The 2022 NBA trade deadline was incredibly exciting. It was dominated by the James Harden-Ben Simmons trade, but deals were flying in for the entire day and for the few days before Thursday. Many teams changed their rosters in a major way and solidified their direction, whether it means strengthening their roster for the upcoming playoffs or going into a full rebuild.

Along with everything in sports, the trade deadline brought in some winners and some losers. Without further ado, here are the biggest losers of the 2022 NBA trade deadline.

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2022 NBA trade deadline losers 

Portland Trail Blazers 

The Blazers, along with the San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics, were the busiest teams ahead of the deadline. Portland finally decided to dissolve its team and go for a rebuild around Damian Lillard. This is actually their second attempt at rebuilding around Dame Dolla, with the first one coming in the summer of 2015 when LaMarcus Aldridge left Oregon for the San Antonio Spurs. That rebuild gave the Blazers a few playoff runs, with the most famous one being the 2019 trip to the Western Conference Finals.

However, this rebuild might be worse off, especially since the Blazers lost a ton and gained little for what they gave up. Firstly, a few days before the trade deadline, they gave up Norman Powell and Robert Covington in a deal that landed them Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, Eric Bledsoe, and a second-round pick. Powell was just signed to a huge deal in August of last year and was contributing in a major way for the Blazers, yet they landed players that, most likely, will not be major factors on any future Blazers team. Keon Johnson does have potential, but with the squad being guard-heavy already, he might be trounced by the competition.

Then, the Blazers outdid themselves by trading longtime starting guard CJ McCollum to the Pelicans in a package centered around a protected first-round pick and Josh Hart. It is true that Hart is a great fit next to Lillard, especially being a defense-first guard with a huge frame for his position, but McCollum must be worth more than that. The Blazers were hot on the trade trigger, and that led them to two poor decisions that were meant to jumpstart their rebuild, but rather put them in a worse place going forward.

They got a ton of potential cap space, but even having Damian Lillard on the roster hasn't brought much free agent success to Portland in the past. Also, this is also about one move they did not do: trading Jusuf Nurkic. The center is on an expiring deal and is playing his best basketball since the 2020 NBA bubble, so he will seek upwards of $20 million annually in the upcoming summer. If they give him the money, that will leave them with limited cap space, and if they do not, they will lose a good piece for nothing.

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The Houston Rockets invested heavily into Fred VanVleet during the 2023 offseason. Houston gave the point guard a three-year, $128 million deal in a move that was meant to turn the Rockets from a rebuilding team into a championship contending one. The signing did just that, as the Rockets finished the 2024-25 regular season as the two-seed in a stacked Western Conference. VanVleet was the veteran presence and 3-point shooter that the team desperately needed, and he still might have a role with the Rockets going forward. Houston has a team option on his contract for next year, and they very well may pick it up. The Wichita State product reportedly wants to stay in Houston, but the point guard would be set to make over $44 million next season under his current contract. The Rockets and their guard recently pushed back the deadline on Houston's decision with VanVleet, and although reports suggest that they are interested in writing up a new, long-term deal, it isn't necessarily a guarantee that VanVleet will be playing for Houston next year. The Rockets blew him away with an offer he couldn't refuse back in 2023, and another team could so the same when/if he hits the open market this offseason. If VanVleet does become an unrestricted free agent, which teams outside of Houston would make the most sense for him to sign with? 1. Orlando Magic Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner recently signed big deals with the Orlando Magic, and Paolo Banchero will be getting a mega contract extension here soon. Because of that, the Magic no longer have money to blow like they have had in recent years. That will make a deal for another big ticket free agent hard to pull off, especially considering the team signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope last year. If Orlando can make the money work, though, then Fred VanVleet would be a great fit with the Magic. The Magic finished dead last in 3-point shooting this season, and VanVleet has made at least 2.5 deep balls per game in every season since 2018-19. VanVleet can hit shots form behind the arc off of the bounce or in catch-and-shoot situations. The Rockets were heavily reliant on his shooting expertise, so the guard would have plenty of familiarity getting up deep shots with high volume if he signed with the Magic. While undersized, VanVleet is a pesky defender, so he'd fit right in with a Magic team that has one of the best defensive units in the league. VanVleet could play alongside Suggs and give opposing teams fits. Ultimately, though, the Magic just need more shooting to get to the next level, and VanVleet is arguably the best shooter who could be available on the open market this offseason. 2. Brooklyn Nets A more realistic option for a VanVleet destination would be the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are set up to have the most cap space this offseason, and they have a major need at point guard. With D'Angelo Russell and De'Anthony Melton hitting free agency this offseason, the Nets don't have a true point guard under contract for next season. Brooklyn needs to spend big this offseason, and they'd be smart to offer VanVleet a contract big enough that he'd have no choice but to leave Houston. VanVleet averaged 14.1 points per game last season, which was his lowest mark since 2018-19. He is trending the wrong way, but he still has enough left in the tank to give the Nets a few good seasons. 3. Portland Trail Blazers In the same way that the Rockets were looking to take the next step in 2023, the Portland Trail Blazers could use VanVleet's presence to get over the hump. The Trail Blazers have plenty of big man depth, as centers Deandre Ayton, Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams, and Duop Death are all under contract next season. Portland also has a lot of wing depth. Deni Advija started to look like a star late this past season, Toumani Camara is an elite defender, Shaedon Sharpe is a freakish athlete, and Jerami Grant is a proven scorer. The team is thinner in the backcourt, though. Anfernee Simons is a solid scorer, but Scoot Henderson has looked like a fringe draft bust since being drafted third overall. Portland shouldn't give up on Henderson completely, but there wouldn't be any harm in signing another guard. Like the Magic, the Blazers were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA. VanVleet would improve that weakness, and in a stacked Western Conference, Portland needs all of the help they can get if they are to compete for a playoff spot.
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The Blazers have a direction, but their moves could have been so much better.

Mavericks and Wizards

In the end, the choice was too tough to make, so it is simpler to state that both the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks are huge losers after this trade deadline. The two franchises completed a deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis and a second-round pick to the Wizards in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.

Looking at it as it stands, the Wizards got the best player involved in the deal, so they could be considered the nominal winners, but with the state of Porzingis and his play, they seem like less of a loser, more than an outright winner. This is the squad that just traded away Montrezl Harrell to the Charlotte Hornets and shut down their biggest star, Bradley Beal, for the season. Getting Porzingis in, regardless of his status as a former All-Star, does not seem logical. One saving grace might be that the Wizards are going to use him together with Beal and the rest of their roster next season to attack the East, but even with the Unicorn, their roster does not square up to the top of the conference.

For the Mavericks, the trade of Porzingis was inevitable, but this deal just does not make any sense. Dinwiddie is a solid player, but he is incredibly inconsistent and needs the ball in his hands to operate. That could go against the Mavs' game plan, which is to give the ball to Luka Doncic and only hope for a playoff future in the West. Getting Bertans, in a vacuum, is a good deal since the Mavs need shooting, but his play this season suggests that he is a complete non-factor, scoring just around six points per contest on 31.9% shooting from 3-point land.

The move could make sense in the future, depending on the availability of both Dinwiddie and Porzingis, the fit of Porzingis next to Beal and Dinwiddie next to Doncic, and on Bertans regaining his shooting touch. Unfortunately, there are way too many variables and the deal just needs so many things going its way that it is hard to even imagine it pans out all that well for either side.