The winners and losers of a trade deadline are tough to determine just hours after the fact. The impact of the various deals for players and picks are not fully fleshed out for months, and sometimes years. Moves made at the deadline set up strategies for the draft and free agency, both now and in the future. It’s all a very complicated puzzle.
But there are, however, some things we can say with certainty at this juncture. For example, the Cleveland Cavaliers made some huge moves that greatly altered the shape of their roster. Additionally, in helping the Cavaliers blow it up and get rid of Isaiah Thomas, the Lakers showed they are gearing up for the future in a big way.
Magic Johnson says the team can still go after two big name free agents this summer, and while he didn’t mention them specifically, he could mean players the caliber of LeBron James and Paul George. If you ask Shaq, that’s enough to declare them the big winners of the deadline this year.
Shaq spoke on Inside the NBA on Thursday and declared the Lakers the team that did the best at the deadline because of how much cap space they cleared.
"I think the @Lakers had the best day."
–@SHAQ pic.twitter.com/8weRQduQ9Q
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 9, 2018
“I lot of people are saying that Cleveland had the best day,” Shaq said. “But I think the Lakers had the best day.”
Shaq pointed to the $49 million in cap space the team now has to play with going forward. And though they still have Luol Deng’s unsavory contract on the books until 2020, the team is poised for a big summer if playing with Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram in Los Angeles is as big a draw as the Lakers hope.
