NBA Trade Deadline Recap and Fantasy Basketball Analysis: Buddy Hield, Gordon Hayward, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Dennis Schroder and More

Discussing some of the NBA trade deadline moves and what it all means from a fantasy perspective.

The NBA trade deadline has officially passed, so now it’s time to discuss the deals that went down from a fantasy perspective.

We’ll focus on the trades that involved the biggest names.

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76ers Make Three Trades

The Philadelphia 76ers made three separate deals before the deadline. They sent Jaden Springer to the Boston Celtics for a second-round pick, acquired Cameron Payne and a second-round pick from the Milwaukee Bucks and got Buddy Hield from the Indiana Pacers for Marcus Morris, Furkan Korkmaz and three second-round picks.

Beverley played in 47 games this season and averaged 19.6 minutes. He was averaging 6.3 points and 3.1 rebounds and assists, so he wasn’t a huge fantasy asset. Beverley is a defensive-first guard, so that’s the biggest reason the Bucks made the move for him.

Payne played in 47 games with the Bucks and averaged just 14.9 minutes per game. He also averaged 6.2 points, 2.3 assists and 1.3 rebounds. If he gets Beverley’s playing time, Payne could improve some of his averages, but it likely won’t be enough to roster him outside deeper fantasy leagues.

Springer appeared in 32 games and averaged 11.8 minutes, 4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He only has played 50 games in his three-year NBA career, and joining a stacked Celtics’ roster probably means he’ll be sparingly used there too, if he’s retained.

Morris played in 37 games for Philly, averaging 17.2 minutes, 6.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Korkmaz averaged 2.5 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists across 8.6 minutes in his 35 games played.

The big move for the 76ers is clearly getting Hield. He averaged 12 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 25.7 minutes played across his 52 games this season. He should be able to help the team out in the scoring department with Joel Embiid sidelined.

OKC Adds Veteran Wing

The Oklahoma City Thunder acquired Gordon Hayward from the Charlotte Hornets for Tre Mann and Davis Bertans. 

Hayward has played in 25 games this season, averaging 31.9 minutes, 14.5 points, 4.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He isn’t the player he once was, but he’ll be a veteran leader for the Thunder and could play a sizable role the rest of the season.

It remains to be seen which Thunder player(s) gets their role reduced with Hayward in town. Mann averaged just 9.2 minutes across 13 games, while Bertans played 6.1 minutes across 15 games played. Guys like Luguentz Dort and Josh Giddey could lose some minutes. OKC could also tighten their rotation and knock out a current bench player instead.

Mavericks Add Two Players

The Dallas Mavericks got some help when acquiring P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford before the deadline. The Mavs sent Grant Williams, Seth Curry and a first-round pick to the Hornets to obtain Washington. Richaun Holmes and a first-round pick were sent out for Gafford of the Washingon Wizards’ .

Washington has made our daily waiver wire top performer stories several times over the past couple weeks. He’s averaging 13.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 29.2 minutes across 44 games played this season.

He lands with a team with two big-time scorers in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving (while Tim Hardaway Jr. is also at 17.9 points a game), so it remains to be seen if Washington can average as many points in Dallas. Those strong scorers should create some open looks for Washington, so maybe a higher shooting percentage will allow him to still score at a good clip. I’ve been telling people to add Washington for several days now, and this trade doesn’t change anything.

Gafford has averaged 10.9 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1 steal and 2.2 blocks across 26.5 minutes in the 45 games he’s appeared in this season.

With Williams (8.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists across 26.4 minutes) out of the picture, that should afford Washington and Gafford a decent amount of playing time. We’ll have to wait and see how the rotation shakes out, but I don’t see it affecting any of the current fantasy starters from the team too greatly.

Toronto, Brooklyn Make Interesting Swap

The Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets had one of the more interesting trades of the day, with the deal basically moving Spencer Dinwiddie to Brooklyn for Dennis Schroder. Thaddeus Young also went with Schroder to Brooklyn.

What makes the move even crazier is that Dinwiddie won’t play for Toronto.

That makes Dinwiddie a big-time player on the buyout market. Expect him to join a contender in short order.

Schroder has played in 51 games this season, averaging 13.7 points, 6.1 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 30.6 minutes. Young played in 23 games, averaging 15.2 minutes, 5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

I’m really curious to see if any Brooklyn players have their role reduced with Schroder in town. Dinwiddie averaged 30.7 minutes, 12.6 points, 6 assists and 3.3 rebounds this season, so the two players almost cancel each other out.

New York, Detroit Swap Six Players, Picks

The New York Knicks acquired Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks from the Detroit Pistons for Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidacono and two second-round picks. 

Bogdanovic and Burks go from the worst team in the league to a contender, so that’s always good to see for veterans. 

Bogdanovic averaged 20.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists across 32.9 minutes in his 28 games played this season. Burks has played in 43 games, averaging 12.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists across 21 minutes.

Both guys should play pretty decent sized roles for the Knicks, but they likely won’t have nearly the scoring impact they did on a terrible Detroit team. Because they don’t fill up the stat sheet in a bunch of other ways, I’m guessing their fantasy values actually take a hit from the move.

Guys like Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart might see their scoring averages dip a touch because of the move as well. I think the move helps the Knicks in real life, but it could be detrimental to several players from a fantasy perspective.

Flynn and Arcidiacono aren’t likely to serve big roles for Detroit, although the team also waived Killian Hayes on Thursday, so maybe they could carve out a role with some decent play.

Grimes played in 45 games with New York this season, averaging 20.2 minutes, 7.3 points, 2 rebounds and 1.2 assists. He’s a guy to keep an eye on over the next couple days, as the state of the Pistons’ roster might allow him to have a bigger scoring load and make him a decent option in deeper leagues. 

Fournier was averaging 13 minutes a game over just three games played. I like his chances of carving out a role in Detroit over Flynn and Arcidiacono, but it likely won’t be a big enough one for fantasy purposes.

Final Thoughts

The next couple days are huge from a fantasy perspective, but I also want to warn fantasy owners about jumping to conclusions too fast. 

Most trade deadline players will take some time to settle in with their new teams. I’d wait until after the All-Star break to make any major moves regarding any of these players. 

Let the dust settle and get a decent sample size of game play to see what kinds of roles the players have with their new teams. While the deadline is over, buyout moves will also happen over the next couple of days, and those have the chance to shakeup a team’s rotation and player’s fantasy outlooks more than some of these trades will.

Just be patient and don’t make any snap decisions based on what happened today. It’s all just speculation at this point.

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