NBA Trade Deadline: How Mike D'Antoni's Resignation Impacts Trade Talks

Mike D'Antoni is no longer the head coach of the New York Knicks. How does this affect, if it does at all, the NBA trade deadline? 

There is at least one possibility that one thing is affected. Connect the following dots. First, Carmelo Anthony (allegedly) says he wants out of New York. Then, he tweets this. 

Then, hours later, D'Antoni resigns because there are "conflicting visions of the club's future." 

Are we seeing the straight line here? D'Antoni insists on running an offense that asks Anthony to step out to the wing and spread the court. Anthony insists on holding the ball at the elbow and running isolation plays. Anthony says him or me. Dolan says you, and then waves goodbye to D'Antoni. 

And as though there might be any doubt, Mike Woodson, who brought us "iso-Joe" (nefarious nickname for Joe Johnson so named because of his vaunted love for the isolation play, particularly under Woodson with the Hawks), was named the new head coach.

So what does this have to do with the trade deadline? It means that if you were thinking and/or hoping that Anthony could be on the market, he's not. 

What else does it mean? It could mean that Dwight Howard gets dealt to the Nets finally. The Knicks would have been a team that might have been able to be added to the infamous "list," as it's hard to imagine how the weather there is any different than New York, and Howard would still get to be "the man," not just in a major market, but in the major market.

The Knicks and Bulls were the only teams that appear to have the capacity to put together a package that the Magic really like. Howard has show no interest in coming to Chicago, but there could have been interest in the Knicks 

The fact that there is just no better deal on the table than the Nets deal now means that the Magic will deal Howard to the Nets by default. Once that happens, the rest of the deals that are waiting for that shoe to drop. 

So, directly this might not have an impact on the trade deadline, but as a "first domino," it should cause all the others to topple.