Feb 3, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) reacts against the Dallas Mavericks during the first quarter at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
A bad trade can haunt a franchise for years. Sometimes you know it’s ugly right away; other times it takes a few seasons before the picks and contracts fully expose how bad the call actually was.
Since 2020, we’ve seen plenty of these. The Lakers blew up a championship roster to get Russell Westbrook, the Suns went all-in twice for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal without sniffing a Finals, the Nets burned years of draft control on a James Harden experiment that barely lasted a season, and the Mavs somehow decided trading Luka Doncic in his prime was a good idea.
The Clippers landing Paul George back in 2019 might be the worst trade ever, honestly, but since that happened outside our window, we’ve got to leave it out. And now that they’ve lost five first-rounders in the Kawhi mess on top of it, that trade looks even worse in hindsight.
The Celtics deserve a spot in this conversation, immediately. They just sent Jaylen Brown, a 29-year-old All-NBA wing coming off the best year of his career, to Philly for 36-year-old Paul George and some picks. We need more time before fully grading that one, but I already think Boston took a massive L here regardless of the cap flexibility it buys them.
Here are the five worst trades since 2020, in my opinion.
5. Suns Trade For Kevin Durant
Phoenix Suns Receive: Kevin Durant, T.J. Warren
Brooklyn Nets Receive: Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, four first-round picks, 2028 first-round pick (swap), additional draft compensation
The Suns didn’t make this move in 2023 to become only good, because they were already a contender. Coming off 64 wins, Devin Booker entering his prime, and a Finals trip already on the books. Durant was supposed to be the piece that turned a contender into a champion.
They paid an insane price to get there. Mikal Bridges was only 26 and already an elite wing defender under contract for years. Cam Johnson was a starter in his prime. Basically every remaining future asset went out the door for a 34-year-old Durant.
To be fair, Durant did his job. He averaged 26.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists across 145 games in Phoenix, still one of the most efficient scorers alive. This wasn’t a fit problem like Westbrook. It was that the Suns gutted their own depth to get him.
The whole Durant era produced exactly one playoff series win. Beat the Clippers in round one in 2023, lost to Denver in round two, then got swept by Minnesota in 2024. The year after that was worse: 36-46, no playoffs at all.
By summer 2025, Durant was gone to Houston for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Khaman Maluach, and more picks in a massive seven-team deal. Not a bad return for a 36-year-old, sure, but it’s still a huge net loss given everything Phoenix gave up to get him in the first place. Taking a stacked roster and going all-in for a short window, then not even reaching a Conference Finals, is exactly why this makes the list.
4. Nets Trade Everything For James Harden
Brooklyn Nets Receive: James Harden, 2024 second-round pick
Houston Rockets Receive: Caris LeVert, Rodions Kurucs, three first-round picks, 2022 first-round pick via Bucks, four first-round pick swaps
Cleveland Cavaliers Receive: Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince
This one’s actually the easiest to defend on paper because the basketball logic made total sense. The Nets already had Durant and Kyrie Irving back in 2021, Harden was still elite, and putting all three together looked like a real championship shortcut.
Brooklyn shipped out three of its own firsts plus four years of swap rights. Jarrett Allen went to Cleveland in the process, and Houston later flipped LeVert into Victor Oladipo. Basically every meaningful future asset the Nets had went into this one title window.
For a stretch it actually looked worth it. Harden was still elite, averaging 22.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 10.2 assists in his 44 games there in 2021-22, although it literally just lasted a season before he asked for a deadline move the following year.
The three stars could never stay healthy together when it counted. Harden tore his hamstring in the 2021 playoffs, Kyrie hurt his ankle against Milwaukee, and Brooklyn lost a seven-game second-round series that ended up being the best shot that group ever got.
By February 2022, Harden wanted out. Brooklyn flipped him to Philly for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and picks, just 13 months after paying Houston that enormous package. Durant and Kyrie were both gone within a year, and one of the most talented “superteams” ever assembled never even made a Conference Finals.
If everyone stays healthy in 2021 and Brooklyn wins it all, nobody remembers the draft capital. They didn’t win it all as the Knicks did after trading 5 future picks for Bridges. They gave up years of their own draft control, lost a good young center in Allen, and got roughly 80 total games from Harden. The gamble made sense. The return absolutely didn’t match the price.
3. Suns Trade For Bradley Beal
Phoenix Suns Receive: Bradley Beal, Jordan Goodwin, Isaiah Todd
Washington Wizards Receive: Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, Bilal Coulibaly, four first-round pick swaps, six second-round picks
This one’s a disaster because Phoenix ignored basically every real problem with its roster and decided the fix was simply adding another ball-dominant scorer. They already had Booker and Durant when Beal arrived in 2023. Instead of using what they had left to add defense, size, and depth, they took on another expensive guard who needed the ball and carried a no-trade clause.
The future firsts at least had a swap option, which is the only reason this ranks below Westbrook and Doncic for me, but the cost was still massive. Four first-round swaps and six seconds is a lot to give up. Beal’s first season wasn’t even bad individually: 18.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists on over 50.0% shooting and 43.0% from three. Phoenix won 49 games too.
Then the playoffs exposed everything. Minnesota swept them 4-0, and the following season got worse, Beal was down to 17.0 points across just 38 starts in 53 games, and the Suns finished 36-46 without even reaching the Play-In.
That’s when the no-trade clause turned into a real problem. Phoenix had a $50.2 million player they no longer wanted and basically no way to move him anywhere. Their eventual solution was just buying him out.
Beal left in 2025 with two full years still remaining on his contract and signed with the Clippers right after. So Phoenix spent a mountain of future assets for two seasons of Beal, won zero playoff series with him, missed the postseason entirely in Year 2, and then paid him to leave. The whole idea prioritized star names over actual roster fit, and Phoenix paid for that mistake for years.
2. Lakers Trade For Russell Westbrook
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Russell Westbrook, three future second-round picks
Washington Wizards Receive: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, additional assets through five-team trade
The craziest part about this one is the Lakers didn’t even need to make a desperate move. They’d just won it all in 2020. Even after a first-round exit in 2021, the formula around LeBron James and Anthony Davis was obvious: more shooting, more defense, more guys who could play off the ball.
Instead, they traded away two of those exact players, Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma, for a point guard who couldn’t shoot at all. Westbrook was still putting up monster numbers at the time: 22.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 11.7 assists in Washington the year before. Easy to see why another big name was tempting on paper.
But the fit was broken from day one. LeBron needed the ball, and Westbrook needed the ball too. Davis did his best work close to the rim, so whenever Westbrook didn’t have it, defenders could just leave him wide open and crowd the paint, making everyone else’s job harder.
His first Lakers season ended at 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists, but on just 44.4% shooting, 29.8% from three, with 3.8 turnovers a night. The team went 33-49 and didn’t even sniff the Play-In, which should be impossible for a roster with LeBron and AD on it, injuries or not.
The Lakers tried him off the bench the next season, and he actually looked more comfortable there, but the overall fit still wasn’t working. They finally traded him at the 2023 deadline and rebuilt around more shooting and defense. The difference was immediate; that same season they reached the Western Conference Finals once they surrounded LeBron and Davis with players who actually made sense next to them.
That’s what makes the original trade look so bad in hindsight. They’d already found the right formula, blew it up themselves, spent nearly two years cleaning up the mess, then basically rebuilt back to the type of roster they should’ve kept in the first place.
1. Mavericks Trade Luka Doncic To The Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris
Dallas Mavericks Receive: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, 2029 first-round pick
Utah Jazz Receive: Jalen Hood-Schifino, two 2025 second-round picks
Some trades are teams taking a swing and missing. This wasn’t that. The Mavericks traded Luka Doncic at 25 years old, less than a year after he led them to the Finals, and somehow came away with just one first-round pick in return.
That alone puts this at No. 1. Anthony Davis was still elite when this happened, but he was already 31. Max Christie was a nice young wing. A 2029 first-round pick rounded it out. That’s the entire headline return for arguably the best player in the world entering his absolute prime.
It looked insane the moment it happened, and the first full season made it worse. Luka led the league, averaging 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 8.3 assists for the Lakers in 2025-26. LA went 53-29 and finished fourth in the West, proving instantly how easy building around him for the next decade is going to be.
Dallas went 26-56 and finished 12th, and even worse, Davis wasn’t even there for them for a long time. By February 2026, Dallas had already flipped him again, sending him to Washington for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Tyus Jones, Marvin Bagley III, two more firsts, and three seconds.
That second deal recovered some value, sure, but it doesn’t change what happened in the original one. Dallas had Doncic under team control, he wanted to keep building there, he’d already carried the franchise to the Finals, and he had five All-NBA First Team nods before turning 26. Even with real concerns about conditioning or defense, moving a player at that level should’ve demanded one of the biggest packages in league history. Instead, they got one aging star, one young rotation piece, and a single first-round pick.
Dallas got lucky landing Cooper Flagg shortly after, giving the franchise another potential superstar to build around. But winning the draft lottery doesn’t retroactively make the Doncic trade less of a disaster.
The Lakers now have a 27-year-old superstar who just averaged 33.5 and will be the face of the league for a long time. Dallas already traded away the one real piece they got back for him. This isn’t just the worst trade since 2020 to me. Unless that 2029 pick turns into something absurd, it’s got a real shot at going down as one of the worst trades the league has ever seen, period.
The Celtics Are Absolutely Going To Make This List
I was probably being too generous to Boston earlier in my head. I think we all knew the moment the Shams tweet hit that this one already was an all-time miss.
Boston just traded a 29-year-old star coming off the best season of his career for a 36-year-old who hasn’t played 50 games in either of his last two seasons. That’s the whole premise, and I can’t get past it.
Brown just averaged career highs across the board: 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists. Made the All-NBA Second Team, finished sixth in MVP voting, started the All-Star Game, and carried Boston to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed while Tatum missed most of the year. He also scored 2,038 points, third-most in the league.
This wasn’t Boston selling low on a declining star. Brown was 29 and playing the best basketball of his entire career. George, meanwhile, averaged 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists last season. Still a useful shooter at 39.2% from three, he can still defend when healthy, but he barely played 37 games. The year before that, just 41. He’s 36 now.
Even the money doesn’t rescue this trade for me. George makes $54.1 million this year with a $56.6 million option for 2027-28, when he’ll be 38 before the playoffs end. Brown’s slightly pricier at $57.1 million, but I’d happily pay the extra $3.0 million for a healthy 30-year-old over betting on a 36- or 37-year-old staying on the floor.
Yes, Boston picked up two firsts and two seconds, and they’ll get off the George contract in two years, while Brown will command a $300 million extension that could pay him $70 million at 34. And yes, the 2031 pick could genuinely become valuable someday, and honestly that’s the only reason this isn’t already sitting in the top five before a single game’s been played. But the basketball logic still escapes me completely.
If Boston wanted to reset around Tatum, why trade Brown for another expensive piece seven years older? If they wanted to keep competing right now, why swap a 28.7-point player for a 17.3-point guy who missed almost half the season? If they wanted future assets, where’s the young blue-chip talent that should come attached to trading a 29-year-old All-NBA wing?
This move sits awkwardly in the middle of three completely different plans at once. It doesn’t make Boston younger. It doesn’t clearly make them better today. It doesn’t fully commit to rebuilding either.
Maybe that 2031 pick lands top-five and flips the whole narrative. Maybe George stays healthy, thrives next to Tatum, and this becomes another title run. Both things are possible, which is exactly why we have to actually watch it play out.
But based on everything we know right now, I think Boston’s going to regret this one badly. Brown’s entering what should still be several prime years, while George is already at the age where every season becomes a fight against decline and injury. The Celtics spent a decade developing Brown, won a title with him in 2024, watched him win Finals MVP, then watched him post his best individual season two years after that, and just chose to trade him away.
This one’s making the list. The only real question left is how high it climbs.