Tonight’s Must-Watch Games

The Opening Tip

• Do you know the Pelicans’ seasonal mascot, King Cake Baby? 

• The Clippers might be the best team in the NBA 

• Klay Thompson is going though it these days

1. Rumors ↓

This NBA trade deadline (tomorrow at 3 PM ET) is likely going to be pretty boring, unless the Simone Fonteccio sweepstakes do it for you.

The OG Anunoby/Pascal Siakam trades are likely the most blockbuster-y we’re going to get, but here are your rumors one day before the deadline: 

1. GSW wants to trade Andrew Wiggins, but must first answer the question: Does anyone want Andrew Wiggins?

2. Dejounte Murray has been on the block for weeks, but Atlanta hasn’t felt it’s received a serious offer. 

3. The Lakers appear desperate to trade D’Angelo Russell, who’s been one of their best players for a month now.

4. Several teams want Andre Drummond, who’s averaging 18.8 rebounds per 36 minutes. 

5. Philly is at least posturing like it wants to add for this season

6. The Celtics have a few bench guys in mind

[READ: Live deadline buzz tracker]

2. Daily GIF: This thing is real

Two things: 

1. No, this isn’t some cosplay thing from the dark web 

2. This is King Cake Baby, who becomes the Pelicans’ mascot for a few games every Mardi Gras season. Here he (she?) is in action. 

KCB’s final game of 2024 was on Monday, a 38-point win for the Pelicans.

Side note: God bless New Orleans, the one place in America that would support/think of King Cake Baby.

3. Trivia

4. Grip Graph: The Clippers’ net-rating by month

(Net-rating = a team's point differential per 100 possessions)

TLDR: The Clippers had a good start followed by a disastrous immediate post-Harden trade era before turning into one of the best teams in the league.

Also, they’re currently the No. 1 seed in the West.

Quick hits

• Klay Thompson was unusually emotional on Monday night after getting benched down the stretch. 

• ESPN reporter on Nets games: ‘It just doesn’t feel like there’s any fans, really. You come every night and the visiting team is getting massive cheers.’

• Trae Young and Scottie Barnes have been named All-Star replacements for Julius Randle and Joel Embiid. 

• The Celebrity All-Star Game roster just dropped.

• Bol Bol sighting in last night’s Suns-Bucks game. 

• Eastern Conference All-Star Game head coach Doc Rivers is 1-4 since taking over in Milwaukee.

Reads

• How Nikola Jokic became the world’s best basketball player [New Yorker]

• Klay Thompson’s not done yet, but he and the Warriors need a pivot [The Athletic]

• How do you build around a playmaking genius like Luka Doncic? [The Ringer]

That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 356th edition of The Grip.