Sporting News has written a lot about Thursday's NBA trade deadline. We have separate primers for the Lakers, Warriors, and Raptors. There's also a Trade Deadline Big Board, which ranks the top 20 players most likely to be moved in order of how strong a draft pick they can get back.
So let's see what artificial intelligence is thinking.
Elon Musk promoted GrokTwitter's AI bot has 'significant advantages over others' [AI] Given Musk's confidence in his product, I decided to put Grok to the test and see what he thought about the NBA trade deadline.
Below is Grok's answer to the question, “What trades should we make before the 2024 deadline?” Sometimes Grok gets facts wrong. My corrections are in italics.
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Lakers targets should include Dejounte Murray and Ben Simmons
Grok: One option could be to trade Dejounte Murray and Ben Simmons from the Hawks and Nets, respectively. This gives them a solid point guard in Murray who can score and defend, and a versatile defender in Simmons who can also run the offense.
Another possibility is acquiring DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl from the Bulls. (Poeltl is with the Raptors. ) DeRozan is a proven scorer who can create his own shot, while Poeltl is a solid big man who can protect the rim and get rebounds.
Finally, the Lakers could try to acquire young talent like Miles Bridges or Royce O'Neal. (O'Neal is 30 years old. ) These players provide energy, athleticism, and defensive prowess and could be valuable in the future.
Here, we broke down Dejounte Murray's move to the Lakers and why it probably won't happen.
Warriors should trade for Dejounte Murray or Miles Bridge.
Grok: Here are the trades the Warriors could make.
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Trade for a versatile forward like Dejounte Murray or Miles Bridges to strengthen the defense and add more athleticism.
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Transfer Chris Paul and his expiring contract to a team in need of a veteran point guard in exchange for a solid role player and a future draft pick. (Paul won't even come close to a return like this. )
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Package young talent and future draft picks to acquire a proven star like Pascal Siakam ((Recently traded to the Pacers) Or Ben Simmons, who can make an immediate impact.
Here's why we like Murray's fit with the Warriors. Our other trade targets included Bojan Bogdanovic, DeRozan, Wendell Carter Jr., and Kyle Kuzma.
We've also included the players most likely to be traded and the draft picks available.
More: 3 NBA trade deadline deals that need to happen
The Raptors should target Deandre Ayton and move Gary Trent Jr.
Grok: One potential trade could involve sending Chris Boucher and a future first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Deandre Ayton. (Ayton plays for the Blazers. Also, he makes $20.7 million more than Boucher, which would make the deal illegal. ) The Raptors will receive a dominant big man to pair with a star guard, while the Suns will receive a versatile forward and a pick to help with their rebuild.
Another option would be to trade Gary Trent Jr. and a second-round pick to the Lakers for a package of young players and picks. (This was one of the first interesting ideas Grok had. ) This would give the Raptors much-needed depth and flexibility, while giving the Lakers a proven scorer to help them make the playoffs.
We suggested the Raptors should target Nick Claxton, Wendell Carter Jr., or a higher pick.
He also thought Bruce Brown was the most likely player to move to Toronto. We evaluated the likelihood of Brown being traded to the Knicks and the most likely landing spot for him.
Bulls need to break their core.
Grok: One potential trade could involve sending DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso to the Lakers in exchange for a package of young players and picks. This would give the Bulls much-needed depth and flexibility, while giving the Lakers a proven scorer who could help them make the playoffs.
Another option would be to trade Andre Drummond to a contender in need of a big man, like the Celtics or Suns. This would give the Bulls a draft pick, a young asset, and in addition to acquiring Drummond, they would also be acquiring a capable rebounder and rim protector.
Grok may actually outperform Bulls general manager Arturas Karnisovas here. All of these deals will be good. However, the Bulls seem reluctant to move the pieces.
I wrote about why I would like to see Caruso return to the Lakers.
Overall, Grok's trade suggestions were exactly what you would expect from a model trained on Twitter. It contained as much NBA knowledge as a drunk tweeter at a sports bar. For now, NBA executives appear to be protected from the threat of AI.
