In this weeks 13 Rules: Random NBA Thoughts Steve dives into random NBA thoughts from Week 16 NBA games – NBA Trade Deadline 2026: The Seven Most Interesting Players and Why They Were Traded. Make sure to listen and add the 13 Rules: NBA Random Thoughts podcast the Shot Clock Pod to your list!
NBA Trade Deadline 2026
It looks like the Jazz have finally ended their long years of tanking—hopefully after this year. The Jazz have put together a nice team. Take Jackson and add him to Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Keyonte George, Isaiah Collier, Kyle Filipowski, and Ace Bailey, and you’ve got something. The Jazz still have eight draft picks over the next seven years and should get more help. Jackson and Kessler give the team a defensive presence at the rim. They have scorers in George, Markkanen, and Jackson. I don’t think it’s enough to win a title, but after this year—no more tanking.
James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers
Harden pulled what he seems to do every other year, and it is always over money. Obviously, the Cavs are going for it now because Harden, still a good player, is thirty-six. Cleveland now looks like a team with a decent shot at going to the Finals. The one negative about all this is—don’t let Harden fool you—it’s all about the next contract. If Harden is still this good in two years, he will be looking to move on unless the Cavs extend him. This is not what fans root for. Fans want to believe their team’s players like playing for their team.
The Wizards are trying to speed up their rebuilding by acquiring Davis and Trae Young in the last few weeks. The Wizards are putting together a nice group of young players, including Keyonte George, Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington, Tre Johnson, Will Riley, and Alexandre Sarr. Sarr and Davis give them solid rebounding, scoring, and rim protection. If Davis stays healthy, the Wizards will be fighting for a playoff spot. The obvious negative is health—particularly Davis’s health. This year he’s played twenty games. Before this year, Davis had missed 206 games in the last seven seasons. That’s almost thirty games a season.
The Pacers made a trade that gives them the big they’ve needed since Myles Turner left for Milwaukee after the Finals. Zubac is an upgrade over Turner, and he’s signed through the 2027–28 season with an average yearly salary of $19.5 million—not a great deal for a player that impactful, but great for the Pacers, a team reluctant to go into the tax. With the return of a healthy Tyrese Haliburton next year, the Pacers should be back.
The Celtics got another guy who can score. He can score from the inside and shoot the three as well—this year at 38%, averaging 16.9 points per game. Though not a good defender, Vučević also gives the Celtics a third big. This is important because Neemias Queta and Luka Garza, the other two bigs, have never played the minutes they’ve played so far this year. Making this trade makes it look like Jayson Tatum will return this season. If he returns and Vučević plays well, the Celtics become a tough out in the playoffs.
If for no other reason, we probably will learn if Kuminga can play at a high level. After his problems getting playing time with the Golden State Warriors and his coach, Steve Kerr, hopefully we see Kuminga get extended minutes—and then we can determine if Kerr was correct.
Nobody will argue Porziņģis is a very talented big, but the problem is he can’t stay on the court. He has only played in twelve games this season and has missed 147 games in the four previous seasons. The Warriors took a chance on him, and if he doesn’t miss many games, it makes the Warriors a much better team. The Warriors had to take this gamble just to remain in the playoff conversation.