How each NBA team assembled their current rosters Visualized
A few months ago I found out that the Timberwolves were able to acquire the draft rights to Jaden McDaniels in part because of the 2007 Trade of Kevin Garnett to the Celtics. It made me wonder, could you visualize how an NBA team assembled their entire roster just by charting out Draft picks, Trades, and Free Agency Signings? This question started a months long journey of compiling the information and then making family tree style visualizations for each team. About a week ago I posted a number of these in the various team subreddits and received a lot of very helpful feedback and a number of people urging me to post all of the trees in the main nba sub. Below is the result of this hobby project that has taken up a majority of my free time in the back half of this season.
Timberwolves
I wanted to do my team first. The wolves are still deriving draft value from their 2nd ever pick: Doug West in the 2nd Round of the 1989 Draft. His Trade tree currently feeds into Ayo Dosunmu, Julian Phillips, and Rocco Zikarsky.
Knicks
The champions. This was my favorite trade tree outside of the Timberwolves because it contains the only trade involving a Head Coach. In 1995 the Knicks traded Pat Riley to the Heat for a 1996 Atlanta 1st. That pick started a tree that eventually resulted in the Knicks getting Mitchell Robinson.
Spurs
The Spurs, have 7 players who have never played anywhere but their team which is one of the highest in the league.
Thunder
I know Presti has a good reputation but if anything after doing this tree I think he is underrated. The trades he makes are so rarely a net negative. This trade tree has the oldest draft pick still providing a team value. In 1977, the Supersonics drafted Jack Sikma, who’s trade tree started in 1986 when he was traded to the Bucks. That trade started a tree that eventually resulted in the Thunder getting Jared McCain earlier this year.
Pistons
The earliest draft pick still providing the Pistons value is their 2019 1st (Sekou Doumbouya) who they traded to the Nets in 2021, which is one of the most shallow trees in the league. Really shows how well they’ve bounced back in the past few years to assemble the team they have.
Celtics
The celtics tree is crazy for the amount of trades. It’s pretty well known that they received the pick for Jaylen Brown in the trade that sent KG and Paul Pierce to the Nets. But less known is that every player on their roster not signed in free agency or drafted with their own picks is on the Celtics partially as a result of that trade. Insane value.
Nuggets
The Carmelo Anthony trade involved way more players than I originally thought.
Lakers
Very cool that 3 trades done by Jerry West are still proving the Lakers value to this day.
Cavaliers
This trade tree contains the oldest trade still providing a team value. On June 17, 1986 the Cavs traded a future 2nd for the draft rights to a guy by the name of Mark Price (pretty good value if you ask me). Also kind of cool that Tyrese Proctor is the only guy who is on his team because of a trade involving Lebron James because his move to the Heat was actually a sign and trade.
Rockets
The KD trade looms large here and the Rockets only have 6 guys on their roster that were acquired by trade.
Hawks
No real notes, just want to say it’s cool that Jeff Teague is here.
Raptors
Raptors have one of the more disconnected trade trees, a lot of little trades and they are one of 2 teams that currently controls NO picks other than their own (the other is the lakers)
76ers
The most simple trade tree in the league. Really remarkable how few trades are providing the team value, but that pick that became De’Aaron Fox nearly ended in disaster because if you look, it turned into the Jason Tatum pick and then Markelle Fultz. 76ers probably very glad they got off that pick and turned it into Tyrese Maxey.
Magic
In my first draft of this tree I forgot to list 3 players in the Dwight Howard trade so it looked like the Magic traded Jason Richardson for 10 players, which is a bit of an overpay if you ask me.
Suns
This tree got sort of bunched up on the right side, so apologies for that. The suns have a lot of trades that really didn’t go their way recently and the fact that the only player on their roster there after the Beal trade being Royce O’Neale is not a fun fact. However, the KD trade is very cool to see with 5 teams involved (there were 7 total but only 5 sent picks or players to the Suns)
Hornets
Hornets trade a lot
Heat
This trade tree is pretty uncomplicated but if the Giannis trade rumors are true, it is definitely about to get more complicated.
Trail Blazers
I did not know that Damian Lillard was a Nets pick originally. Not much else to say about this tree.
Clippers
I wish there was an easier way to show this but that John Wall/Luke Kennard Trade in 2023 provided an insane amount of branches and value to the Clippers.
Warriors
Outside of Mark Jackson, the oldest draft pick providing the Warriors value isn’t one used in a trade tree but instead is Steph Curry. Also I had no idea that the pick that became Draymond Green was not originally a Warriors pick, but was traded to the Warriors by the Nets
Bucks
Another one of the older trade trees, going all the way back to 1992.
Bulls
A little sad that none of the active trade trees go back to the MJ days, but it’s nice that Derrick rose’s Tree is still active
Pelicans
One of the harder trees to organize, the Pelicans love making trades involving a large number of players only to make multiple smaller trades involving players from multiple big packages. They still have 2 picks from the “New Orleans Hornets” days providing value (Anthony Davis and Nerlens Noel)
Mavericks
Man they really got hosed in the Luka trade. I know that’s not a new take but seeing it laid out like this really drives it home.
Grizzlies
They still 6 Vancouver picks providing value!
Kings
Kings made so many trades in 2025.
Jazz
The Rudy Gobert Trade looms large in this tree.
Nets
Wow that Mikal Bridges trade really involved a lot of picks, huh.
Pacers
Definitely not the most a team has gotten from trading Paul George but Haliburton, Siakam, Huff, Zubac, Kobe Brown, Nembahrd, Sheppard, and Furphy is still a pretty good return all things considered.
Wizards
The Chris Paul/Bradley Beal trade involved soooo many assets and won’t complete for another 4 drafts.
FAQ:
This trade doesn’t show every team that was involved
The trades are presented from the perspective of the team being shown. For example, in the Kevin Durant trade to the Rockets, there were 7 teams involved, but not every team sent a pick or a player to every other team. So from the perspective of the Rockets, the only teams that sent them anything are the hawks and suns, so they are the only teams shown.
I don’t see X trade that I know this team made
These trade trees do not cover every transaction by a team, but instead only the draft picks/free agent signings/trades that are still providing the team value. I also elected not to show how the teams acquired each of their future picks because it was complicated enough already and instead I decided to just show which draft picks the team has in the “Future draft picks” Box
Why isn’t there a version of X Team broken down by GM
I wanted to get this out before the rush of trades at the draft (hopefully the Giannis trade didn’t happen while I was writing this) so I had to cut it short, but I will be editing the album and adding teams as I complete them over the next few weeks