Ivica Zubac, that crazy Pacers pick, Ayo Dosunmu, and more

More being the Lakers, the Knicks, the Hawks, the Bulls, and the Pelicans

We’re at the end of trade season, and what a doozy it was!

RIP to all the pundits and executives who thought the restrictive CBA would kill the deadline. Instead, it was one of the wildest weeks ever.

Over two dozen trades. Oodles of All-Stars swapped. The majority of teams in the league made at least a minor move (we see you, Miami, and we judge). Unusually, it felt like few of the best teams outside of Cleveland made moves to get better, while several very bad teams took big swings.

I didn’t grade every move, but I think I covered all the ones that mattered. Thousands of words typed, and thousands more pre-written for Ja Morant, Michael Porter, and Giannis Antetokounmpo trades that will never see the light of day :(. Until yesterday, when I had to watch the kids for the afternoon, I was consistently getting grades out faster than ESPN and other major outlets, and I like to think mine were at least as in-depth.

Thanks to all of you for reading, especially those of you who upgraded to become paying subscribers! Hope you enjoyed them. In case you missed any, here are the links to my previous grade compilations.

Anthony Davis to the Wizards

Nikola Vucevic for Anfernee Simons and tax relief

Jaden Ivey for Kevin Huerter and a swap

Jared McCain to the Thunder

Coby White for Collin Sexton

Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Jazz

James Harden/Darius Garland

De’Andre Hunter for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder

Vit Krejci for Duop Reath

Now, let’s finish up the last batch.

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Minnesota Timberwolves/Chicago Bulls

Bulls receive: Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller, four seconds of varying quality
Timberwolves receive: Ayo Dosunmu, Julian Phillips

Ayo Dosunmu, long a favorite of various blogosphere leading lights, is finally free.

Dosunmu has always been a 5.5th man; good enough to start, not quite good enough to stay a starter. Perhaps relatedly, he’s having his finest campaign ever while starting less than he ever has. Dosunmu is setting career-highs in three-point accuracy (45%), three-point volume (5.8 3PA per 75 possessions, roughly average positional volume), points (15.0), true shooting (64%), and assist rate (21.3%, which is nice for a non-point-guard). He’s a stalwart defender with the size and agility to guard one to three, and he’s so quick in transition that it catches even the camera people off guard:

A whopping half of Dosunmu’s shots come at the rim. He would’ve been so good on the 2019 Houston Rockets.

Dosunmu’s three-pointer will probably regress, but even if he shoots his career 38% going forward on this volume, that makes him a real 3-and-D wing with pace-pushing and playmaking chops. Guys like that tend to get paid, and Dosunmu (who becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year) will be looking for a substantial upgrade on the $7.5 million he’s making this season.

But that’s a concern for the future. The Timberwolves are trying to win right now, and Dosunmu is about as good a fit for them as was available. Donte DiVincenzo is a better and far more prodigious shooter, but Dosunmu is better at nearly everything else. Having both available as options at guard next to Anthony Edwards gives Chris Finch much more flexibility (and Dosunmu can even run a little point in a pinch). We might even see some fun three-guard lineups!

Before this trade, the Timberwolves had just six and a half reliable players: Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, DiVincenzo, Naz Reid, and Jaden McDaniels, with the half being cobbled-together Frankenstein minutes between Bones Hyland (offense) and Jaylen Clark (defense). That wasn’t deep enough. The Timberwolves are still rather thin, but Dosunmu’s two-way steadiness will be a blessing. There’s a reason I predicted this exact trade on RealGM radio a few weeks ago.

Phillips, an athletic swingman, likely won’t factor into the rotation, but the Wolves need small forwards. Maybe he’ll earn a few spot minutes.

Four seconds ain’t nothing, and some might’ve preferred the more offensively-oriented game of Dosunmu’s former teammate, Coby White. Not me, even if I’d agree White is better in a vacuum. The Wolves are good, and just got better.

Grade: A-

If the Bulls couldn’t get a first for White (even on an expiring), it makes sense they couldn’t get one for Ayo Dosunmu, so four seconds feels about right.

I’m tempted to make a joke about the Bulls gaining yet another itty-bitty scoring guard in Rob Dillingham, but adding him was the only logical way to make this move happen, so I’ll refrain. This is a better trade than a few of their other ones, but that’s despite Dillingham, not because of him.

Dillingham has never shown any of the exciting passing and shooting chops he flashed in college. He’s shooting — wait, that can’t be right — it is! 32% on twos!

He’s a bicycle with training wheels and a horn that plays “La Cucaracha” compared to Trae Young’s Honda, and we just saw that Honda have a market value of approximately zero. I hated the draft-day trade for Dillingham the second Minnesota made it, and it’s somehow gone worse than I could have ever imagined. Dillingham still has some of that high-first-rounder shine, I suppose, but it won’t last long if he can’t make some magic happen for Chicago. And I don’t see how he could, given that he’s now behind Josh Giddey, Anfernee Simons, Jaden Ivey, Collin Sexton, and Tre Jones in the guard pecking order.

Miller has done cool things at Summer League and then never plays. I’m intrigued, but not particularly hopeful. At least he’s not another 6-foot combo guard.

Still, as I said, this is about the picks, and four seconds of varying quality is about right. Chicago has added a whopping nine second-rounders in the last couple of days. Nobody needs that many bad players, so I wonder what they’ll do. We’ll see.

Chicago grade: B

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Indiana Pacers/Los Angeles Clippers

Pacers receive: Ivica Zubac
Clippers receive: Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, an unprotected 2029 first, Indiana’s 2026 first if it falls between 5 and 9 (otherwise it’s an unprotected 2031 first), a future second

Whoooo boy! What a fun trade that leaves so, so much to chance for both teams. I can’t remember a gamble quite like this.

Apologies to Big Zu, but we have to talk about that pick. Currently, five teams have between 12 and 14 wins, including the Pacers.

I’d expect New Orleans (who originally owned this pick, don’t forget, and traded it back to Indiana days before Haliburton tore his Achilles!) to win some silly March and April games, but Utah (with 16 wins and owing a top-eight protected first) is gonna start losing everything. Sacramento should start trying to lose, but who knows. Washington just traded all its vets for two guys (Trae Young and Anthony Davis) who probably won’t play this year. Brooklyn seemingly has an entire roster full of 19-year-olds; they won’t need to try to be bad.

So let’s call it an even five teams who will be stepping into their own bear traps.

If the Pacers finish with a bottom-four record, they’ll have roughly a 50/50 chance of keeping their pick. Everyone agrees there are at least three future stars in this draft, and some people think it’s as many as six. Indiana, clearly, believes in four.

F***, that’s dicey!