Busy trade deadline seen as a good thing
McClung prevails in dunk contest
SALT LAKE CITY — The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association clearly do not agree on everything, as evidenced by the fact that there’s no new Collective Bargaining Agreement yet.
One thing they do agree on: A record-setting trade deadline this season is a good thing.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in his annual news conference preceding All-Star Saturday events that he felt the robust amount of player movement – 12 deals involving 24 teams and 49 players on trade-deadline day, Feb. 9, alone – only speaks to how many teams think they can make deep playoff runs this season and ultimately compete for a title.
“I think that speaks to teams, as we got close to the trade deadline, trying to situate themselves in the best possible position to compete going into the playoffs,” Silver said. “And in this case over 10% of the entire league was moved roughly in the week before the trade deadline.”
Among those traded leading up to the deadline: AllStars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, both dealt by Brooklyn, with Durant going to Phoenix and Irving to Dallas.
LABOR UPDATE: Talks between the NBA and NBPA are continuing with hopes of getting a new labor deal done. The sides have until March 31 to decide if either wants to opt out of the current deal on June 30; that deadline has already been moved twice and can be again, if necessary.
Among the issues that the NBA and the NBPA have been discussing in recent weeks is a return to letting players enter the draft straight out high school without waiting a year — that move is expected to be included in the next CBA — along with what the league considers an “upper spending limit” that would significantly tighten the rules on how much teams can spend each year on their roster.
LOAD MANAGEMENT:
There doesn’t seem to be much of an appetite for the NBA to abandon the traditional 82-game schedule, though injuries and load management leave fans going to games sometimes to learn upon arrival that their favorite players aren’t going to be in the game that night. It has been an issue for years. The NBA has tried to make the schedule more player-friendly by lowering back-to-back games and eliminating stretches of four games in five days.
UNLIKELY CHAMP:
Mac McClung, the 6-foot-2 Philadelphia guard on a two-way contract, defeated New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III in the finals of the dunk contest, 100-98.
A 540-degree dunk — not a 360, but a 540, him doing one-and-a-half rotations in the air, a move more reserved for figure skaters and skateboarders than basketball players — was his third perfect score of the night out of four dunks. By the time the judges’ scores came up it was already decided. Everyone in the building knew he’d won.
His is an unbelievable story: McClung has played mostly in the G League, where he ranks 36th in scoring this season at 19 points per game. He was undrafted in 2021 after spending three college seasons at Georgetown and Texas Tech. He was signed by Golden State last year but never played in a game for the Warriors.
3-POINT CONTEST:
Damian Lillard, the Portland star, won the 3-point contest by topping Indiana teammates Buddy Hield and Tyrese Haliburton in the final round. Lillard won the final round with 26 points. Hield had 25 and Haliburton scored 17.
SKILLS CHALLENGE:
Host Utah got a win to open All-Star Saturday night. The Jazz — composed of Utah players Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton —won the Skills Challenge, prevailing in two of the three competitions. The Rooks were second, the Antetokounmpos third.