NBA Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Goran Dragic, Mo Williams and More
NBA teams have finalized their rosters for the regular season, and they'll finally start playing meaningful games Tuesday night.
However, a few squads are still unsatisfied with the mix of players they've accumulated. Other teams are in wait-and-see periods with certain players before putting their names on the trade block.
Let's check in with the potential trade situations concerning a trio of point guards.
Goran Dragic
The Miami Heat enter the 2016-17 season in a state of transition. Longtime franchise player Dwyane Wade joined the Chicago Bulls in free agency, Chris Bosh's health problems leave his future in doubt and the squad also moved on from veterans Luol Deng and Joe Johnson.
The core members of the Heat are now Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow. Don't be surprised if that core gets shaken up this year, though.
ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported Friday that Miami isn't currently looking to trade Dragic but wrote that he has heard from several league officials that they expect the team to make the veteran point guard available if the squad gets off to a slow start.
It makes sense that Dragic isn't on the market at the moment. He never was the most natural fit next to Wade in the backcourt, but he was a third-team All-NBA performer in 2013-14, the last full campaign he had before coming to Miami. He deserves a chance to prove himself for at least a portion of the season.
If the Heat do end up pulling the trigger on a trade, they have Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson waiting for bigger roles if the swap doesn't net them a different point guard.
Mo Williams
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the defending NBA champions and figure to contend for the title again in 2016-17. But not everything is going perfectly in Cleveland.
ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst reported the Cavaliers have reached a stalemate with guard Mo Williams and are hoping to find a trade partner for him.
Williams went back and forth on retirement over the season but ended up telling ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin on September 22 that he would return to the team. However, an October 12 Instagram post implied that the veteran floor general wasn't happy with how the team dealt with his recovery from a knee injury. He didn't report to training camp, either.
Cleveland does need help at point guard, considering the roster has only two players at the position. Kyrie Irving is the obvious starter, but rookie backup Kay Felder is inexperienced and out to start the season due to a concussion, per Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon.
The market isn't great right now for shoot-first, defenseless point guards on the wrong side of 30, so Cleveland might have some trouble finding a taker for Williams, even if it adds some additional value to the swap.
Tyus Jones
Williams doesn't have much trade value right now, but Tyus Jones definitely does. The Minnesota Timberwolves' second-year floor general is still just 20 years old, and there's reason to believe he could be a useful rotation piece throughout his career, given his high basketball IQ and passing ability.
The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Minnesota has found a team that is interested in the former Duke standout.
The Timberwolves are not the right team for a developing point guard such as Jones. They already have Ricky Rubio and Kris Dunn to play the 1, and Zach LaVine will sometimes see time at the position as well. The team also made the inexplicable decision Monday of keeping veteran point guard John Lucas III on the 15-man roster.
Philadelphia could be the perfect place for Jones, as he would get minutes immediately on a 76ers squad full of stopgap-type players in the backcourt. On the other end of the trade, the Timberwolves could use a young big to develop into a reliable bench player or possibly a three-point shooter to alleviate the team's spacing issues.
