The NBA got weird on Friday night. Veteran forward Trevor Ariza, who had been the subject of widespread trade speculation in recent weeks, appeared to be headed to Washington after Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweeted that he was part of a three-team deal including the Memphis Grizzlies.
As part of the deal, the Grizzlies would’ve acquired a talented young wing player in Kelly Oubre, while the Suns would get Wayne Selden and Dillon Brooks from Memphis, and Austin Rivers from Washington in return for Ariza.
But pandemonium ensued when conflicting reports emerged on Twitter that there was some confusion between the teams about which “Brooks” was actually part of the deal, MarShon or Dillon. Soon after, it became clear that Memphis believed they were dealing MarShon and that they weren’t, in fact, willing to part with Dillon, a fact that ended up torpedoing the entire trade.
As you might imagine, there were a lot of people unhappy with this outcome, but at least one player involved seems glad to still be in place, i.e. Dillon Brooks, who took to Twitter to make his feelings known.
😅 #GoGrizz
— Dillon Brooks (@dillonbrooks24) December 15, 2018
Brooks was clearly one of the most coveted players in this equation, as evidenced by the fact that his inclusion was the sticking point for all sides. That loyalty from his incumbent team has to feel pretty good for a young player of his stature who is still trying to make his way in the league.
For everyone else involved, well, that’s a much stickier situation, given that they all now realize their respective organizations were ready to move on from them. It’s typically hard to come back from something like, but then again, crazier things have happened.
