The NBA trade deadline gives players a chance to demand to live someplace cooler

The NBA's trade deadline is Thursday, which means it's the time when NBA players demand trades. It was a trade demand that earned Kristaps Porzingis his freedom from the horrible, horrible Knicks, and it was a trade demand that cost New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis a $50,000 fine and now has him at the forefront of the sport's rumor mill. 

Davis' dad does not want him to play for the Celtics. He will only sign a long-term extension with four possible trade suitors: The Lakers, Clippers, Knicks and Bucks. Lonzo Ball could go to New Orleans in a potential deal for Davis, but LaVar Ball is not having it, as LaVar Ball is almost never having it. We're all spending a lot of time examining LeBron James' tweets.   

Trades are a part of what makes following professional sports fun, especially if you're pulling for a bottom-dweller. Because, hey: Maybe your team has what it takes to swing a huge deal and land a new franchise player, and suddenly you won't have to watch all these same suckers anymore. 

But trades are also a part of what makes playing professional sports so weird, in that they're really not the type of thing that happens in other careers. Right? People get transferred to new locations sometimes, but getting transferred means staying at your same company. Plus, if you don't want to be transferred, you can look for a job in your same field at a different company closer to home. 

If you're a professional athlete, you get traded, and you don't want to pack up all your stuff and move, then you pretty much just need to switch careers entirely. Pro athletes had to fight legal battles for free agency, where most of us, counterintuitively, just sort of inherit it by not being nearly as good at anything as professional athletes are at their sports. 

Trade demands are nothing new, but the NBA has seen an uptick in recent seasons, and it feels like the demands are indulged more frequently than ever. And that makes sense: It's a star-driven league, which beats the heck out of an owner-driven league. Plus, in a sport where it pays to be unselfish, teams really don't want to keep playing a dude who doesn't want to be around anymore. 

So this newsletter hereby supports NBA players trying to control their own destinies, even as this same newsletter seriously questions Davis' logic: Bro, you get to live and play in New Orleans, one of the world's best places, full of live music and fried things. You don't want to give that up to suffer through a long contract with the Knicks. 

Fact is, I would pretty much always demand a trade to New Orleans. Heck, I hereby demand a trade to New Orleans. Get it done, folks. 

Monday's big winner

Some guy who put $250 down on the Rams scoring exactly three points, a bet that paid out $100,000. The issue is, if you're putting more than two hundred bucks on such a very specific outcome, there's almost no way that's the only bet you're placing. Presumably this guy still came out on top, because $100,000 is a lot, but that's the type of win that only emboldens you to put more money down on unlikelier outcomes moving forward. One time I won $1100 at a roulette table. It was cool, but it compelled me to play a lot more roulette than I otherwise would have in my life, and I'm probably close to even by now. 

Quick hits

- Did you catch the NFL 100 Super Bowl ad -- the one where a bunch of football greats break into an impromptu football game at a banquet -- and wonder about the teenage girl playing among the NFL legends? That's Samantha Gordon, a 15-year-old who excelled in youth football and helped start the Utah Girls Tackle Football League. 

- Our man Steven Ruiz is very good at analyzing football plays. His latest breaks down just how bad Rams quarterback Jared Goff was in the Super Bowl. Hint: Very bad. 

- Giannis Antetokounmpo got a wide-open look from just behind the arc in a game against the Nets and took one of the worst shots you will ever see in your life. Stars: They're just like us!

- Asked about the Super Bowl, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, "It just gets old watching the same team win the whole thing year after year." Oh, I get it. 

This day in dumb sports

It was two years ago Tuesday that the Atlanta Falcons took a 28-3 lead over the Patriots by the third quarter of the Super Bowl. Donald Trump left his Super Bowl party and Madden Football's Twitter mocked the New England club. You'll never believe what happened next.