ATLANTA – Hours after adding Kevin Durant via trade, the Phoenix Suns entered State Farm Arena to play the Atlanta Hawks. If they were telling the truth, they weren’t fully focused on Thursday night’s game.
“I think if you sit here and say you can [centrarte sólo en el partido]you’re probably lying”Suns coach Monty Williams said two hours before his team was scheduled to take the field.
“For me to sit here and say you have to put everyone’s thoughts into tonight’s game, that’s not realistic. That’s not letting people process their personal stuff.”
The end result, then, should have come as no surprise. The Suns trailed for the final 45 minutes of their 116-107 loss to the Hawks. Later, Williams pointed out that his team “I just didn’t have it tonight.”
For the Suns, there was excitement all day about the addition of Durant. But they were still largely processing the departures of teammates Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson.
“These two are near and dear to my heart”Williams said, pausing frequently throughout his remarks to take deep breaths. “They are literally like my family.”
Valley Forever.
Always love to the twins 💜🧡 pic.twitter.com/9ovEZJWYTX
—Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 9, 2023
This is what fans often don’t fully process – while market closing day is one of the best days of the year for them, it’s one of the worst for the people actually involved. The Suns and Hawks were relieved when it was all wrapped up Thursday afternoon.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said, smiling and clapping his hands in glee.
“You bond with a bunch of guys and all of a sudden, they’re gone in the blink of an eye. Some of those guys were with us in practice today. It’s hard. You want this day to come and go. “
John Collins, the Hawks forward always shrouded in trade rumors, was relieved to see the day was over and not involved in any movement.
“I can breathe for a moment”Collins said.
THE HAWKS WIN! pic.twitter.com/ECscGY9e4d
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 10, 2023
The players will try to deny it, but the transfer rumors are getting to them. It is impossible to ignore them.
“You can’t be on social media without seeing something related to it”Collins said. “It’s more annoying than anything, as much as I want to come out here and play basketball, bond with my teammates, my kids, try to win games, do whatever I can.”
Do these rumors affect a player’s production on the field?
“I never like to think that it happens, but I always think that somehow it probably happens subconsciously.”Collins added. “I never have it in my mind. I never go into a game thinking that something is holding me back, but life has its ups and downs.
“I am a person.”
subscribe to NBA League Pass to see all games: United States | The rest of the world
The stress of getting pierced can be tough, but getting pierced can be even harder.
“Families are involved. Children are involved”McMillan said. “It’s a tough situation when you’re established in one place and, in 24 hours or so, you’re packing to go to a new place, a new address and finish the season there.”
If an NBA player is lucky, he gets traded while playing at home. At least then, you have a few hours to pack.
That was the case with Hawks veterans Justin Holiday and Frank Kaminsky. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced his move to Houston at 2 p.m. ET. Three hours later, when the media started trickling into the stadium, their photos had already been removed from the corridors.
The Suns players involved in the Durant trade weren’t so lucky. Bridges learned of the Durant trade shortly after midnight while he was at the hotel in Atlanta. His teammate, Damion Lee, broke the news to him, Bridges told TNT’s Jared Greenberg in an interview during the match.
“It was observed that [Lee] I was upset”Bridges said. “And he said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry this and that.’ I said, “What are you talking about?” He said, “Don’t you see? I said, ‘See what?'” He said, “You’ve been traded to Brooklyn for Durant.
“I couldn’t believe it. I went on Twitter and I saw it and I tweeted it. And then my agents called me a few minutes later. That’s how I found out.”
Omg lol
— Mikal Bridges (@mikal_bridges) February 9, 2023
Hours later, Bridges and Johnson were in Brooklyn with nothing more than their travel luggage in tow.
They smiled and cheered for their new team, watching the Nets beat the Bulls.
Bridges, Johnson, Holiday, Kaminsky and the other players involved in Thursday’s trades will likely have to live in hotels for the rest of the season while they acclimate to life in an entirely new city.
It’s part of the game. That was a common phrase in both locker rooms.
“It’s a business, it’s a business, it’s a business”Hawks guard Dejounte Murray repeated to his teammates in the locker room before the game.
“It’s a business, but at the same time, the kids that left were part of this family.”Suns center Deandre Ayton said. “It can affect you a little bit. Still, nobody’s going to war or anything, but at the same time it’s more than basketball.”
As the shock of losing his teammates began to wear off, the Suns began to recognize their newfound potential with Durant.
Suns guard Chris Paul said he felt it “lots of feelings” related to the course of his companions, but that he was “Excited about the process of building this team.”
“The atmosphere has changed”Ayton said. “I can’t wait to get on the court and get into my first fight with these guys.”
At the end of the day, Williams admitted there was one cure that could lift the organization: Kevin Durant.
“I think it’s more than an improvement”Williams said. “It’s a big development.”
The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the NBA or its organizations.
