As expected, Woj bombs detonated left and right before the NBA trade deadline, as a slew of trades rocked the league on Thursday.
While it may be hard to keep up with all the expected and unexpected NBA player movement, there’s also a surprising list of what appeared to be sure-fire deals that somehow did not occur.
For instance, this is the fourth straight NBA trade deadline to record a double-digit number of trades in one day. Now that’s a lot of transactions in a span of less than 24 hours.
Still, it’s clear that this year’s NBA deadline could have been the biggest one in history, had all the dominoes fell in the right places.
Let’s rank the five rumored moves that did not happen at the 2021 NBA Trade Deadline.
NBA deadline headlines — 5. No takers for Marvin Bagley
Looks like Marvin Bagley Sr.’s plea to have his son shipped out of the NBA purgatory known as Sacramento continues to fall on deaf ears.
Well, it’s not like the Kings did not try. The Kings brass reportedly tried to gauge the 22-year-old forward’s trade value weeks before the deadline. They believed they could get some serious assets in return, considering he was picked second overall in the 2018 NBA draft, above Luka Doncic and Trae Young.
The closest the Kings got was a potential NBA deal with the Pistons in a straight-up swap for Saddiq Bey, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
They say beggars can’t be choosers, but even the cellar-dwelling Pistons did not think that highly of Bagley and refused to give up Bey.
In the end, time ran out of the Kings again and Bagley is still on their NBA roster. Looks like Sacramento will have to wait until the offseason to figure out what to do with the disgruntled forward.
4. Lonzo Ball is still a Pelican
There was chatter that Ball is headed back to Los Angeles, this time to suit up for the Clippers. All signs pointed to this deal being done, considering the Clips were in badly need of an NBA playmaker and actually had some assets to bargain with.
But in a surprising turn of events, NOLA announced just hours before the NBA deadline that they will be keeping their most sought-after trade asset.
No Lonzo Ball trade, sources tell ESPN. He's staying in New Orleans.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021
The Clippers pivoted and went after Rajon Rondo instead. The Pels ultimately got James Johnson, Wes Iwundu, and a 2021 second-round pick from the Mavs for JJ Redick and Nicolo Melli. However, they deemed Ball more valuable than any NBA asset that was on the table at the time.
Did GM David Griffin make the right move of sticking with Ball? The NBA community will have to wait and see.
3. John Collins stays put in Atlanta
As far as relationships coming to an end, most pundits believed the Hawks and Collins were headed for divorce on Thursday. While he is under contract until 2022, this seemed like the opportune time to do so.
Collins, after all, does not seem too eager to re-sign with the Hawks when he becomes a restricted free agent after the season. He turned down a lucrative $90 million extension from Atlanta in the offseason and is reportedly still not too fond of playing Robin to Trae Young’s Batman.
Still, the Hawks emerged as winners in this deadline by opting not to move Collins right away. Atlanta is rolling under new head coach Nate McMillan right now and it doesn’t make sense to just trade away their second-best player out of desperation.
The Hawks did right by not making a move, regardless if Collins’ friction with Young is supposedly true or not.
2. Drummond and Aldridge are headed… to the buyout market
Andre Drummond and LaMarcus Aldridge getting bought out by their respective NBA teams were as inevitable as Thanos. But of course, we’ve seen crazier things happen in the deadline.
While it was unlikely that NBA contenders would decimate their roster to absorb the pair’s gargantuan contracts, other floundering teams could have just as easily bit the bullet in an effort to gain relevancy.
These two NBA All-Stars are technically still with the Cavs and Spurs, respectively, but we can expect even crazier updates once they agree to join contenders.
The Lakers reportedly have the biggest chance of bringing in Drummond since he’s already in LA. The Heat, on the other hand, are reportedly not satisfied with just Victor Oladipo as their NBA deadline haul and will try to welcome Aldridge to South Beach.
1. Lowry fails to land with a contender
Perhaps the biggest Woj bomb that never exploded at the NBA deadline came when the Raps announced that they will no longer trade Lowry. Yep, they’re not even going to buy-out his $30 million contract so he’ll definitely be finishing the season in Toronto (well, in Tampa Bay technically).
The Raptors are keeping Kyle Lowry, source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021
Now that’s just a shame.
While the Sixers and Lakers reportedly remained engaged until the last minute, it seems the lack of assurance that he won’t be just a one-year rental scared off NBA teams. The Heat targeted Oladipo instead and became one of the biggest winners of the deadline, while the Lakers simply had no assets to bring to the table.
Plus, the Raps reportedly gave a ridiculous asking price to the Sixers for Lowry, erasing any chances of an NBA homecoming for the Philly-native and former Villanova star.
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