2026 NBA trade deadline winners and losers: Bucks, Cavs, Wizards top list

Wait, did the Washington Wizards just win the 2026 NBA trade deadline?

Before we cast judgment, let’s turn our thoughts to who wasn’t traded this week.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is still on the Milwaukee Bucks. Oh, deer.

On the one hand, sanity prevailed. What the obviously interested teams had to potentially offer was underwhelming:

The Golden State Warriors’ package of picks and players, including Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga
The Miami Heat’s package of Kel’el Ware, picks, and probably Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Herro
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ options of Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert or Naz Reid (any three), Robert Dillingham and some picks

This is meant as no disrespect to any of the players listed. And, sure, the Warriors had upwards of four potential first-round picks to offer. (How valuable would they be, coming from the team with Steph Curry and Giannis on it?)

But if Antetokounmpo, in his prime, is going out, a franchise cornerstone has to come back. I don’t see that player anywhere listed above, and I’m not sure the draft capital on the table was enough.

Milwaukee obviously agreed on this point, as the team’s front office never really engaged potential suitors in counter offers, probably because general manager Jon Horst could do the math, see the landscape and understand that none of them really had a path to getting to what Milwaukee should receive for Giannis.

One lower-level Bucks official put it to me this way: “Let’s say you’re the Knicks. You think you’re trading Karl-Anthony Towns for Giannis? No! We should be asking for Jalen Brunson.”

Well, you might say, the Knicks wouldn’t do that. They’re trying to add to Brunson. You’re right. And this is the problem of a megastar pushing his way out of a city where he is under contract. It’s almost impossible to get return value for a player of Antetokounmpo’s caliber.

By waiting until the summer to trade Antetokounmpo, the Bucks will have the time — and the benefit of fortunes breaking a certain way for other teams during the playoffs — to get a sweeter deal.

Cleveland’s Evan Mobley is 24 and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Oklahoma City has two stars not named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and more picks than it can use (but, to be clear, at present, neither the Thunder nor the Cavs has shown interest in moving off their young stars, or in OKC’s case, young stars and picks, for Giannis).

The Chicago Bulls have seven first-round picks over the next six drafts and acquired nine second-round picks at this year’s deadline. Any of those routes, with sweeteners I’m not thinking of, sounds more enticing than what the Bucks could’ve received this week.

But there is a downside. The endless speculation, Giannis’ wishy-washiness publicly juxtaposed against “sources” insisting he wants out. This has been going on at some level for years and has been nonstop since last summer. We are all going to have to endure it for months on end, and maybe all the way until next February if the Bucks still don’t find an offer they like over the summer.

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What You Should Read Next

Giannis Antetokounmpo posts message after Bucks elect not to trade him: ‘Legends don’t chase’

The Bucks’ superstar made his feelings clear after the team chose to keep him past the 2026 NBA trade deadline.

Players whose names get dropped into rumors linked to Giannis have to live with the speculation. Teams (looking at you, Miami and Golden State) that have crafted large portions of their team-building strategies around landing Giannis are forced to wait.

In this business, Antetokounmpo is good for eyeballs, if not for our health. The NBA dominated the NFL this week in the news, despite it being Super Bowl week, because of the anticipation of who might get traded and where.

But is this a good thing for the NBA? The league’s biggest interest driver is what happens off the court? Not to be a fuddy duddy, but the trend of players successfully pushing their way off teams while under contract has gotten old.

I am all for workforce empowerment, and I get the counter about owners trading players against their will. But at this point, I’d be for making it harder for teams to trade players, and for players to force a move, compared to the current system.

Winner: Bucks
Loser: The rest of us

Anthony Davis and Trae Young join a young Wizards team that has pivoted from a slow, patient rebuild to pair emerging talent with the former superstars. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

Now, to the Wizards.

They are 13-36 and in 14th place in the Eastern Conference and need to make sure they stay there to keep their first-round pick in June. At the same time, they traded for Trae Young (remember that?) and Anthony Davis. One is a 3-point shooting, assist machine, the other a defensive and rebounding stalwart who can fall out of bed and average 20 points. So long as he is healthy.

Between the two of them, Davis and Young have amassed 14 All-Star appearances. When next season starts, assuming both are healthy, they will join Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly and Kyshawn George. Go ahead and throw Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington in there, too. That’s five young players who inspired the Wizards’ front office enough by their play to disrupt a patient, slow rebuild by adding two expensive and controversial stars.

Davis, or at least his representatives at Klutch Sports, were targeting the East. They wanted him out of Dallas and somewhere in the other conference, where they feel he will be unstoppable. Atlanta was a target. Cleveland, perhaps. But Washington?

I’m told Klutch founder Rich Paul wasn’t consulted as the deal for Davis was put together (whereas he was consulted on the trade of Darius Garland to the LA Clippers). This is true. Paul conveyed his message to the Mavericks — do what’s best for the organization, trade Davis or extend him — one month ago.

But this is twice now with Davis, this year and last year’s stunner that landed Davis in Dallas for Luka Dončić, where Paul was kept away from team negotiations.

Davis is under contract for about $58 million next season and has a player’s option for 2027-28. He would likely give strong consideration to an extension if the Wizards are truly in on him and Young.

Young’s move from the Hawks to the Wizards has been heavily covered, in no small part because it happened Jan. 9, nearly a month before the deadline. But adding the two moves together, we can say Washington accelerated its timeline without having to give up any pieces of great import.

And that group of young players identified above, well, they will be playing alongside two established veterans with no interest in sleepwalking through a dark, listless, 20-something win season.

Winner: Wizards’ young players
Loser: The Mavericks, whose biggest return on this trade is two first-round picks, one from NBA Finals-favorite Oklahoma City and the other from Golden State … in 2030.

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What You Should Read Next

Anthony Davis trade makes it clear that the Mavericks are Cooper Flagg’s team

Dallas may take a step back in the present. But moving Davis means the future is all about the 19-year-old, as it should be.

We are, roughly, 1,000 words into this analysis and have yet to mention that the Grizzlies didn’t trade Ja Morant.

By the NBA’s definition, Morant is still a star. But there was virtually no market for him; he’s constantly injured, and he gets in trouble off the court too much for anyone’s comfort. The Kings, Heat and Bucks were linked to Morant, but Sacramento wanted more draft capital to take Morant than Memphis was willing to offer.

For those reasons, he was not included as an example in the Giannis section. They are, at this point, not comparable.

Memphis intends to trade Morant over the summer, according to league sources. The team has the patience for any short-term pain that keeping him past the deadline may cause. Don’t view the Grizzlies’ non-action on him as a change in direction.

But Memphis did trade a star this week, in a stunner, shipping Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks (multiple players from both teams changed sides in the deal).

The Jazz are 16-35. That’s a second bad team, joining the Wizards, loading up to be much better next year. Jackson can play next to resident star Lauri Markkanen, and, if he returns as a restricted free agent, center Walker Kessler. Markkanen had success playing in a huge frontcourt with Jarrett Allen and Mobley in Cleveland and could have another chance at something similar here.

Meanwhile, joining the Grizzlies in a commitment to a rebuild is the Bulls, who have resisted this very thing for years. Nikola Vučević, gone, finally, to Boston, where he becomes the starting center on a (surprising) contender. Coby White, gone to (surprising) Charlotte, where the Hornets are virtually guaranteed to leapfrog the Bulls and make the Play-In Tournament. Ayo Dosunmu, gone to Minnesota.

I made the suggestion earlier of the Bulls as a participant in the next round of the Giannis sweepstakes. Perhaps I should CALM DOWN, but I should mention that DraftKings’ sportsbook had the Bulls as the third most likely team to land Giannis this week. The odds-on favorite was the Bucks, and DK was right. So I will be keeping an eye on the new odds for Giannis, and the Bulls, this summer.

Winners: Jazz, Bulls
Losers: Me, for using gambling odds to inform analysis

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What You Should Read Next

Ja Morant to stay with Grizzlies after team unable to find trade partner before deadline

While the Grizzlies searched for ways to trade their former franchise player, they elected to keep him past Thursday’s trade deadline.

The Clippers were one of the hottest teams in the NBA for the last six weeks. And they just traded two of their three best players.

To be fair to the organization, returns of Garland, Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and three draft picks in deals for Harden and Ivica Zubac can be reasonably explained as one of the NBA’s oldest teams pivoting and going younger.

Except, when they were floundering in November and December, and firing Chris Paul, and dealing with the fallout of allegations of salary-cap circumvention, the Clippers insisted they weren’t going to blow up what they had. They were going to A) play better and B) add to the Kawhi Leonard/Harden/Zubac triumvirate.

The Clippers are in Year 2 of their $2 billion arena. They’re in a constant turf battle for recognition against the Lakers. And they were, again, one of the NBA’s best teams over the last several weeks.

Odd timing to blow it up.

Winner: Pacers, who get their center for next season in Zubac

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What You Should Read Next

Ivica Zubac trade grades: Pacers get their big man; what’s up with Clippers?

The Pacers give up potentially some major draft capital, but this fills a need they weren’t going to find a better solution to.

Last year, I said the Cavs won the trade deadline because they traded for De’Andre Hunter. This year, I’m saying they won it because they got rid of him.

My focus at the deadline is always on who put themselves in position to win in June. So why did I save this part for the end? Frankly, I blame Scottie Scheffler playing one of his worst rounds of golf in YEARS while I was writing. It was distracting. Up was down. Winners finished last (or something like that).

• The league’s contenders were active. Oklahoma City added depth in Jared McCain. The Celtics, as previously mentioned, brought in Vučević. The Pistons added Kevin Huerter and Dario Šarić. The Knicks acquired a good backup point guard in Jose Alvarado. Dosunmu to the Timberwolves, as we discussed. And yes, Cleveland somehow got cheaper and better through the trades for Harden, and for Dennis Schröder and Keon Ellis for Hunter. (The Cavs also shed Lonzo Ball, a value add because they got off his $10 million salary).

• Are the Hawks a contender? The Kuminga experiment went from coast to coast and landed with the Hawks. Buddy Hield was in that trade with the Warriors, too, and Jock Landale also made his way to Atlanta through a string of trades.

• The Lakers added Luke Kennard. He’s an outside shooter off the bench. Those players are always valuable on teams with Dončić and LeBron James. The Lakers were never really going to expend their most valuable assets to add to the team this month. I expect they will look different when the summer free agency is over.

• Tyus Jones became expendable in Orlando through the emergence of Anthony Black. The Magic, scuffling, got out of the luxury tax this season through this move.

• And then there are the Warriors, who took back Kristaps Porziņģis for sending Kuminga and Hield to the Hawks. Golden State readily acknowledges it is at the end of a glorious decade of basketball. If Porziņģis were not dealing with a lingering and debilitating illness, this would be a much more exciting trade.

As it stands, it is hard to tell if the Warriors are any closer to contention now that the deadline has passed.

They tried with Giannis. They really, really tried.

But sanity prevailed in Milwaukee.

Winners: Boston, Oklahoma City, Cleveland

2026 NBA trade deadline winners and losers: Bucks, Cavs, Wizards top list

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