NBA Trade Deadline Fantasy Report: Whose Stock is on the Rise?

The trade deadline has been pretty fun with Kyrie Irving heading to Dallas and Kevin Durant going to the Suns in an overnight Woj Bomb that hit while most of us were sleeping.

The fantasy landscape has changed dramatically in some cases. Jakob Poeltl heads back to the team that drafted him (Raptors), Cam Thomas could keep scoring 40 a night for the Nets, the Suns are now a favorite to win it all, the Lakers got rid of Russell Westbrook (and added D'Angelo Russell) while centers Mark Williams and Zach Collins get a big boost, along with Malaki Branham and Nassir Little.  

In Part 1 of our deadline mega-breakdown, we'll hit the most impactful deals of the day, and in Part 2 we'll dig into some of the more under-the-radar transactions.

Nets offload Kyrie and KD

Trade 1: Nets trade Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren to the Suns for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder (moved to Bucks), four future first-round picks, plus a future pick swap

Trade 2: Nets trade Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris to the Mavericks for Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick and 2027 and 2029 second-round picks.

Fantasy Impact for Suns

Projected starters: Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Torrey Craig, Kevin Durant, Deandre Ayton. 

Fantasy Winners: None. The Suns just got a lot better but they also have a four-man super team and they're going to be sharing the ball. CP3, Booker, KD and Ayton are all still good to go, but all of their usage may drop slightly, meaning there aren't any big fantasy winners here. Additionally, T.J. Warren should challenge Craig for the starting job and while both of them get a slight bump with the trade, they're going to be fifth scoring options, at best.

Fantasy impact for Nets

Projected starters: Ben Simmons, Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Nic Claxton.

Key reserves: Dorian Finney-Smith, Edmond Sumner, Seth Curry, Royce O'Neale, Joe Harris.

As for the fantasy impacts in Brooklyn, we'll have to wait and see how things shake out and get some questions answered. Will Simmons be able to process all these changes and play through them? Is he a point guard or power forward? Who will start and at what positions? How many wings are too many wings?

Here's what I know: Dinwiddie, Thomas, Johnson, Bridges and Claxton are all going to get a lot of minutes. And Sumner, Finney-Smith and possibly Simmons are also going to be heavily involved on a nightly basis. 

Fantasy winners: Thomas, Dinwiddie, Johnson, Bridges and Claxton. We'll have to see what the Nets do with Simmons but all five of the winners need to be rostered along with Sumner, Simmons and possibly Finney-Smith. If Simmons flakes and shuts it down, Dinwiddie could shift to shooting guard and Sumner could be fun the rest of the way.

If you were lucky or smart enough to get Thomas before he rattled off 40 points in three straight games, just hold on for dear life. KD isn't walking back through that door to ruin him, but the appalling number of wing players left in Brooklyn is a little scary. 

Fantasy impact for Mavericks

Projected starters: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Josh Green, Tim Hardaway, Christian Wood

Key reserves: Jaden Hardy, Reggie Bullock, Dwight Powell

Luka and Kyrie, obviously, are going to be the focal points of the offense, while Green, Hardaway and Wood are all going to play important roles for Dallas. Wood needs to start to be truly effective and I hope the Mavs put him back in the first unit soon. If Green ends up coming off the bench, it would hurt, but I think he's proven enough to stick with the starting unit and Bullock will (hopefully) come off the bench to provide instant offense as a 3-point specialist. Additionally, the Mavs have the worst defensive unit in the league and are going to have to score a ton of points in order to win games, which also works in everyone's favor. 

Fantasy winners: Green is a winner if he sticks in the starting unit and he's played very well without Luka over the last few games. And while Luka and Irving will dominate the ball, Green, Hardaway, Wood and Bullock should find themselves with a lot of open looks for the rest of the season. I'm hanging onto Green if I've got him. 

Lakers get Russell in three-team swap

Trade: Lakers send Russell Westbrook and Damian Jones to Utah; Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Juan Toscano-Anderson to Wolves; D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt to Lakers. 

Fantasy impact for Lakers

Projected starters: D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Anthony Davis

Key reserves: Mo Bamba (see below), Jarred Vanderbilt

Fantasy winners: None. Russell probably needed a change of scenery, Beasley will battle for the starting shooting guard job, and Vanderbilt could challenge Hachimura for the starting power forward job. The Lakers got a nice starting offensive addition with Russell but they still have a long way to go. Vanderbilt also gets center minutes with Thomas Bryant (see below) now in Denver.

Fantasy impact for Jazz

Projected starters: Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, Lauri Markkanen, Kelly Olynyk, Walker Kessler

Key reserves:

Fantasy winners: All indications are that Westbrook will not play for the Jazz and will instead be boughtout, so Sexton comes away as a major winner here. Kessler should also be considered a winner since the Jazz didn't bring anyone in to challenge him for his job.

Fantasy impact for Timberwolves

Projected starters: Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Kyle Anderson, Rudy Gobert

Key reserves: Jordan McLaughlin, Jaylen Nowell, Naz Reid. 

Fantasy winners: None. Conley will simply replace Russell at the point and everything else should stay the same. McLaughlin will get a boost on nights when the 35-year-old Conley is resting or hurt, but not much has changed in Minnesota in terms of fantasy. The Wolves plan on waiving Bryn Forbes. 

Spurs send Poeltl back to Toronto

Trade: Spurs send Jakob Poeltl to the Raptors for Khem Birch, a protected 2024 first-round pick and two future second-round picks. 

Fantasy impact for Spurs

Projected starters: Tre Jones, Romeo Langford, Keldon Johnson, Jeremy Sochan, Zach Collins

Key reserves: Malaki Branham

Fantasy winners: Zach Collins is now the starting center for the Spurs and might be one of the biggest winners of the entire trade deadline. He's a solid add at this point, despite averaging just 9.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in his four February games. The minutes should approach 30 and in his seven starts this season he averaged 10.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 0.3 blocks. He's a better shot blocker than that should be closer to 1.0 per game going forward.

Pick him up if you need a center but make sure you can't get Mark Williams instead. He got a huge boost in Charlotte today when they moved Mason Plumlee. Additionally, Langford has missed eight straight games and is not a must-have player at this point. And with Josh Richardson out of the picture (see below), Branham suddenly looks like a very hot fantasy pickup in San Antonio. 

Fantasy impact for Raptors

Projected starters: Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam

Key reserve: Jakob Poeltl, Chris Boucher

Fantasy winners: None. It's hard to believe the Raptors only made one move and now they'll have to decide on a starting lineup. If they go with Poeltl at center, Trent or Anunoby would move to the bench. But it's probably more likely that Poeltl will play big minutes off the bench. 

Knicks get Hart from Portland

Trade: Knicks send Cam Reddish, Svi Mykhailiuk and Ryan Arcidiacono to Trail Blazers for Josh Hart

Fantasy impact for Knicks

Projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart/Quentin Grimes, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, Jericho Sims

Key reserves: Immanuel Quickley, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson

Fantasy winners: None. Hart was starting for the Blazers, but that may not happen for him in New York. However, it's also possible that he could replace Grimes in the first unit so he's worth hanging onto until we see how things shake out here. If Hart does land in the first unit he should hold his value, while Grimes will take a bit of a hit.

Fantasy impact for Trail Blazers

Projected starters: Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little/Matisse Thybulle, Jerami Grant, Jusuf Nurkic

Key reserves: Shaedon Sharpe, Trendon Watford, Cam Reddish, Drew Eubanks

Fantasy winners: Whoever starts at small forward with the loss of Hart, which should be Nassir Little since the Blazers sent Payton back to Golden State (see below). Thybulle and Reddish will battle with Little for the job but Little would appear to be a clear favorite to win it, as Reddish couldn't make it happen in Atlanta or New York and Thybulle possesses no offensive skills.

 Trendon Watford, Little and Sharpe all played big minutes off the bench on Wednesday and Sharpe had 13 points, seven boards, a block and a three-pointer, Little had nine points, five boards and a triple, and Watford had eight points, eight boards and five assists in the win. Little is worth grabbing in most leagues if he's going to be the new starting small forward in Portland. 

Hornets clear the way for Mark Williams

Trade: Hornets send Mason Plumlee to the Clippers in exchange for Reggie Jackson

Fantasy impact for Hornets

Perhaps the biggest fantasy move of the day was one of the last ones to happen. No, Plumlee is not going to go to the Clippers to blow your socks off, but he will be a very solid backup for Ivica Zubac, who comes away from this trade as a fantasy loser. It's possible he could challenge Zubac for the starting job, but I doubt it happens.

What the move does do is clears the way for the Hornets to go all in on Mark Williams at center. And as far as I'm concerned, he's the No. 1 pickup after today's deadline with a huge boost in both minutes and production coming immediately.

Jackson will be bought out by the Hornets and will be a hot free agent once it happens. 

Fantasy impact for Clippers

It's hard not to view this as a downgrade for both Plumlee and Zubac. Regardless of who ultimately wins the lion's share of starts, both players figure to see their nightly minutes totals fall, relative to pre-deadline.

Warriors sell low on Wiseman

Trade: Warriors send James Wiseman to Pistons for Saddiq Bey, who will be re-routed to the Hawks. Hawks will send five second-round picks to the Warriors for Bey, and Pistons are sending Kevin Knox to the Warriors, who are forwarding him to the Blazers. 

Fantasy impact for Warriors

More playing time for Kevon Looney and Jonathan Kuminga, but it's odd that they gave away the former No. 2 overall pick for nothing. JaMychal Green could also see a small boost here but nothing earth-shattering here for the Warriors, who also brought back Gary Payton II in a separate deal.

Fantasy impact for Pistons

Things went from bad to worse for Wiseman as he'll now have to deal with young centers Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart holding him back. And it's not great news for them, either. The Pistons are in position to hand Wiseman a much larger role than he held in Golden State. Chances are, it'll be a frustrating situation for all three. 

In terms of current fantasy priority, I'd rank them: 1. Duren; 2. Stewart; 3. Wiseman

Editor's note -- Wiseman may find himself in a starting role in Detroit:

Fantasy impact for Hawks: Bey is a nice add for the Hawks but I doubt he takes De'Andre Hunter's job and will have to battle with Bogdan Bogdanovic and AJ Griffin for minutes. At best, it's probably a neutral move for Bey.