The Los Angeles Lakers‘ big midseason move was signing Andre Drummond off of the buyout market. The former all-star fills exactly what the Lakers need, giving the team a boards cleaner and rim protector.
The need was accelerated with the poor play of Marc Gasol, who ironically balled out against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday to prove that he still has something in the tank.
This is a huge NBA move. Any time that a contender adds a former all-star it is going to shift what could happen in the NBA Playoffs, even if Drummond is a bit overrated at this point in his career.
Is the Los Angeles Lakers signing Andre Drummond the most impactful NBA move?
Other contending teams added help as well and we could look at any one of these midseason moves as the move that got whichever team over the hump.
We are only looking at moves made at or near the NBA trade deadline. James Harden being traded to the Brooklyn Nets is obviously the most impactful move of the entire NBA season but that happened months ago.
There are also some big moves that are left off the list. The Chicago Bulls trading for Nikola Vucevic was arguably the biggest trade of the deadline, but it won’t be that impactful this season as it is hard to see the Bulls winning a single playoff series.
Vucevic and Zach LaVine is a solid starting point but the Bulls are still the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference. They have work to do to get to the playoffs, let alone win a series against a team like the Philadelphia 76ers or Brooklyn Nets.