The biggest trade of the NBA season went down over the weekend, and Jimmy Butler will play his first game for the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night after forcing a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Butler left a mess in his wake, with Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau now on the hot seat after failing to find a way to placate Butler and get him to co-exist peacfully with his younger teammates.
Minnesota received Dario Saric, Robert Covington and Jarryd Bayless in the deal, while Philadelphia got one of the best two-way players in the NBA to add to its superstar nucleus of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
What remains to be seen is whether the deal will spur Sixers backers to believe their team truly has a shot at the NBA championship. If so, it will send them flocking to betting parlors and Web sites with good value, and odds with Pinnacle Canada will be one of those destinations.
One thing to keep an eye on in the days ahead is whether Carmelo Anthony will join the Sixers, too.
He is on the verge of being waived by the Houston Rockets, and the 16-year veteran could fill a hole at the power forward spot that was created by the departure of Saric, the starting power forward.
Anthony was expected to be a big contributor for the Rockets, who went to the Western Conference Finals last season and lost in 7 games to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors. But Anthony, after a relatively strong start to the season, has been listed out with the flu the past two games and will not play for the Rockets against Denver.
His agent is scouting potential landing zones, and Philadelphia seems like the best fit at the moment. Another potential landing zone could be Brooklyn, where the Nets lost starter Caris LaVert to a broken ankle Monday night. He is likely out for the season.
This has been an unusual start to the NBA season, with teams that were expected to be bad, especially the Sacramento Kings, performing quite well. One team that was expected to be a true contender in the Eastern Conference is the Washington Wizards, but they have struggled … leading to speculation over whether Scott Brooks will be the next NBA coach to lose his job. Right now, it appears it will be him or Thibodeau.