During the week leading up to the NBA’s trade deadline the league just dives as deeply as possible into transactional chaos. It can be a bit funny in the moment, sure. Seeing the Suns players react to the Luka trade, for example, doesn’t seem like a particularly meaningful or harmful moment.

The 3 p.m. ET deadline was a moment in time, but this 2025 version qualified as a “trade week” at least, almost as a “trade season” if we look back to Dec. 15 when Thomas Bryant moved from Miami to Indiana and Dennis Schröder went from Brooklyn to Golden State.

NBA trade deadline started with a double-bang (word to Mike Breen) when the Dallas Mavericks made the unfathomable decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. The Mavs and Lakers each made surprising moves in the days that followed,