A few weeks ago, Charles Barkley made a very bold statement during the NBA on the TNT studio show. He stated that this would be the craziest trade deadline in the history of the NBA. Given that Charles Barkley has had a history of giving bold predictions that have gone incredibly wrong, many may not have taken his prediction seriously.

It turns out that he was absolutely correct. I cannot recall a crazier trade deadline in recent memory. Of course, we have to start with the two main trades that made this trade deadline as notable as it was. The NBA may owe a debt of gratitude to the Brooklyn Nets.

For whatever reason, Kyrie Irving lost all patience with the Brooklyn Nets even though they had completely turned their season around after firing Steve Nash. Irving was traded to the Dallas Mavericks along with Markieff Morris to form a dynamic duo with Luka Doncic. The Nets received Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a first-round pick, and two second-round picks.

Undoubtedly, the Dallas Mavericks got better by acquiring Kyrie Irving. However, they are still not a championship team. While Luka has a great deal of help on the scoring front, the Mavericks are still quite deficient in terms of defense. They have little depth and no rebounding.

The undisputed winners of this year's trade deadline are the Phoenix Suns, who landed the big fish, Kevin Durant. Durant and TJ Warren were traded to the Suns for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, and four first-round picks.
This move makes the Suns the undisputed favorite in the Western Conference.

With a dynamic foursome of CP3, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Deandre Ayton, this season for the Suns has now become a championship or bust season. The Milwaukee Bucks may have made the most underrated move of the trade deadline. After Jae Crowder was traded to Brooklyn, he was subsequently shipped to the Milwaukee Bucks shortly thereafter. He will add versatility and toughness to the Bucks.

The Knicks traded Cam Reddish and added Jalen Brunson's former college teammate Josh Hart. Josh Hart should greatly benefit from being reunited with Brunson. On top of that, the LA Lakers added a great deal of versatility and team speed by adding D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jerrod Vanderbilt. This was on top of the beneficial Rui Hachimura trade. I believe that the Lakers had a very successful trade deadline.

For more opinionated sports articles check out Sports Column!