NBA Trade Speculation: 5 Ridiculous Moves That Won't Happen

Following the trade that sent reigning Sixth Man of the Year award winner James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets, no trade talk should seem farfetched.

The Thunder had a legitimate chance at winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy with Harden on the roster. However, as Harden entered the final year of his contract, keeping him around on a lucrative deal became a pipe-dream scenario for Oklahoma City.

It’s difficult to question Sam Presti’s moves considering he’s one of the league’s best general managers. OKC was smart to get value in return for Harden if it knew he would leave for a more lucrative contract elsewhere in 2013.

The Harden trade came as a bit of a shock, but it’s certainly justifiable. Other potential moves, however, may ultimately prove too ridiculous to come to fruition.

5. Rudy Gay Leaving Memphis?

Trade rumors involving Rudy Gay have been rampant for quite some time.

Leading up to the 2012 NBA draft, Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio wrote about the possibility of a swap between the Memphis Grizzlies and Charlotte Bobcats. The rumored trade would have been built around the concept of trading Gay to Charlotte for the No. 2 overall pick.

Just two days after that article by Amico, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal wrote an article saying that Grizzlies (former) owner Michael Heisley has no intention of trading Gay moving forward.

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We’re not looking to trade Rudy Gay. We’re not shopping him around. Period. Do we sit around and say, ‘What if we traded Rudy, who could we get?’ No. Right now, Rudy is part of the future of this team.

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We’ll go ahead and slide that into the “definitive quotes” file.

With that said, the Memphis Grizzlies have since been sold by Heisley to California businessman Robert Pera, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

There's certainly no shortage of suitors looking to add Gay's services to their respective roster, so if Pera has a different viewpoint from Heisley regarding a trade, Gay could be sent packing.

Even so, the Grizzlies have a solid core with Gay, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley and Marc Gasol in place. They lost O.J. Mayo via free agency this summer to Dallas, so Gay's scoring prowess will be leaned on more than ever before.

Perhaps Pera will honor Heisley's past stance by keeping Gay around, but if the right deal comes along, the new ownership group may pull the trigger.

4. Possible Josh Smith Trade

According to Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News, Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks doesn’t intend on signing a contract prior to the end of the 2012-13 season. Of course, that move by Smith makes perfect sense. Under the new collective bargaining agreement rules, if Smith waits to become a free agent before signing, he can get a more lucrative five-year deal as opposed to a three-year deal.

Smith’s plan to wait until season’s end to sign a new contract has led to speculation that Smith could be traded at some point this season. Reading too far into that speculation, however, may be a lost cause.

This past summer, the new general manager for the Hawks, Danny Ferry, unloaded the unsavory contracts of Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams to give Atlanta a clean slate. The Hawks simply weren’t going to make a championship run with Johnson as the team’s best player, so a change needed to happen.

Miraculously, Ferry was able to trade Johnson instead of releasing him from the roster via the new amnesty clause. With that in mind, the Hawks need a new face of the franchise moving forward to build around and help the team compete.

The Hawks could start over from scratch and build through the NBA draft, but Smith is a familiar face who is still just 26 years old.

If Ferry and the rest of the Hawks’ front office want to shape this team back into a playoff contender quickly, building around Smith and Al Horford moving forward is the easiest way to do so.

3. Lakers' Backup Point Guards

The Los Angeles Lakers revamped their roster in a big way this offseason, adding two superstars in Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. Also, key additions to the bench via the signings of Antawn Jamison, Jodie Meeks and Jordan Hill are sure to help moving forward.

One area where the stacked Lakers could stand to improve, however, is at the backup point guard spot.

As it turns out, the desire for an upgrade behind Nash is being reflected by reports and not just fans pining for a more skilled bench backcourt.

According to an article by Elliot Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News, the Lakers have made backup point guards Steve Blake and Chris Duhon available on the trade market to any team interested in making a deal.

Rumors that the Lakers were prepared to land Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon turned out to be false, so it doesn’t appear likely that the Lakers will be able to upgrade the backup point guard spot at this time.

The Lakers are already well over the salary cap and facing severe luxury tax penalties as well, so adding another contract off the bench may not be the best call financially.

Also, it’s difficult to figure which teams would be interested in adding Blake or Duhon. Both are capable backup point guards, but neither would be seen as huge upgrades and they’re financially appealing either.

Blake is set to make $4 million in each of the next two seasons and Duhon’s salary isn’t far behind.

In short, the Lakers surrendered all of their trade assets and draft picks to get Nash and Howard. Standing pat at the backup point guard spot moving forward may prove to be the most realistic scenario.

2. Taj Gibson on the Move?

Where Marcin Gortat gained notoriety in Orlando as being the best backup center in basketball, Taj Gibson has earned the label of best backup power forward in basketball (at least in my opinion).

Gibson is a huge reason why the Chicago Bulls are able to compete on such a high level even without their best player and floor general, Derrick Rose. The frontcourt depth Gibson provides behind Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah has proven invaluable. Although he doesn’t always put up huge stats, his impact expands past the nightly box score.

Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago wrote an article discussing the parallels between the situation that Gibson currently faces with the Bulls and the situation James Harden faced in Oklahoma City. Both players held the role of sixth man on their teams, but would be able to receive more lucrative contracts when free agency rolls around.

There’s certainly a chance that Gibson could receive a massive contract offer from another team next summer, but the Chicago Bulls may explore different avenues to keep him in town.

According to an article by ESPN’s Marc Stein, Gibson is held in very high esteem by the Bulls’ organization. Stein mentions rumors and speculation that Chicago would opt to utilize the amnesty clause on Carlos Boozer in order to free up the cap space needed to sign Gibson moving forward.

Now that the Bulls declined to match the Houston Rockets’ offer to center Omer Asik, it appears likely that the Bulls will make a play to keep Gibson on board.

No matter how it plays out, don’t expect Gibson to be traded from Chicago before the end of the season.

1. Could Dwight Find His Ideal Destination?

It’s no secret that Dwight Howard wanted to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets this summer. In fact, according to an article by Mark Mazzeo of ESPN New York quoting a Howard interview on ESPN radio, D12 has said as much even since being traded to Los Angeles.

Sure Howard is on a superstar-laden team in the Western Conference, but the situation he wanted was in Brooklyn. Since Howard is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2012-13 season, there has to be some concern in L.A. that the big man won’t return.

In an article by Ryan Gamble of examiner.com, he hinted at the possibility that Howard could once again find his name in trade rumors if the grouping of superstars in Los Angeles doesn’t click before the All-Star break.

The idea of the Lakers trading Howard this season right after they traded away valuable assets to get him certainly seems ridiculous. Making one big run at a championship trophy with their core of superstars would no doubt be the better option for the organization and for fans (especially if they want to convince Howard to stay).

Even so, if Howard says that he truly wanted to land in Brooklyn, there’s no stopping him from going there in 2013.