Photo courtesy of NBA.com
The NBA trade deadline was less than spectacular. However, as teams cope with the fallout of new acquisitions, there appears to be more drama on the horizon. On Monday February 22, two deadline trades were voided due to a failed physical.
Originally, the trade worked like this: The Pistons would acquire forwards Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets in exchange for two time NBA Champion Joel Anthony and a 2016 first-round pick. To complete the trade the Rockets (in an effort to get under the salary cap) would ship Joel Anthony and a second round pick to the 76’ers and they would in turn waive wing player JaKarr Sampson. For the Sixers, the plan was simple: secure the second round pick, waive Anthony, and reacquire Sampson. However, less than 48 hours later it all blew up.
Motiejunas who had recently underwent back surgery to remove a herniated disk failed his physical despite the Pistons being awarded an extra 72 hours to either complete the physical or try again. As a result, the trade is nullified, Thornton and Motiejunas will remain with the Rockets, and Joel Anthony will once again be with the Pistons. Sampson however accepted a two year deal in Denver after being waived, thus leaving the Sixers the real losers of this deal. What makes this incident so intriguing is how rare occurrences like these are, especially in the NBA. It will be incredibly interesting to see what becomes of the first round pick that Houston originally acquired as this could have ripple effects similar to those of the vetoed Chris Paul trade though it’s unlikely.
As mentioned before, though this was not a very eventful trade deadline, the Pistons were clear winners even with the voided trade. Detroit’s Coach and President, Stan Van Gundy, performed admirably during the trade deadline after acquiring Tobias Harris from the Magic in exchange for the broken down Brandon Jennings. So perhaps losing Motiejunas is actually a blessing in disguise. With the trade voided the Pistons retain their 2016 first round draft pick, and can continue to add to their young core of Andre Drummond, Stanley Johnson, and Reggie Jackson. Currently the Pistons rank ninth in the Eastern Conference. While they have a chance to make the playoffs, but it is obviously enticing to tank for a potential lottery pick. Whatever the case, the Pistons are a team to watch going forward and are comparable to the Minnesota Timberwolves in young raw talent.