Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
It’s March, which in previous seasons would be among the NBA’s quieter months, with the trade deadline come and gone and many of the top buyout candidates already signed on with other teams. But this is a new season, a pandemic season, and with the league’s trade deadline moved back to March 25th—and the buyout deadline pushed to April 6th—there is plenty of maneuvering to be done before the playoffs.