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The NBA trade deadline charts the course for the rest of the season, and now it’s in the rearview mirror ahead of the 2026 playoffs. In the wake of the trade wreckage, there’s a small inner circle of championship contenders, and a slightly larger group of teams with a puncher’s chance of winning it all. Some teams, even good ones, realized they probably have no shot at the title, so they decided to simply cut their payroll or make smaller moves around the margins that could impact the roster next year. Then there are the teams whose top objective was maximizing their ping-pong balls for the upcoming NBA Draft lottery for a stacked 2026 class with three potential No. 1 overall talents leading the way. Read our latest 2026 NBA mock draft for more on this class.
It was easy to see a massive tank race eventually forming even before this season started. Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer, and BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa were all no-brainer elite prospects coming out of high school who were destined to leave NBA GMs salivating. When North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson and Houston guard Kingston Flemings also emerged as excellent prospects in their own right, the 2026 draft had a legit top-5 that rivals any in my 13 years on the beat here.
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The current NBA rookie class is already so good, and next year’s could be even better. As the trades were going down on deadline day, I noticed there were a ton of teams incentivized to lose every game the rest of the season if they could. It might be even worse than it looks:
Three of the biggest trades at the deadline involved tanking teams as buyers: the Jazz acquired Jaren Jackson Jr. for a package headlined by three future first-round picks, the Wizards made a shocking deal for Anthony Davis, the Pacers went out and got Ivica Zubac for two premium future first round picks. Does that mean that these teams are going to start trying to win games immediately?
Of course not! Utah’s pick is top-8 protected to the Thunder, and they just pulled all of their starters with a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost. The Wizards have already…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-10-team-tanking-spectacular-130000304.html
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Publish date : 2026-02-10 13:00:00
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