Calen Wolfskill

Staff Writer

As the NBA trade deadline came to a close nothing too major happened around the league. For the most part, a lot of role players were moved around the league to help replace open spots from injury or other needs of the team. The Memphis Grizzles made the most noise at the trade deadline acquiring P.J. Hariston, Chris Anderson and Lance Stephenson. They also acquired multiple picks in upcoming drafts in various rounds.

The Grizzles probably made the best trade at the deadline out of all the teams in picking up Lance Stephenson. He is one of the best fits on the team and will mesh well on the court with Chalmers, Allen and Barnes. The Clippers were on the other end of the Stephenson trade who were given former Celtic Jeff Green for Stephenson. This really doesn’t solve any of the Clippers’ issues though. It’s almost as if the Clippers picked up Green for the sake of just having another decent player in the locker room; Green’s style of play will not mix well with the likes of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. That makes this move by the Clippers very interesting but mostly confusing.

Kevin Love rumored to be later traded to the Celtics.
Kevin Love rumored to be later traded to the Celtics.

The Cavaliers were also busy at the deadline picking up some more role players to play with LeBron. The Cavs picked up Channing Frye from Orlando, and giving them Jared Cunningham. The Cavs also gave Anderson Varejao and a potential first round pick to the Trailblazers of Portland in exchange for nothing. The Cavs were cleaning house and made a statement in trading Varejao rather than Love. There was a rumor floating around on the day of the trade deadline that Kevin Love could be traded to the Celtics. Which, would make some sense considering he hasn’t been playing very well with Irving or James again this year. But, they decided to keep him possibly in the hopes that their new head coach Tyronn Lue can get the three to play well together again.

One last trade worth mentioning was a trade between the Pistons and the Magic. The Pistons acquired Tobias Harris and gave away Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova. Harris will be a great addition to a Pistons team that will be heading to the playoffs this season. His arrival marks the rebuilding of the Pistons franchise. The team now has five 25-or-younger players that will be with the team for multiple years. This signing also answered the biggest question the Pistons had coming into the season: who was going to be the staple at power forward for the Pistons?

The trade deadline had a few great moves and a couple of not so great moves all of which have increased some teams playoff hopes or ruined their chances. There weren’t too many moves with big players—the most notable one being the trading of Anderson Varejao to the Trailblazers which will benefit from him greatly.