NBA trade deadline's secret winners: Six players benefiting from moves their teams made

Trade deadline deals aren't only important for the players who were dealt

Naturally, we tend to think of trades in terms of the players who were traded. But there's another side to these transactions, where a player is suddenly provided with added minutes and opportunity after his teammate is sent elsewhere. We saw big names like Victor Oladipo, Nikola Vucevic and Lou Williams dealt before Thursday's NBA trade deadline, so it's worthwhile to look at the players who now benefit from some of these moves. As we see in the NBA all the time, players who have been buried on the bench or labeled as role players can often change their perception given the chance, and addition by subtraction sometimes leads to improved performance. With that in mind, here are six players who should benefit from having their teammates traded at the deadline. Wood was in the middle of an All-Star caliber season when he was forced to miss over a month with an ankle injury. When he returned, the Rockets had lost 17 games in a row, challenging for the league's worst record. The team has continued to lose after his return, and Wood's frustration came through when he complained about his lack of late-game touches in a close loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.