Bojan Bogdanovic left Detroit to join a contender in New York that’s even more formidable now. Gordon Hayward is leaving Charlotte for one of the NBA’s best surprise stories this season in Oklahoma City. Doug McDermott was once traded by Indiana to San Antonio, and now the Spurs have traded him back to the Pacers.
None of those shooters were making playoff plans when Thursday started.
Trade deadline day in the NBA gave them and plenty of other players an entirely new outlook, and it might have even reshaped the start of the playoff push as well.
The Knicks made some big moves with eyes on contending in the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia added a sharpshooter in Buddy Hield with hopes that it can get back on track when — or if — reigning league MVP Joel Embiid returns from injury, while Phoenix and Dallas added frontcourt depth. The Suns landed Royce O’Neale from Brooklyn and the Mavericks are bringing in P.J. Washington from Charlotte.
“Lots of people got better!!! That’s fun for competition…” Embiid wrote on social media.