It was awfully kind of the Brooklyn Nets to promptly remove Kyrie Irving from the centre of the NBA discussion Sunday.
Because, with Thursday’s trade deadline approaching fast, Irving’s move to Dallas meant the expected natural order of the situation had been restored — with Raptors president Masai Ujiri essentially running the market for pro basketball’s available personnel through his phone. Ujiri being Ujiri, who has always played poker at his own pace, figures to be more than happy to make the rest of the NBA wait until their prices meet his demands.
And maybe those prices will even dictate his direction, to a point.