Los Angeles (AFP) – Memphis Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace called the unravelling of a planned three-team NBA trade over apparent mistaken identity of one of the players involved “unfathomable”.
The deal proposed on Friday would have sent Washington Wizards player Kelly Oubre to Memphis, the Suns’ Trevor Ariza to Washington and have the Grizzlies send one of their two players named Brooks — MarShon or Dillon — to Phoenix along with Wayne Selden.
“What happened last night was unfathomable. I’ve never experienced this before, and we were very clear about who was in this deal and Dillon Brooks never was intended to be a part of this, was not from our standpoint,” Wallace told reporters Saturday, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“And we made this very clear, it was not Dillon Brooks. And I let Dillon know that after the game, too, that don’t believe what you’re reading and hearing tonight. You were not a part of this trade and you’re not going to be a part of it.”
Dillon Brooks is a 22-year-old second-year player who started 74 games as a rookie last season, while MarShon Brooks is a 29-year-old veteran reserve.
Wallace was also irked that one of the other teams leaked the deal before he’d had a chance to inform his players, and he had to “drag two players out of a locker room” to tell them they’d been traded, only to tell them later that they hadn’t.
According to media reports on Saturday, the Suns and Wizards had reached a new deal that will send Ariza to Washington for Oubre and Austin Rivers.
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