NBA Twitter comes for everyone after wild trade deadline day moves
Oh man.
The NBA trade deadline came and went today at 3 pm and after a quiet couple days leading up to the deadline, at about noon today everything went wild, starting with the Cavs trading Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye to the Lakers for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr.
Cleveland is sending Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye to the Lakers for Clarkson and Nance, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2018
The Cavs have struggled mightily of late and Isaiah Thomas was talking rather spicily about the team’s struggles, openly calling out head coach Ty Lue and questioning the passion of his teammates.
Isaiah Thomas was the cornerstone of this summer’s Kyrie Irving trade. In the end, IT only played 15 games for the Cavs and may have cost himself millions of dollars when his contract is up this summer. This is a dude who averaged over 29 points a game last season and now finds himself on the bench behind a rookie for a 22-win team.
As a Celtics fan, I loved what IT did for Boston and when he was traded away for Kyrie this summer I was pretty conflicted. I also could not have imagined how disastrously it would play out in Cleveland.
Regardless, after dumping IT, the Cavaliers traded… their entire team.
The Cavs barely look like the same team any more. pic.twitter.com/679qB2WOSx
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 8, 2018
In the end, the Cavs got rid of some serious deadwood in Rose, IT, Frye, Shumpert, Crowder, and Dwyane Wade and got young, athletic, multi-positional players in Clarkson, Hood, and Nance. They also got George Hill, so there’s that.
Cavs…
-got younger
-got rid of the the guy who replaced Kyrie's points
-traded LeBron's best friend
This isn't about winning this year, this is the Cavs getting ready for LeBron's departure.— Mark Willard (@Mark_T_Willard) February 8, 2018
As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst pointed out, the Cavs also laid the groundwork for the Lakers to land LeBron in free agency in the summer.
"The Cavaliers have just cleared a path for the Lakers to go after Paul George and LeBron James this summer."
–Brian Windhorst pic.twitter.com/MSv6bETxVr
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 8, 2018
Besides the Cavs doing all the stuff, there weren’t many other notable trades. The Knicks did a thing, other teams did things, but when the players involved are Emmanuel Mudiay, Noah Vonleh, and Milovan Rakovic, well… yeah.
As we all know, the real narrative in the NBA comes from Basketball Twitter, the greatest collection of minds and creativity across the modern zeitgeist. Without further ado, I present to you the greatest tweets of NBA trade deadline day.
“LeBron handing over IT to Magic”
https://twitter.com/MikeOxafloppin2/status/961656321287380992
This SI tribute video to IT’s time in Cleveland is… I’m conflicted about it.
Here’s a tribute to Cleveland Cavaliers legend Isaiah Thomas… pic.twitter.com/Tx8XBJYI0V
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 8, 2018
Bomani Jones brings up the lack of bag in IT’s future
can you imagine how furious you'd be if you put up the numbers isaiah thomas did last year and there's no bag waiting on you? cuz i don't think there's gonna be a bag now. damn.
— bomani (@bomani_jones) February 8, 2018
NBA Twitter rallied around their patron saint J.R. Smith during the Cavs’ yard sale. The J.R. content did not disappoint.
https://twitter.com/ACNeenan/status/961663583913480193
You knew the J.R. confused face was coming out
"Aye LeBron, who is all these new dudes on the Cavs?" pic.twitter.com/2G5knF9pla
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) February 8, 2018
But in the end, J.R. avoided being traded
Live look at Jr Smith @cavs @World_Wide_Wob pic.twitter.com/YvAgS03XsI
— Naw (@dfsxman) February 8, 2018
Obviously the LeBron content was in full force as well.
*lebron hits game winner*
Isaiah: “We got it now!”
Crowder: “Hell yeah here we go!”
DRose: “They doubted us but it’s on!”
Frye: “We did it before and we’ll do it again!”
Shumpert: “Old Cavs are back!”
DWade: “We got this…all for one and one for all!”
LeBron: pic.twitter.com/wSKhNu5nBM
— DellyFact (@DellyFact) February 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/961666981232611328
D Wade: man we gotta get rid of these bums and get some fresh blood in here
Bron: pic.twitter.com/4kmGzVobbk
— Sir Wet Bottoms (@swaggy_b_) February 8, 2018
It’ll be kind of nice to see D Wade in Miami again
https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/961688119400714251
As for Kyrie…
Kyrie right now: pic.twitter.com/NtDs4AThQ5
— Cycle (@bycycle) February 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/netw3rk/status/961657391820423169
Kyrie Irving is probably somewhere laughing on the floor while a Youtube video about government conspiracies plays in the background
— Zito (@_Zeets) February 8, 2018
Agreed, Joel.
Wow this is crazy lol…. The NBA is amazing
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) February 8, 2018
Adrian Wojnarowski, the most plugged-in figure in NBA media, is always first to every breaking story in the league and NBA Twitter showed their appreciation.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 RT @SLAMonline: Woj after the trade deadline… 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ErNr0L95GA
— Glocktavious McLaran (@Trap_Jesus) February 8, 2018
Even players watching Woj’s timeline
mood pic.twitter.com/vU4BD6GNC8
— Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) February 8, 2018
Some pointed out Woj’s superiority to other journalists, including The Vertical’s Shams Charania
Woj out here dropping heat and Shams talking bout some damn Malachi and Barbarelo trades. Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
— 🦦✨America Is Musty✨🦦 (@DragonflyJonez) February 8, 2018
As our planet slowly melts away and our country descends into chaos, at least we have the NBA to entertain us.