Maybe the NBA’s craziest trade deadline ever?

Jim Alexander: I’m not sure if today’s NBA trade deadline was the most consequential ever. We’re dealing with recency bias here – along with a number of head-spinning moves (and at least one non-move) – and to determine this definitively would require far more research than I’m willing to pursue right now.

But it has certainly been consequential, and I think ESPN analyst Bobby Marks summed it up adequately on the network’s NBA coverage this morning when he said, “The trade deadline is the new free agency.” July 1 used to be the league’s big day for player movement and speculation (and tons of social media activity). Now it’s deadline day, partially because of the new salary cap rules, and maybe because so many teams see an opening, or at least are desperately trying, to catch division leaders Oklahoma City and Cleveland.

That said, even with the number of moves made up to today’s noon cutoff, Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis still stands alone. And I’ve decided that if there were ever to be a documentary about the Lakers’ general manager, it should be called “Rob Pelinka After Dark.” Pelinka pulled the trigger on the Doncic deal late Saturday night, actually after midnight Eastern time, and not long after the Lakers had beaten the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. And he struck again late Thursday evening when he pried young 7-foot center Mark Williams from Charlotte.

I still don’t know if this makes the Lakers more capable of a championship run or less so. There is the defensive component (they’re not as good as they were before the trade). There’s also the idea that Pelinka reshaped a team that was already starting to hit its stride and has won nine of its last 11. And in trading Anthony Davis, Max Christie and Jalen Hood-Schifino in the Doncic deal and Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish in the Williams deal, I’m wondering if they’re going to need some callups from the South Bay Lakers to fill out the bench.

Lots to unpack from this deadline, including the Clippers’ moves, Kevin Durant staying in Phoenix – the one guy who many expected to be traded wound up staying put after letting the world know he wasn’t interested in going back to the Golden State Warriors – and Pat Riley subsequently solving his Jimmy Butler problem, along with whatever on earth Danny Ainge is doing in Utah.

But, first, Mirjam, what are you seeing with this Lakers roster?

Mirjam Swanson: I love the Lakers’ roster.

Like, I’m so excited to watch them play.

As a (reformed lol) Clippers beat writer, I’ve had a real good look at Luka in the playoffs, because three times he’s faced them in the postseason, and he’s a monster. An absolute menace. No ebbs, all flow – in whatever language you’re talking mess. And the idea of pairing that dude with LeBron James, who is still cooking in – everyone say it with me – Year 22?

And they’ve added an ideal athletic center? With a roster that’s long on role players and long, height- and wingspan-wise too? That still includes Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachamura, and that absolutely has defenders (Jarred Vanderbilt, Dorian Finney Smith and Gabe Vincent are good defenders!)? A team that can shoot 3-pointers playing for a coach who wants to shoot 3s?

Luka + LeBron and a strong supporting cast? I like it. I like it a lot.

Jim: I guess the question league-wide is whether the Lakers are all in for this year or all in for life post-LeBron. When the question was posed to James on Tuesday night, by Dylan Hernández of the L.A. Times, his response was, as I wrote, “What’s wrong with that? If I had concerns, I’d have waived my no-trade clause and got up out of here.”

But my feeling was that it’s easy to say that now. Let’s see how this partnership is working a month from now.

And I noted that the question posed above is coming from the outside. Those of us familiar with Laker Exceptionalism, both inside the organization and among the fan base, know that there’s no differentiation. The Lakers always – always – are aiming for Banner No. 18, and this trade will be judged in the immediate future on how close it gets them to that goal.

Meanwhile, the Western Conference just gets tougher. OKC didn’t have to lift a finger (the Thunder’s prime acquisition is getting Chet Holmgren back), but Houston added a couple of pieces. Memphis and Denver stood pat, but the Lakers, Warriors (with Butler) and Kings (adding Zach Levine and sending De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio) rolled the dice.

And the Clippers were active, as under the radar as it seemed with the Doncic deal sucking up most of the oxygen in not only their town but the league. They made a deal with Utah for Patty Mills and backup big man Drew Eubanks, and then beat the deadline to obtain Bogdan Bogdanovic from Atlanta, along with three second-round picks, for Terance Mann and Bones Hyland.

So where does Inglewood’s (current) Team stand at this point? Did they subtly put themselves on a champion track, assuming that Kawhi Leonard stays in one piece?

Mirjam: If only they could trade for a magic potion that would keep Kawhi in one piece.

Because if he is, they’re trouble. If he’s not, there’s no way.

Good moves, though. To get Bogdanovic, the Clippers parted ways with Mann, who gave the Clippers one of the team’s greatest moments – exploding for 39 points in an epic comeback that lifted them to their first Western Conference finals, and doing it in front of the first full crowd back after COVID. He really uncorked some pent-up energy that night that’s unlike much I’ve experienced as a sports watcher. It was pretty cool. And it was hard not to be happy for him, ’cause he’s always been a good dude, hard worker, someone who was cool but not too cool to care a lot. But it felt like, after five-plus seasons, all in L.A., he and the Clippers seemed stuck, and in need of a shakeup.

Bogdanovic is having a down season, but he’s got an outwardly competitive edge to him that the Quiet Kawhi Clippers always seem to need – especially with their established energy guy T-Mann not just out of the rotation but out of Intuit entirely. They took two guys who weren’t playing and turned them into Bogdanovic and a trio of second-rounders? Seems reasonable.

And they moved Kevin Porter Jr. to the Milwaukee Bucks for MarJon Beauchamp, fellow Washingtonians getting swapped – makes me wonder whether Mr. Steve Ballmer is familiar with his game too? Either way, another good move; KPJ’s domestic violence case made him hard for many Clippers fans to root for, and his questionable decision-making on the court made him hard to watch (one Clippers fan, podcaster Charles Mockler, put it like this: “Thank god we don’t have to watch dribble-spin move-pull up midrange-clang anymore.”)

You asked what does moving any of these pieces mean, big picture, playoff-wise?

Nothing at all if Kawhi isn’t in one piece.

Jim: A couple of other interesting aspects to this deadline: Two former Lakers from the lottery picks era changed teams Thursday. Kyle Kuzma went from the downtrodden Washington Wizards to Milwaukee, joining Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard on a team that entered today fifth in the East and might have improved itself considerably.

And Brandon Ingram went from New Orleans to Toronto, which is 5½ games out of the play-in bracket. And still, he’s moving up in the standings, from the Pelicans’ 12-39 record (dead last in the West) to the Raptors’ 16-35.

Meanwhile, the Jazz inserted themselves into a couple of deals to help facilitate things, including the Lakers-Mavericks swap and the Warriors-Miami deal that brought Butler to the Bay Area and sent Andrew Wiggins to South Florida. Utah took on Dennis Schröder from the Warriors, and turned around and dealt him to Detroit today. (Interestingly, the Pistons were also part of that four-way deal with the Warriors and Heat on Wednesday, but … salary cap machinations, ya know.)

Utah also acquired two second-round picks from the Lakers in the Doncic-A.D. deal, a 2030 second from the Clippers along with Mo Bamba (subsequently waived) and P.J. Tucker in the Clippers deal, and a 2031 first from Phoenix for the Suns’ 2025, 2027 and 2029 first-rounders. Still scratching my head on the motivation for that one.

And the craziest thing? Ainge, who ran the Boston Celtics’ front office for years after being a thorn in the Lakers’ side as a player, certainly had no intent of helping the Lakers unduly. And the word coming out of Salt Lake City is that he did the Lakers a solid from a salary cap standpoint by absorbing Hood-Schifino’s contract but wasn’t aware of the full magnitude of the trade until an hour before it was completed, well after he had agreed to acquire Hood-Schifino for those picks and too late to turn back.

Tough business, right?

Anyway, Mirjam, you get the calm before the storm tonight. The Lakers play the Warriors in downtown L.A., but Luka won’t play. (Maybe Saturday afternoon against the Pacers is the consensus, which is why ESPN added that game to its schedule.) And I will be surprised if Butler is wearing a Warriors uniform tonight, but getting out of Miami – and getting the extension from the Warriors that he’d sought, and that had led to his acting out – is certainly going to motivate him.

Mirjam: No, no Jimmy, nor Luka tonight. But we’ll have Steph and LeBron and I’m not taking another one of these all-time matchups for granted, fleeting as they seem.

I have to say, for all the moving pieces – and there were a lot; more, honestly, than I expected considering the current CBA’s constrictions – none of it really felt especially profound or dramatic or, well, exciting following Saturday night’s bombshell.