The dust has settled. The NBA trade deadline is over. Hell, we even have new Super Bowl champions in the Seattle Seahawks! So, NBA players who were in trade discussions can all breathe easy now. But it sure was an intense few weeks in the association as news broke that the Milwaukee Bucks were now listening to deals for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now in his 13th season, the “Greek Freak” has given his all to that organization and that city. With the team competitively plateauing, it seems that both sides saw it fit to begin exploring options elsewhere.

The frenzy of the NBA’s trade deadline

One of the reported desired destinations of Antetokounmpo was the New York Knicks. Almost like clockwork, once the perennial All-Star was made available, the Knicks started playing as if the “Monstars” took their powers. Most notably, a sometimes dejected Karl-Anthony Towns exhibited poor defensive awareness and disinterest in being offensively aggressive. In New York City, that exacerbated everything! Not knowing which version of Towns we would get every night was infuriating. Not to mention, going on a 2-9 run after winning the NBA Cup just wasn’t the business.

What Knick fans needed during that tough stretch was reassurance. Having made it to the NBA Eastern Conference finals last season, it became very tangible that the Knicks are positioned to become NBA champions this closely for the first time since 1999. What Antetokounmpo represented was everything that Towns didn’t exhibit in that atrocious 11-game stretch. What the Greek Freak represents is the same performance night in and night out. He is locked in defensively every game. Most importantly, his effort is never in question. It isn’t tempered by his biorhythms. New Yorkers want to be sure about the players on the floor. And with every mistimed foul or turnover, the city grew more tired of Towns.

The logistics

Ironically enough, the areas of Antetokounmpo’s game where he lacks, Towns excels at. Towns is a better finesse player. He can shoot the three, and score much better from the free throw line. But New Yorkers were ready to leverage all of that due to the lack of effort and attention to detail Towns exhibited. Somehow, the closer that we got to the Feb. 5 trade deadline, the Knicks somehow remembered who they were. The same tenacious defense they played during the first half of the season was back. The perimeter scoring — poof it appeared again. And with that improved play, so were Knicks’ fans belief in the team that they have.

It’s Giannis Antetokounmpo’s big ‘gotcha’ moment

With the former league MVP nursing yet another calf strain, he has been out of action for the past three weeks. These calf strains have also become more prevalent in Antetokounmpo’s career in recent years. That would give any front office cause to pause. In recent seasons, we’ve learned that calf strains could potentially lead to ruptures of the Achilles tendon. We need to not look further than Damian Lillard, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum; and that was last season!

When you couple that with the fact that Antetokounmpo also recently endorsed a new gambling app called Kalshi after the trade deadline, it raises eyebrows. The app allows you to trade on the outcome of real-world events. Events such as, where will Antetokounmpo be traded before the trade deadline? Will he be traded? So on and so forth, you get it. So was he ever truly going to be dealt before the deadline? As the narrator in the Tootsie Pop commercials would say, “The world may never know.” And that’s probably for the best. Knicks fans have the team that they want. It’s on them now that the dust has settled to deliver in the world’s most famous arena.