Trading in the NBA is something that happens regularly. Unlike the other major American sports like football and baseball, the NBA is not afraid of trading players. Every year basketball fans anticipate the trade deadline. Deadline day fell on the Feb. 8 this time around. It lived up to the hype with multiple superstars switching teams.
Stars Jimmy Butler, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Dwight Howard and Paul George were all traded before the season began.
Eric Bledsoe was traded early in the season as well, so fans that love trades were already given quite a good amount. But, you can never have enough of a good thing.
This did not stop however with Blake Griffin surprisingly getting shipped to the Detroit Pistons. All these moves before deadline day helped the hype as people were waiting to see what other stars might be on the move. Starting with the Cleveland Cavilers who were extremely busy making three trades.
Dwayne Wade was traded back to Miami to rejoin a Heat franchise he helped make popular. Since the trade, the Heat only won one of their last three Solid role players Rodney Hood and George Hill were also traded to the Cavs in a three-team deal.
Lastly, amazing scorer Isaiah Thomas was traded to the LA Lakers after playing only 15 games with the team.
Cleveland received Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson. Thomas was already traded in the offseason from the Celtics to the Cavs so this move was quite unexpected. After this trade the Cavs have won four of their last five games. LeBron sill led the team in scoring.
Some young and growing players were traded for greener pastures. Budding star guard from Lafayette Elfrid Payton was sent from Orlando to the Phoenix desert. He will try and help turnaround the Suns along with young star Devin Booker. Sharpshooter Nikola Mirotic left Chicago and will now play in New Orleans with arguably the best big man in the league Anthony Davis. He will try to fill in the void left by Demarcus Cousins.
The trade deadline reshaped the NBA tremendously. The Cavaliers went from a majority thinking they may not go back to the finals, to a young and energetic team led by the best player in the world LeBron James.
Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond look to make an excellent pair in Detroit making them dangerous.
Isaiah Thomas hopes to improve his stock and get the Lakers back to the playoffs. All in all, the trade deadline injected some more intrigue into an already exciting NBA season.