The Golden State Warriors endured a bizarre and emotional Wednesday night, as news broke that the team was acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat shortly before they were set to tip off against the Utah Jazz. That forced his team to have to say goodbye to Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson and Lindy Waters III, who were involved in the deal. Golden State went on to blow a double-digit lead in the final three minutes before losing, 131-128.
After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr could not talk about Butler or the reported deal because it has not yet become official. He did, however, share his thoughts on the timing of the trade deadline.
“The league should consider making the trade deadline at the All-Star break,” Kerr said. “Just so you don’t have to face these games where guys are getting traded half an hour before a game and you’re trying to process the emotions and trying to win a game. I don’t know if that’s possible, but it would be great if we could move it back and make the last couple of days before the deadline off days. I don’t know how to do it, but these are tough days for sure.”
In fact, that’s exactly how the league used to have the deadline set up. But after DeMarcus Cousins learned he was being traded from the Sacramento Kings to the New Orleans Pelicans during his press conference after the 2017 All-Star Game, the deadline was moved up before All-Star Weekend.
“With the new placement of the trade deadline, teams will be able to settle their rosters before the All-Star break and avoid the disruptions that result from players joining new teams just as practices and games are beginning to resume following the All-Star break,” the league stated in a press release announcing the decision to change the calendar.
Whether Kerr forgot about that, or just thinks that a Cousins-type scenario would be preferable, is unclear. The inescapable fact is that trades are a major disruption to teams, players and their families, and there’s no perfect solution.
As it stands, players can get traded right before or after a game, and in some rare cases, while they’re going on. That’s no fun for anyone, and making the night before the deadline an off day could certainly help. But trades aren’t limited to that specific night, and in any case some teams would still be on the road, away from their homes and families.
Moving the deadline to the All-Star break would eliminate any issues with regular-season games, but could cause a major disruption to one of the league’s marquee weekends, as we saw with the Cousins incident. Plus, players would prefer not to have their futures hanging in the balance while they’re trying to plan and enjoy the lone vacation they get during the season.
Unless the league does away with trades altogether, which isn’t happening, coaches and players are just going to have to deal with some tough nights around the deadline.
