5 NBA teams that got better at trade deadline, and 3 that got worse

Here are the teams who got better at the NBA trade deadline, and the ones who got worse.

The 2025 NBA trade deadline will be remembered as one of the wildest in league history. The Luka Doncic-for-Anthony Davis swap between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks is just starting to set in, while players like De’Aaron Fox and Zach LaVine have already played multiple games for their new teams.

The NBA has already played more than 60 percent of the season schedule. The All-Star Game is just around the corner, and then it will be about prioritizing rest vs. playoff position for contenders. So much of the analysis on the trade deadline was focused on how these deals impact the future, but there’s a more urgent component of how it affects teams right now. The action at the trade deadline is going to have a very real impact on the league picture at the top and bottom of the standings for the rest of this season.

Here are the teams that got better at the 2025 NBA trade deadline, and ones who got worse.

Teams that got better at the 2025 NBA trade deadline

Cleveland Cavaliers

The one hole in the Cavs’ roster this season was the lack of a bigger wing who could reliably space the floor. Enter De’Andre Hunter, who was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, and pick swaps that are unlikely to convey. Hunter has had a breakout season in his sixth year in the NBA, putting up career-highs in scoring (19 points per game), scoring efficiency (61.6 percent true shooting), and three-point percentage (39.3 percent on 6.7 attempts per game). Hunter isn’t a lockdown defender by any means, but he can usually compete at the point of attack, and he’ll have two big shot blockers behind him in Cleveland. The Cavs are likely to be the No. 1 seed in the East heading into the playoffs, and they got even tougher as postseason matchup for Boston and New York after this move.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs needed a co-star for Victor Wembanyama so badly, and they found a good one in De’Aaron Fox. San Antonio out-scores opponents by 3.6 points per 100 possessions with Wemby on the floor this season, but they’re getting crushed with him off the floor to the tune of a -9.7 net-rating. Fox will be able to lift bench units when Wembanyama is resting, while also giving him a speedy pick-and-roll handler to play off of in crunch-time. Fox has played two games in San Antonio so far and already seems like a seamless fit, averaging 22 points per game on 50 percent shooting from the field. The Spurs deserve credit for pulling off this trade without giving up anyone meaningful in their rotation. San Antonio is only 1.5 games out of the final spot in the play-in tournament this year, and Fox just might help them get there.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers were playing good basketball with Anthony Davis this season, charging up to the No. 5 seed in the West by the time they made the most mind-blowing deal in NBA history. Replacing Davis with Mark Williams is a definite downgrade in the front court, and losing Max Christie hurts their wing depth a bit. Still, if Luka Doncic can return from his calf injury at anything close to what we’ve seen throughout his career, Los Angeles just became a much scarier playoff matchup. Doncic is a proven playoff killer every single year, and LeBron James is still a hell of a co-star even at age-40. Williams really needs to stay durable and productive for the Lakers to have any chance at making a playoff run, but if he holds up, Luka magic and LeBron should make them a tough out against anyone.

Toronto Raptors

The Raptors stink out loud this season at 16-35 overall, which made their decision to trade for Brandon Ingram an odd choice. Of course, this is just what Masai Ujiri and the front office do at this point, with the Ingram deal marking the fourth straight year they’ve made a bizarre deadline deal. Ingram has missed 27 straight games with an ankle injury this year, and the Raptors largely did this deal because they want to sign him to a contract extension over the summer. I didn’t really get this move for Toronto at all in the long-term, and in the short-term the only thing it can do is ruin their lottery odds. The Raptors will be more competitive with Ingram in the lineup if he’s healthy enough to play, though, and that means they have to included here.

Golden State Warriors

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for the Warriors that meant handing Jimmy Butler a two-year, $121 million extension just to get him to sign off on a trade to the Bay. Butler is one of the great playoff performers of his generation, and at 35 years old he should still plenty left in the tank. Butler can offer the Warriors another trusted ball handler who can get to the foul line and avoid turnovers. That will allow Stephen Curry more freedom to work off the ball, where he’s really at his best. Golden State’s defense has been a top-10 unit all season with Draymond Green leading the way, and adding Butler will make them even tougher. The Warriors have just been so mediocre since their hot start that I’m having a hard time buying the Butler move as something that lifts them to a deep playoff run this year, but he certainly makes them a tougher out.

Teams that got worse at the 2025 NBA trade deadline

Dallas Mavericks

I didn’t give the Mavericks an F for the Luka Doncic trade like many other media outlets. My D+ represented the idea that a) Anthony Davis is still awesome, b) there’s a chance the Mavericks remain pretty damn good with him in the lineup in place of Doncic. Dallas really needed to add another ball handler before the buzzer went off on the trade deadline, though, and they weren’t able to do that. Doncic was so always so great in the playoffs that it’s hard to see how the trade makes the Mavs better this year. There’s just not much shot creation next to Kyrie Irving on this roster, and the ensuring Quentin Grimes for Caleb Martin trade made Dallas even weaker in that regard. I don’t think it’s impossible that Nico Harrison comes out looking clairvoyant for doing this deal, but the likelihood of that happening is pretty small. If the Mavs can add another stud this summer, come talk to me.

Chicago Bulls

It sense for the Bulls to get worse at the trade deadline, but Chicago’s actions remained entirely illogical with Arturas Karnisovas calling the shots. The Bulls were bad enough to keep their top-10 protected draft pick regardless this year, but they still traded their best player in Zach LaVine and took on bad contracts to re-acquire it. Karnisovas met the media after the trade and stated that he’s hopeful Chicago can still make the playoffs this season, which just proves how in over his head he is. The Bulls need a blue chip young talent and should be trying to maximize their lottery position like many of the teams below them in the standings. Instead, their front office said the play-in tournament is worth fighting for, and a playoff appearance would make this season something like a success. Bulls governor Michael Reinsdorf needs to realize his franchise is again becoming the laughingstock of the NBA and fire Karnisovas. The Bulls’ rebuild won’t go well with him in charge.

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks did not operate like a team that lacks total control of its 2025 first-round draft pick at the trade deadline. Atlanta traded De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic, and while they got three decent players back in Caris LeVert, Terance Mann, and Georges Niang, it won’t be enough to stop what feels like a sinking ship. After Jalen Johnson’s season-ending injury, the Hawks are dropping games at a blitzkrieg pace and could fall out of the play-in tournament race entirely. San Antonino owns their unprotected 2025 first-round pick. If that selection delivers Cooper Flagg to the Spurs, the rest of the league is never going to forgive Atlanta.