NBA Rumors: Reviewing Top Reports from 2018 Trade Deadline

Just because the NBA trade deadline has passed, that doesn't mean the wheeling and dealing is done.

Not by a long shot.

With all the trades now finalized, now comes the less stressful part: releases, waivers and buyouts.

And, what we'll call "stays."

Stays are the players whom everyone thinks a team will get rid of, but they actually stay put—at least for the time being.

The first stay is Isaiah Thomas.

Sure, his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers was the equivalent of a Molotov cocktail being thrown at a fireworks stand, and yes, getting the Los Angeles Lakers to accept him in a trade seemed a bit like the Cavs put a chloroform rag to Magic Johnson's face before the deal, but somehow, someway, the Lakers want to see what IT can do for them, per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

Ecstatic as he might be, if Thomas has to grab some pine before taking the court each night and that remains a sticking point, he just might revisit all the little things that got him into trouble back in The Land.

The upside for Los Angeles is that his contract is expiring, so should he be a pain, he'll have to hit the 405 straight out of town.

The other stay is Brook Lopez. 

Calm down, everyone knows he wasn't traded. But there was real scuttlebutt around the league that he'd be bought out and be on the move.

So much for that, says Shelburne.

With everyone in the Lakers front office so focused on the youth, it may be true that Lopez is spinning his wheels by staying in the Purple and Gold instead of finding somewhere to start fresh.

But who knows, maybe he lives close to a killer taco stand and just can't see himself leaving it.

As for releases, there's Derrick Rose.

The last few years for Rose have been something out of a Shakespearean tragedy.

Joe Murphy/Getty Images

The knees, the surgeries, the allegations, the no-shows and the disappearing acts—it's all just been too much to watch.

This was supposed to be a comeback year of sorts for the Chicago native, but, again, things fell apart.

Now he's been traded to the Utah Jazz along with Jae Crowder for Rodney Hood.

Once a league MVP, Rose has been relegated to being a party favor thrown into a trade deal.

But there's a silver lining for Rose.

Utah has already declared their plans to waive him. As soon as he clears waivers, his old coach, Tom Thibodeau—the one that helped shape him from 2010 to '15—will try to claim him, bring him to the Minnesota Timberwolves and try to rekindle their flame.

Here's hoping that works out for all parties involved.

The buyout is Joe Johnson.

The 17-year veteran will seek a buyout to go pursue opportunities with a playoff contender, per NBA.com's David Aldridge.

Johnson had become a bit of a "folk hero" in Utah due to his playoff exploits and his willingness to sign with them as a free agent back in 2016.

Although he'd been averaging a career-low 7.3 points per game off the bench for the Jazz, there are teams out there that could use his clutch scoring.

According to Yahoo! Sports' Chris Mannix, the frontrunners for his services reportedly are the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors.