after Philadelphia selected fellow guard VJ Edgecombe with the third pick in the draft and signed Quentin Grimes as a free agent. Those moves made McCain expendable, and the Sixers seized on the opportunity to get below the luxury tax threshold by dumping his salary.
Cavaliers save some money
The Cavs made a minor but interesting trade on Wednesday, dumping Lonzo Ball in a cost-cutting measure. Ball went to the Jazz, who are expected to waive him. Utah also got two second-round picks from Cleveland. Veteran center Jock Landale, acquired by Utah a day earlier in the trade that sent Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Grizzlies to the Jazz, was traded to the Hawks as part of the same deal.
The trade saves the Cavs about $10 million in salary cap space and gives them some breathing room below the second salary cap apron. (Trading for James Harden, Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder had gotten Cleveland up near that threshold.) It also opens up a roster spot. The Cavs could use that spot to acquire another player before the deadline, but The Athletic reports that the team currently plans to fill the spot by converting forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin’s two-way contract to a standard contract.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Super Bowl LX is nearly here. Who will win the big game? Our MMQB writers reveal their pick.
- Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly and Terrell Suggs are among the greats awaiting their Pro Football Hall of Fame fate. Matt Verderame examines the 2026 Modern Era finalists.
- Nearly 40 years after inspiring the Disney film Cool Runnings, the Jamaican bobsled team is looking for an Olympic medal in the near future, Ben Steiner writes.
- Jon Wertheim answers your questions about the Australian Open and more in this week’s mailbag.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Estonian curler Harri Lill’s Air Jordan curling shoes in the colors of his country’s flag.
4. The court storming in Minneapolis after Minnesota upset No. 10 Michigan State in men’s basketball. (The Spartans’ women’s team suffered a home upset against Maryland earlier in the night.)
3. Some slick ballhandling followed by an impressive dunk from Zion Williamson.
2. This ridiculous sequence by Victor Wembanyama. He made an outrageous block on one end and then converted a difficult tip-in on the other. He does stuff like this every night.
1. Achile Spadone’s buzzer beater for Bucknell to win it against American.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | The Biggest NBA Deadline Trades Made Thus Far.
