Winners and losers of the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline

Winner: Boston Celtics

With that being said, the Celtics were also winners at the deadline in another sense: Nobody was able to make a move for Anthony Davis, which means Trader Danny will get his chance to stake a claim this summer. There’s been a lot of noise about AD’s unwillingness to stay in Boston long-term, but it’s hard to tell how much of that is true and how much of that is agent Rich Paul angling for his client to join LeBron James down in L.A.

Despite the concern over giving up Jayson Tatum, their ability to re-sign Kyrie Irving and the Brow not wanting to play for Boston, here’s all that matters: The Celtics have a chance to acquire a top-5 player in his prime, they have the best offer available trade package, and if they land AD, they suddenly have a pretty darn compelling case to keep Kyrie around for the long haul. Because Davis stayed put, that potential reality remains firmly intact.

Loser: Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers went into the trade deadline with dreams of scoring Anthony Davis and signing someone like Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard or Klay Thompson in free agency this summer. Instead, they emerged with Reggie Bullock and Mike Muscala, shipping off Michael Beasley and Ivica Zubac for peanuts. One possible explanation for this massive whiff? Maybe Magic Johnson isn’t as good at his job as he’s been given credit for.

LeBron James came to L.A. by his own accord, but since then, the Lakers have assembled a team of castoffs like Beasley, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo. Some of them have been good, and Bullock is a nice pickup, but even with injury problems factored in, this team sits 10th in the West. Even worse, they just welcomed the Celtics and New York Knicks into the bidding war for AD’s services after being led on for two weeks. They can thank Rich Paul for that.