It’s NBA Draft night which means the trades winds will be whirling and deals will be made that alter the future of franchises all over the league.
Like a tree falling in the forest when no one is around to hear it, is it truly the NBA Draft without an onslaught of trades?
Perhaps more than the fashionable suits and the actual players being drafted, few things are synonymous with the NBA Draft than trades that happen throughout the night of the event. Due to league rules, no trade is actually official until after the draft is concluded, but the safest bet in all of sports is that at least one or two names called at the podium tonight will not be playing for the team making the selection.
The question isn’t if a draft night trade will happen it’s what the impact of it will be?
Charlotte struck a draft night trade in 1996 that sent their first round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for star veteran Vlade Divac. The only problem was that first round pick was Kobe Bryant. In 1998 the Dallas Mavericks traded Pat Garrity to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to Dirk Nowitzki, and in 1987 the Chicago Bulls traded the draft rights of Olden Polynice and a future first-round and a second-round pick to the Sonics for the rights to Scottie Pippen.
All of those trades moved future Hall of Famers to teams they’d help win championships for.
Most recently the Mavericks and Hawks swapped Trae Young and Luka Donicic, moves that carried both teams to Conference Finals appearances within the first few years of making the deal. So the question isn’t whether or not we’ll see a trade tonight it’s how will we be looking back on it in half a decade and beyond?
NBA Draft 2022: Tracking every trade and grading every deal
Note: All NBA Draft trades will be listed below after they have been announced and made official. Be sure to check back all weekend for the latest trade details and grades. Only trades that occur during the three-day window will be listed, no pre-draft trades will appear here.
NBA Trade: Knicks get multiple first-round picks for Ousmane Dieng
Knicks Get
’23 1st (from DET, protected)
’23 1st (from DEN, protected)
’23 1st (from WSH, protected)
Thunder Get
F Ousmane Dieng
NBA Trade: Knicks trade for Jalen Duren to salary dump Kemba Walker
Knicks Get
Nothing (They salary dumped Kemba Walker’s $8M)
Pistons Get
C Jalen Duren
Hornets Get
2025 1st Rd Pick (From Blazers)
Lol. That’s the grade. Like, it’s impossible to overstate how absolutely on-brand this is for the Knicks to make a trade for a lottery pick and then trade it away to dump $8 million to clear space for free agency.
Because that worked out so well the last time they tried it.
NBA Trade: Timberwolves offload No. 19 pick to Grizzlies
Grizzlies Get
SF Jake LaRavia
Timberwolves Get
Walker Kessler
Wendell Moore Jr.
NBA Trade: Grizzlies acquire Danny Green from 76ers
76ers Get
G De’Anthony Melton
Grizzlies Get
SF Danny Green
F David Roddy
NBA Trade: Rockets acquire No. 29 overall pick from Timberwolves
Timberwolves Get
Wendell Moore Jr (No. 26 Pick)
Rockets Get
G TyTy Washington (From MIN)
This trade completed the Christian Wood trade that Dallas and Houston agreed upon earlier in the week. Minnesota sent the No. 29 pick — which it acquired from Memphis — to the Mavericks who will send it to the Rockets as part of the Wood trade. That piece will be Kentucky guard TyTy Washington.
NBA Trade: Rewind to that Knicks chaos
Okay, let’s pause and rewind to the absolute chaos that the Knicks gave us on draft night. Tim Bontemps broke it down like we’re 5-years old to explain just exactly what the heck New York did on Thursday night.
NBA Trade: Kings trade No. 37 pick to Mavericks
Kings Get
Future 2nd Rd Pick
Future 2nd Rd Pick
Mavericks Get
G Jaden Hardy
NBA Trade: Spurs trade Kennedy Chandler to Grizzlies
Spurs Get
Future 2nd Rd Pick
Cash Considerations
Grizzlies Get
G Kennedy Chandler
NBA Trade: Warriors acquire No. 44 pick from Hawks
Warriors Get
G Ryan Rollins
Hawks Get
No. 51 pick
$2M Cash