While there wasn’t a blockbuster name moved this past week, several players swapped teams ahead of the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 8. The Dallas Mavericks were one of the busiest teams around, executing two trades that brought in two new bigs for coach Jason Kidd’s rotation.
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But the Mavericks weren’t the only active team during the NBA trade deadline. The New York Knicks also brought in two scorers who can help Tom Thbibodeau’s team strengthen their playoff push. Yet, when it comes to the best moves, experts seem to prefer what Dallas did the most.
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Dallas Mavericks’ trades for Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington loved by NBA experts
The Athletic’s basketball experts were asked to evaluate the best and worst moves of the NBA trade deadline, and while their answers were all over the place, there was one consensus.
Two out of the three experts polled felt the Mavericks were the team that helped themselves the most on deadline day with the trades for Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington. The third analyst chose the Indiana Pacers, for their addition of Pascal Siakam being the major reason why.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end, David Aldridge didn’t feel like Milwaukee did enough to improve their roster ahead of a push for the NBA Finals. Another expert chastised the Sacramento Kings for standing pat despite having a roster ready to compete in the West.
The final expert was most shocked that the Chicago Bulls didn’t hit the reset button, particularly questioning why a player like Alex Caruso wasn’t traded for the best offer available.
Ultimately, these are only opinions, and obviously, none of them work for an NBA front office. The teams who did make moves likely feel better about their teams than they did before the deadline passed, and the teams who stood pat clearly didn’t find an offer to their liking.
That’s just the way it goes sometimes. As they say, it takes two to tango.
