IN THE LANE

THE RULE: The NBA’s shift of the trading deadline to a period two weeks earlier than usual has created a new dynamic, with players and teams now given extra time to a read the buyout market. The rule regarding buyouts and playoff eligibility remains the same: Any player who has been in the NBA this season must be waived by March 1 to be eligible for another team’s playoff roster. It does not matter when such a player signs, only when he is waived. In addition, players who have not been in the league this season may sign with an NBA team at any time prior to the close of the regular season and be playoff-eligible (such as those returning from overseas). Expect plenty of back-channel negotiations in now what has become an intervening three-week period, with players able to gauge how much of a giveback makes financial success for the opportunity to compete elsewhere. “We’re still going to stay active over the next month if anything happens, from a buyout standpoint,” Heat President Pat Riley said. “If there’s something that’s attractive, that we think can really add to the equation, we’ll look at that also.” Such a move, however, would require the Heat to open a roster spot, since they are already at the NBA 15-player limit. THE VIEW: Riley said the expectations remain of a playoff berth, but said he appreciates the challenges posed by a strengthened Eastern Conference. “I think we are a playoff team,” he said at the deadline. “It’s going to be tough. But there’s six or seven teams just like us all frothing at the mouth, I think teams like us that are fighting to get into the playoffs, any of us that get in there are going to be formidable, and I think the teams at the top know that.” TOUGH TIMES: Has there been an NBA player dealt a tougher hand in recent years than Pine Crest product Brandon Knight? Dealt from the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks just as he was establishing an NBA foothold, Knight then found himself traded into the Phoenix Suns’ glut of point guards and then forced out for this entire season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Oh, and it gets worse, with the Suns trading for Orlando Magic point guard Elfrid Payton at Thursday’s deadline and casting it as a move of necessity. In the midst of a five-year, $70 million contract signed in July 2015, Knight finds himself financially secure and in NBA limbo, especially with Devin Booker playing minutes at point guard. It’s almost as if Knight isn’t even there. “This was our main objective, preferably a young, talented point guard with some upside potential and the ability to be with us potentially beyond this year,” Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough said of the Payton trade. THE CULTURE: When expressing relief that his Portland Trail Blazers did not trade veteran big man Ed Davis at the deadline, Damian Lillard pointed to the Heat as an example of having veterans around to establish and maintain culture. “I don’t want to see his name ever come up in one of those situations,” Lillard told the Oregonian of Davis. “I always tell my brother, my cousins — everyone in my family — the same way Udonis Haslem was with Wade his whole career in Miami, that’s how I feel about Ed and me. He’s like my comfort blanket with our team, just knowing he’s there, as a friend and as a teammate.”