Thursday afternoon went down as the greatest NBA Trade Deadline in history. The final 15-minutes saw more trades than most basketball minds could handle. There were multiple players involved in multiple team trades and it took almost two hours for everyone to figure out who was traded where.

Out of the huge mess there was only one Canadian involved in any of the trades, however, four NBA Canadians were effected by the trades that took place – most were effected positively, others not so much.

Andrew Wiggins & Anthony Bennett

Most people were shocked to hear late Wednesday night that the Minnesota Timberwolves were making late push for Kevin Garnett. The power forward was drafted fifth overall by Minnesota back in 1995 making this a late reunion for the Wolves and Garnett. At the age of 38 some believe this could be Garnett’s final season in the NBA as he is most certainly guaranteed a spot in the Hall-of-Fame and has plans to hopefully own a percentage of the Wolves in the future.

Couple hours after the deadline had gone reports surfaced that the Wolves would like to re-sign Garnett to a two-year extension. This goes back to an article I wrote six month ago comparing Garnett’s tenure in Minnesota with their current roster. In the early stages of the big mans career he had veteran players such as Sam Mitchell and Terry Porter to learn from. I compared Thaddeus Young and Mo Williams to be those same veteran players to be around the likes of Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Zach Lavine. Since Williams has been traded to the Charlotte Hornets and Young was the one shipped to Brooklyn for Garnett.

All due respect, Garnett is the better veteran than Williams and Young. The 19-year veteran has been an all-star 15 times, he won the NBA Championship in 2008 and was league MVP in 2004. He’s been part of the ups and down Minnesota faced in the late 90s and early 2000s. He was part of Boston’s growth from the bottom to the top. He’s been part of a Brooklyn team that was supposed to be special but failed.

Simply, Garnett is everything a mentor should be in the NBA. Wiggins, the first overall pick in 2014 needs the mentorship of Garnett. Unlike his new mentor Wiggins has won All-Star Rookie Game MVP and is in the lead for Rookie of the Year. With so much on his plate Wiggins has the ability to become an all-star like Garnett very soon. It’ll come with the development of his game, which Wiggins can do without Garnett. However, for Wiggins to get his name in the same category as Garnett, LeBron James and all the other greats that have come and gone, the Toronto native must become a vocal team leader.

We’ve come to learn that Wiggins is mostly a quiet guy, and that’s fair. No one needs Wiggins to be vocal like Garnett on the court, but for Wiggins to be successful off the court he’ll need to have a voice in the locker room. If there’s one guy that can open Wiggins up it will be Garnett. They may only be teammates for two months, but Garnett will be right there with Wiggins from now to the moment the new Kid leaves Minnesota.

For Anthony Bennett, he’s a player that needs to be challenged. He needs a teammate that will be up in his face during practice. Garnett is not the same tough guy he was a few years ago, but he can still make his teammates work. Bennett, the 2013 first overall pick has played 52-games in his first season with Minnesota, tying the same amount he played with Cleveland in his first year. This season averaging over 16-minutes a game, Bennett is scoring 5.2-points per game and 3.8-rebounds. Anyone whose known the 21-year old knows he can be a key role player for an NBA team. The effect Garnett could play on Bennett could change the forwards career.

Tyler Ennis – traded from Phoenix to Milwaukee

When people first heard that Goran Dragic had asked for a trade from the Phoenix Suns, to many Canadians it was a chance for Ennis to finally get his chance in the NBA. Around the final minutes of the deadline, Dragic was sent to Miami, and later Isiah Thomas to Philadelphia , then corrected to Boston. It seemed as though the back-court in Phoenix had opened up to Eric Bledsoe and Ennis. Only later Ennis was involved in the trades and was shipped to Milwaukee. It seemed the Brampton native had finally been freed.

A source told Hoops Hype Canada that Ennis was ecstatic about his new change of scenery. The Bucks not only acquired Ennis, but shipped out Brandon Knight, who was having a career year. Michael Carter-Williams was shipped from Philadelphia to Milwaukee with Ennis, creating a new back-court. Carter-Williams will take over the starting role, but Ennis won’t be inserted as the backup. The Bucks still have Jerryd Bayless on their roster and is the more likely candidate to be backing Carter-Williams.

For Ennis though, the back-court is not as crowded in Milwaukee. He’s no longer fourth on the depth chart, but rather third. He’ll get his chances to play with the Bucks, a team poised to make the NBA playoffs. Ennis will also get to learn from one of the best point guards the NBA has ever seen in Bucks Head Coach Jason Kidd. Ennis’ father Tony McIntyre told Sportsnets Michael Grange, “Kidd was an idol of Tyler’s growing up; he’s in a great situation.”

Milwaukee will be a better home to Ennis to grow and play at the NBA level. The 20-year old has only appeared in eight games this season with the Suns, scoring a total of 22-points and 14-assists.

Andrew Nicholson

Dragic and Reggie Jackson both requested trades from their respective teams. Both were traded on Thursday. Nicholson was another who requested a trade from the Orlando Magic, but did not find himself a new home. The 25-year old still has one more year left on his rookie contract after this season and has spent the whole 2014-2015 season in the doghouse.

Nicholson had played in 151 games in the past two seasons prior to this season, starting in 28 of them. All his starts came in his rookie campaign but since the Magic have not seen the need for the Mississauga native. He’s only appeared in 18-games this season and is averaging all career lows.

Only two reasons make sense of Nicholson not being traded: either the Magic overvalue the big man or there just was no interest in Nicholson. At still a young age, Nicholson still carries a lot of potential. Sticking in Orlando will hurt his value entering his restricted free agent year, but if he can’t find minutes with the Magic, Nicholson might be nothing more than a end of the bench type player. One thing is for sure, it’s time the Canadian was given a change of scenery and given the chance to at least prove himself in the NBA. Orlando is not allowing that, and this trade deadline didn’t go as planned for Nicholson and his agent, so they are hopeful come this summer that the Magic work to find him a new home.