NBA

Here Are 4 NBA Trade Deadline Additions That Look Like Slam Dunks

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By
Jackson Frank
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Jackson Frank Sports Editor

Jackson Frank is a freelance NBA writer and editor who's been covering the league since 2017. He's previously written for places such as The Athletic and SB Nation. He loves passing big men and defensive-minded wings, and is always on the hunt for the perfect taco.

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Published27 Feb 2025

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NBA Trade Deadline

Three weeks ago, the NBA trade deadline prompted numerous high-profile moves. A slew of current and former All-Stars changed teams, while a handful of other impactful players welcomed new zip codes into their lives. Some of these additions have made quite the early impact for their new clubs, so the Sportscasting NBA crew decided to spotlight them.

Let’s get to it.

Jimmy Butler

Though the Jimmy Butler Tour’s pitstop with the Golden State Warriors is in its infancy stage, the partnership has been a smash hit through 2.5 weeks. Golden State is 6-1 with a plus-19.0 net rating (fourth in offense, third in defense) since Butler debuted and has climbed to eighth in the West at 31-27, just one game back of the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers. Across those seven games, the six-time All-Star is averaging 18.0 points (58.5 percent true shooting), 6.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists (0.9 turnovers) and 1.4 steals.

Featuring contests against the Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, depleted Dallas Mavericks (x2) and Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Milwaukee Bucks, the Warriors’ schedule hasn’t been a gauntlet to this point. But their impressive wins against the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets underscore how good this group can be and the film reinforces that notion.

Butler’s arrival has elevated Golden State in plenty of predictable ways. Namely, the offense is staying afloat when Stephen Curry rests, which was a glaring problem prior to this deal (105.1 offensive rating without Curry or Butler this season). According to Cleaning the Glass, the Warriors tout a 121.3 offensive rating in 155 possessions with Butler on the floor and Curry off of it.

More specifically, though, his off-ball movement, paint scoring, foul-drawing, frugal facilitating and defensive playmaking are amplifying strengths and remedying previous shortcomings. The Warriors’ rim frequency is 2.4 points higher with Butler on the court, while their free-throw rate is 8.3 points higher. After sitting 29th (.163) in free throw rate before Butler joined the squad, they’re up to fifth (.221) over the past seven outings.

He’s hardly dominating the ball either, allowing Draymond Green to operate at point forward and flourishing as a screener, cutter and mismatch creator down low. Sixty-six percent of his field goals are coming via assists in Golden State, his highest mark since the 2013-14 season — back when he had zero All-Star nods to his name.

Despite their resolute excellence under head coach Steve Kerr, this era of Warriors basketball has routinely included gaudy turnover rates offensively. Butler is helping flip those fortunates around. They wield the third-lowest turnover rate (12.3 percent) during this run after placing 16th (14.3 percent) through the first 51 games of the season. Individually, Butler has given the ball away just six times (5.2 percent turnover rate) and owns a tidy 6.3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Defensively, he’s offered some important spunk at the point-of-attack and fit into their aggressive, risk-heavy scheme. Golden State ranked 13th (14.7 percent) in opposing turnover rate ahead of the Butler trade and is now up to eighth overall, including first (19.5 percent) with the six-time All-Star in town.

There will certainly be stingier tests than what the opening 2.5 weeks of Butler’s Warriors tenure have presented. But the early results, both broadly and minutely, are undeniably tremendous. He’s playing a pivotal role in reversing course on a teetering season and shoring up plenty of holes that couldn’t be addressed internally. A dream-like fit is playing out thus far for both parties. –Jackson Frank

Zach LaVine

If the Sacramento Kings had to lose De’Aaron Fox, acquiring Zach LaVine marked a solid replacement. We’ve seen some of the fruits of his transfer to a vastly different offense in Sacramento. It’s taken some time to settle in, but LaVine mustered a few strong performances lately, scoring 32 with 10 assists against the New Orleans Pelicans and 42 points on just 19 shots against the Charlotte Hornets.

We’re already witnessing a notable shift in LaVine’s usage from his time with the Chicago Bulls, transitioning to a more off-ball-centric role. His handoff frequency jumped from 3.5 percent in Chicago to 8.3 percent with Sacramento, while his pick-and-roll frequency dropped from 26.7 percent to 20.1 percent. He’s found some easy looks off of second-side attacks and Domantas Sabonis dribble handoffs so far.

His isolation frequency has slightly increased from his Chicago days, as the Kings are still allowing him to burn poor defenders and create jumpers off of the dribble. Sacramento shouldn’t fully move LaVine off of the ball, but it’s balancing his offensive usage in a more sustainable manner.

LaVine’s defense isn’t as strong as Fox’s was for Sacramento. Teams such as the Golden State Warriors are exploiting his weaknesses off of the ball. Still, there have been glimpses of LaVine’s offensive star power. Sacramento will need as much of that as it can squeeze out to push for a playoff berth this season. –Ben Pfeifer

De’Andre Hunter

Yes, a player is going to look great when they are hitting 56.7 percent of their threes, and yes, that success most certainly will not last as the sample grows. But even if De’Andre Hunter regresses back to the still-impressive 39.3 percent outside clip he was shooting with the Atlanta Hawks, he’s gelling into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ system exactly how fans hoped.

The problem with having two of your four best players being below-average shooting bigs (Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen) and two of them being relatively small guards (Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell) is it leaves you with the need for spacing, size and defense – needs Hunter is filling wonderfully.

Obviously, the human flamethrower is giving the Cavaliers some extra spacing. But Hunter is more than a catch-and-shoot specialist. Since joining the Cavaliers, he’s posting an effective field goal percentage of 71.1 on pull-up jumpers, per NBA.com. Like his raw 3-point percentage, this number will go down, but it proves he has a counter when teams try to aggressively close out on him.

Hunter is 6 feet 7 inches — a standard size for a forward — but his 7-foot-2 wingspan (79th percentile, per CraftedNBA) enables him to play much bigger than he is.

Over the last few years, impact metrics like Defensive Estimated-Plus Minus have painted Hunter as nearly a neutral defender. He’s been bogged down by his off-ball shortcomings and lack of secondary rim protection (fifth percentile in block rate this season). However, he can use his pterodactyl-like reach to defend premier scorers in isolation. He’s already garnered matchups against the likes of Anthony Edwards and Paolo Banchero.

Overall, the Cavaliers have a plus-14.1 rating per 100 possessions with Hunter on the floor (97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass), further illustrating his seamless fit with the team. –Mat Issa

Max Christie

Where were you when the Max Christie trade went down?

Of course, Christie’s addition in the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis swap has become a bit of an afterthought because of the sheer magnitude of the trade, but he’s been thriving since he arrived in Dallas. In his nine games with the Mavericks, Christie is averaging career numbers across the board, putting up 14.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals while shooting a career-best 44.2 percent behind the arc.

His length and lateral quickness made him an integral part of the Los Angeles Lakers’ defensive improvements before he got traded. He’s transferred that to the Mavericks’ scheme at the point-of-attack.

In a short amount of time, Christie has also shown he can be more than just a typical three-and-D role player. The Mavericks are imploring him to create more with the ball in his hands, which has been fruitful thus far.

There’s more than meets the eye with Christie and the Mavericks have a chance to unlock some of that untapped potential. So far, it’s off to a great start. –Es Baraheni