Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, right, drives against Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo during the second half in Dallas on Feb. 3, 2024. (AP file photo)

The list of NBA players that might get traded before the 3 p.m. Eastern deadline on Thursday is a long one, according to Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

It includes … well, basically everybody.

“This is the world we’re living in,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s a business. You have to understand this. Nobody’s safe. Nobody’s safe.

After this weekend, he might be right.

It’s hard to envision a bigger stunner than the first deal that went down over the weekend — Luka Doncic is now with the Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis is now with the Dallas Mavericks, the first time that two reigning All-NBA players were traded for one another in-season. That move overshadowed another one that, under normal circumstances, would have been seismic: De’Aaron Fox leaving Sacramento for San Antonio to join All-Star Victor Wembanyama, with Zach LaVine leaving Chicago for the Kings.

Fox was an All-NBA selection two years ago. LaVine is a two-time All-Star. And when adding in D’Angelo Russell getting moved by the Lakers to Brooklyn in late December, that’s five current or former All-Stars that have been traded already this season.

“Normally when you trade a star you get a bunch of junk back,” Hall of Famer and NBA analyst Charles Barkley said on NBA TV, reacting to the Doncic-Davis trade. “This is the first time I can remember when you’ve got two All-NBA players traded for each other.”

To Antetokounmpo’s point, if Doncic — the clear face of the Dallas franchise until now, the player who replaced Dirk Nowitzki in that role with the Mavericks, someone who took his team to the NBA Finals last season — can get moved, then yes, it can be argued that any player can get moved.

Nobody knows what other surprises might be looming, especially with a slew of teams that are in the playoff — or play-in — chase thinking about which players could be acquired to help their postseason odds.

“The play-in part of it lets the competition last longer,” said Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff, whose Pistons are squarely in the Eastern Conference play-in mix. “And more teams are competing for those spots longer into the season. The past, what, four or five years, we’ve had a different champion. So now, everybody feels like they’ve got a shot at it. They’re making moves so that they can go and get it. I think that’s great for the league.”

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AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Milwaukee and AP freelance writer Matthew DeGeorge in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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