1 Trade Still Haunting Every NBA Franchise In 2024

The trade: Danilo Gallinari, 2025 and 2027 first-round picks and a 2026 first-round pick swap to the San Antonio Spurs for Dejounte Murray and Jock Landale

This might be a controversial pick, since Atlanta’s decision at the 2018 draft to swap out Luka Dončić for Trae Young and a first-round pick later spent on Cam Reddish could lead to a lifetime of regret.

At least that choice—unforgivable as it may appear in hindsight—is behind the franchise, though.

As for the Hawks’ 2022 all-in wager on Murray, though, they can’t even get the grief process started on that misfire. That’s because the damage done with that deal is ongoing.

Want to know why Atlanta traded away Murray but stopped short of entering a tear-down tank job this summer? It’s because this trade cost the Hawks’ control of their 2025, 2026 and 2027 first-round picks. Even if they hit the draft-lottery jackpot, the prize wouldn’t belong to them.

They are indefinitely trapped on the treadmill of mediocrity, and because of this trade, it could be years before they’re able to put any sort of roster-building plan into practice.

The trade: Desmond Bane to the Memphis Grizzlies and Enes Kanter Freedom to the Portland Trail Blazers; Grizzlies trade 2023 and 2025 second-round picks to the Boston Celtics and cash to the Portland Trail Blazers; Blazers trade Mario Hezonja to the Grizzlies

Bane was the 30th pick of the 2020 draft and has since tallied the class’ third-most win shares. That means the Celtics aren’t alone in feeling some regret about letting the skilled swingman slip away.

What makes Boston different, though, is that it had Bane firmly in its grasp. The Celtics actually picked him, only to promptly ship him out for a couple of second-round draft picks—neither of which they kept.

Clearly, the reigning champs are doing just fine without him, but even basketball’s best roster would have had room for a 20-point scorer who’s also a knockdown perimeter shooter, relentless defender and secondary playmaker.

The trade: Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Kris Joseph, Gerald Wallace, three first-round picks and a first-round pick swap to the Boston Celtics for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry, DJ White and a future second-round pick

No one does regrettable deals quite like Brooklyn. Not in the modern NBA, at least.

The Nets flipped the first-round pick that became Damian Lillard for 16 months of Gerald Wallace, and that face-palm wasn’t even seriously considered here. (What was, though, was the Jan. 2021 trade for James Harden that cost the Nets four players—including Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert—three-first round picks and four first-round pick swaps.)

Yet, this July 2013 megatrade doomed the Nets like no other. Brooklyn thought it was putting the finishing touches on a title team. Turns out, they were just loading up for a second-round exit, as Pierce was gone the following offseason and Garnett moved on at the 2015 trade deadline.

Boston, meanwhile, spent two of the incoming picks on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown—the pillars of its 2024 title team and centerpieces of potential championships to come.

It’s the kind of disastrous outcome that could scare the Nets away from the superteam model for good.

The trade: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the Los Angeles Clippers for Miles Bridges and two future second-round picks

The Hornets had the No. 11 pick of the 2018 draft, but they decided they preferred the player taken 12th overall instead. So, Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s now a perennial MVP candidate, was out of Buzz City before ever arriving and replaced by Bridges and a couple of second-round picks that never amounted to anything.

Bridges is, at least, a serviceable NBA starter, but it’s hard to see stardom in the 26-year-old’s future. It’s also worth noting his recent past includes pleading no contest to a felony domestic violence charge in Nov. 2022.

As for the picks, they produced Vernon Carey Jr. and Scottie Lewis. They made 39 combined NBA appearances, and each is at least a full season removed from having a roster spot in the Association.

The trade: Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two first-round draft picks to the Orlando Magic for Al-Farouq Aminu and Nikola Vučević

Chicago’s inactivity on the trade market the past few seasons felt unforgivable given its unremarkable place in the standings. Maybe it was just the after-effect of this 2021 deadline deal gone wrong.

Back then, the Bulls were looking to accelerate their ascension and needed a co-star for Zach LaVine. While they did technically bring back an All-Star in Vučević (he’s been selected twice), they failed to find the kind of difference-maker needed to put them on a championship path.

They have finally accepted their fate and leaned halfway into a rebuilding project, but their efforts have been stalled by a lack of interest in Vučević and LaVine.

As for the trade cost, Carter has held steady as a rock-solid starter, and since he’s only 25 years old, it’s possible we haven’t seen his best.

The picks, meanwhile, both landed in the lottery and produced Franz Wagner—who’s on All-Star trajectory—and Jett Howard, who has plenty of time to live up to his billing as perhaps the top shooter in the 2023 draft.

The trade: Mike Dunleavy, Mo Williams and two second-round picks to the Atlanta Hawks for Kyle Korver

Save for the Sept. 2022 Donovan Mitchell megadeal, the Cavaliers have kept things fairly conservative on the trade front. And when they have made notable deals, they’ve largely been smart ones (adding Jarrett Allen in the four-team James Harden trade, turning Ricky Rubio and a couple of picks into Caris LeVert).

So, we’ll hit the way-back machine to spotlight this Jan. 2017 swap, when Cleveland was squeezing what it could out of LeBron James’ second tenure. Cost-wise, this was a smart investment at the time.

Williams wasn’t playing (and never would again), and Dunleavy stopped after that season. Korver, meanwhile, gave the Cavs a knockdown shooter for their last two playoff runs with James.

What could keep Cleveland thinking about this deal, though, are the picks. This was initially a protected first-rounder, but it became a pair of seconds later used on Herbert Jones and Vince Williams Jr.—exactly the kind of multi-purpose wing defenders the Cavaliers would love to slot alongside their Darius Garland-Donovan Mitchell backcourt.

The trade: Reggie Bullock and a 2030 first-round pick swap to the San Antonio Spurs; a second-round pick and a second-round pick swap to the Boston Celtics; Grant Williams and two second-round picks to Dallas

This July 2023 sign-and-trade was supposed to help the Mavericks maximize their then-recently formed Kyrie Irving-Luka Dončić duo.

Dallas needed a defensive-minded forward to replace the loss of Dorian Finney-Smith (sacrificed in the Irving trade) and made a big wager on Williams being that player. Beyond the trade cost, the Mavs also made a four-year, $54 million investment in him.

They ditched those dreams in a matter of months, attaching a first-round pick and Seth Curry with Williams to pry P.J. Washington out of Charlotte at the 2024 deadline. As ESPN’s Tim MacMahon relayed on The Hoop Collective podcast, Williams “didn’t report in good shape” and “rubbed people the wrong way” in Dallas.

At least the Mavs managed to pivot out of this and into something positive with Williams, who logged their third-most playoff minutes during their run to last season’s Western Conference finals.

Still, they blew through a not-insignificant amount of assets (and money) to correct their mistake.

The trade: Donovan Mitchell to the Utah Jazz for Tyler Lydon and Trey Lyles

The Nuggets turned the 41st pick of of the 2014 draft into a three-time (and counting?) MVP in Nikola Jokić and found him a championship running mate with the seventh pick of the 2016 talent grab in Jamal Murray.

So, no one could keep a straight face and say Denver doesn’t know what it’s doing at the draft.

As for draft-night trades, though, that’s apparently a much different story. In addition to the 2017 disaster listed above, Denver previously gave Utah a massive gift in 2013 by letting it have Rudy Gobert (a four-time Defensive Player of the Year) in exchange for Erick Green (52 NBA appearances) and cash.

That trade is, arguably, worse than this one, but at least the Nuggets could claim some ignorance, since no one knew how Gobert would fare upon his stateside arrival. It felt fairly obvious Mitchell would be a net-shredder at this level with his handles and athleticism offering the opportunity to be much more (like, say, a five-time All-Star).

Denver, though, skipped out on that potential to get Lydon and Lyles, who played 163 combined games for the Nuggets.