LEAGUEWIDE
Trade grades for Jazz-Grizzlies mega deal
Ricky O’Donnell, SBNation
Why NBA trade deadline could be no big deal
John Hollinger, The Athletic
Updates on James Harden, Giannis and more as NBA trade deadline nears
Sam Amick, The Athletic
Belated trade grades
Mike Shearer, Basketball Poetry
Grading Every Deal at the 2026 NBA Trade Deadline
Dan Favale, Bleacher Report
It turns out having a trillion guards and minimal wings isn’t a smart way to build an NBA team. Who knew?!
Hunter is having a down year but fills a positional need. He is more expensive than Schröder next season, but lopping off the latter’s partial guarantee in 2027-28 maximizes the Kings’ cap-space potential. Though they’re now a tax team next year, there’s no way that stands.
Forking over assets when you’re arguably giving up the two best players is uninspiring. Then again, the second-round pick doesn’t have much upside.
Losing Ellis is most painful. Sacramento could have probably fetched more if it moved him over the summer or at last year’s deadline. By now, though, he wasn’t going to net more second-round equity, and the Kings certainly weren’t going to re-sign him. Choosing to get off Schröder and decongesting the guard glut over bagging, say, two seconds is a reasonable call to make.
And yet, we can’t let the Kings off the hook. This is the culmination of a series of recently terrible decisions: not declining Ellis’ team option to make him a restricted free agent; flipping Jonas Valančiūnas for Šarić to jimmy up more flexibility; and then using that flexibility on a deal for Schröder that’s aged about as well as last year’s midseason play‑in hopes.
Recapping Monday’s Four-Game Slate
Dustin Brewer, HOOPS
NBA Power Rankings
Law Murray, The Athletic
Power Rankings, Week 16
John Schuhmann, NBA.com
TEAM-SPECIFIC
CHA: How the Hornets became the NBA’s hottest team
James Dator, SBNation
CHA: Hornets storm back to avenge one of the inexcusable losses of the season vs. New Orleans
’Nata Edwards, Dispatches From Spectrum
Doug Branson, Every Hornets Boxscore
CLE: the talks are the diagnosis
bang!
cleveland traded for guards. two days later, harden-garland talks emerged. the toe injury is either worse than reported or irrelevant. both answers end the same.
CLE: What Cavs think of Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroder after De’Andre Hunter trade with Kings
Spencer Davies, Clutch Points
Ellis is somebody that the Cavs covet, too. Cleveland assistant Jawad Williams spent the last two seasons with the Kings as a player development coach, working with him previously. Atkinson and Cleveland’s front office saw it as a “big advantage” and consulted on that knowledge while discussing the possibilities.
“It always starts with the person,” Atkinson said. “A+ grade right off the bat. Jawad was a big fan. That’s part of the background you do when you make a trade like this.”
“Obviously, a really good steals guy; steals and defensive activity. But probably an underrated offensive player because of the shooting. We’ll just see if we can unlock him because I think there’s more there than just a spot-up shooter from what I see with his athleticism. He reads the game well. Can we use him a little bit more as a cutter and throw the ball ahead to him in transition? But man, what a get. The upside is tremendous. Excited about adding him to the group.”
BI Note: Interesting that former Kings development coach had such high praise for Keon. Just deepens the mystery of why the HCs treated Ellis so badly.
GSW: Steph Curry’s Final Act: “There Are No Perfect Endings”
Howard Beck, The Ringer
NBA stars rarely get fairy-tale endings. But Steph still has his joy, and the hope for one more meaningful run. “There’s still enough of a chance,” he says.
The rest of the team-specific stories as well as draft-related items follow for paid subscribers