The Wizards And Suns Figured Out A Trevor Ariza Trade Without The Grizzlies

Trevor Ariza is going to Washington after all, and this time, a deal got done without the Memphis Grizzlies getting involved.

Ariza was officially traded from Phoenix to the Wizards on Saturday after a hectic Friday night where a deal was widely reported but quickly fell apart. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday afternoon that Ariza would, indeed, be heading to D.C. in a reconfigured deal. This time, the trade is much simpler, in part because it didn’t include the Grizzlies and players with the same last name.

The package is a bit different this time, as that was what held up the deal in the first place. A three-team swap would have netted the Wizards Ariza on Friday night, but a disagreement over which Brooks — Dillon or MarShon — would be included in the three-team deal led to things falling apart.

It may sound like a sitcom plot, but it actually happened in a real professional sports league and essentially killed the three-team deal that would have given Memphis would have gotten Kelly Oubre Jr. in the deal as well.

Instead, Memphis is staying out of the picture, Washington gets Ariza and sends a package to Phoenix that includes Kelly Oubre Jr. and Austin Rivers.

Wojnarowski reported that the deal would be done on Saturday, which would put to rest a brief but bizarre trade saga that saw an agreed-upon deal fall apart because of a case of mistaken identity.