Here’s ESPN Los Angeles reporting on a situation that sounds like something out of a movie. A sports movie. Not necessarily the greatest movie of all time. But still, a movie:
The timing could have been better.
As the NBA trade deadline was coming to a close Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles Clippers players were gathered on the team’s chartered plane, waiting to depart for Memphis for their game against the Grizzlies on Friday.
With each minute that extended past their scheduled departure time, the tensions began to grow as players who were rumored to be traded, refreshed the Twitter pages on their smart phone and checked text messages.
“The plane was a sweatbox today,” said Matt Barnes, who was prominent in trade talks with the New York Knicks for Iman Shumpert. “It’s just a business and it’s tough. We sat on that plane for almost two hours looking around in silence, looking at Twitter.
“No one was really talking. We were looking around and the captain said [the delay was caused by] bad weather and we’re like, ‘Yeah, bulls—, we’re waiting for that trade deadline.’ I’m just glad it’s over.”
