The 10 Biggest winners and losers of the NBA trade deadline
By Ari Schwartz
Winner: Los Angeles Lakers
Moving on from the Durant deal, the Lakers may have been the biggest winners of the deadline, acquiring D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Mo Bamba, and Rui Hachimura if you count him as a deadline addition. All this was done while only giving up one of LA’s tradeable first-round picks in 2027 and 2029. Additionally, the one they did trade in ’27 is a top-four protected pick.
Are the Lakers title contenders after all this? Probably not, and landing Kyrie would’ve given them a much better shot at the title. However, the front office did everything they could to surround LeBron with solid pieces, and LA now has a chance to make a second-round or even conference finals run if everything goes as planned.
Of course, that is a big “if.” Russell and Beasley are notoriously streaky players, and the roster now has a logjam of frontcourt players. Needless to say, the Lakers did what they could, and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.