At the NBA Trade Deadline, fans love the blockbuster trades happening left, right and centre by a plethora of teams. There's not a much more exciting trade deadline than the one that happens in basketball.
For fans it's fun, but for players it's one of the most stressful times of the year. Of course, the playoffs are probably more stressful, but sitting at home reading the rumours and rumblings about how you might get traded must be pretty taxing as well.
Toronto Raptors' big man Jonas Valanciunas was mentioned in some of the trade conversation this past trade deadline, with a specific rumour being a possible blockbuster deal that would send JV to the Detroit Pistons for Andre Drummond. As we know now, the trade simply didn't happen, and Valanciunas remains on the Raptors.
When JV saw Masai Ujiri after the deadline, he went up and thanked the Raptors president for not trading him. That lead to a great exchange between the two which was captured on Open Gym.
"You are way better than Drummond," has to be a great confidence booster for JV.
The Raptors' team has always felt like a family, and it's obvious Ujiri works hard to give it that vibe.
(H/T @ballgod)
