NBA trade deadline

This archived article was written by: Tai Justice

The Trade Deadline passed last week and it was a quiet one. Some small moves happened, but nothing crazy like last year. I’m going to say what five trades I think should have happened, but did not last week.
Number five: Thaddeus Young to the Toronto Raptors. This trade was put out there about two weeks before the deadline and it made sense for both sides. Toronto is a good team and with some breaks, could possibly make the NBA Finals. Adding Young would’ve put them on a level-playing field with Cleveland. Their weakest position is at power forward. They start Luis Scola and that’s not going to get it done against Cleveland. From the Brooklynn Nets’ perspective, this makes sense too. The Nets are a disaster and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. They could have got some draft picks and maybe even a confident NBA player.
Number four: Jeff Teague to the Utah Jazz. This trade was out there and it would’ve happened if the Atlanta Hawks would’ve brought down their asking prices. The trade that would have worked for both sides was: Alec Burks and Trey Burke for Teague. From Atlanta’s side, they wanted to shake things up. A lot of their guy’s names were rumored these last two weeks and they would have got two players that could produce for them. Burks is hurt, but he’ll be back in about a month and is on a contract and Burke is a streaky shooter that can get it going. From Utah’s side, this would’ve been a no brainer. Utah has been hurt by poor point guard play and Teague is a really good point guard. Teague is under contract through 2017, so you’d at least have him until then.
Number three: Jahlil Okafor to the Boston Celtics. This trade actually wasn’t even rumored until after the deadline, when Boston’s GM said that they were close on a huge trade and it later came out that he was referring to this. The trade would have been Okafor for the Brooklyn Nets’ first-round pick, which could be the first pick in the draft and then David Lee and another draft pick. This would’ve have been a fun one. The Philadelphia 76ers said no. I don’t understand why they said no. They would have increased their chances at getting the first pick in the draft and have a good chance at having two picks in the top three. I get why Boston wanted to do it too. Okafor is only 19 and already looks polished on offense. He has a ways to go on defense, but he’s great on offense.
Number two: Dwight Howard to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Rockets desperately wanted to trade Howard. He doesn’t get along with their star player, James Harden, he’s become a distraction and he doesn’t fit in their offense. Portland has all this cap space that they have to fill with someone. So why not take a filler on Howard for the rest of the season? Howard is a free agent after the season, so you’d get his best for three months. Team him with Dame Lillard and C.J. McCollum? That’s a dangerous team.
Number one: Blake Griffin to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. As video gamey as it sounds, it makes sense for both sides. The Clippers have run the same team out year after year with the same result. They’ve never made the conference finals with the core they have and it’s because they don’t fit well together, so why not make a move like this? Anthony and Chris Paul are close friends, so Anthony would’ve waived his no trade clause and if they’re going to play DeAndre Jordan in crunch time, the spacing works better with Anthony than it does Griffin. The Knicks wouldhave jumped all of this. Get a player that was the third best player in the NBA last year and they get out of Anthony’s contract.