We are in the dog days of the NBA season. The pomp and circumstance of the In-Season Tournament and Christmas Day games are distant memories, but we’re still almost a month away from All Star Weekend and a few weeks away from the trade deadline. That hasn’t stopped a few newsworthy things from happening though, so let’s dive in.

The Indiana Pacers traded for Pascal Siakam

The Pacers probably thought they were going to tank a bit harder when they unloaded Domantas Sabonis, but they’ve been too good for that to happen. Instead, they’ve pivoted to trying to get better from where they are, and the next step of that is trading for Pascal Siakam. They sent out offseason free agent acquisition Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first round picks (their own pick this year, probably the Thunder or Clippers pick this year, and their own pick in 2026).

The Pacers are 0-2 with Siakam in the lineup. They lost to the Suns last night, but that was without Tyrese Haliburton as he eases his way back from a hamstring injury. Both were in the lineup for Friday’s loss to the Blazers, but that loss was more because the bench got blitzed than any failing of the Haliburton/Siakam combo.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, Brown has come off the bench for two appearances in losses and has averaged 11.5 points per contest.

We have an event schedule for All Star Weekend and updated voting results

Here’s the full schedule for NBA All Star Weekend:

• Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, 7:00pm Eastern: Celebrity All Star Game
• Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, 9:00pm Eastern: Rising Stars Game
• Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, 8:00pm Eastern: All Star Saturday Night
• Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024, 1:30pm Eastern: G League Next Up Game
• Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024: 8:00pm Eastern: NBA All Star Game

Not much movement on the participants for anything yet. Victor Wembanyama is reportedly taking part in the skills challenge, while Jaime Jaquez is reportedly taking part in the dunk contest. Reigning dunk contest champion and current G Leaguer Mac McClung has been invited back, but no word on if he’ll take part.

Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic unexpectedly passed away on January 17th

Milojevic had to be taken to the hospital after suffering a heart attack while out to dinner with Warriors players and coaches in Salt Lake City. He passed away the following day. He is survived by his wife and two children.

The Warriors last two games have been postponed. No word on the status of their upcoming games yet, but it looks like they’ll be back on the court on Wednesday against the Hawks.

Hawks guard Dejounte Murray seems like the next likely big name trade

The Hawks took a big gamble trading away a handful of first round picks to bring Dejounte Murray in from the Spurs. It was always an interesting decision to bring in a somewhat ball dominant guard with a questionable outside shot to complement their very ball dominant guard Trae Young. The idea was probably to pair Murray’s defense and length’s lack of those traits to combine and create the perfect guard. That hasn’t happened. So far, it’s their worst season in the last four years and their three year playoff streak looks to be in grave danger. If the losses pile up in the coming weeks, and they might with Trae Young in the concussion protocol, the Hawks may look to shake things up.

The funniest part of all this is that the Spurs have allegedly reached out to the Hawks with interest in Murray. While I’m sure there are actual basketball motivations at play, I choose to believe there’s some trolling involved there.

LaMelo Ball is a trendsetter

LaMelo Ball made himself a highlight in Wednesday’s loss to the Pelicans when he threw a pass to himself off the backboard for a layup.

LaMelo Ball off the backboard to himself 🤩🤩🤩pic.twitter.com/q74Fqnf1Jo

— MeloHive 🛸💕 (@Meloleague) January 18, 2024

One night later, Anthony Edwards pulled off the same trick with a little more bounce against the Grizzlies, then Joel Embiid did it against the Magic on Friday. I don’t know if anyone actually saw LaMelo do it since I haven’t seen any national sharing of it, but we’ll give him the credit anyway.

DeAndre Ayton missed Wednesday’s game against the Nets due to ice

Oregon and parts of Washington endured a brutal winter storm last week. But basketball doesn’t stop. The Nets were in town on Wednesday night in a game that was played despite harsh travel conditions. Those conditions were apparently at their worst for Trail Blazers center DeAndre Ayton, who was unable to make it out of his house and to the arena for the game. He was the only player unable to make it out to the arena, which of course means he has become a subject of ridicule for the Internet who are accusing him of not trying hard enough to make it to the game and wanting to take a snow day to play video games and such.