The trade deadline often feels more like a formality than a hard and fast line. Sure, talks and everything ends at that time, but it rarely is the reason a trade falls through. In the case of O.J. Mayo, however, that deadline was the reason he didn’t join the Indiana Pacers roster.
If the deal would have gone through, the Pacers would have sent Josh McRoberts and a 2011 first round pick to the Memphis Grizzlies for Mayo.
Of course, like many of these situations with front offices, we didn’t ever get the full story.