Every NBA trade deadline, some players end up staying put despite their names being lodged in rumors for the months. This year was no different, and this deadline arguably featured more prominent names than normal due to the outsized potential of the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, as many teams tried to put together their best offers for one of the NBA’s all-time greats.
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Here are the 10 most important players who were on the trade market but stuck around at the deadline.
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks
In the end, the Bucks decided to hang on to their superstar, with Antetokounmpo himself telling The Athletic’s Eric Nehm that he wanted to be in Milwaukee, but that he wants to win, too. Following the deadline, Antetokounmpo made a very loud statement by posting a scene from the film “The Wolf of Wall Street” where Leonardo DiCaprio stands up in front of the company he owns and says he’s not leaving, with the caption “Legends don’t chase. They attract.”
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League sources have questioned how serious the Bucks were in trading Antetokounmpo before the deadline. With his star on the roster, Bucks general manager Jon Horst will head into the offseason, where teams will get clarity about draft positions after the lottery and additional draft picks will become available for trades in the new league year. And who knows? Maybe the playoffs will shake the ground underneath the NBA and new suitors will emerge.
Giannis’ future will continue to be a storyline until he is either traded or signs the four-year extension worth up to $276 million that he is eligible to receive on Oct. 1. The Bucks will now shift into making decisions to try to persuade him to sign that deal; they will enter the summer presumably with a high draft pick in June and two additional first-round selections in 2031 and 2033 that can be traded for talent to help the best player in the organization’s history win now and potentially end his career where it started.
2. Ja Morant, Grizzlies
It felt likely that Morant would be on the move after the team traded Jaren Jackson Jr. earlier in the week, but the market has been quite soft on Morant since it was reported that the team was exploring moving him about one month ago. Memphis will now carry him into the offseason in what will be a tricky situation to manage over the rest of the season. The Grizzlies are incentivized to lose, but there is also some incentive to play Morant and remind teams of what he’s capable of as a dynamic shot creator and passer with supreme athleticism. We’ll see how they handle balancing those two factors the rest of the way, and if Morant ends up playing another game for the Grizzlies.
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3/4. Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones, Pelicans
League sources have told The Athletic that the price tags on Murphy and Jones were so high as to be functionally unattainable when teams called about them. Still, their names were raised in trade discussions for obvious reasons. Murphy is a tremendously talented player who is averaging 22 points, six rebounds and four assists per game on efficiency well above league average while playing for a bad team. Given his production, he’s underpaid on a contract that pays him an average of $28 million per year for the next four years. Jones is one of the league’s best perimeter defenders and is also on a team-friendly contract. Undoubtedly, good teams are going to keep trying to pry them out of New Orleans as the Pelicans’ front office tries to reshape and rebuild its team under first-year president of basketball operations Joe Dumars.
5. Draymond Green, Warriors
Green’s name came up in trade discussions under very specific circumstances as the Warriors looked to get into the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. Such discussions hit a point that Green actually addressed them in what could have been his final news conference with the team, noting with gratitude how lucky he felt to have had the chance to stay in the same place for 13 1/2 seasons. Instead, once the Warriors felt confident the Bucks were not moving Antetokounmpo, they transitioned to a trade for Kristaps Porziņģis, a player with whom Green is a tremendous fit on the court if the Latvian big man can ever stay healthy. Things turn quickly in the NBA.
6. Jaden McDaniels, Timberwolves
Similar to Green, McDaniels’ name only came up within the Timberwolves’ Antetokounmpo discussions. The team has no desire to move McDaniels unless it’s for an upgrade of that caliber, especially in what has been arguably his best season to date. He’s scoring more often than ever, he’s making quicker decisions, and he’s hitting shots at an elite level while still playing hard-nosed defense. It would take a wild set of circumstances to move McDaniels, but Minnesota will undoubtedly explore those circumstances again this summer if Antetokounmpo re-enters the equation.
7. Tyler Herro, Heat
We can just make Herro the Heat’s stand-in for their offer for Antetokounmpo, given that the team was and clearly will be in the mix to try to acquire the star. An All-Star last year, Herro has only appeared in 11 games this season due to several injuries that include maladies to his ribs and his toe. When healthy, he’s a dynamic scoring threat who can really shoot and put the ball in the basket. Herro is also coming up on being eligible for an extension as he enters the final year of his contract next season.
8. Michael Porter Jr., Nets
Porter was seen as a very serious trade candidate throughout the cycle after a breakout 2025-26 season in a primary role in Brooklyn. He’s averaging 25.5 points and seven rebounds per game on excellent shooting splits; plus he has proven in the past that he can be a key contributor on a title team in Denver. Ultimately, two factors kept him in Brooklyn. First, the team likes having him around and sees him as a potential longer-term building block as it tries to maneuver its way out of the doldrums. Second, Porter does have some questions about his longer-term profile. He was flagged at the NBA Draft Combine for injuries, which precipitated his fall to No. 14 in the 2018 draft. Some teams aren’t particularly worried about this, but he’s just not a guy every team has interest in acquiring.
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9. Domantas Sabonis, Kings
Sabonis is coming off a relatively serious knee injury that held him out for two months, but he was seen as an option for teams that needed more size and rebounding in the frontcourt. Particularly, the Toronto Raptors were seen as a potential landing spot. However, the Kings were not looking to just give away Sabonis, and his contract is quite large for a player who doesn’t guard all that well at the game’s most important defensive position. He requires a very specific fit around him, and that confluence of factors led to teams ultimately not meeting the Kings’ asking price. Still, the Kings will have some work to do this summer as they look into changing up a roster that feels quite stale.
10. Daniel Gafford, Mavericks
By moving Anthony Davis to Washington, the Mavericks started their pivot to a roster solely formed around what makes sense next to Cooper Flagg. Gafford was seen as a legitimate potential acquisition for several teams around the league in need of center help. However, the efficient big man, who protects the rim as an elite leaper, will stick around in Dallas for the rest of the season. He’s on a good contract moving forward after signing an extension last offseason and will be seen as a value for as long as he remains athletic enough to catch lobs and swat shots.