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Blockbuster trades are more common in the NBA than ever before, especially when it comes to deals involving superstars. Likewise, massive trades involving multiple teams have become the norm.
The league's CBA has made finding financial loopholes in big trades a common practice during the offseason. The latest massive deal involved a record-breaking seven teams and was centered around Kevin Durant.
The Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns had the biggest implications from this trade, but the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and Minnesota Timberwolves were all involved, too.
While this was the largest trade ever made in terms of the total number of teams involved, what other massive, multiteam deals have been made throughout league history?
Five-team Russell Westbrook trade
Lakers receive:
- Russell Westbrook (from Wizards)
- Bulls' 2023 second-round pick (from Wizards)
- Least favorable of Wizards' or Grizzlies' 2024 second-round pick (from Wizards)
- Wizards' 2028 second-round pick (from Wizards)
Wizards receive:
- Spencer Dinwiddie (sign-and-trade from Nets)
- Kyle Kuzma (from Lakers)
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (from Lakers)
- Montrezl Harrell (from Lakers)
- Aaron Holiday (from Pacers)
- Draft rights to Isaiah Todd (No. 31 pick from Pacers)
- Cash (from Pacers)
Nets receive:
- Most favorite of Wizards' or Grizzlies' 2024 second-round pick (from Wizards)
- Warriors' second-round pick swap (from Wizards)
- Draft rights to Nikola Milutinov (from Spurs)
Spurs receive:
- Chandler Hutchison (from Wizards)
- Most favorable of Bulls', Lakers', or Pistons' 2022 second-round pick (from Wizards)
Pacers receive:
- Draft rights to Isaiah Jackson (No. 22 pick from Lakers)
Russell Westbrook had somewhat of a resurgence with the Denver Nuggets in 2024-25, but he hasn't been the MVP-caliber player he once was since his days with the Washington Wizards. Washington was his third home of what could be seven different teams, if he signs with a new team this offseason.
Westbrook was still putting up huge numbers during his time with the Wizards. He averaged 22.2 points per game in his lone season with the team and led the league with 11.7 assists per game.
Playing alongside Bradley Beal, Westbrook also had 38 triple-doubles, the most of his career outside of his MVP-winning season in 2017. Westbrook was still one of the most-prized commodities in the NBA in 2021, and the Lakers traded for him in the hopes that he could get the team back into the NBA Finals, which Los Angeles had won just a year prior.
Westbrook formed a big three with Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Unfortunately, Westbrook's fit alongside those fellow future Hall of Famers wasn't great, so Brodie was traded yet again just a year and a half later.
The Wizards got a haul of players from the Westbrook trade, but none of them panned out as hoped, either. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Spencer Dinwiddie, Aaron Holiday, and Montrezl Harrell were all traded from the team not long after the Wizards acquired them.
Kuzma had the most success in Washington and even averaged as much as 22.2 points per game in a season with the team, but the Wizards were never viewed as a threat with him leading the squad.
The Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, and Brooklyn Nets were also involved in this trade, although they all mainly acquired draft capital.
Six-team Klay Thompson trade
Mavericks receive:
- Klay Thompson
- 2025 second-round pick
Timberwolves receive:
- 2025 second-round pick
- 2031 second-round pick swap option
- cash
Warriors receive:
- Kyle Anderson
- Buddy Hield
Nuggets receive:
- Cash
Hornets receive:
- Josh Green
- Reggie Jackson
- 2029 second-round pick
- 2030 second-round pick
76ers receive:
- 2031 second-round pick
Most basketball fans assumed that Klay Thompson would be a Golden State Warrior for life. Unfortunately, he regressed significantly after missing back-to-back seasons with injury, and the Warriors ended up shipping him off in a sign-and-trade in 2024. The Dallas Mavericks were the team that landed the services of one of the best shooters in NBA history.
The Warriors returned a sharpshooter in their own right as Buddy Hield formed a new Splash Brothers duo of sorts with Stephen Curry. Kyle Anderson also went to Golden State, while Josh Green and Reggie Jackson were sent to the Charlotte Hornets.
Despite this being a six-team trade, those were the only five players moved in the deal. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers just received draft capital in the trade, and the Denver Nuggets only got cash. Denver was in the deal because they wanted to dump Jackson's salary, and they had to give up draft capital to do so.
Thompson's production was the lowest it has been since his rookie season in his first year with the Mavericks, but the future is bright for Dallas.
Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis are on the team and still among the best players in the league, although the former will likely miss next season with an ACL injury. The team also landed Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Seven-team Kevin Durant trade
Rockets receive:
- Kevin Durant (from Suns)
- Clint Capela (from Hawks)
Suns receive
- Jalen Green (from Rockets)
- Dillon Brooks (from Rockets)
- Daeqwon Plowden (from Hawks)
- Draft rights to Khaman Maluach (No. 10 pick from Rockets)
- Draft rights to Rasheer Fleming (No. 31 pick from Timberwolves)
- Draft rights to Koby Brea (No. 41 pick from Warriors)
- Second-most favorable 2026 second-round pick from either of the Thunder, Mavericks, or 76ers (from Rockets)
Lakers receive:
- Draft rights to Adou Thiero (No. 36 pick from Nets)
Warriors receive:
- Draft rights to Alex Toohey (No. 52 pick from Suns)
- Draft rights to Jahmai Mashack (No. 59 pick from Rockets) – Mashack's rights were sent to the Grizzlies in a separate trade
Timberwolves receive:
- Draft rights to Rocco Zikarsky (No. 45 pick from Lakers)
- Least favorable 2026 second-round pick from either the Warriors or Nuggets (from Suns)
- Most favorable 2032 second-round pick from either the Suns or Rockets (from Suns/Rockets)
- Cash (from Lakers
Nets receive:
- Either the Clippers' 2026 second-round pick or the most favorable of the Celtics, Pacers, or Heat's 2026 second-round picks (from Rockets)
- Celtics' 2030 second-round pick (from Rockets
Hawks receive:
- David Roddy (from Rockets)
- Cash (from Rockets)
- 2031 second-round pick swap option (from Rockets)
Durant is one of the greatest players in NBA history, and the Rockets view him as the missing piece that can get them over the hump and into the NBA Finals after a first-round postseason elimination as the two-seed. The Rockets lacked jump shooting and isolation creation this past season. Durant just so happens to be arguably the greatest three-level scorer the game has ever seen.
Durant is 36 years old, so it didn't cost an arm and a leg to acquire him, but he certainly didn't come cheap, either. The all-time great small forward has shown no signs of slowing down as he is coming off of a 26.6 point-per-game season.
The Rockets were busy this offseason, as they also landed a reliable rim-running center in Clint Capela in this trade in addition to an unrelated free-agent signing of Dorian Finney-Smith. It took a lot of draft capital to get the Durant deal done, but most of the draft picks exchanged were second-rounders.
The first-round pick that was moved went to Durant's old team, and the Suns got one of the steals of the draft when Khaman Maluach fell to pick 10.
The Suns also added Jalen Green, a former second-overall pick who could blossom into superstardom on a new team. Dillon Brooks will be the enforcer, and the Suns added plenty of second-rounders to bring in an influx of youth talent on cheap contracts.
The Lakers, Timberwolves, Nets, Hawks, and Warriors all got active on draft day, exchanging second-round picks, so they were all encompassed in this broader deal, thereby making the Durant transaction one involving seven teams.
It is the largest trade in NBA history, but with how frequently mega deals are occurring, don't be surprised if this deal is surpassed in size in the near future.
