The NBA Trade: A New Era

The 2017-2018 NBA season has been impacted by trades that took place as early as July. Major trades that took place earlier in the season included Carmelo Anthony leaving the New York Knicks after seven years for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kyrie Irving leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers after six years for the Boston Celtics and Isaiah Thomas leaving the Boston Celtics after three years for the Cleveland Cavaliers. These plays were all very key to the team they played for.

The changes that have occurred consists of how players are playing with their team and the chemistry, new tactics, and how the crowd reacts. All of this directly impacts the team’s success. It has been noted for many teams, such as the New York Knicks, that the team is prospering despite losing a star player.

The way the teams play when they lose a key player is different than before and noticed by everyone. Particularly, The New York Knicks statistics in the 2016-2017 season were low, and now that Carmelo Anthony has left they have been doing great. While Anthony was apart of the Knicks, they were 12th in the Eastern Standing with 51 loses and 31 wins. Currently they are now in fifth place. Although it is the start of the season, they are doing better than they were last year. It is the 72nd season of the NBA which started on October 27th, 2017.

Thomas A. Edison student Ariff Enus who is a long time New York Knicks fan said “If I could trade anyone in the NBA league I would trade Devin Booker to the Knicks to provide complementary scoring with a duo with Porzingis.”

Spencer Jones, a Thomas A. Edison student who loves the NBA said, “When I first heard that Oklahoma got both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony via trades during the offseason, as an OKC fan I was just so thrilled. Knowing that we got Westbrook the help that he deserves after having arguable one of the best MVP seasons of all types made me think we now have an actual chance at beating the Golden State Warriors and even making it to the finals this year.”

The Boston Celtics have been holding onto their number one spot in the Eastern Standings without key player Isaiah Thomas. While last year, they were in fifth place where the New York Knicks are currently.

Kyrie Irving requested a trade from Cleveland Cavaliers in July after three-straight trips to the NBA Finals with the Cavaliers and forward LeBron James. It was clear that Irving wanted out for a while now. When the trade was finalized,  the fans took to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction through memes and videos of burning Irving jerseys.

Thomas A. Edison student Nicholas Latcha and plays basketball on a regular basis. He had said “Kyrie Irving playing with the Boston Celtics is better for himself because he can focus on how he plays and get better. He could become a focal point instead of being Lebron’s backup. He wants to be the main star of the team and have a new start. He changed his number too.”

But as time progresses, you see how these players begin to play with their team, you can sense some sort of chemistry which is visible. So sometimes change isn’t bad, and it’s actually beneficial as a whole.

Old team mates Kyrie Irving and Lebron James hug it out after the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers battle it out. Photo Credit: USA Today

Old team mates Kyrie Irving and Lebron James hug it out after the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers battle it out.
Photo Credit: USA Today

Tiffany Naraine

My name is Tiffany Naraine and I write for the Sports section for The Edison Light. It isn’t typical for girls to be writing about sports, but I actually love sports. To be specific I love basketball and my favorite team is the New York Knicks. Aside from that my hobbies include going to the city, taking photography, going out to eat and trying new foods, and I also love watching Netflix on my free time. My hands down favorite shows have to be Arrow and Riverdale.