Domantas Sabonis (Getty Images)
Two major deals were struck in the National Basketball Association over the course of a few hours on an inauspicious Tuesday afternoon. 4 teams committed to drastic new pathways for their franchises, by either acquiring a top-tier player or trading somebody who was very valuable.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a couple of "Woj bombs", announcing CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans and Domantas Sabonis to the Sacramento Kings. These were both shocking deals, as we hadn't seen much evidence linking either of those players with the respective teams. Either way, the deals are completed now and NBA fans are excited to see how it could change the fabric of the league itself.
That's where the Sincere Sports blog comes in. In this article, I'll be talking about how each team involved will be impacted, as well as how these deals will affect the current trade market and the entire NBA as a whole.
Trade 1
Sacramento Kings Receive: PF Domantas Sabonis, SG Jeremy Lamb, SF Justin Holiday, 2023 conditional second-round pick
Indiana Pacers Receive: PG Tyrese Haliburton, SG Buddy Hield, C Tristan Thompson
What it Means for the Kings
Though I personally feel that the Kings came out as losers in this trade, I won't deny that Sabonis is a real star who should be able to form a strong partnership with De'Aaron Fox. The Kings' offense ran way too heavily through their guards and picking up a talented forward in his prime goes a long way to expanding their options on the offensive side of the ball.
Sabonis is a good mid-range shooter, a force in the paint and an underrated playmaker. Since being traded for Paul George a few years ago, he's been producing at an elite rate. However, it's one thing to produce the way that Sabonis has, but real star players string that production into success, which Sabonis hasn't been able to do, particularly this season.
The Kings are putting a lot of stock into their two-headed monster of Sabonis and Fox, but I'm clearly not as convinced as Kings management. The acquisition means that the Kings now have a tall-ball lineup unless they trade the ever underappreciated Richaun Holmes, which I don't expect. It's a very risky trade for the Kings.
On the bright side, there's an argument that this experiment is worth the risk. Sabonis should be excellent in a frontcourt in which he isn't shackled to Myles Turner. The West is a weaker conference this year, so it's certainly possible that the Kings sneak into the Play-In tournament with their strong duo and try to make some noise.
I also like Lamb and Holiday being thrown in as sweeteners. Lamb has had a rough year, but he has enough of a track record as a shooter that I can imagine that he will be a solid bench option. Holiday is still unvaccinated, which limits how he can impact the Kings in home games, but I love him as a player. The Athletic's Zach Harper described him perfectly, saying that Holiday was "your favourite role player's favourite role player." He does all the little things well and should help the Kings try to end their embarrassing playoff drought.
What it Means for the Pacers
Though a full-blown tank would still be surprising to me, the Pacers are finally committing to a rebuild and this is a great start.
Bringing in Tyrese Haliburton is very positive. He's one of my favourite players in the league and his ceiling is immense if he can become the lead guard for a team. He does everything at a high level and he operates with intelligence. In a competent organization like Indiana, I'm fully expecting Haliburton to flourish. I'm wondering whether we might see a Malcolm Brogdon deal, either in the offseason or in the next few weeks, though I suppose a Brogdon-Haliburton backcourt could be enticing to Rick Carlisle.
Buddy Hield is not shooting threes as efficiently as he has in his career during this campaign, but for a team that struggles to make shots from beyond the arc in the way that Indiana does, he'll be charged with helping revitalize their shooting. I believe he is fully capable of fixing Indiana's spacing woes. He is still much better than the average player when it comes to launching threes.
Thompson will be a bench player and he doesn't move the needle much. His off-court antics are much more infamous than his exploits on the floor, but he can crash the boards and he gives them a veteran option on an expiring contract.
As for who the Pacers lost, it is very intriguing. Sabonis has been great individually in Indianapolis and trading him away marks the obvious start of a different direction for the team. Two of Indiana's most coveted assets, Caris LeVert and Sabonis, are now out of the locker room, which should help Indiana find a common direction as a franchise. The front office's vision is becoming clear and it seems to be a future built around players like Haliburton and Chris Duarte. Now that Myles Turner's frontcourt partner is gone, he might be free to take on more of a role on the offensive side of the ball. He is a very good rim defender, but he may be able to be utilized better on his own.
Nevertheless, I really like this deal for the Pacers.
Trade 2
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: SG Josh Hart, SG Nickeil Alexander-Walker, PG Tomas Satoransky, SG Marcos Silva, 2022 protected first-round pick, two future second round picks
New Orleans Pelicans Receive: SG CJ McCollum, PF Larry Nance Jr, SF Tony Snell
What it Means for the Trail Blazers
Well, it means that the Dame-CJ era is over, to be short.
Unfortunately, we never got to see the Trail Blazers make the Finals with the deadly backcourt and clearly the Blazers felt that if it hadn't happened yet, it wasn't going to in the next few years.
It seems like a weird trade for a team that has absolutely no direction. Committing to a deep playoff run with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum seemed like a wise idea, and this trade doesn't allow them to find a direct pathway into the future. Lillard is too good for the Blazers to tank, so unless Portland can find a trade partner (the 76ers?), this trade seems like a major L. It doesn't allow the roster to play in the vein of a certain vision, instead making Portland seem like the next casualty of what I call "Orlando Magic syndrome" in which a team is too good to get a high draft pick, but not good enough to make any noise in the postseason.
The return was also fairly underwhelming. The Blazers had a good time to pick up some great young assets, but they chose to target cap flexibility and salary relief for the future. Hart, Alexander-Walker and Satoransky are all decent contributors at the guard position, but in the context of a McCollum trade, the return seems underwhelming.
Hart has finally found a home in New Orleans, but he is more of a versatile sixth man on a contender than an impact starter. Canadian Nickeil Alexander-Walker has bags of potential, but he has been inefficient in his NBA career. Satoransky is a low-volume bench player.
The first-round pick is quite clearly the highlight of this trade and while I'm not saying that a lottery pick isn't valuable, I just think that in a trade for a star shooting guard like McCollum, this return doesn't help the Blazers find their identity any sooner than keeping McCollum would have.
Now that we have fully established context, we can criticize the Blazers' front office for their asset management. They have now basically traded CJ McCollum, Gary Trent Jr and three first round picks into Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, Hart, Satoransky, Alexander-Walker, a first round pick and a second round pick. Not a great return for two stars and three top picks.
What it Means for the Pelicans
An atypically aggressive trade from the Pels at the deadline had mixed reception in the NBA world. At the end of the day, I have to praise them on improving in the present and the future.
McCollum is a really fun fit in New Orleans, giving them a play-driving guard who can offer secondary production and take the load off of Brandon Ingram. His ball-handling skills means that when Zion Williamson returns, the young big can focus on driving to the rim and defending the paint.
He'll be a key part of what could be a terrifying pick-and-roll for the Pelicans.
Frankly, they didn't even give up that much. Nickeil Alexander-Walker was not valued as an asset very highly anymore and is now more of a reclamation project than anything. The Pels have tons of draft capital and their corps is already in place, so giving up a first-rounder for a win-now veteran like McCollum seems fairly prudent.
This trade does also alleviate some major defensive miscues on New Orleans' bench, as Larry Nance Jr can be a good rim protector alongside Jonas Valanciunas. Don't get me wrong, defense is still something to focus on. However, this is a smart trade that helps the Pelicans on both sides of the ball.
This could be seen as too much of a go-for-it move for New Orleans, but I think this is a calculated risk from the Pelicans' management.
It isn't a major issue yet, but the franchise may need to look to appeasing Zion Williamson in order to keep their most promising player on the books for the next decade. Trading for a legitimate star should go a long way to accomplishing that.
In my opinion, the Pelicans took a big W on this deal.
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