BOSTON — Everybody’s mad.
If there was a theme to emerge from Thursday’s trade deadline and the tense, tumultuous week that preceded it, it was that: Anger, anger everywhere. One transaction in New York and a failed transaction in Los Angeles was enough to set free howling harpies from the Pandora’s box of the NBA, and teams from coast to coast will now have to figure out how to squeeze their ghosts back into their respective bottles.
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The failed transaction was the Lakers’ fruitless pursuit of Pelicans star Anthony Davis, which at one point grew to an offer of six players and two draft picks. New Orleans continually put the Lakers off, however, instead opting to wait until the summer when other teams — especially the Celtics, with a deep bench of budding young players and draft picks, and the Knicks, who can potentially land the No. 1 pick in the draft — can join the Davis bidding.
The successful transaction was the Knicks’ trade of Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas, which put New York in better position to tank the rest of this season (and ensure a 14 percent chance at the No. 1 pick) and created a pair of max-salary slots that the Knicks can use to chase star players in free agency.
Those two moves left behind them a trail of anger and resentment among teams from coast to coast.
Start with the Celtics, who emerged from Thursday with the roster intact, but with scuffs and bruises. Boston, coincidentally, faced off against their Davis-chasing rivals, the Lakers, at TD Garden hours after the deadline passed. Boston built an 18-point lead in the game, but frittered it away in a loss that broke its five-game winning streak.
After the game, one of the central figures of the Davis chatter — forward Jayson Tatum — spoke about the strain of the trade deadline. Boston can’t make an offer to the Pelicans until July 1, but in preliminary discussions about a Davis trade, Tatum was New Orleans’ focus. The Celtics made no promises, according to a league source, but the impression was left with the Pelicans that Boston would fork him over in a Davis deal.
Tatum handled that news in stride, but there’s little doubt that he’s bothered. He’s averaging 16.4 points and has struggled at times this year to temper his game to accommodate the Celtics’ raft of offensive talent. He had 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on Thursday.
"I’m glad to still be on the team," Tatum said after the loss. "I know everyone else was probably watching, so I’m glad it’s over with."
He then added, "For now."
Less subtle in his annoyance was Irving last week, after the Knicks had completed the deal to clear out cap space. Speculation turned immediately to the two players the Knicks were likely to target, and Irving (a free agent in the summer) was at the top of the list.
The Celtics were annoyed by the story of Irving having eyes for New York, not because of Irving, but because they felt the story was planted by Davis’ agent, Rich Paul, in order to scare the Pelicans into thinking Boston would back off making a trade offer for Davis in July if Irving left.
"It was cheap and underhanded," one source told SN.
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Irving, too, was frustrated.
"I spent the last eight years trying to do what everybody else wanted me to do," Irving told reporters, "in terms of making my decisions and trying to validate myself through the media, through other personnel, managers, anybody in this business. And I don’t owe anybody s—."
Asked about his free-agency plans, Irving, frustrated, said simply, "Ask me July 1."
The reach of Thursday’s deadline even spread north and west, to the Bay Area and the two-time defending champion Warriors. Even before the Knicks traded Porzingis last week, speculation had simmered that Durant, also a free agent this summer, could be headed to the Golden State exit and that the Knicks would be the top destination.
Durant, apparently weary of seeing stories about such speculation, lambasted the media after the Warriors’ win on Wednesday, ending a nine-day media boycott by the Golden State star. Durant called out The Athletic's Ethan Strauss by name after Strauss wrote that some in the Warriors organization felt that Durant would leave in the summer.
Durant said he has "nothing to do with the Knicks. I don’t know who traded Porzingis, it’s got nothing to do with me." He also told a reporter directly to "Grow up."
"Why do I gotta talk to you? Is that going to help me do my job better?" Durant said. "I don’t feel like talking. I don’t trust none of y’all. Every time I say something it gets twisted up and thrown out in so many publications try to tear me down with my words that I say. So when I don’t say nothing, it’s a problem?
"I just want to play ball. I want to go to the gym and go home. That’s all. Is that a problem? All right then."
Durant, of course, is required by his contract to have a certain number of interactions with the media. So, it is a problem. And there is concern within the organization that Durant’s oversensitivity could be a distraction for him and the team, especially as the playoffs progress.
As angry as Durant may be, it can’t match the rage coming out of LA these days. That’s because the Lakers have been privately complaining that the Pelicans were negotiating disingenuously with them in the Davis talks, and that Pelicans GM Dell Demps was using the situation to strike back at LA for tampering with Davis throughout the season.
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The Pelicans also believed that Paul, who also represents LeBron James, was acting on behalf of James and the Lakers when he made a public trade request more than a week ahead of the trade deadline. New Orleans had stated from the start of the season that the plan was to hold onto Davis for this year and accept trade offers for him in the offseason if it was clear he wanted to leave.
The Pels were angry — and perhaps a bit spiteful — that Paul and the Lakers tried to bully them into changing their timeframe. In another effort to undermine a potential summer offer from the Celtics, Anthony Davis Sr. was trotted out to publicly criticize Boston and declare his son would never play there.
The Lakers, for their part, were angry that the offers they made to the Pelicans were leaked to the media, an attempt to sabotage the team by letting young players like Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball know they were being shopped and rejected.
Those players now must put aside their inclusion in the package to the Pelicans and find a way to help LA get back into the West playoff picture. Ingram shrugged off the talk, saying, "I’ll just leave that to y’all to talk about." Kuzma, according to The Athletic's Bill Oram, suggested he should "Bird Box," perhaps complete with a blindfold and black paint on his windshield.
But the Lakers do have to deal now with LaVar Ball, the father of Lonzo Ball and perpetual outrage machine. The turmoil with the Lakers has apparently given the elder Ball, who has been mostly muzzled this year, some impetus to get back to his gum-flapping, attention-soaking ways.
Ball went on a national network ahead of the deadline and declared his son, who is injured but averaging 9.9 points on 40.6 percent shooting, a better player than James. He also took potshots at embattled coach Luke Walton.
"Doesn’t matter how many players you get, if you don't got the coach you out of luck," LaVar said.
Testy, testy. But that’s on theme for this week.
The Knicks, the Celtics, the Lakers, the Pelicans, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Lonzo Ball, Rich Paul — more than any trade deadline in league history, this left a bunch of NBA-types very angry.