NBA Trade Rumors: Breaking Down Latest on DeMarcus Cousins, Nerlens Noel, More

The NBA trade deadline won't roll around until 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 23, but a slew of star-studded names started popping up in the league's rumor mill just weeks into the regular season. 

Deals are far from imminent at this stage in the game, but players such as DeMarcus Cousins, Nerlens Noel and Brook Lopez have surfaced as possible trade candidates because of shaky standings with their current employers, personnel gluts or reported front-office desires to maximize the return on valuable assets.

Kings Front Office Contemplating Cousins Deal? 

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It feels like we talk about Cousins as a potential trade candidate every season, and this one is no exception.

Although the Sacramento Kings just launched a new era under head coach Dave Joerger, on Sunday, Amico Hoops' Sam Amico cited an anonymous team executive who said general manager Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive have talked about moving Cousins. 

Those discussions were characterized by the source as "passive-aggressive" and "secretive." A different Western Conference executive told Amico trading Cousins is a "50-50" proposition. 

Dealing Cousins at some point could net the Kings a staggering return, but possible trade partners haven't been disclosed early in the season. 

Logistically speaking, the more appropriate move for the Kings could be to play out the season and see how Cousins meshes with Joerger. The big man has one season left on his deal following the 2016-17 campaign, and the Kings could still trade him a year from now for a nice—albeit slightly less enticing—return.

Considering Cousins has a skill set that can anchor the Kings offense and propel the team back into the postseason if he's surrounded by the right veteran pieces, parting ways at this point would be a premature move.

Raptors Interested in Dealing for Noel

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The state of the Philadelphia 76ers' frontcourt has been rehashed repeatedly during the team's extended rebuilding process, so we won't dig deep into how the team's glut of bigs came to be. 

What's important is that between Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Dario Saric, Ben Simmons and Ersan Ilyasova, the team doesn't have enough minutes to go around in the long term. 

And that's not even counting Noel—who's on the shelf after undergoing minor knee surgery. However, the procedure hasn't deterred teams from inquiring about the 22-year-old's availability. 

Citing sources Saturday, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported the Toronto Raptors "have expressed interest" in the freakish defender. Stein also reported Toronto would prefer to wait things out and give rookies Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam a chance.

But if the Raptors do eventually hold substantive trade discussions with the Sixers, targeting Noel is an interesting concept.

The big man is slated to be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, which means Toronto could acquire the right to extend him a qualifying offer and match all competing offers in the summer. 

That's particularly appealing because the Raptors entered Wednesday night ranked 29th in blocks with just four per game.

Noel seems like the perfect remedy. Although he's been hampered by injuries over the course of his brief NBA career, the former lottery pick has averaged 1.8 steals and 1.7 blocks per contest over his first two seasons.

With the Raptors in search of a bench spark who can switch on the perimeter and serve as an elite shot-blocker below the free-throw line, it'll be worth monitoring their pursuit of Noel in the months to come. 

Nets Mulling Options with Lopez

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Like with Cousins, Lopez's name seems to surface in trade rumors on a regular basis. This time around, the party's getting started early.

According to Stein, "Some rival executives are increasingly convinced that the Nets are open to moving Lopez between now and the February deadline in the proverbial right deal."

Just like with Noel, a deal doesn't appear to be in the Nets' near future, per Stein: "Sources familiar with the Nets' thinking stressed to ESPN.com in recent days that, as it stands, Brooklyn is merely fielding calls and doing its due diligence. Listening to other teams, in other words, as opposed to outright shopping the former All-Star center."

Lopez is due $21.1 million this year and $22.6 million during the 2017-18 campaign, the final season of his deal, but team control for a player of his caliber can be appealing, as Stein noted.

Dealing Lopez this season would make plenty of sense. 

The Boston Celtics can exercise swap rights with the Nets on first-round picks in 2017, and they also own Brooklyn's unprotected 2018 first-round pick.

In other words, Brooklyn is short on cost-controlled assets to bolster its rebuild under general manager Sean Marks.

So if the Nets can extract young players and a draft pick or two in exchange for their double-double machine, a trade could accelerate the team's contending timeline.