Here’s a fun fact: All four NBA conference finals teams this year are here because of win-win trades they’ve made with one another. The first came nearly a decade ago. In 2017, the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
We know how that went for both sides. Two years later, the Thunder swapped George for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a mountain of first-round picks. Three years after that, the Pacers traded Sabonis for Tyrese Haliburton. This is the very definition of a win-win deal. In the end, it effectively created two contenders. They both got their best player as a result of that one trade.
However, if you were asked to pick a winner of the trade, you wouldn’t hesitate. It’s Oklahoma City. Haliburton is an All-Star, but Gilgeous-Alexander will likely be named MVP on Wednesday night. One of those draft picks turned into Jalen Williams, and the rest are the funding mechanism for their dynasty plans, a source of cheap labor to replace the expensive role players they’ll inevitably lose over time. The deal is therefore less of a “win-win” then it is a “win-WIN.” Both teams benefitted. One, significantly more so. That’s how it usually plays out. Not every trade has a loser. But someone makes out better among the winners.
Which brings us to the second win-win deal responsible for this year’s conference finals. In September, the New York Knicks traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns. This trade wasn’t quite as central to the identity of either team as the George trade has been for the Thunder and Pacers. Unlike Indiana and Oklahoma City, New York and Minnesota already had their best players in place when they made it, but that made the deal much more surprising. The Timberwolves were already a Western Conference finals team. The Knicks likely would have gotten there were it not for injuries last season. These are not the sort of teams that tend to make seismic trades. But they did, and thus far, both sides are pleased with the results.
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