The NBA trade deadline has now passed for a week, although last Thursday there were no big trades to count among the positively concluded deals. On today’s day, however, ESPN, with byline by Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, published a real bombshell article citing some of the most incredible discussions of the last 24 hours of the market before the deadline. Among the names being probed and mini-talked about would have been LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid.
In particular. the Golden State Warriors, sensing some discontent from LeBron James, reportedly contacted the Lakers to ask if the King was transferable. Draymond Green, a close friend of James, also reportedly moved in that direction to try to convince him to accept a trade. However, Jeanie Buss, owner of the yellow-purple, would have replied to Joe Lacob, his counterpart for Golden State, to speak directly with Rich Paul, the player’s agent, and it would have been James’ entourage that would have blown off any discussion by reiterating LeBron’s willingness to stay in Los Angeles.
Also the Philadelphia 76ers reportedly made a probe for LeBron in the final hours of the market: Daryl Morey reportedly contacted Rob Pelinka, who in response would ask if Joel Embiid was available. Negotiations never got off the ground here either, with Morey also reportedly phoning the Phoenix Suns to ask about Kevin Durant first, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal later, again without success.
Second to the names of these future Hall of Famers, the Warriors also reportedly engaged in negotiations with Chicago for Alex Caruso and with Utah for Kelly Olynyk, which clearly never went through.
Milan, Italy. A graduate in Labor Management and Communication for Organizations from Catholic University, I founded BasketUniverso in 2011. Yes, I root for Orlando Magic and do my best not to hide it.
