NBA players explain the "overwhelming" emotions of being traded at the midseason deadline
The midseason NBA trade deadline came and went with relative tranquility. Aside from a handful of small trades and contract dumps that failed to excite even the most diehard basketball heads, most teams opted to stay put and ride out the remainder of the year with their rosters unchanged.
While the quiet trade deadline may upset fans everywhere outside the Bay Area, it also left NBA players - especially those on expiring contracts - breathing a major sigh of relief.
On Monday, veteran Los Angeles Clippers guard and rookie podcast host J.J. Redick brought on Charlotte Hornet Spencer Hawes to discuss the emotional roller coaster NBA players feel leading up to the 3pm EST trade deadline. Redick and Hawes were teammates in Los Angeles last season, but earlier in their careers they were both traded midseason at the deadline. As they discussed, the entire experience is overwhelming and exceedingly difficult.
"I had a pretty good idea that I was going to get moved. Obviously you never know where, but you hear the rumors and you talk to everybody and you have a pretty good pulse on which ones have traction," Hawes said. "It's a stressful experience, especially when you've been in a place for a while like I had in Philadelphia. So you're hearing the rumors, you're getting ready to go to practice, you know you're not supposed to practice, and it's kind of awkward with everybody there."