The Basement View

 With the NBA Trade Deadline on the doorstep, it’s time for the NBA Trade Machine to be fired up and solve all of basketballs problems, hypothetically, and start the run to the title. There have been mainstays in trade talks all year, Ben Simmons the most consistent of names, but whether big names will be moved at Thursday’s deadline is up in the air. For the sake of this column let’s assume that there are no limits, and everyone is on the table. Before we get to the entrée, let’s start with trades that are fun, but have little to do with title contention: Mavs Moves 1.      European Romance The move that makes the most sense for Dallas is getting Sabonis to Texas to play with Luka ASAP. Their play styles mesh better than maybe any two players in the league and the lineup versatility they would have could only be matched by Cleveland, but the Cavs are missing the true Superstar that Doncic is. This trade is simple: Dallas receives: Domantas Sabonis | ...

 The Nets stink. James Harden stinks. Kyrie Irving can only half the games. Kevin Durant is out until the beginning of March. Brooklyn has started 26 different starting lineups and the five best players: Harden, Irving, Durant, Harris, and Mills haven’t played a single second on the floor together. Brooklyn’s “Title Contending” team is 29-24 and in 7 th place in the East. This team STINKS right now. No quick fix is coming for this team either. Brooklyn cannot make a trade to reinvigorate this roster. The team they have is the team they have (unless someone gets out of an untenable situation and gets bought out elsewhere), and the team they have now simply cannot get it done. Any team that loses to the Kings by 11 points would name that as the low point of their season—except for the Orlando Magic. It is laughable that the current betting favorite for the NBA title as well as the consensus favorite among fans when the team is fully healthy is this Brooklyn squad. That’s the thing...