Thoughts on the NBA Trade Deadline

The NBA trade deadline ended about an hour ago. I’m not here to break down each trade. I don’t want to go through each one and talk about the good and the bad of the trade. Teams make deals, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t. This is life in the NBA. But this trade deadline has been, quite possibly, the craziest deadline of all time.

What makes it even wilder to me, none of the humongous names went today. They all went early. It all started when the bombshell Luka for AD trade happened. I wrote about that particular trade twice. I’m still shocked by it, and neither player has yet to play for their new team, but it certainly is real. They’ve had press conferences and everything. They’ve scrubbed their personal social media and made their own remarks. There’s no going back now. Outside that trade, De’Aaron Fox was also moved. I also talked about that one. That was a perfect deal for him and San Antonio. Jimmy Butler was traded to Golden State. I didn’t think he’d go there, and I’m not too high on that deal, but he got out of Miami, which is what he wanted. And outside having to move Andrew Wiggins, the Warriors didn’t have to give up much more. Khris Middleton and Kyle Kuzma swapped teams. My team, the Memphis Grizzlies, made a move. And a whole bunch of other stuff happened too.

What really sets this trade deadline apart is the star power, as I said before. The names I mentioned are perennial all stars and some are consistently in the conversation for MVP. A handful of former high lottery picks were moved. Players drafted in the late first round, who have carved out a niche for themselves in the NBA, are in new places as well. This NBA trade deadline is going to be hard to match. No other league has this type of player movement in the middle of a season. Destinies are going to be changed due to this deadline this season. Some teams have found a player that will be their cornerstone for years to come. Other contending teams seemed to have found the missing piece for a deep playoff run. This deadline was nuts. This type of movement is why I’m hesitant to buy my son jerseys of certain players. And a deadline like this proves that no one in this era of the NBA is safe. No matter how bright your star shines or how important some of these guys think they might be to their former team, if the brass wants to move on, they will. That’s a scary thought moving forward, but here we are.

Pro sports is entertainment and that was proven tenfold this past week. Now, I want to see how these players perform on their new squads. The second half of the NBA season will be very interesting. And I can’t wait.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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