Are all the famous people happy?
Are they comfortable? Do they make a good living?
Maybe it was the Super Bowl — celebrity as drama, celebrity as the joke, celebrity as the movement, celebrity as the regime — famous people stacked on top of famous people.
Maybe it was Saturday night, ABC securing a split/screen shot of Luka Dončić and LeBron James sitting on the Laker bench, routinely referring to its angle instead of the admittedly non-as-interesting Lakers/Pacers game.
Maybe it was Saturday afternoon, a yearly favorite, watching all the NBA teams after the NBA trade deadline and fearing everything you wrote about the NBA trade deadline 48 hours before is absolute bunk.
Maybe it’s just me, but it feels as if this trade deadline solved nothing for the NBA’s most famous people, its celebrities, the ones its broadcast partners conditioned fans to care about the most. And criticize the most.
Luka is unquestionably sadder, perhaps humbled. LeBron, potentially wounded after an NBA team questioned his NBA mortality for the first time in 22 years and eight months of dealing with nothing but NBA personnel ready, willing but unable to deal their own houses, cars, wife, kids and dog for a chance to align with any part of LeBron James’ career.
