Quick Analysis of the NBA Trade Deadline Moves (Episode #2)

The Cardboard Jungle Podcast discusses the eventful NBA trade deadline. Kyrie Irving's trade demands led to major deals, with the Nets trading him to the Mavericks and Kevin Durant to the Suns. The Suns took a big risk with this move, as Durant has a history of injuries. The West is now wide open for the playoffs, with Phoenix and Denver as favorites. The Grizzlies, Mavericks, Kings, Clippers, Pelicans, Warriors, and Lakers also have a chance. In the East, there were fewer moves, with Milwaukee, Boston, and Philadelphia adding small pieces. The Cavaliers and Bulls chose not to make any trades. Overall, the NBA is filled with talent, making it an exciting product to watch. Welcome, everybody, to Episode 2 of the Cardboard Jungle Podcast. Today, we're going to take a look at what was a Kyrie Irving-fueled NBA trade deadline. Kyrie, third team in a row, forcing his way out, demanding a trade, sets off a couple very big deals. First, the Nets trading Kyrie to the Dallas Mavericks, Spencer Dinwini, Dorian Finney-Smith, first in two seconds. And then, Kevin Durant, a couple days later, to the Phoenix Suns for a massive haul. Mikael Bridges, really talented young player, Cameron Johnson, Jay Crowder, and four number one picks, huge risk-reward move by new Suns owner, Matt Ishbia, he of lots of wealth from the mortgage industry, coming in, making a big splash here, but, you know, kind of makes them the favorites, you would say, but on the flip side of this, you take a look at the risk part of it, Kevin Durant has missed 25 plus games, five years in a row, Chris Paul is 37 years old, he's broken down at the ends of the last couple seasons, Devin Booker has missed some time this year as well, so certainly a big risk, an all-in move by the Phoenix Suns here, and their new owner. So it will be interesting to see how that all plays out, and it should be a very exciting playoffs over on the West, it's really wide open, you'd have to say at this point, Phoenix, as well as Denver, the Nuggets, the favorites likely, but behind them, a big group that is not far behind, the Grizzlies added Luke Conard, a shooter, at the deadline, the Mavericks obviously bringing on Kyrie, Kings really didn't do much, but currently sit in the three slot, the Clippers made a couple sideways moves, will be in the mix as well, as long as Kawhi and Paul George can stay healthy, the Pelicans, health-dependent issues there really didn't do too much, the Warriors made a couple moves, and the Lakers, getting Russell Westbrook finally out of town, bringing in D'Angelo Russell, Jared Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, also added Mo Bamba, so legitimately 8-10 teams, you could say, at least have a puncher's chance to come out of the West, and I can't remember the last time I've said that in February. So over on the East side, a much more quiet, in general, with a migration of talent from the East to the West, the top three teams in the East all added small pieces, Milwaukee, Boston, Philadelphia, the team in the four slot, the Cavaliers, many expected them to maybe upgrade the wing spot, a lot of expiring contracts in Cleveland, Karis LeVert, Kevin Love, Chetty Osmond, and others, Isaac Okoro had been rumored in deals, Cavs deciding to sit still, maybe thinking they're a year away, maybe thinking, hey, we just gave up a bunch of number ones for Donovan Mitchell, but electing to not do anything, the Bulls also sitting out the deadline, they had a lot of players that were rumored to be involved in deals. So, very interesting NBA trade deadline, and sets up what should be a really exciting and wide open playoffs, all in all, there is a ton of talent in the NBA right now, it's just a highly consumable product, so we'll look forward to chronicling the rest of the year here with our commentary in future episodes. Thanks, and have a great day, everyone.