Heat, all suitors Giannis Antetokounmpo among the biggest losers

There’s no denying that the Washington Wizards left the NBA trade deadline as one of the biggest winners. Anthony Davis and Trae Young are two All-Star talents the organization added for almost nothing, and the Wizards are finally coming off their rebuild. However, while some had a great trade deadline, others are left scratching their heads.

First of all, Giannis Antetokounmpo the situation left many around the NBA confused after the trade deadline. Were the Bucks even going to trade Giannis or were they trying to get information from teams?

Those pursuing Antetokounmpo either turned to other, smaller moves before the trade deadline, or they backed off and didn’t make any moves in the hope that another chance to pursue Giannis would come in the summer.

Anyway, teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat were left in the dark with no realistic chance of landing Antetokounmpo before the trade deadline.

Outside of all the trade drama surrounding Giannis over the past month, other situations around the league, including Ja Morant’s move to the Memphis Grizzlies, remain unresolved.

Every organization has its own agenda, and sometimes that doesn’t always align with the thought process of the media and fans. However, there are clear losers at the NBA trade deadline this year, and none bigger than the Heat.

Miami Heat

What’s the plan in South Beach? Bam Adebayo is now 28 years old and not getting any younger, and the Heat seem to have wasted the last few seasons by being nothing more than a play-by-play team.

Once again, the Heat are in play-in contention as they were the only team in the East to not make a move at the trade deadline. Obviously, the Heat put all their eggs in Giannis’ basket and thought they had a clear shot at getting him, but the fact is that The Bucks never negotiated with teams and made counter offers.

Because of this, all the teams that discussed the possibility of trading Giannis with the Bucks indicated that Milwaukee was never true to their intentions to trade the two-time MVP.

Miami blew this deadline, failing to add any talent that could help them this season and become possible title contenders next. Now, the Heat are staring at what will be a very unpredictable offseason for them.

Norman Powell will be a free agent, talk of Tyler Arrow’s extension will only get louder, and expiring money from the contracts of Terry Rozier and Simone Fontecchio hasn’t been used in any upgrade trades.

There is still a lot of work to be done to take the heat in the East seriously.

Not just the Heat, but all of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s suitors

The Heat will obviously get a lot of backlash for their unsuccessful pursuit of Giannis and not making any moves to improve their current prospects. However, Miami, along with other teams who thought they had a great chance to land Giannis, ended up being big losers at the NBA trade deadline for several reasons.

Not only is Giannis staying in Milwaukee, but now all the information they gave the Bucks about their players and assets could come back to hurt them.

The Warriors and Timberwolves were two other teams pursuing Antetokounmpo, so how will their personnel react to being included in these negotiations? Will any organization now deal with any toxic environment from players who know they will be traded for Giannis?

Also, the Bucks can now take all of this information they have about those teams into the offseason and use it to their advantage in future Giannis talks or other trade discussions for different players. It never hurts to get information on your competition, and the Bucks now have just that.

Teams dreamed of pursuing Giannis at the trade deadline, and instead, they don’t know which way to go.

Golden State Warriors fans

Since Kevin Durant left the Warriors in 2019, this organization and owner Joe Lacob have been dreaming of chasing Giannis. The Warriors made a very compelling offer focused on several draft picks through 2032, and this raised a few eyebrows for the Bucks. However, Milwaukee was never going to trade Giannis, and the Golden State players in their package weren’t going to reach a deal, no matter what.

Warriors fans may be having a bit of déjà vu after the same thing happened last season when the Kevin Durant trade talks collapsed. The only difference is then, the Dubs turned around and made a deal for another All-Star — Jimmy Butler.

This year, the Warriors couldn’t turn to another big name not only because there weren’t any available that made sense to trade for, but also because the organization wasn’t willing to pay the league’s asking price.

Jaren Jackson Jr. was traded to the Utah Jazz for three first-round picks, a price the Warriors wouldn’t match. Trey Murphy III was not on the move from the New Orleans Pelicans, especially since the organization was looking for at least three first-round picks.

With Butler out for the season, Warriors fans were hoping to get another star to pair with Stephen Curry to try and make another title push at the end of Curry’s career. Well, the Warriors turned to Option C before the deadline, finally Trading Jonathan Kristaps Porzingis.

Is this enough for the Warriors? Porzingis can obviously help the Warriors make the playoffs and compete in the playoffs if they are healthy, but the fact is that this is another year where Golden State appears to have no chance of competing atop the West with the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and other title contenders.

Since the offseason, fans of this team have been hoping to land a big name using draft picks and Cummings’ contract. After the deadline, Cumings is now gone, no new stars are on the roster, and Porzingis’ health issues are largely beyond his chances of making an impact before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

I Morant

It is no secret to anyone I Morant’s relationship with the Memphis Grizzlies‘ front office and head coach Tuomas Iisalo is beyond repair. Morant may love playing in Memphis and for Grizzlies fans, but it’s clear he will be traded in the offseason after the team failed to find a replacement for him right before the NBA trade deadline.

To make matters worse for Morant, he now finds himself in a difficult position. The Grizzlies are rebuilding, and he knows he won’t be a part of that future with this young talent, so where does everyone go from here?

Are the Grizzlies locking Morant up for the rest of the season? Will Morant even allow the team to bench him for the next two months?

If we know anything about Ja, it’s that he likes to play. Now that he’s staying in Memphis, he won’t want to give up games for now and help the Grizzlies tank for a draft position.

This will turn into a toxic situation very quickly, especially after Memphis traded Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazzwho was one of Morant’s closest friends.

Sacramento Kings

Compared to other teams around the league, at least there is some sort of vision for the Sacramento Kings. Keegan Murray and Nikue Clifford are two promising young talents, and De’Andre Hunter is a key veteran who can help bridge some gaps on the wing.

However, the main reason the Kings found themselves on the losing end of this trade deadline cycle is that once again they couldn’t find any trades for Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk. Also, their trade talks with the Toronto Raptors surrounding Domantas Sabonis never received much attention as Sacramento was unwilling to take on Jakob Poeltl’s contract.

Maybe all this will be revisited in the off seasonand the Kings will get the exact trade they want from Toronto or someone else for Sabonis, but LaVine and DeRozan are essentially negative value at this point and will be forced to finish out their contracts with the Kings unless they buy them out, which doesn’t seem likely.

This organization still needs to find a way to acquire young assets and draft picks, but there is no way for them to do that with the players on their roster. Signing Dennis Schroeder last offseason proved to be a swing and a miss for the Kings, and now it looks like it will take a few years for them to be where they envisioned.

It’s crazy to think that just a few years ago, this franchise looked like one of the most promising in the entire league with De’Aaron Fox at the helm. It shows how quickly things can fall apart for teams in the NBA.