Halfway through the Jazz's home game against the Timberwolves, the casual dressed Alexander Walker walked straight into the Timberwolves' away locker room and began shaking hands with his new teammate.
This slightly funny scene is just a scrap of the NBA's "Crazy Thursday", not many people care about Alexander Walker's career, everyone focuses only on Wilson and Durant.
Before the trade deadline, the Lakers and the Timberwolves and Jazz reached a near-whistle-blowing three-way deal, the specific details of which were:
Lakers: Russell from the Timberwolves, Malik Beasley, Vanderbilt from the Jazz.
Jazz: Received from the Lakers Wilson, Toscano Anderson, Damian Jones and a protected first-round pick from the Lakers (1-4 pick in 2027, if protected or 2027 second-rounder).
Timberwolves: Received second-round picks from the Jazz from Mike Conley, Alexander Walker, the 2025 and 2026 Jazz, and the lower picks of the 2024 Wizards and Grizzlies.
As soon as the news came out, Wei Shao's name directly rushed to the second place on the national Twitter hot search list. In addition, there are Lakers, Malik Beasley and so on.
Then, Durant, who has not spoken out recently, chose the most trafficked way to play, and Shams broke his transfer information.
The specific trade plan: the Suns pay Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Crowder, four first-round picks and a 2028 draft pick swap to get Durant and TJ Warren from the Nets. The four first-round picks are in 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029, all of which are unprotected.
Durant and Wilson were traded on the same day, which may be the overlapping fate of the two.
The boss returns to his place and the sun rises in the west
"Oh my God! Die laughing. After Shams broke the news, Bridges, who is the person involved, wrote on social media.
The deal was so abrupt that Bridges could eat his own melons when surfing the web. Then came the moment of confusion of NBA players, Paul Pierce even more exclaimed: "Oh my God, Durant is gone, the league has a big earthquake!" Haliburton tweeted: "It's 1 a.m., what's going on? Bucks player Portis wrote, "The NBA is the best TV show to watch. ”
Before the trade, the Nets' tone was always "we won't trade Durant", and as for why Boss Cai chose to directly tear down the rebuild, details can only be known in the subsequent news.
At least from Haynes' report, this is the result of a joint push between Durant and the Nets, and both sides are committed to this and end the cooperation in an amicable manner.
Durant's logic is clear, a superstar has no chance, so he is unwilling to stay with the Nets, and the core factor of last offseason's trade is this, and this time Boss Cai also wants to open no longer retained, so that he officially entered the rebuild.
Bridges, Cameron Johnson become the Nets' immediate power, and Crowder is likely to be traded before the deadline. But more important is the draft pick, and in the two deals between Irving and Durant, the Nets have recouped their costs as much as possible.
Over the next seven years, the Nets will have as many as 11 first-round picks: 2 in 2023 (owned, Suns), 2 in 2025 (owned, Suns), 3 in 2027 (owned, Suns, 76ers), 2028 (owned), and 3 in 2029 (owned, Suns, Lone Ranger)
Of course, here's a piece of good news for Rockets fans. After the Nets entered the rebuild, the Rockets held the Nets 2 first-round picks and 3 first-round picks to swap the right.
When Durant joined the Suns, the core lineup of the Suns was Durant + Paul + Booker + Ayton, although an entire forward group was removed, but the Suns got Durant.
NBACentral wrote directly: "The Suns' lineup is also too unfair. Clippers reporter Farbod Esnaashari shouted, "The Brooklyn Nets ruined the entire Western Conference!" ”
These expressions are the legendary "can't eat grapes and say grape sour".
In addition to the fate of Durant and the Suns who almost joined last year, Durant once wanted the Thunder to select Devin Booker in the draft in 2015.
Durant called Booker before the draft, hoping that he would come to the Thunder, but unfortunately the Thunder only had the 14th pick at the time, but the Suns took Booker with the 13th pick, and finally the Thunder chose Payne, who is now playing backup with the Suns.
For the lineup of the Suns, there is not much need for analysis other than "the sun rises from the west", but the timing of this deal is worth savoring.
Two days ago, the NBA board voted to approve Matt Ishbia's proposal to become the Suns' owner, who is officially the Suns' new owner. In this vote, 29 teams agreed, and the Cavaliers abstained.
Until then, the sun had been standing still because of the luxury tax expense. So after the new boss took office, he became very aggressive.
In an interview with the media, Matt Ishbia said: "I hope we can be the best, first-class team, in the NBA and WNBA, in the elite level, we will focus on winning, community culture building and fan service." ”
Interestingly, Travis Garlick, the owner of the news website Stocksnewswire.com a few days ago, tweeted: "The Phoenix Suns will be the dark horse of this trading deadline." New owner Matt Ishbia will do everything to ensure the Suns have a better season than the Cavaliers. ”
The reason why it is better than the Cavaliers is because the new owner of the Suns and the Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert are mortal rivals in the business field, and there is also a long grudge between the two. So the Suns directly stud Durant, reopening the championship window.
The Lakers unpacked, and Wei Shao was free
Before Wei Shao left the Lakers, the general expectation of sending Wei Shao away was two first-round picks in '27 and '29. But in reality, this is a price much higher than the market situation.
According to salary expert Bobby Marks, Wilson has taken 30 million of the more than 47 million this season from the Lakers, leaving only 16.2 million in salary. With only the last half of their contract left, the Lakers' initial idea may have been to wait for the end of the season to unwind and wait for the offseason to think of other ways to make up for it.
It's just that when James is still averaging 30.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists this season, and shouting on his career night that "even at this age, you can help any team win multiple championships", standing still is the Lakers' most helpless choice.
So at the right price, the Lakers chose to make a decisive move, using a 27-year first-round pick plus two rotational fringe players Toscano, Anderson and Jones, to send Wei Shao away.
Acquiring Russell from the Timberwolves and Malik Beasley and Vanderbilt from the Jazz, the deal far exceeded fans' expectations. The easiest to see is the improvement in shooting ability, with Russell and Beasley averaging 5.8 three-pointers per game so far this season, while the Lakers' five guards Wilson, Schroder, Beverley, Reeves and Christie combined for 5.6 three-pointers.
In this deal, many people will pay attention to Russell's return to the Lakers, after all, as a former minister of the Lakers, he got a script called "Back to the Place Where the Dream Started".
At first glance, Russell's numbers are not bad, currently averaging 17.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists, 2.7 turnovers, shooting 46.5% from the field and 39.1% from three-point range, and this season is the most efficient season of his career, with a true shooting percentage of more than 60% for the first time.
But ESPN doesn't rate him highly: when he's on the field, they outscore their opponents by 1.3 points per 100 rounds, and when he's not on the floor, they outscore their opponents by 4.1 points per 100 rounds. Whether he is on the field or not, the team's offense does not change, and when he is present, the team's defense only gets worse.
Where the Lakers really improve is Vanderbilt and Beasley, the former can help the Lakers improve their defense, and Beasley can provide outside firepower.
Beyond that, the potential value of the deal is more flexible salary space. Russell is also an expired contract, and if the Lakers do not renew Russell and Beasley, the Lakers will also have 30 million salary space in the offseason.
Of course, this deal is also the biggest relief for Wei Shao.
According to Lakers reporter Jovan Buha, multiple sources revealed that the relationship between Wilson and the Lakers has become unsustainable over the past week or so, and both sides are ready to come out of a meaningless partnership from the beginning.
This passage will be believed by fans of the Lakers at any time, after all, the Lakers and Wilson were wrong attempts from the beginning.
Yesterday's game seemed to bear this out: during half-time, Wilson and Hamm had a simple but heated verbal exchange in the locker room due to Hamm's disappointment that Wilson was still wandering on the court when he was substituted late in the second quarter.
From the very beginning of his enthusiasm to the recent shouting that everyone shouted to win, but he shouted "have fun", Wei Shao's self-esteem has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. He tried to change, from starting compromise to substitution, but there were some things that could only be done with his best.
Each of them rejoices, which may be the best ending for the Lakers and Wilson.
At present, the Jazz may buy out Wilson, and then the Clippers and Bulls have expressed interest in him, which should be the scenario that Westbrook fans want to see. As US media Heavy said in an anonymous interview with league executives: "Wei Shao is still powerful, he just doesn't fit the Lakers." ”
Back to the Lakers themselves, when Pelinka played all the cards he could play, the Lakers chose to stand next to James again, and now it was James' turn to fulfill last night's promise: "Even at this age, I can help any team win multiple championships." ”
Wolves walked away, and Jazz did not look back
Compared to Western, Durant, many people don't care about the motives of the Timberwolves and Jazz.
As the number one benevolent person in the west, the Timberwolves have carried out unpaid poverty alleviation work in recent years.
In the 2020 midseason trade, the Timberwolves traded for Russell, sending the Warriors Wiggins and a first-round pick, which eventually became Kuminga;
In the 2022 offseason, the Timberwolves traded for DPOY Gobert, sending 5 players (Beasley, Beverley, rookie Kessler, Vanderbilt, Bormaro) + 4 first-rounders, and Kessler even has a chance to be named NBA Rookie of the Year.
Then there's today's three-way deal, which gets second-round picks from Mike Conley, Alexander Walker, the 2025 and 2026 Jazz, and the lower picks of the Wizards and Grizzlies in 2024.
Russell's situation in the Timberwolves is somewhat similar to the situation of Wilson in the Lakers, according to Heavy reporter Sean Deveney, some people in the Timberwolves want to keep Russell, but many want to send him away immediately.
One of the sources said: "When the team and the players are not in a good situation, people always tend to use some changes to reverse the situation. Perhaps at this time, changing the environment and replenishing some fresh blood is the best way. NBA deals basically happen on the premise that the team is bored with the players, or the players are tired of staying on the team. ”
Changing the way to live is what the Timberwolves urgently need at present. Gobert's deal has left the Timberwolves with nowhere to go, so they can only bite the bullet and move forward, so there will be news that "the Timberwolves want Conley to a large extent to activate Gobert".
Gobert is also very helpful about this: "I'm excited, I like Conley very much, I like the way he plays, he can make his teammates better, he's professional and selfless, he's a good guy off the pitch and I'm happy to be with him. ”
Timberwolves management probably thinks this: When everyone thinks I'm a silly Boie, and I think I'm a silly Boie myself, then I may really be a silly Boie.
Speaking of the Jazz, I have to mention a quote from Warriors general manager Myers two days ago: "There are a lot of teams that have not given up this season, resulting in not many potential trade partners." ”
The Jazz are one of the few sellers on the market right now, and their main goal is clear — draft picks.
Prior to the deal, the Jazz had discussed a trade with the Knicks for Beasley and Vanderbilt for Fournier and Topping, as well as draft pick compensation.
But in the end, the Jazz chose the Lakers' draft pick. That leaves the Jazz with 15 unprotected/lightly protected first-round picks over the next 7 years. In addition, the Jazz will have salary space of up to $60 million this summer.
Many people feel that as long as a first-round round doesn't look like Angie's style, it's not everyone who makes a lot of money in every trade. Perhaps at some point in the future, people will find out who the biggest winners of this deal are.
What's more, the Thunder saved three or four years to have the draft pick, and the Jazz caught up in just one year, turning the cultivation team into an accelerated team, and Anji was alone.