Winners and losers of the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline

Winner: Sacramento Kings

Some were low on the Sacramento Kings‘ decision to swap out wing Iman Shumpert for Harrison Barnes and Alec Burks, especially with their reported interest in Barnes beyond this season, but Shump was an expiring contract in the middle of a career year. Selling high on him now to find capable wings that fit the timeline was a forward-thinking strategy — especially with so many Western Conference teams essentially bowing out of the playoff race with their moves.

Barnes’ usage will hopefully go down in Sacramento, which should help him rediscover his efficiency and commitment to defense. The fast pace should help both him and Burks, providing size and scoring on the wing alongside the smaller Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Caleb Swanigan has more NBA potential than Skal Labissiere at this point, and overall, it was nice to see the Kings avoid going full KANGZ by landing an impressive haul without mortgaging their future. Now let’s end that playoff drought.

Loser: Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets are still likely to re-sign Kemba Walker this summer, but they really didn’t get their lone All-Star much help. They had been in talks to acquire Marc Gasol for days, but in the end, lost in the bidding war to Toronto and failed to unload a single one of their ugly contracts.

The Hornets are still probably a playoff team, and at least Malik Monk and Miles Bridges are sticking around, but watching the rich get richer in the East had to sting, especially with how close Charlotte was to landing a second legitimate difference-maker.