The 10 Biggest winners and losers of the NBA trade deadline
By Ari Schwartz
Loser: Utah Jazz
The Jazz are another team that was involved in the three-way trade between them, LA, and Minnesota. In the deal, Utah dealt Jared Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Mike Conley, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker and got back one first-round pick from the Lakers in 2027.
I’m well aware of the risk of sounding like a fool when criticizing any trade Danny Ainge makes, but I’m taking it anyway. Is the first really the best he could do? Maybe Ainge just felt sorry for the league after receiving essentially seven first-round picks in exchange for Rudy Gobert. But let’s be honest, if he had sympathy, he’d probably have stopped fleecing teams a while ago.
Beasley and Vanderbilt could both most likely net a first of their own, and Conley could at least get Utah some seconds. The Jazz also moved Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the deal, the main piece it got back in the Bojan Bogdanovic trade, a player who likely could’ve netted a first if Detroit wanted it (I have no idea why the Pistons didn’t trade him). Overall, the deadline was a small loss in a pile of wins for Utah, but still a loss regardless.