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The NBA trade deadline is often a source of anxiety and stress for many around the NBA — players, coaches, front offices and reporters covering the league.
But one player who seemed virtually unaffected by all the talk surrounding the deadline was Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors, a veteran of the league and one who has been through several trade deadlines over the years.
Favors was so apathetic about the deadline hoopla that he said he slept right through the moment the deadline passed, per Kyle Goon of the Salt Lake Tribune and Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders.
Derrick Favors claims he was asleep for the trade deadline and had put his phone on silent: “If I had been traded, I wouldn’t have even known it.”
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) February 10, 2018
Favors also says he slept through basically the entire trade deadline yesterday. Clearly worried sick about it.
— Ben Dowsett (@Ben_Dowsett) February 10, 2018
It's unclear if Favors was joking when he said he slept through the deadline. Players have odd sleep schedules as it is, and are frequent nappers.
But Favors, in particular, was the subject of various trade rumors. Those players are usually the ones who worry at least a little bit about what will go down nearing the deadline.
To Favors' credit, he took everything in stride and decided not to let it affect him. That is a very difficult thing to do, even for NBA players who are used to being involved in trade rumors.
There are coaches who will say that the trade deadline is among one of the worst times of the year, and players sometimes are affected by the rumors, constantly thinking whether or not the shoe is going to drop and they will be shipped off to another team.
But Favors not only doesn't let it affect him. He actually approaches it with humor. And perhaps that helped him because he was not dealt after all.
