Sports
Trade winners and losers: Cavs deliver, Bulls not so much
Jan 30, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden (1) in the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images As the clock counted down on the NBA trade deadline Thursday, it was the Los Angeles Clippers who drained a shot at the buzzer, while the Chicago Bulls seemed unable to execute the play drawn up in the huddle.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ja Morant were supposed to be the biggest names on the move by Thursday afternoon and yet the Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies held their ground. And yet the Grizzlies managed to show they had other options.
The Dallas Mavericks were still trying to dig themselves out of the hole they made for themselves in advance of last year’s deadline, while the Golden State Warriors shut down the trade season after inspiring some head scratching.
With the second half of the NBA season already upon us, even if the All-Star break has yet to arrive, there were multiple winners and losers as the trade deadline passed.
WINNERS
Cleveland Cavaliers
At least for the time being, the Cavaliers figured out how to make themselves a better team, all while sitting in a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference. Good-bye Lonzo Ball, De’Andre Hunter and the injured Darius Garland. Hello Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroder and James Harden.
Cleveland loses 10 years in the Harden-Garland swap but they suddenly have scoring punch for when star guard Donovan Mitchell goes to the bench. It was a glaring weakness for a top team, and while Harden, 36, is an older player, he has been durable.
The Cavaliers are on a 9-2 run and they have yet to integrate their new pieces, although Ellis and Schroder did make their team debut Wednesday … in an blowout road victory over their trade partner, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Los Angeles Clippers
Considering the Clipper were an old team with no first-round draft pick this year and a 6-21 record to start the season, the path to a brighter future is now paved.
Harden was swapped for a 26-year-old in Darius Garland, who has a two All-Star Game appearances and a tight relationship with Los Angeles head coach Tyronn Lue. What Garland will need moving forward is better health.
The Clippers also addressed their empty vault of draft picks by landing two first-rounders when they moved center Ivica Zubac, whose old-school game lacks the versatility of today’s big men. And yet the Clippers also added Bennedict Mathurin from the Pacers in the deal.
The Clippers now have the fifth overall pick from the 2019 draft (Garland), the No. 6 overall pick from 2022 (Mathurin) and two first-round picks for the future.
Memphis Grizzlies
Trading Morant was supposed to bring Memphis the kind of draft capital, similar to what the Oklahoma City Thunder had acquired to build their current empire and make it formidable for years to come.
With teams seemingly unsure of where Morant sees himself down the road, the Grizzlies traded Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz for a package that includes three first-round draft picks. Add that the to the four first-round picks they landed this offseason by trading Desmond Bane to Orlando, and Memphis can see a bright future, all in a matter of nine months.
LOSERS
Chicago Bulls
A haul of second-round draft picks would be impressive in baseball and formidable in football. In basketball, the stars that emerge from the second round do exist, but not as much as the Bulls are going to need them to develop.
The Bulls now have 14 second-round draft picks through 2032 and only five of them are their own. And Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vucevic are gone now from a roster that was hovering around the bottom of play-in eligibility.
Guard Jaden Ivey is a nice pickup, assuming injury issues are behind him, but was there not a single first-round pick to be had this week?
Golden State Warriors
The reported pursuit of Antetokounmpo inspired dreams of the Greek Freak playing alongside Steph Curry as the former champions combine their star power to chase at least one more title. Oh well.
Not only that, sending out Jonathan Kuminga seemed like it would bring a decent return. But even while combining Kuminga with Buddy Hield, the Warriors were only able to land Kristaps Porzingis. At least Porzingis is on an expiring contract.
Golden State is currently eighth in the West, but that is merely a spot in the play-in tournament. Can Curry will another deep playoff run with the squad he has around him?
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers won last year’s trade season by ripping away Luka Doncic from the Mavericks, but with merely a handful of expiring contracts to deal, they were going to have to be clever to land the kind of upgrade they needed this time around.
Enter Luke Kennard, who was acquired Thursday. While Kennard coached by JJ Redick offers intrigue, he is not the most aggressive of talented sharpshooters and it is hard to see him being more assertive on a team when Doncic and LeBron James are yearning for the ball.
If only Dalton Knecht turned into the confident shooter Los Angeles envisioned. Maybe a 3-and-D forward would be on his way instead.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Warriors aim to take season series over peaking Nuggets
Mar 27, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) works against Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams (5) during the second half at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images Riding their first three-game winning streak in more than two months, the Golden State Warriors will try to make it four in a row when they visit the surging Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
Golden State (36-38) holds the 10th and final spot in the play-in, trailing Portland by half a game with eight games left. The Warriors still have a chance to reach the playoffs despite significant injuries.
Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) and Moses Moody (torn patella) are out for the season, Al Horford has been sidelined for two weeks with a calf injury and Steph Curry has missed 24 straight games with a troublesome knee and won’t play Sunday night.
Curry is close to returning, but Golden State is being cautious with its 38-year-old star.
“We’re not bringing him back (only) for the play-in game,” head coach Steve Kerr told ESPN. “He’d need to play some games. We need to give him a runway if this is going to work. And we are running out of games. That’s fair to say.”
Without Curry, the Warriors have relied on different players to pick up the scoring slack. In Friday night’s win over Washington, Kristaps Porzingis had 28 points, the fourth time in 10 games since coming from Atlanta in a trade that he has put up 20 or more points.
Porzingis is averaging 17.1 points between the Hawks and Golden State but has upped that to 17.7 in March.
The only player to appear in all 74 games for the Warriors is Brandin Podziemski, who is averaging 13.2 points.
Golden State has won two of the first three meetings with Denver and can take the season series Sunday night. The Nuggets (47-28) have won five in a row and eight of their last 10 to stay in the hunt for a top seed in the Western Conference.
Denver’s last two victories haven’t been easy despite playing teams fighting for a high draft pick. The Nuggets held off Dallas on Wednesday night behind huge games from Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic and then had to rally from down 13 to beat Utah on Friday night.
“I just think our energy from the beginning of the game has to be better. We’ve had a lot of slow starts as of late,” head coach David Adelman said. “Obviously, we’re very talented offensively, we can always make a run, get back in games, but we shouldn’t have to work our way into every game. You have to come with more purpose to start the game.”
Denver is in the midst of playing nine of its final 12 games at home and has taken advantage of the schedule. The Nuggets are fourth in the West, a game and a half ahead of Minnesota and a game and a half behind the Los Angeles Lakers for third.
The Warriors will have to slow down Jokic and Murray, who are playing well down the stretch. Jokic leads the team in scoring (27.9), rebounds (12.8) and assists (10.8) and is on the verge of averaging a triple-double for the second straight season.
Murray, who is averaging a career-high 25.5 points, has scored 31 and 53 in the last two games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lakers star Luka Doncic suspended 1 game after 16th technical foul
Mar 27, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) drives against Brooklyn Nets forward Ziaire Williams (1) during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images The NBA suspended Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic for one game without pay on Saturday for receiving his 16th technical foul this season, and he will miss Monday’s game against the visiting Washington Wizards.
Doncic, the league’s leading scorer, was assessed a technical along with Brooklyn forward Ziaire Williams when they jostled each other with 5:12 remaining in the third quarter of the host Lakers’ 116-99 victory on Friday.
An offensive foul was called seconds earlier on Doncic, and a video review showed him pushing Williams, with the Nets player retaliating by swiping at Doncic’s face.
The 16th technical triggered an automatic suspension, which will cost Doncic 1/174th of his annual salary, about $264,000, per ESPN. League rules stipulate that following the 16th technical, for every two additional technicals, the player will be suspended another game without pay.
The Lakers had successfully appealed Doncic’s most-recent technical for a yelling match with Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze on March 21. The league rescinded the technicals.
Doncic, 27, is averaging 33.7 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds for the Lakers (48-26), who are in third place in the Western Conference with eight games remaining in the regular season.
A six-time All-Star guard, Doncic has been selected All-NBA first team five times and was the 2018-19 NBA Rookie of the Year.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Marta Suarez scores 33 as TCU upends Virginia in Sweet 16
Mar 28, 2026; Sacramento, CA, USA; Texas Christian University Horned Frogs guard Olivia Miles (5) and forward Marta Suárez (7) embrace after a called foul during the second quarter of the game against the Virginia Cavaliers in the Sweet Sixteen game of the Sacramento Regional 4 of the women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images Marta Suarez scored a career-high 33 points, Olivia Miles added 28 points in a near triple-double and third-seeded TCU ended Virginia’s magical NCAA Tournament run with a 79-69 victory in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento on Saturday.
Miles had 10 rebounds and eight assists and Suarez had 10 rebounds as the Horned Frogs (32-5) overcame a one-point halftime deficit by scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter to take control.
The Horned Frogs will make their second straight Elite Eight appearance when they meet top-seeded South Carolina on Monday.
Suarez had 13 points in the third quarter, when Miles had six assists and four rebounds as the Frogs pushed their lead to 15. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers did not get closer than eight until the final 31 seconds.
Miles’ two free throws with 26.1 seconds left for a 77-69 lead clinched it. She is one of four Division I players with at least 600 points, 250 rebounds and 100 assists.
Paris Clark had 20 points and Kymora Johnson had 18 for the Cavaliers (22-12), the lowest seed to reach the Sweet 16 since 2022.
Clara Silva had eight points and eight rebounds for TCU, which had a 38-29 edge on the boards and limited Virginia to 41% shooting.
Virginia led by seven late in the first quarter. TCU took a 35-33 lead with 1:09 left in the first half, when Suarez made a free throw after Romi Levy was called for a Flagrant 1 foul for pulling Miles down as she drove to the basket.
Clark’s three-point play gave the Cavaliers a 36-35 lead at halftime.
–Field Level Media
Warriors aim to take season series over peaking Nuggets
Lakers star Luka Doncic suspended 1 game after 16th technical foul
