NBA Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Top Player Movement as Free Agency Begins
If you’re late to the party, don’t bother catching up.
Just kidding; nothing happened yet—keyword yet. While the NBA free-agency period hasn’t exactly kicked off with a bang trade wise, there are plenty of rumors afloat. Here are the loudest rumblings from around the league.
Advice: Don’t Trust Billy King with Your Money
Marc Stein and Chad Ford of ESPN reported that the Brooklyn Nets are in discussion with the Atlanta Hawks about a trade that would send Joe Johnson to The City That Never Sleeps. And Nets fans would understandably get no sleep if such a trade went down.
I would imagine every phone call Danny Ferry gets about a trade he starts off by saying ”Only if you take Joe Johnson” just to lighten the mood with an innocent joke. He had to be speechless when King responded with yes, please instead of laughter.
Johnson is owed over $90 million over the next four seasons, and he’s 31 years old. King makes David Kahn look like a Mensa member.
Will Dwight Howard Be A Hollywood Star?
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic are talking once again about shipping Howard cross country. A swap would without a doubt include Andrew Bynum, and when it’s all said and done, no pair of teams create a win-win trade relationship more than the Lakers and Magic.
Bynum is the second-best center in the NBA. If the Lakers trade him for anyone other than Howard, they would downgrade at the position. Orlando, on the other hand, is going to lose D12 to free agency if it doesn’t trade him, so replacing the best center in the league with the second-best is far better than being left empty-handed.
Will Josh Smith Be A Hollywood Star?
Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a Josh Smith-Pau Gasol swap is dead until the Lakers come back to reality. Los Angeles wants Smith, as well as another major piece, for the Spaniard.
Atlanta is wise to turn LA down because Smith is arguably more talented than Gasol to begin with at this point in his career. The biggest reason why the Hawks are attempting to trade Smith is because he’ll become a free agent next summer.
Steve Nash May or May Not Have a New York State of Mind
Wojnarowski tweeted this report of potential route that Nash lands in NYC.
"Phoenix has expressed interest with Landry Fields as part of possible sign-and-trade package with New York for Steve Nash, sources tell Y!
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 1, 2012"
New York desperately needs a point guard, whether that’s Nash, Jeremy Lin or Stephen Marbury. That last one was a joke, but the Knicks will be a joke next year if they don’t add a respectable starter, and it’d be worth surrendering Landry Fields to make it happen. If they re-sign J.R. Smith, NY won’t need Fields as soon as Iman Shumpert recovers anyway.
David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.
