Marcin Gortat Had Flown in 25 People to Phoenix For Polish Heritage Night, Then He Got Traded to Washington

The other side of NBA trades that you rarely hear about, starring Marcin Gortat:

"The Suns planned to have Polish heritage night for their home opener on Wednesday and Gortat had flown in 25 people from his native country – including soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, the Polish minister of sport, the Polish ambassador and children from his basketball camp — for what was expected to be a fun week in Phoenix. But while they were arriving in Arizona, Gortat was catching a flight to start his new life in Washington."

Bummer. Guess trades are so top secret in Phoenix that the marketing department couldn’t be looped in to squash the big party planned for the season opener. Can they quickly shift gears to make it Ukrainian night, with Alex Len and Viacheslav Kravtsov on the roster? With two players from Kansas and Kentucky on the roster, they could always go for some type of “College Dynasty” night. [via Wash Post]