Sport Thoughts

The NBA trade deadline has finally passed, and the league is looking quite different in the last 24 hours. There were blockbuster trades and minor moves. The 2025 NBA trade deadline was perhaps the greatest deadline of all time, as multiple NBA All-Stars, including Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler, Zach Lavine, and De’Aaron Fox, were moved. The variation of the winners and losers after the deadline was noticeable. The three biggest winners of the NBA trade deadline include the Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Lakers, and San Antonio Spurs. The Cleveland Cavaliers gained starting wing Deandre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks. Hunter entered the deadline as the front runner to win the 6 Man of the Year Award, averaging nearly 19 points per game. The Lakers acquired 5-time All-Star guard Luka Doncic for 10-time All-Star center Anthony Davis. Doncic joins the Lakers with a higher ceiling than Davis, at just 25 years old and a career full of accolades. He is a generational talent, and the Laker...

The half way point has been reached during the 2024-2025 NBA season. The Philidelphia 76ers are without question the biggest disappointment of the 2024-2025 NBA Season. Injuries to star player Joell Embiid and the team’s overall underperformance has led the Sixers finishing the half way point with a 15-26 losing record. They currently sit 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings with no signs of winning improvement. Stars Joell Embiid and Paul George have missed several games during the Sixer’s losing stretch of games. The big three of Joell Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have played just 10 total games together out of the 41 games played. The lack of availability from Embiid, Maxey and George has put a damper in the Sixers championship aspirations. It begs the question how the Sixers front office will manage the team’s trade deadline during the second half of the season. The NBA trade deadline is less than 3 weeks away and the Sixers remaining schedule does not get any eas...

It has been well over a year since the last time a star put out a trade request in the NBA. That recently changed when Miami Heat’s star Jimmy Butler demanded a trade to another destination. Butler’s trade request revolves around a contract extension and the teams roster construction. The drama for the Heat began following the 2023 NBA finals. The Heat led by Jimmy Butler were 3 wins away from winning their first NBA title since 2013. The Heat proceeded to lose the next 3 games to the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets. The 2023 Finals showed a lot of promise from the Miami Heat. They overachieved during their playoff run. They were a title contender, who lacked a third star. Adding a third star would help elevate the Heat’s probability of winning a championship. The team needed to make major moves during the 2023 offseason. However, the Heat made minimal moves and lost several role players from their previous finals team. Fast forward to the 2024 NBA playoffs and Jimmy Butler is injured. Th...

As the NBA trade deadline approaches in two months, it is time to analyze and examine the trade market. There will be several sellers during the February deadline. Teams open for business will include the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, Portland Trailblazers, Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans. There will be several star caliber players and high-end role players on the move between December and February. Star caliber players potentially on the move will include Zach Lavine, Nicola Vucevic, Cam Thomas, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Cj Mccolum Mccollum and Zion Williamson. High-end role players, include Lonzo Ball, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cam Johnson, Malcolm Brogdan, Jonas Valanciunas, Jeremy Grant, Robert Williams, Anfernee Simons, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton. Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler could the wild card of the trade market. Butler remains on an expiring contract with no contract extention talks on the horrizon. All of these potential trade targets ...

The NBA trade deadline has always been designed as a grace period for contending teams to make big or small changes. The deadline is also known as the final act for selling teams begining fire sales. NBA teams have the power to upgrade, retool or rebuild through the trade deadline. All Stars are often moved in the aftermath. The 2021, 22’ and 23’ NBA trade deadlines saw multiple All Stars moved including Nikola Vucevic, James Harden, Ben Simmons, Andre Drummand, Domantas Sabonis, Kristaps Porzingis, Russell Westbrook, Mike Conley, D’Angelo Russell, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. The 2024 trade deadline did not feature any star power compared to those recent deadlines. Trades were made based on high quality role players and bench players. The newly added role players could make a solid impact but it will never be on the level of a newly added star. There were several former All Stars remaining with their current teams after the deadline. Those stars include Demar Derozan, Zach Lavine, D...

The NBA 2024 trade deadline has offically passed and contending teams have made their moves. There were several buyers as expected but much fewer sellers than intended. Winners and losser could describe several NBA teams at this years deadline. The Winners of trade deadline include the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Dallas Mavericks. Each contending team added key role players to their rotations while trading away non rotational role players and low end draft picks. The Knicks improved their bench depth with the additions of Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. The Sixers added shooter Buddy Hield to their starting five and Cam Payne to their second unit. The Thunder added former star and veteran Gordon Hayward. Lastly, the Dalllas Mavericks improved their roster depth by acquiring six man PJ Washington and big man Daniel Gafford. The LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls could be described as the biggest losers of the trade ...

Trade season is on the horizon in the NBA. Every team will decide their fate of buying , selling or staying the same. Teams like the Toronto Raptors and Charlette Hornets have already become sellers with their recent trades of Pascal Siakam and Terry Rozier. The departure of both players have turned the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat into buyers. A look at the NBA standings around the league helps analyze other potential buyers and what their needs might be. Teams like the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves may stand pat as they hold the best records in the NBA. Teams like Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers and OKC Thunder may upgrade the bench and depth charts. Lastly teams like the Sacremento Kings, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, LA Lakers and Golden State Warriors might aim for blockbuster type trades. Many of those Western Conference teams will focus on avoiding the Play In Tournament. Who will make the bigg...

The NBA 2023-2024 season is nearing the halfway point. Every NBA team has played nearly 40 games of the 82 game season. Over 35 games played is a big sample size to determine which teams are playoff or championship contenders. The teams who are at the bottom of the standings are often sellers when the trade deadline nears. There will eyes watching several NBA teams in the Eastern and Western Conference next month. Those possible sellers include the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers. All seven teams are near the bottom of the standings with sub .500 records. Many of these bottom dwelling NBA teams will be seeking several draft picks and younger players at the deadline. Each team has at least one All Star or star caliber player on the trade block. These players include  Zach Lavine from the Bulls, Nic Claxton from the Nets, Dejounte Murray from the Hawks, Pascal Siakam from the Raptors, Kyle ...

The New Yankees are one of the biggest disappointments in the 2023 MLB season. They are in the midst of a 7-game losing streak. The Yankees have a 60-63 losing record and sit in last place of the American League East Division. They have shown no signs of life in their last 5 games of the losing streak. The New Yankees could have made trades to improve but choose to stand pat on the August 1st Trade Deadline. The team’s front office is the face of this uncompetitive and disappointing product. General manager Brian Cashman has struck out on many of his off season and trade deadline moves, dating back to last year. The Yankees currently lack an experienced left fielder, troting out minor league journeymen Jake Bauer and Billy Mckinney. They also heavily rely on a rooke shortstop Anthony Volpe and utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Neither of whom have shown signs of consistent hitting in a team slump. Starting pitching has gotten worse month by month. Carlos Rodon has looked like a bust free ...

It is over two weeks since the MLB trade deadline. There were buyers and sellers at the deadline. The New York Mets were the biggest seller at the trade deadline. The Mets made moves that esentially punted their 2023 season. The Mets are currently 5-11 since the August 1st trade deadline, the worst post deadline record of all 30 MLB teams. The Mets called up several minor league players after moving on from Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, Mark Canha and Tommy Pham. The constant losing has been become atrocious with fans beginning to speculate tanking. The tanking speculation was more evident when the New York Mets lost 21 to 3 against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday afternoon. The New York Mets could potentially gain a top drafted player if they finish among the 6th worst records in the league. The Mets have become uncompetitive and nearly unwatchable since the trade deadline. The Met fans, who are paying hard earned money to watch their minor league filled team tank ar...

The MLB trade dradline is offically one week old. Several MLB teams made moves in order to improve their current rosters and the future of their organizations. The Los Angeles Angels were in an interesting situation at the deadline. Their best player and MVP favorite Shohei Ohtani is a upcoming free agent after the 2023 season. The front office had an opportunity to trade him for minor league prospects or lose him for nothing in free agency. The Angels chose to keep Ohtani and buy at the trade deadline. The team’s deadline moves included adding starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, reliever Reynaldo Lopez, first baseman CJ Cron and outfielder Randal Grichuk. These trades were expected to keep the Angels fighting for contention. The Angels have now lost 7 straight games since the day of trade deadline. The Angels are currently 2 games under .500. Nothing has gone right for the Angels since the trade dealine. Originally dubbed trade deadline winners, The Angels are in free fall mode. It is unk...

The MLB season is down to the final 55 games for all 30 teams. The last two months of the season have become a sprint for contention. MLB Teams like the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and St Louis Cardinals have waived the white flag on their seasons. The wild card race for both the American League and National League has gotten very interesting. The Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros have showed  signs of being in full control of their wild card spots. That can’t be said about various teams in the National League. The Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinnati Reds are seeing their seasons spiral out of control. All three teams were 10 or more games over .500 during the month of July. The winning records have changed heavily since after the All Star break. The Marlins were 14 games over .500 at the All Star break. They are now just 4 games over .500. The Diamondbacks were once 16 games over .500 on July 1st. After tonight’s loss, the...

The New York Mets entered the 2023 season as championship contenders. They had the highest payroll in the history of the MLB. The team won 101 games in 2022 and had high expectations heading into the new season. Everything has gone wrong for the New York Mets in 2023. From gut punching losses to injuries to key players to down years from pitchers and hitters, 2023 has gone as wrong as possible for the Mets. They finished the month of June 10 games under .500. The hope was for the Mets to turn things around by the trade deadline. Things never changed for the Mets. They would become trade deadline sellers after putting themselves in a hole too deep to bounceback from. The organization  bid farewell to pitchers Max Scherzer, David Robertson and Justin Verlander. They sent away outfielders Tommy Pham and Mark Canha. The Mets would add to their farmsystem and rebuild for the future. Their remaining schedule does not get easier and they have essentially punted on the final 2 months of th...

The MLB Trade deadline began the month of August. Several MLB teams made big and small moves at the dradline. Several of these trades were winning moves. There were still several losers at the dradline. The Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins were losers of the American League. The Baltimore Orioles needed to improve their starting pitching rotation and bullpen. The Orioles traded for strugglings starting pitcher Jack Flaherty and disappointing reliever Shintaro Fujinami. The Boston Red Sox also needed to upgrade their pitching staff. Their only trade dewdline move was acquiring infielder Luis Urias. The New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins needed to improve their starting lineups. Both teams would do the exact opposite by trading for relief pitchers Keynan Middleton and Dylan Floro. None of these trade move the needle for these American League teams. The New York Mets and St Lous Cardinals were losers of the National League. Both teams were sellers ...

The MLB trade deadline has come and gone. Every team has made their big and small moves. Some teams made win now trades and others entered rebuilds. The winners of the trade deadline stood out in various ways. The Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and LA Angels were the clear winners in the American League. The Astros improved their starting pitching rotation and bullpen by trading for former Cy Young pitcher Justin Verlander and closer Kendall Graverman. The Texas Rangers improved their pitching staff by acquiring former Cy Young pitcher Max Scherzer, along with starting pitchers Jordan Montgomery and relief pitcher Chris Stratton. The Angels also improved their starting pitching rotation and bullpen by adding former All Star starting pitcher Lucas Giolito and closer Ronaldo Lopez. They then traded for offensive sluggers Randle Grichette and CJ Cron. The Miami Marlins, LA Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks were the deadline winners of the National League. The Marlins elevated their pitching...

It is MLB trade deadline season and the 49-54 New York Mets are officially sellers. They traded their closer David Robertson and now they have traded their ace starting pitcher Max Scherzer. Scherzer was the Mets big free agent signing in December 2021. He completely changed the vibe and culture of the New York Mets entering the 2022 season. He pitched at an All Star level and contributed to the Mets 101 win season. As great as Scherzer was, he suffered flaws closing out his season. He struggled to pitch in his final regular season start against the Atlanta Braves. This bad start would lead to the Mets losing the NL East. The Atlanta Braves would win the NL by 1 game. Max Scherzer would get shelled in his Mets playoff debut against the San Diego Padres. He gave up 7 Earned runs and was booed off the pitchers mound by the fans. His 2023 season would not start positively. He would have inconsistent pitching outings, allow several home runs and face a 10 game foreign substance suspension....

The MLB standings are looking very interesting right now. 20 out of the 30 MLB teams have winning percentage of .500 or better. The American League has 11 winning teams. The National League has 8 winning teams and one .500 team . Unlike previous seasons, every MLB team plays each other. The schedule for each team is very well balanced schedule. Teams are playing teams from their divison less often compared to the previous season. Sub .500 teams like the New York Mets, St Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and Chiacago White Sox have not benefited by playing less games against their division rivals. This well balanced schedule has forced MLB teams to change the way they build their rosters.  A 26-man roster must be built well enough to play every team in the league. The days of building a roster focused on divisional play is over. It is unusual for this many teams to be over .500 but this could be a sign of the future. The new schedule has created the most parody in the MLB standings...

The Miami Marlins have played a total of 10 games since the MLB All Star break concluded. The Marlins went into the All Star break with a impressive 53-39 record. The record was their best first half record in franchise history. It truly looked like the Marlins had put themselves in the elite contender conversation along with teams like the Atlanta Braves and LA Dodgers. That thought is now far from the truth. The Miami Marlins lost 8 straight games to begin their post All Star break. They were swept by the Baltimore Orioles, St Louis Cardinals and lost two of three to the Colorado Rockies. They currently have a mediocre 54-48 record are without a playoff spot. Their All Star Jazz Chisholm is injured and the team’s remaining schedule does not get any easier. The Marlins offense has been putrid and the bullpen has been taxed. All Star Luis Arraez can not carry the offense on his own. Cy Young Sandy Alcantara has yet to get back into ace form. The August 1st trade deadline is less than a...

It is nearly two weeks since the MLB season resumed after the All Star Break. The Subway Series is approaching for the second time this season between the New York Mets and New York Yankees. This year’s Subway Series feels very different from previous years. Both teams have struggled and do not currently have playoff spots. The Yankees are tied for last place in the American League East, with a 53-47 record. The Mets are in Fourth place in the National League East, with a 46-53 record. Both teams are determining their options between buying and selling at the August 1st trade deadline. Injuries to Aaron Judge and poor all around offense have crippled the Yankees season. Inconsistent offense and disappointing starting pitching have derailed the Mets season. This Subway Series could determine the next steps for both New York teams. Neither team has shown signs of any momentum or consistency during the last two months. The Mets have a much difficult remaining schedule going forward in com...

The MLB trade deadline is getting closer. Teams are having tough decisions about buying and selling players. Some teams are expected to sell, while other teams remain undecided. Losing teams like the Oakaland A’s, Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, Pitsburg Pirates and Colorado Rockies are expected to be  sellers. These last place teams are far from contending in their respective divisions. They are also out of the mix from the final wild card spot. Middle of the pack teams like the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and LA Angels are on the fence about buying. It is uncertain what losing teams such as the Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox,  New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, St Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres plan to do. These seven sub 500, teams will have two weeks to determine their season’s fate. It is very possible that at least half of those teams are buyers due to being in subpar divisions. Fans of thse teams must ask which wi...