Here are five things that you may have missed during the NBA week.
The NBA is currently in a weird place. The league is in the “stick my toe in to test the water” phase of the season. It’s the week between the trade deadline and All-Star Weekend. Teams are getting adjusted to the moves made at the deadline and everybody’s settling into their new squads. After this weekend, it’s full steam ahead for the second half of the season. However, even though the NBA is in a bit of a transitional phase during this week, there was still plenty of headlines throughout the league. To be quite honest, this week was wacky, eventful and fun — all in one.
For starters, injuries. De’Aaron Fox — who is set to replace Lonzo Ball — in the Rising Stars game received stitches in his head after a nasty collision with the floor against the Rockets. Speaking of the Rockets and Kings, Sacramento waived Joe Johnson following a deadline day trade. Johnson later signed with Houston as the move was announced on Wednesday. The Rockets currently sit atop the Western Conference with the Warriors as the two teams go neck-and-neck for the No. 1 seed.
Meanwhile, the Pistons are making a playoff push in the Eastern Conference with Blake Griffin. They’re 6-4 in their last 10 games and the Knicks are bad. Really bad. New York is on an NBA-worst eight game losing streak as we found out they are who we thought they were. The Celtics are slipping, the Raptors are tearing it up and this NBA season seems more wide open as each week progresses. Here are five of the biggest headlines from around the league this week.