The 2024-25 NBA season has easily taken the title of the biggest and craziest trade deadline of all-time. There have been eight All-star caliber players moving to new teams, tenures spanning since the year they were drafted have ended and teams have gone from playoff contention to rebuilding for the future. 

Starting off with undoubtedly the biggest trade of all time: that of 25-year-old superstar Luka Doncic going to the Los Angeles Lakers for nine-time All-Star and 2020 NBA champion Anthony Davis. This trade has put the Lakers into top playoff contention with possibly the best duo of the league being Doncic and Lebron James.

Another trade that should be talked about more is the three-team trade between the Kings, Bulls and Spurs. This trade reunited Zach Lavine and Demar Derozan on the Kings and sent De’Aaron Fox to create a new playoff contender with Victor Wembenyama on the Spurs. This trade put the Spurs in a promising position for the future with such a young, talented core and gives the  Bulls valuable assets for their rebuild with young players and draft picks and the Kings play-in assets for the post-season. All three of these teams are setting themselves up for future success and have extreme promise in the seasons to come.  

Another one of the more historic trades is six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, who was traded from the Miami Heat to the Golden State Warriors, pairing him with what’s left of the Dubs’s dynasty in Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. The Warriors still showed that they’re dominant by winning the 2022 Finals against the Celtics, and while the dynasty lost a third of its trio this offseason in Klay Thompson, this trade gives the team another Big 3 and another possibility to win the championship. 

With the last headline trade at this trade deadline, we saw former New Orleans forward Brandon Ingram sent to the Toronto Raptors for Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk and a first and second round picks. This adds more volume scoring to the Raptors, who could use a third option alongside Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. These picks from the Raptors contribute to the Pelicans’s rebuilding process, making this trade a potential win-win, considering their situations.

All in all, there were many prominent trades this year, and this deadline has told us what these teams want to do in the future and that every player will have a price no matter their value. Some want to rebuild, others have “win-now” mentalities, but in the end, we shall see how the deals fare in the future..