The 5 worst trades of the 2020's (so far)

Let’s get a bit cynical today and rank the 5 worst trades of the 2020s. While it is important that these deals went poorly for the team who made them, I don’t want this list to be entirely hindsight based so the rankings will be influenced by perception of the deal at the time but mostly still hindsight based. 

5. Nets trade James Harden for Ben Simmons

This trade isn’t so much about thinking it was bad the moment it happened. There were red flags with Simmons, he was scared to shoot and he wasn’t playing basketball, whether it was a hold out or he was hurt (it was both) but many still believed he was a really good player. Harden had quit on Brooklyn and wanted a trade to the Sixers specifically, Brooklyn’s hands were tied and, on February 10th, 2022, they dealt Harden (along with Paul Milsap) to Philly for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and a 2027 protected first round pick. Simmons was a shell of himself in Brooklyn. He didn’t play at all that season and from the 2022-23 campaign to his buyout in 2025, Simmons played in 90 games while averaging 6.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, down from the 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists he averaged as a Sixer. Simmons was never the same player after the Sixers-Hawks 2021 series and Philly was able to trade him while he still had good value around the league. It was Brooklyn who had to pay the price of that regression. The Nets were backed into a corner by James Harden and they folded under the pressure and sent him to the 76ers. Simmons was supposed to be the replacement for Harden, instead his NBA career fell apart, as did the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving Nets era. The Nets deals of Irving and Durant in 2023 likely still happen but the Harden for Simmons deal was the beginning of the end for Brooklyn’s superstar era and fall into irrelevance. 

4. Suns trade for Bradley Beal

The Kevin Durant trade blew up in Phoenix's face in epic fashion and if they had a mulligan they probably wouldn't make that trade. However at the time, it wasn’t seen as a bad trade and without the Beal part of it, Phoenix could have had a different result. The Beal trade is where this fell apart for the Suns. The fit was a disaster, it nuked any real path at improving the roster the Suns had due to the 2nd apron and Beal play did not line up with the contract he had. On June 18th, 2023 the Suns traded Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, future pick swaps and future 2nd round picks for Beal so the price they paid wasn’t bad it was the result of the deal that haunts the Suns. For the next 4 years, Phoenix will have Beal on their books at $19.4 million due to the buyout and stretch move they made last summer. The deal also forced the Suns hand in trading Kevin Durant away for significantly less than what they got him for. The biggest problem for this deal for the Suns was Beal’s contract and no-trade clause. As I mentioned, having 3 supermax players locked the Suns into the team they had and in order to get out of it, they had to trade Durant. They couldn’t trade Beal, their lack of picks, his bloated contract and no-trade clause made it impossible for the Suns to move him. The Suns gave up a lot for Kevin Durant with the idea of keeping him for a long time, instead they added Bradley Beal next and it sank any chance the Durant and Devin Booker combo had at winning the title.

3. Lakers trade for Russell Westbrook

I have written about this trade a few times, once last week in my LeBron Lakers story and once 2 summers ago. Both times I have said that the Westbrook trade closed any window the Lakers had at winning a championship around LeBron James and Anthony Davis On July 29th, 2021, the Lakers sent out Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and the 22nd pick in the 2021 draft (which turned into Isaiah Jackson) for Westbrook. No, they didn’t give up 5 picks and 3 swaps or something like that but this trade cost the Lakers at least 5 rotation players that Los Angeles had to replace with mostly minimums. Los Angeles was unable to re-sign Alex Caruso and Dennis Schroder because of the trade, joining KCP, Kuzma and Harrell as the 5 they lost. The Lakers won their 2020 title based on the LeBron and AD pick and roll being surrounded by spacing and good perimeter defenders, guys who don’t need the ball. Westbrook fits none of those descriptions, he is a bad defender, a bad shooter and he needs the ball. A lot of people picked the Lakers to go to the Finals, instead they finished outside of the Play-In Tournament and missed the playoffs. In February 2023, they dumped Westbrook, along with a first round pick, to the Utah Jazz, getting back D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt in a three team trade that included the Timberwolves. Three guys who were not as good as the guys they gave up to get Westbrook.

2. Kings trade Tyrese Haliburton

The Tyrese Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox backcourt just did not mesh very well, that is why Sacramento moved Haliburton. That reason wasn’t good enough at the time and it still isn’t good enough now. On February 8th, 2022, the Kings traded Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson to the Indiana Pacers for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremey Lamb and a 2023 2nd round pick. Many, myself included, hated the move for Sacramento at the time. After the 2022-23 season, where Sacramento won 48 games and was the 3 seed in the Western Conference, many called the deal a win-win trade. That argument fell apart during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 season as the Pacers rose in the Eastern Conference and the Kings proved to be a one hit wonder. Indiana made a run to the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals and then the 2025 NBA Finals where if Haliburton did not tear his achilles early in Game 7, they may have become champions. Haliburton was the offensive engine for both of those teams with his playmaking, shooting and clutch gene, he was the reason the Pacers have been able to make deep playoff runs. Meanwhile in Sacramento, the Kings are struggling to get off of Sabonis’ contract, which has 2yrs/$94 million left on it. Sacramento is one of the worst teams in the league with a bleak future in sight and with Fox gone as well they turn to rookie Darius Acuff as the future. Meanwhile, the Pacers had a down 2025-26 season that Haliburton missed with a torn achilles but they should be right back in the thick of the Eastern Conference race in 2026-27.

1. Mavericks trade Luka Doncic

Was there ever a doubt what would be number 1? Trading Luka is something that would have been wildly criticized but it was how Dallas dealt Doncic that made this deal so bad. They only talked to the Lakers and didn’t even get every draft pick they could. On February 1st, 2025, the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick. The Mavericks only talked to the Lakers about a deal, no other team knew that Dallas wanted to move Doncic. Then Mavericks President of Basketball Operations Nico Harrison had his sights on acquiring Davis. Just a year later, Dallas traded Davis to the Washington Wizards for a pair of late first round picks, a couple of 2nd rounders and players no longer on their team. Nothing close to the level of Luka Doncic. It is one of the worst asset management decisions in NBA history. Just 8 months after Dallas was in the NBA Finals, Doncic, the best player on the team, was gone. The Mavericks got lucky in the lottery when they landed the first pick to draft Cooper Flagg (though a conspiracy theorist might argue that luck did not play a factor in this) but this deal had the threat of sending the Mavericks into a never ending rebuild. If you want to trade Doncic, that’s fine, I am also not the biggest Luka Doncic fan and can understand why Dallas wanted to move on. However, if you’re going to move him, you have to canvas the league and get the best possible deal you can. That is not what Dallas did, they traded Doncic for pennies on the dollar and betting on the injury-prone Davis was a crazy decision. Were the Lakers really not going to do the deal if you demanded they put another pick and a swap in the deal? What about Austin Reaves? The process of trading Doncic is what makes this deal maybe the worst in NBA history.