The Serge Ibaka trade had been reported but not finalized on Tuesday, and already the NBA was buzzing about its implications.

One of the first texts on it was succinct: “Arms race?”

Perhaps.

With less than a week to go before the NBA’s trade deadline, the Raptors have fired the first salvo in what might be an explosive time for last-minute roster manipulation.

That’s especially true in the Eastern Conference, where the extended absence of Kevin Love after knee surgery may make the prohibitive favourites, the Cleveland Cavaliers, vulnerable, while a handful of teams are primed to at least seriously consider moves before next Thursday at 3 p.m.

From Toronto’s Masai Ujiri saying “I still have my phone,” to the Indiana Pacers being “open for business” and LeBron James insisting on some sort of help for the Cavaliers, to the Boston Celtics looking for a game-changing star worth adding for the various impressive assets they have stored, to the bench-starved Washington Wizards linked to high-scoring ex-Raptor Lou Williams, almost every team of significance in the East seems willing to do some kind of deal.

Love is out four to six weeks and J.R. Smith is still absent from the Cavaliers lineup, and the opportunity to close a substantial gap with one right move is intriguing to legitimate contenders.

There will be countless rumours, and chatter about discussions held over the next few days. Here’s a look at who might do what, why and who could be available:

Raptors

HAVE: League sources insist Toronto will not give away any more young assets such as Delon Wright, Jakob Poeltl, Lucas Nogueira, Pascal Siakam, Norm Powell or Fred VanVleet, but that doesn’t mean a package can’t be put together. They have the expiring contract of Jared Sullinger, another 2017 first-round draft pick and a glut of point guards they could put together.

NEED: The roster imbalance was addressed by the departure of wing Terrence Ross for Ibaka, but Toronto still could use an offensively creative big small forward.

Celtics

HAVE: Arguably the biggest chip in the trade game is Brooklyn’s 2017 first-round draft pick — it’d be No. 1 today — and the Celtics own it. Amir Johnson’s $12-million expiring contract might look good as well.

NEED: The Celtics have a good team verging on very good, but they lack a stud wing. If they can try to pry Jimmy Butler away from the Chicago Bulls, it’d be the game-changer in the conference. That’d be a tough signal for the Bulls to send their fans, though, and might be more likely in the summertime.

Wizards

HAVE: Not an awful lot to offer because their starting five is solid, but the bench doesn’t have anybody that many teams would want. They’re more likely to do something relatively minor, if they do anything at all.

NEED: Williams from the Lakers as a scorer off the bench, even with his defensive deficiencies, would address a serious need, but the starters are sound and it’s hard to imagine breaking them up.

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Cavaliers

HAVE: Going on the theory that the team’s stars are not available — and why would they be? — they don’t have very much to offer of substance, and it’s hard to see any team offering anything more than end-of-the-bench help. Saving a roster spot to pick up someone who is waived is their most logical course of action.

NEED: Despite James’ assertion that something is missing, the Cavs remain the best team in the East. They could use some size and a backup point guard, but maybe they just weather the storm until Love gets back and go on from there.

Making trades in the NBA is not an easy task. There are financial implications, short- and long-term. Few true “stars” are ever dealt in the final week. But these are unique times, especially in the East, and anything can happen.

The names being bandied about — maybe true, maybe not — include everyone from Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks to P.J. Tucker of the Suns and Miami’s Goran Dragic. Perhaps they are available, perhaps they are not, but it does feel like there’s more serious talk by more teams than usual this year.

The next week might be fun.

NICE AD-DITION: The decision to allow NBA teams to put small sponsor patches on their uniforms was universally thought to be a way to increase revenues, and that was the right perception. But the Utah Jazz took it an important step further and will put a charity’s logo, rather than a corporate one, on their jerseys. Sponsor Qualtrics, a “customer optimization” firm, struck a deal to put a “5 For The Fight” logo on Jazz jerseys. The charity raises money for cancer research.

KAWHI … ZOWIE: The San Antonio Spurs have long been one of the most egalitarian organizations — on and off the court — in the NBA, more about the team and fitting in rather than the individual. That’s changing, at least on the court, more and more this season. Kawhi Leonard, the team’s undisputed star, now has 18 games of more than 30 points, the most by any Spurs centre since Tim Duncan in 2001-02.

FIRING THEM UP: Here’s this week’s Three-Point Oddity note. Everyone knows the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors are in love with the three-pointer, and every other team uses it as a staple of their offence. The Denver Nuggets are the latest to have some noteworthy accomplishment in long-distance shooting. They tied an NBA record by making 24 in a single game this week — ironically, in a lopsided win over the Warriors.

G FORCE: Lost amid the Serge Ibaka news of Tuesday was the fact that the NBA D-League is no more. It’s now the NBA Gatorade League — or G-League, I suppose — after the change of title sponsorship to an energy drink. Doesn’t really mean much, except that it enriches someone’s coffers somewhere. The Raptors, for instance, don’t have to dump BioSteel — a Gatorade rival — as a partner as a result. Might take some getting used to, but the golf folks lived through the Nike Tour and the Web.com Tour. It’s just another thing to get used to.