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It was a night of trades and tears and a seemingly insatiable social media thirst for the sort of drama that the N.B.A. generates like no other league once its gyms go dark and the balls stop bouncing.

It was also only the beginning.

Thursday’s N.B.A. draft, for all the transactional mayhem it spawned even before Zion Williamson’s emotional reaction to going No. 1 over all, was just a prelude to the looming free-agent frenzy.

A tasty prelude, no doubt, but merely l’aperitif.

Days of chaos — plural — are coming June 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern time, when free agency officially starts. If that didn’t become clear when the Los Angeles Lakers reached an agreement to acquire Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans less than 48 hours after the Toronto Raptors dethroned the Golden State Warriors as league champions, it must be obvious after a thoroughly bonkers draft.

None of this, mind you, should be a surprise to anyone studying the way several franchises have been behaving in the Warriors’ considerable shadow.