Some Quick Updates on the NBA
February 27, 2019
The NBA trade deadline has come up and there have been some changes. Also, the All-Star game is almost upon us as well. One of the major headlines of recent sports news is that Anthony Davis requested a trade to leave New Orleans. He has said that he wants to go to the lakers to be a contender. Recently though they Lakers have been sending offers left and right trying to get the Pelicans to give Anthony Davis up but they never responded, and when they did they just wanted a lot from the Lakers. If the trade doesn’t happen Davis has said the teams he would stay long term with when it is free agency this summer. The teams on his list are the Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, and Knicks. Some other trades are the Clippers traded Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic, and Mike Scott to the 76ers for Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, and four draft picks. This trade is huge for the 76ers. They now have four all-star caliber players with Tobias Harris being added with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Jimmy Butler. They will look to keep all four this summer as they try to be a top contender in the East. The Clippers, on the other hand, have seemed to go into tank mode as they traded away their best player. They did get some assets though like Landry Shamet who is a decent rookie so far and four draft picks for their future. They also got Wilson Chandler who is a decent player that they might use, also in the trade is Mike Muscala but the Clippers traded him to the Lakers for Ivica Zubac. The Clippers also traded Avery Bradley away to the Grizzlies. Another Big Trade was the Grizzlies traded Marc Gasol to the Toronto Raptors for Jonas Valanciunas and two bench player and a pick. The Raptors made this trade so that they could try to make a push in the east while the Grizzlies look to just build up a solid team. A week before the deadline the Knicks traded away Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee, and their best player Kristaps Porzingis for Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, Deandre Jordan, and two first round picks. Porzingis will look to return from injury to play up and coming Luka Doncic. The Knicks just keep looking to build for the future. Those were not all the trades that happen before the deadline but they were some of the important ones.
In other NBA news, All-star weekend was last weekend. The wrap up from that is Jayson Tatum won the skills competition off of a half court shot. Joe Harris won the three point contest and Hamidou Diallo jumped over Shaq to win the Dunk contest. Team Lebron beat Team Giannis 178-164 and Kevin Durant won All star MVP with a stat line of 31 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. All star weekend went by fast this year but it was good time for NBA players to have their mid year break. NBA teams now are either looking for their playoff push or their tanking season to get good draft picks.