3 teams who blew it by standing pat at the NBA Trade Deadline

The best players moved at last year's NBA trade deadline were guys like Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington and Buddy Hield. Those deals would have gotten virtually no press this time around, thanks to the absurd number of blockbusters we witnessed.

Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, Brandon Ingram, Jimmy Butler and De'Aaron Fox are only some of the big names to have been dealt in the days leading up to the deadline. It was pure and utter madness.

While most teams, contending or rebuilding, made moves, these three teams in particular stood pat and did nothing. There's a good chance they will come to regret that decision in a matter of months, if not sooner.

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3) The Magic needed to add some offensive firepower to their roster

There was reason to believe that the Orlando Magic had a big move in them in large part because their needs are obvious. Their defense is nothing short of elite. In fact, the 105.6 points they allow per game are the second-fewest in the sport, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder. Their offense, however, leaves a lot to be desired.

The Magic rank dead last, averaging 103.8 points per game. That's right - even the teams trying to position themselves to win the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes are scoring more points per game than the Magic, who also rank dead last in three-pointers made per game (11.0) and three-point percentage (30.3 percent).

Their two best players missing substantial time due to identical injuries hasn't helped their cause, but even with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner healthy, there just isn't enough offensive firepower for this team to be a true contender. Adding another scoring option, though, could have made things really interesting in the Eastern Conference.

I can understand not going all-in on a major move when the team is currently 25-28, holding the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, but not making a single trade, even a smaller one, is simply bad business. The Magic threw away any remote possibility they had of making some noise in the Eastern Conference playoffs by doing nothing at the deadline.

2) The Suns made a bad situation worse thanks to their trade deadline inactivity

When the Phoenix Suns traded their 2031 first-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for three lower-valued first-round picks, their objective was abundantly clear — they wanted to acquire Jimmy Butler or some other high-end player to give themselves a spark. That major trade never occurred.

Instead, all the Suns did was part with one of the first-round picks they acquired just to offload Jusuf Nurkic's contract. The Suns saved some money, but didn't get any better. Now, at 26-25 and sitting in the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference, the Suns have a mess on their hands.

Not only are they clearly not in a position to even come close to sniffing an NBA championship this season, but they might have alienated their best player in the process. The team did not improve around Kevin Durant, and the Suns made it abundantly clear that they'd, at the very least, listen to offers for the future Hall of Famer. Accepting calls for a player of Durant's stature when he never asked out without consulting him is a brutal look, and can lead to consequences for Phoenix as soon as this offseason if Durant decides he's done with the organization.

Holding onto Durant is fine, especially if the offers were underwhelming, but if the Suns wanted to keep him happy after unexpectedly shopping him, they would've been better off actually making a move to improve their roster around him.

To sum up, they traded the one valuable pick that they had in exchange for three less-valuable ones, traded one of those picks to offload a bad contract, didn't make a move to make their team better, and likely alienated Durant in the process. Not great!

1) The Thunder failed to assert themselves as clear-cut NBA title favorites

Is it harsh to have the Oklahoma City Thunder on this list? Perhaps, but it shouldn't be perceived as such. The Thunder were the favorites to win the Western Conference prior to the deadline and probably still are even after doing nothing. They had a golden opportunity to assert themselves as clear title favorites, though, and instead, stood pat.

The Thunder are in a unique position where they have a team capable of winning it all, and the assets to form one of the most dominant teams we've seen in quite some time. Unfortunately, for reasons only Sam Presti can reveal, the Thunder are shying away from trading any of their absurd number of first-round picks for anything.

Oklahoma City is an elite team just about anywhere you turn except for their perimeter shooting. The Thunder rank 13th in the league, averaging 13.7 three-point makes per game, and tied for 17th in three-point percentage (35.4 percent). They aren't bad from behind the arc, but that's an area that they could have, and should have, addressed.

There might not have been many elite shooters on the market, but the Thunder have the draft capital to overwhelm teams. The Brooklyn Nets, for example, had Cam Johnson, one of the league's best three-point shooters on their rebuilding roster. You're telling me the Thunder couldn't have offered them two or even three first-round picks to acquire him?

The Thunder might win it all, and if they do, Presti deserves all of the credit in the world. If they fall short, though, it will likely be due to his puzzling lack of aggression. If there was ever a time for the Thunder to go all-in, it was this deadline when great players were moving by the hour. Instead, the Thunder were complacent, and that could cost them.