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NBA NBA Trade Season live Updated 11m ago Follow the latest updates from our team of reporters at The Athletic from now through the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 5. We have our first stunner. The Utah Jazz are acquiring Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Memphis Grizzlies in a blockbuster deal involving several players and three first-round draft picks. Soon thereafter, the Pistons, Bulls and Timberwolves completed a deal that sent Jaden Ivey and Mike Conley to Chicago, while Boston acquired Nikola Vučević for Anfernee Simons. Late Monday, we learned that the LA Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers have held discussions over a deal involving James Harden and Darius Garland. You can also watch NBA games live on Fubo (Stream Free Now! ) GO FURTHER NBA Trade Board 2. 0: Ja Morant, Michael Porter Jr. join list as deadline looms When Chicago traded for Nikola Vučević in 2021, the two-time All-Star joined a vastly different Bulls roster, teaming up with Zach La Vine and eventually De Mar De Rozan. For multiple seasons, the Bulls peaked at Play-In Tournament berths, a frustrating reality that Vučević, 35, vocalized this past week. He’s well aware that his time to win meaningful games is limited. Vučević wanted to join a contender. The Celtics qualify, while the Bulls cleared the way to go a different direction at the center position. Vučević leaves the Bulls second in franchise history in double-doubles at 222. He’s just two double-doubles shy of eclipsing Patrick Ewing to enter the top-10 for most career double-doubles in NBA history. The Celtics’ need for another big man has been clear all season, but became more evident during recent weeks when Joe Mazzulla avoided using Xavier Tillman and Chris Boucher even when the team’s frontcourt was shorthanded. So Nikola Vučević will fill a roster need. How well will he fit on the court? That much remains to be determined. Vučević's passing and pick-and-pop ability should give the Celtics a new dimension. They haven’t really had a shooting center this season; while Luka Garza has shot the ball well from downtown (44. 1 percent), he only attempts about three 3-pointers per 36 minutes. Vučević attempts more than five, and his history as a strong outside shooter will force teams to respect that shot. His post-up game will also be a new wrinkle for the Celtics, though it's unclear how much they actually use it. So far this season, Vučević has posted up 2. 6 times per game, more than anyone on the entire Celtics' roster. He hasn’t been very efficient in those opportunities, but throwing the ball down there from time to time could give the Celtics' offense another layer. How will he impact the defense? His mobility isn’t ideal, but neither is Garza’s, and the Boston defense has been able to survive with him on the court. If and when Jayson Tatum returns, the roster should be more complete with Vučević than it would have been with Anfernee Simons. I love the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade for the Jazz. Acquiring the 26-year-old Jackson gives this team a lot of options with its roster construction moving forward. You can play Jackson and Lauri Markkanen together in the frontcourt. And do you remember Walker Kessler? He was Utah’s starting center before a shoulder injury ended his season after five games. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer, but the team has maintained confidence in retaining him. Regardless of where that goes, the core moving forward for Utah will at least be Jackson, Ace Bailey, Markkanen and the newly improved Keyonte George at point guard. Markkanen and Jackson are both signed for three more seasons after this one at significant money. George is on his rookie deal for one more season. Bailey still has three more seasons on his rookie deal. There is some flexibility for the Jazz, and they still have pick control of their own selections after this year, in addition to a Cleveland pick swap in 2028 and Minnesota’s top-five protected pick in 2029. Grade: A Read on for my Grizzlies grade. Here's my analysis of today's stunner. Jaren Jackson Jr. 's departure from Memphis marks a clear shift toward a rebuild for the Grizzlies following a deal last summer that sent shooting guard Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic. The team still could trade point guard Ja Morant before Thursday’s deadline. Jackson, 26, has been a foundational piece for a Grizzlies team that won 48 games or more in three of the last four seasons. Memphis reaffirmed Jackson’s importance when it renegotiated his contract last summer, agreeing to a five-year, $240 million maximum extension. Meanwhile, the team declined to sign an extension with Morant and traded Bane in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and one pick swap. While Morant was often viewed as the biggest star and the face of the franchise in Memphis for years, Jackson was seen as the Grizzlies’ most reliable and consistent player during some of their best seasons. In his eight seasons with the Grizzlies, Jackson averaged 18. 5 points, 5. 6 rebounds and 1. 5 blocks while shooting 46. 7 percent from the field and 35. 1 percent on 3-pointers. But turmoil within the franchise on and off the court has led to general manager Zach Kleiman moving in a different direction. The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NBA trade deadline. During the Danny Ainge (and now Austin Ainge) era, the Utah Jazz have had an issue with being bad to prioritize their draft positioning, aka tanking. While they hold a protected first-round pick of their own in 2026, the Jazz are making a big swing to improve this roster. Utah has agreed to trade four players, including rookie guard Walter Clayton Jr. , plus three first-round picks, to the Memphis Grizzlies for Jaren Jackson Jr. and three role players. Anfernee Simons, 26, averaged 14. 2 points per game during his brief Celtics tenure. His sharpshooting and playmaking helped turn the Boston bench into a surprising strength. Several times, Coach Joe Mazzulla raved about Simons’ mindset as he accepted his new role and contributed to the team’s winning efforts. But while Neemias Queta and Luka Garza have been pleasant surprises in the frontcourt, the Celtics had more need for a big man like Nikola Vučević than another guard like Simons. There was reason from the start to believe Simons’ stay in Boston would be short. Though the Celtics valued his approach, their financial situation dictated that he was a trade candidate from the moment they acquired him from Portland in July in the deal for Jrue Holiday. While Simons' second-unit role was steady this season, the team also needed to account for Jayson Tatum’s eventual return, diminishing the need for additional playmaking. Whether Tatum comes back from a torn Achilles this season or next, his presence will push everyone down a notch in the hierarchy. Anfernee Simons for Nikola Vučević matters on the court, especially for Boston's center rotation. But it's also a money deal, and arguably primarily a money deal. It uses up nearly all the Bulls' leftover float below the tax line after first acquiring Dario Šarić, and then flipping Saric and Kevin Huerter for Jaden Ivey and Mike Conley. Boston doesn't get all the way out of the luxury tax, at least yet. But the Celtics are now below the first apron, which could open the door to other win-now moves. The remaining question: What will the Bulls do at center? Jalen Smith has been outstanding but is only 6-8, while the injured Zach Collins is the only other viable five man on the roster. The Boston Celtics are acquiring center Nikola Vučević from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for guard Anfernee Simons, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. The two teams will also trade future second-round picks to each other as part of the deal. In acquiring Vučević, the Celtics also get closer to getting out of the luxury tax. Both players are on expiring contracts, with Simons making $27. 7 million and Vučević making $21. 5 million. Simons, 26, averaged 14. 2 points per game during his brief Celtics tenure. His sharpshooting and playmaking helped turn the Boston bench into a surprising strength. Several times, Coach Joe Mazzulla raved about Simons’ mindset as he accepted his new role and contributed to the team’s winning efforts. But while Neemias Queta and Luka Garza have been pleasant surprises in the frontcourt, the Celtics had more need for a big man like Vučević than another guard like Simons. Minnesota sending a first-round pick swap to Detroit to offload the $10 million contract of Mike Conley put the Wolves below the first apron, makes a massive cut in their luxury tax bill and potentially opens some more cap flexibility for trades between now and the deadline. Even in the absence of other moves, it’s a relatively inexpensive price to move off this much salary. The Wolves already owe a pick swap to Utah, but it is already almost mathematically impossible for that swap to execute based on the two teams’ record. With Detroit’s pick on track to be No. 29 and Minnesota’s No. 23, the Pistons get the opportunity to move up several spots in the draft in return for assigning its unused nontaxpayer midlevel exception to Conley. While Mike Conley's play has eroded this season, that doesn’t take away from his immense value to the Timberwolves over the two Western Conference finals runs. The highly regarded veteran was invaluable to the Wolves in his first two-plus seasons in Minnesota. Conley headlined one of the most important trades in team history, when team president Tim Connelly sent D’Angelo Russell to the Lakers in 2023 and got Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker from Utah in the deal. Conley gave a young Wolves team a much-needed adult in the room and a steady hand on the court. He played a prominent starting role in back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals in 2024 and 2025. But Conley is shooting 33 percent from the field and from 3 this season while playing a career-low 18. 6 minutes per game. The floater that made him such a devastating pick-and-roll ball-handler has abandoned him. He has scored more than six points just twice in the last 16 games, once when he scored seven and once when he scored nine. Let’s discuss Ja Morant's future for a quick minute. The Sacramento Kings are consistently mentioned as one of the few teams — if not the only one — that might decide to get into the Morant business before the Thursday deadline. As of today, I can relay, per team sources, that they have still not completely closed the door on that idea. That being said, the percentage chance of this actually happening was placed in the low-single-digits when I inquired about it pre-Jaren Jackson Jr. trade. The Kings’ minimal interest, for quite some time now, has been directly tied to the idea that Morant's price point might drop so low, they’d be crazy not to do it. Especially if it meant getting off of a contract — like, say, Zach La Vine’s — that has long since been deemed undesirable. (The Grizzlies' willingness, or potential lack thereof, to take La Vine back is unclear. ) If Memphis wants to make a Morant trade even more appealing to Sacramento, they could attach a first-rounder to the deal as an enticing sweetener. After today’s Jackson Jr. trade that netted the Grizzlies three first-rounders from Utah, they certainly have a few to spare. As Mike Vorkunov noted, the Grizzlies now have 12 first-rounders in the next seven years, trailing only Brooklyn and Oklahoma City in that category. If they’re determined to do a Morant deal before the deadline, they might have to use some of those assets to get it over the finish line. Jaden Ivey is averaging a career low in minutes, points, assists and rebounds per game this season. The 23 year old was on pace for what seemed to be a breakout year during his 2024-25 campaign before fracturing his left fibula on Jan. 1, 2025. Ivey then suffered another setback this preseason when he underwent arthroscopic surgery to relieve right knee discomfort on Oct. 16, 2025. Since returning from those leg injuries, Ivey has lacked the explosion and athleticism that once made the No. 5 pick in the 2022 draft seem like a long-term backcourt mate for All-NBA guard Cade Cunningham. Ivey is in the final year of his rookie-scale contract, making $10. 1 million. and will become a restricted free agent this offseason. The move to Chicago gives Ivey a fresh start for the first time in his professional career and creates more opportunity for Detroit’s guards off the bench. While the Timberwolves have agreed to trade Mike Conley to Chicago, a team source says the deal is still being finalized. The Wolves are attaching a first-round swap in 2026 to get off Conley's contract and save more than $20 million in luxury tax payments. It is possible that this move creates more flexibility for the Wolves to look at other moves. They remain in on Giannis Antetokounmpo and could look to add depth to their bench as well. But as for now, they're paying to unload a player who looked every bit his 38 years this season. Conley’s play has eroded. But that doesn't take away from his immense value to the Timberwolves over the two Western Conference finals runs. He was essential and will be missed in Minnesota. The final details on this Minnesota-Chicago-Detroit deal will be interesting to unpack, but a team source said the Timberwolves — who send Mike Conley Jr. to the Bulls — are still waiting to see if it winds up being one trade or two (and what they wind up taking back). Either way, the bigger picture is this: They remain firmly in the hunt for Giannis Antetokounmpo and are now in a more flexible position to pursue that lofty endeavor. Jaden Ivey and Mike Conley Jr. are being traded to the Chicago Bulls in a three-team deal involving the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources confirmed to The Athletic. The Pistons will receive Kevin Huerter and Dario Šarić from the Bulls, along with a 2026 first-round pick swap from the Timberwolves, league sources said. The move gives Ivey a fresh start for the first time in his professional career and creates more opportunities for Detroit’s guards off the bench. Now that the Utah Jazz have agreed on a trade to bring aboard Jaren Jackson Jr. , the Jazz soon will have two top-flight interior defenders on their roster. Jackson, the 2022-23 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, is the first. Walker Kessler, the 24-year-old center who is out for the season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, is the other. Kessler is not on Jackson’s level but still very good. In recent weeks, multiple league sources speculated that Kessler would be a target for the Washington Wizards this summer in restricted free agency. The thinking was that the Wizards would want to pair Kessler alongside Alex Sarr in the same way that the Oklahoma City Thunder signed Isaiah Hartenstein to pair him alongside Chet Holmgren. There was just one problem with that speculation: Because Kessler will be a restricted free agent, the Jazz will have the right to match the terms of any offer sheet that Kessler might sign from another team. Perhaps the Jazz intend to have a Kessler-Jackson pairing in the way the Thunder have a Hartenstein-Holmgren pairing. But is it now possible that Kessler will be moved before the trade deadline? After all, Jackson and Kessler do have some duplicate strengths. Perhaps the trade for Jackson will be the precursor that Utah needed to make Kessler available. And if that's the case, perhaps Washington will have interest. It will be interesting to see if Memphis can find a home for Ja Morant as well after trading Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz. Perhaps more important, with their best player off the roster now, Memphis is squarely in the great tank race of 2026. The Grizzlies currently own the ninth-worst record in the NBA but sit five games better than Jazz. Perhaps those two ships will pass in the middle of the night, but the Jazz give up their 2026 first-round pick to the Thunder if they don't get a top-8 selection, so they have strong incentive to still rough it out this season and try to ensure that doesn't happen. After trading Jaren Jackson Jr. , the Memphis Grizzlies are going all in with the draft pick movement. They have two first-round picks in the 2026 draft, three in the 2027 draft, two in 2030 and two in 2031. That's 12 first round picks over the next seven drafts from 2026 through 2032. Those picks may not all be high eventually, but it does give the Grizzlies large access to young talent for a front office that has had success drafting outside the top 10. The trade is a shocker, though.