The State of the East, Post-Deadline

Checking in on the rest of the conference.

Trade deadline season is always one of the most fun times of the year to be an NBA fan. Case in point: the last ten days.

From Luka teaming up with LeBron in Los Angeles, to Jimmy Butler forcing his way next to Steph in Golden State, to DeAaron Fox throwing lobs to Wemby, this deadline provided one of the most dramatic weeks in recent NBA memory. In total, eight All Stars were traded, and 63(!!!) total players found new homes, most in NBA history.

Knicks fans, however, watched the deadline come and go without much skin in the game.

Jericho Sims was shipped to Milwaukee in exchange for veteran Delon Wright, who may or may not be sticking with the team.

Otherwise? Nothing.

With so many moves happening around the league, it’s understandable if you missed a couple of transactions. With that said, let’s check in on how things are shaping up around the Eastern Conference from the bottom up.

See you next year

The Wizards, Hornets, Raptors, and Nets are all officially looking towards next year. The play-in tournament feels far fetched.

Khris Middleton joined the Wizards, and Brandon Ingram joined Toronto, but otherwise, not much noteworthy here. Some interesting moves, but certainly nothing that will change New York’s postseason hopes.

The play-in hopefuls

I’m going to chunk a bunch of teams into this section. Bare with me.

The Bulls finally embraced their youth movement, shipping Zach Lavine out west for a haul. Matas Buzelis ROTY push loading.

The Magic stood pat for the second year in a row, and after a strong start to the year, now sit three games under .500.

Atlanta made a surprising move we’ll talk about later, but their bench unit looks dramatically different now, headlined by Caris LeVert and Terrance Mann.

Pat Riley and the Miami Heat finally broke up with Jimmy Butler, sending him to the Warriors for Andrew Wiggins amongst other assets.

Dennis Schroder bounced around four teams this season, but finally landed in Detroit, who is finally on the right side of .500 thanks to Cade Cunningham’s all-star level of play. When’s the last time they were buyers at the deadline?

Finally, let’s throw the Sixers in here as well. Sure, they have Embiid, Maxey and Paul George, but right now they’re sitting at 20-32. They acquired former Knick Quentin Grimes as well as Jared Butler, signifying a youth movement and probably indicating they have their sights set on the future rather than the present.

The contenders

Alright, alright. This is what we’re here for. Let’s take a good look at what’s going on here.

Milwaukee Bucks

Beyond acquiring former Knick Jericho Sims, the Bucks moved on from Khris Middleton. In his place now is Kyle Kuzma.

Kuzma won a ring with the Lakers in 2019-20, but has not played much meaningful basketball since, appearing in only six playoff games since.

This season, Kuzma is good for about 15 points and 6 rebounds per game. Solid numbers, but his efficiency is poor, and his style of play tends to require the ball in his hands. I’d love to be impressed, but not the spookiest of moves from the Milwaukee front office.

One more acquisition worth mentioning? Kevin Porter Jr., fresh off the plane from Los Angeles. KPJ is still only 24, and averaging 9.2 points per game this season in less than 20 minutes per game. He could provide a real spark to the Milwaukee bench unit.

Indiana Pacers

The Pacers have gone more under the radar than last year, but quietly are in control of the four seed in the East.

Also quiet was their trade deadline activity. Besides parting ways with James Wiseman, the roster remained intact. Indiana likes what they have. They’re rolling with their guys.

Boston Celtics.

Aha. The real contenders.

We all saw Boston’s thrashing of our beloved Knicks on Saturday night. Jayson Tatum has a special place in his heart for New York. Lucky us.

Bench staple Jaden Springer got shipped to Houston. Torrey Craig was added from the buyout market.

Sure.

That’s it out of Boston. It’s the same team as last year.

Be scared.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers are tops in the East with a 43-10 record. And yet they still refuse to be satisfied. They’re all in.

Caris LeVert and Georges Niang hurt to lose, but man. DeAndre Hunter is a stud. This is the kind of win-now move that decides championships.

Hunter is averaging 18.8 points per game, shooting 46% from the floor and 40% from three. It gives the Cavs’ bench unit a bonafide wing scorer, a direct upgrade from Caris LeVert in the same role.

If you haven’t paid attention to Hunter’s play this year, start.

Straight buckets.

Cleveland’s playoff rotation now looks like this:

Garland/Mitchell/Strus/Mobley/Allen

Jerome/Merrill/Okoro/Hunter

This is scary. I’m scared. You should be scared.

In conclusion

Despite the array of moves at the deadline, not too many headlining deals shook up the state of the Eastern Conference. The Knicks still comfortably feel like the number three team in the East, a step behind Boston and Cleveland but out ahead of teams like Indiana and Milwaukee.

There’s a lot of ball left this season. And with the All-Star break approaching, we know who our guys are.

This is who New York is running with. This is who New York is up against.

Let’s win a ring.