What’s up, Enjoyers! Between yesterday’s thrilling slate of games and tons of trades, we’ve got lots to cover today. Luckily, that’s our job. You just sit back and relax…

Today’s Lineup

Last Night’s Action

Nuggets survive LA’s comeback attempt in 114-106 win

Big performances from the Nuggets’ (36-16) big three led them over the Lakers (26-27) in this one. LA showed life late, but this clutch Jamal Murray (29 PTS, 11 AST) three with just a couple minutes left gave the Nuggets all the momentum necessary to pull away for the W. Side note: this is the Nuggets’ seventh consecutive win over the Lakers. Seems like Michael Malone has LA’s number…

Pistons overtake Blazers 128-122 in OT despite Jerami Grant’s 49

After trailing by 23 with five minutes to go in the third quarter, Detroit (8-43) rallied just hard enough to tie this game up after regulation thanks to Jalen Duren’s (24 PTS, 17 REB) powerful play in the paint and 49 points combined from Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. On the other side, Jerami Grant scored 49 for Portland (15-36)—sure, that included 18 free throws, but still impressive.

Don’t look now, but the Pistons have achieved a monumental feat…

Elsewhere around the Association:

• The Cavs cannot stop winning! Their 118-95 win over the Nets in Brooklyn last night was their eighth W in a row, as they improve to 16-1 in their last 17 games. Donovan Mitchell… you are that guy.

• For all of the concerns about Phoenix’s bench, there’s obviously no doubt that their stars can flat-out HOOP. Kevin Durant (31 PTS, 8 REB, 7 AST) and Bradley Beal (30 PTS, 7 AST) put on a scoring clinic in the Suns’ 129-115 W over Utah. Oh yeah, and KD did this.

• Knicks breakout guard Donte Divincenzo dropped 39 PTS against the Mavs last night, but do you know who plays for the Mavs? Luka Doncic. He put up 39 points and 11 assists in Dallas’ 122-108 win.

• In a game that was close the entire way through, the Bulls pulled ahead of the Grizzlies in the fourth quarter en route to a 118-110 win. Shout-out Andre Drummond (21 PTS, 10-11 FG, 17 REB), who’s becoming one of the most underrated big men in the league!

• A vintage 11-three performance from Steph Curry (42 PTS) helped the Warriors easily take down the Pacers by 22.

Wednesday Night Notes

• Career-high alert! Jaden Ivey lit up the stat sheet against the Kings in Sacramento, hitting five threes en route to a 37-point performance in the Pistons’ 133-120 win.

• Donovan Mitchell recorded his fifth 40-point game of the season yesterday as the Cavs took down Washington 114-106. Evan Mobley (22 PTS, 8 REB, 9-10 FG, 2-2 3PT) had a great game as well!

• The Heat seem to be back on track, as they logged their fourth win in five games last night against Wemby and the Spurs. Jimmy Butler’s triple-double (17 PTS, 11 AST, 11 REB) helped Miami pull away in this 12-point win.

• 45 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists? That’s an incredible performance for Miles Bridges, but the Raptors pulled away from Charlotte late in this game en route to a 123-117 Toronto W.

• A great day passing the ball from Zion (21 PTS, 10 AST) helped the Pelicans overtake the red-hot Clippers 117-106 in Los Angeles. CJ McCollum led the way among New Orleans scorers with 25 PTS.

This year’s trade deadline period didn’t see any huge stars being traded (mostly because that already happened this year), but we still saw some notable names on the move in the 24 hours before yesterday’s deadline! If you weren’t tuned in, here’s what you missed. And if you’re a Bulls fan, trades are what other teams to do make their teams better. We know you might not have heard of them. Just trust us… it’ll all be okay.

• The Thunder brought in Gordon Hayward, who’ll provide versatility and experience come playoff time among a team otherwise full of youngsters. Charlotte got Tre Mann, Davis Bertans, and Vasilije Micic in return.

  

• Bojan Bogdanovic finally has a new home… and it’s the Big Apple! The Pistons traded the Bosnian sharpshooter to New York along with Alec Burks, receiving Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn, and a couple of second round picks.

• Sharpshooter Buddy Hield is on the move to the 76ers, who traded Furkan Korkmaz (finally) and Marcus Morris to Indiana. The Pacers then flipped Morris for San Antonio’s Doug McDermott.

• The Mavericks brought in PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford in two separate deals, bolstering their roster around Luka and Kyrie:

• Another deadline, another Pat Bev trade. This year, the 76ers shipped Patrick Beverley to the Bucks for Cam Payne and a second.

• The Timberwolves did just what they needed by getting the Pistons’ Monte Morris to be their bench point guard. Detroit got Troy Brown Jr, Shake Milton, and a second in return.

• Memphis, Phoenix, and Brooklyn completed a three-team deal that sent Yuta Watanabe to the Grizzlies, Royce O’Neale and David Roddy to the Suns, and multiple second-round picks to the Nets.

• Utah sent Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji to the Raptors for Kira Lewis, Otto Porter, and a 2024 first-round pick.

Other moves at the deadline included Toronto trading for (and subsequently releasing) Spencer Dinwiddie, Utah trading Simone Fontecchio to Detroit for Kevin Knox and a second-round pick, the Raptors getting Dalano Banton from Boston, and the Celtics bolstering their depth by bringing in Xavier Tillman and Jaden Springer in two separate deals.

Three in the Key

Signing Off

PHEW! That was a lot of trades. Thanks for catching up on everything with us! We’ll talk to you on Monday, when we’ll see how some of these names perform with their new teams. Talk soon!

- Austin Zeglis