Good morning. What kind of sorcery was the Josh Smith waiver?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

LAST NIGHT IN 10 SECONDS: Only two games (bizarre!) with the Suns beating the Bucks and the Pistons beating the Spurs WAIT WHAT KIND OF SORCERY WAS THIS JOSH SMITH WAIVER AFTER ALL? (Stan Van Gundy is fun.)

SPEAKING OF DETROIT ... Rob Mahoney offered up his analysis of how this is happening.

REMAINDERS OF THE TRADE: Eddie Maisonet wrote that the Thunder traded for Dion Waiters looking ahead to the future. I wrote my five lessons from the deal, including that Phil Jackson seems to know what he’s doing.

The Knicks are going to have lots of cap space.

Zach Lowe likes the deal for all three teams.

Bethlehem Shoals wrote that J.R. Smith was the true face of the Knicks, which is absolutely accurate. Speaking of which, Seth Rosenthal collected Smith’s greatest hits in New York, which is so replete with laughs.

DRAFT LIST! DraftExpress’ top 100 has been updated. Still Okafor-Mudiay-Towns at the top.

HOW BAD ARE THE KNICKS? The Knicks are so bad the New York Times is sending beat writer Scott Cacciola to wherever else there is good basketball for a month. He should just take up a residency in Oakland.

OKAY: Carmelo Anthony has a byline on Techcrunch this week. (Thanks to Chris Littmann.)

LOVELY: Dan Devine’s reminder that Stephen Curry and NBA Basketball are magic. (Welcome back, Dan.)

ENDING OVERTIME: Interesting analysis on why free basketball is often so unfulfilling.

YO: Dwane Casey threatened to beat up coaches who don’t put Kyle Lowry in the All-Star Game. Look, KYLE LOWRY might beat them up himself!

ON DRAYMOND: Tim Kawakami talks to Draymond Green about individual recognition and how much fun the Warriors are having.

ATL FTW: Matt Ufford on the rise of the Hawks. KA-KAW!

UHHH: Nick Young claims Swaggy P is a Biblical name, I think.

BACK TO PORTLAND! The Blazers are in the hunt for Jermaine O’Neal, reports Stein. It’s been two forevers since we’ve seen J.O. in Blazers Black. What a scene that’d be.

WELP: Two separate bidders, one familiar to NBA fans, are reportedly trying to buy the Hawks to move them to Seattle.

ERRR: Damian Lillard explains the difference between “hero ball” and what he does.

GOD BLESS JASON MAXIELL: Jessica Camerato did a fun Basketball Insiders piece on unexpected friends NBA players have, like Sam Dalembert having a relationship with Donald Trump. But Jason Maxiell wins: “I’m semi-friends with Prince’s saxophone player. [...] He’s a cool guy. We were at a nightclub, they brought him on stage and he played. He played at my friend’s birthday party too. He doesn’t talk about Prince.”

Happy Wednesday. See you next time.