An NBA Trade Just Fell Apart Because Someone Confused Two Guys Named Brooks

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I am, admittedly, not the typical source of NBA information at Deadspin, let alone in the sports journalism universe writ large. But it’s Friday, I live on the West Coast, I’m home sick with a sinus infection, and my husband is a huge Phoenix Suns fan. I’ve been hearing about this all night. Also, almost everyone else is at the company holiday party. So here goes!

This is where our story begins:

Ariza is a big trade chip for the Suns because he’s an aging veteran and the Suns, uh, have issues. With this news, the remaining questions were just where would he go and who would the Suns get in return.

OK, that seemed settled. But wait — it wasn’t.

MarShon Brooks is 29 years old, while Dillon Brooks is 22 and is considered a promising young player. Suns fans probably would have preferred Dillon Brooks over MarShon Brooks, but ’ems the breaks.

Except, uh, then this happened:

While this was happening:

And in case you didn’t trust these folks, Marc Stein wanted you to know that he does.

Is it possible they’re both right? Uh, maybe?

This is why communication—be it in your marriage or between three decent-to-bad NBA franchises—is important.