The NBA’s biggest head-scratchers from 2026 trade deadline

The NBA trade deadline delivered chaos, star power and more than a few “wait… what?” moments.

Major deals involving James Harden, Anthony Davis and Jaren Jackson Jr. grabbed headlines, but not every move inspired confidence. In fact, some left fans, executives and others scratching their heads.

Here are the five most head-scratching moves from the 2026 NBA trade deadline:

Lakers' continued employment of Rob Pelinka

Pelinka wasted another year of Luka Doncic's prime and LeBron James' career. The Lakers aren't far from contention — one athletic wing could make a massive difference. Instead, Pelinka settled for a deal with Atlanta for sharpshooter Luke Kennard, a nice offensive piece who gets played off the court in the postseason because of his poor defense.

Doncic, James and Austin Reaves form a core that could win a title. You should never punt on a season with those three and should always be all-in. The Lakers had assets, namely Rui Hachimura, whose contract expires after the season, and a future first-round pick. Why not trade them for a player like Minnesota's Ayo Dosunmu or New Orleans' Herb Jones?

This "wait until summer" nonsense worked with Lakers governor Jeanie Buss, but new owner and chairman Mark Walter should see through it and fire Pelinka.

Two-faced approach by Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo

At season's end last year, Giannis had one of the highest approval ratings in sports. Now he's the most annoying superstar in basketball. Instead of demanding a trade from Milwaukee, he has spent the season talking out of both sides of his mouth.

His camp has voiced displeasure to ESPN's Shams Charania about the Bucks' roster. But when Giannis gets a microphone, he's afraid to request a trade outright and instead talks in circles about his legacy.

Just demand the trade!  By not demanding a trade, he's wasting another year of his prime on the couch come playoff time.

Inability of Bulls to acquire a first-round pick

The Bulls are allergic to first-round picks. 

Here's the insane part: In recent years, the Bulls have traded Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso, Coby White, Nikola Vucevic and Ayo Dosunmu — all good players and all former first-round picks except Caruso — without receiving a single first-round pick in return.

Sell the team! Fire everyone!

Continued incompetence of Kings

If you had a dollar for every time someone uttered "what are the Kings doing?" during Sacramento majority owner and chairman Vivek Ranadive's tenure, you'd be wealthy enough to buy the team. Not that long ago, this franchise had two elite point guards — Tyrese Haliburton and De'Aaron Fox. Today, they have a washed-up Russell Westbrook, the league's worst record (12-40 through Thursday) and zero interesting young players.

This week, the Kings failed to trade Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk, although at least one of those guys could've fetched something of value in return. 

The Kings made one trade, dealing Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder to Cleveland for De'Andre Hunter. Ellis had more value than Hunter, whose expensive contract makes the Kings a taxpayer team. Why not get draft capital for Ellis?

NBA commissioner Adam Silver may need to step in soon — we can't have one of the 2026 draft class superstar prospects go to this organization.

Pelicans' decision that everyone is untouchable

Last summer, the Pelicans traded an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to Atlanta to move from No. 22 to No. 13 in the 2025 NBA Draft, landing Derik Queen. But failing to add any protections to that pick when they likely wouldn't make the playoffs this season was poor asset management.

At this deadline, the Pelicans did a 180 and decided everyone was untouchable. Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, Zion Williamson, Yves Missi and Saddiq Bey are good players, but the Pelicans have the second-worst record (13-40) and aren't close to the playoffs.

Once again, this is horrendous asset management. In a wing-hungry league, any of these players could fetch serious draft capital and help offset the top-five pick heading to Atlanta. Murphy would've yielded multiple first-rounders; Jones, Missi — and possibly Williamson — would've landed at least one first-rounder and/or young prospect; and every playoff team would take Bey as a bench contributor for something of value.

What are the Pelicans thinking?