The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Several sharpshooters now in the playoff race
Bojan Bogdanovic left Detroit to join what has become an even-more-formidable contender in New York. Gordon Hayward is leaving Charlotte for one of the league’s best surprise stories this season in Oklahoma City. Doug McDermott once was traded by Indiana to San Antonio, and now the Spurs have traded him back to the Pacers.
None of those shooters were making playoff plans when Thursday started. But trade deadline day in the NBA gave them and plenty of other players an entirely new outlook. It may have even reshaped the start of the playoff push as well.
The Knicks made some big moves with eyes on contending in the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia added a sharpshooter in Buddy Hield with hopes that it can get back on track when — or if — reigning MVP Joel Embiid returns from injury. Phoenix and Dallas added frontcourt dept; the Suns landed Royce O’Neale from Brooklyn and the Mavericks are bringing in P.J. Washington from Charlotte.
Bogdanovic was averaging 20.2 points this season with the Pistons, who have the NBA’s worst record at 7-43. He and Alec Burks are headed to the Knicks, a team that entered Thursday a game out of the No. 2 spot in the East and managed to add without really subtracting — the price was Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier and Ryan Arcidiacono. Grimes began the year as a starter, then played off the bench. Fournier appeared in just three games. Arcidiacono made 20 appearances — and didn’t score a point.
Hayward joins a Thunder team that started Thursday as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They’re 35-16, entering the day with tiebreaker edges over two teams — Minnesota and Denver — with the same record and a half-game up on the Los Angeles Clippers (34-16).
Hield left Indiana in a trade to the 76ers, and the Pacers seemed to try to replace his shooting by bringing back McDermott. McDermott spent three seasons, 2018 through 2021, with Indiana, so the trade was a homecoming of sorts.
Another homecoming: Kelly Olynyk is headed back to his native Canada, with the veteran forward being traded to Toronto from Utah. The Jazz also sent Ochai Agbaji to the Raptors, who sent Otto Porter Jr., Kira Lewis Jr. and a 2024 first-round pick to Utah.
Milwaukee made a couple of notable moves, one by landing defensive pest Patrick Beverley from the 76ers and pairing him with Bucks guard Damian Lillard; those two exchanged some heated words during last season’s playoffs. The Bucks then sent veteran center Robin Lopez to Sacramento; it is expected that Lopez will be waived by the Kings.
Meanwhile, Dejounte Murray — maybe one of the most talked-about players over the past few weeks of trade speculation — remained in Atlanta. And plenty of other teams also stood pat Thursday. Defending NBA champion Denver didn’t make a move on deadline day, nor did reigning East champion Miami, though the Heat did their trade-season work a couple of weeks ago by bringing in Terry Rozier from Charlotte for Kyle Lowry.
The Lakers didn’t make any trade-deadline deals, nor did a Golden State team that entered the season with championship hopes and finds itself in a dogfight at the bottom of the West playoff picture.
Another team that didn’t make a trade: Cleveland, which has won 15 of its past 16 games to move to No. 2 in the East.
“Sometimes you don’t want to mess up a good thing,” Koby Altman, the Cavs’ president of basketball operations, said on a conference call shortly after the deadline passed. “So we’re going to roll with what we have.”