NBA Rumors: Week of Feb. 9 Complete Roundup
The NBA landscape is suddenly quiet, as the All-Star break has finally arrived, but the rumor mill remains anything but silent with just days remaining until the Feb. 19 trade deadline.
This time of the year has recently been greeted with sighs and groans, with the league's best often separating themselves and title contenders all but put together. That's nowhere near the case in 2014-15, as wide-open races in both conferences have as many as a dozen teams eyeing their chances of winning a title.
The Larry O'Brien Trophy looks as up for grabs as it has in years, which will only bring an uptick in aggressiveness for those contending teams that believe they need one more key piece for a championship run. Take a look at the Charlotte Hornets, who stacked their roster for a hopeful playoff push by adding Mo Williams from the Minnesota Timberwolves this week.
With Friday and the start of the All-Star weekend comes a brief vacation for select players and coaches, but most general managers and front office personnel won't have any time to kick up their feet. Let's take a look at the latest rumors churning around the league for the week of Feb. 9.
Enes Kanter
We've been wondering all season how the Utah Jazz were going to build for the future with three young post players oozing with potential and talent battling for two spots. One of them—center Enes Kanter—has a solution, and it includes him hitting the old dusty trail.
Kanter "hopes to be traded" before the upcoming deadline, according to The Salt Lake Tribune's Aaron Falk, who spoke with the embattled big man after Wednesday's defeat. After playing 18 minutes in the first three quarters, he rode the bench for the entirety of the fourth quarter.
The 22-year-old center from Switzerland has validated his stock as a former No. 3 overall pick in 2011, improving every season while building a more complete all-around game than he boasted upon entering the league. He's performing better than ever statistically, with career-high marks of 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
The problem? Kanter is hard-pressed for playing time. Despite starting 48 of 49 games, he averages 27.1 minutes—less than every other starter—and fellow young center Rudy Gobert has been tapping into Kanter's minutes with his own recent emergence.
Those developments this season have fueled a fire that has reportedly been burning for some time, as told by the Deseret News' Jody Genessy:
"Kanter’s agent, fellow Turk Max Ergul, has been trying to get the 6-foot-11 big man traded from Utah for years, according to a source with knowledge on the subject. Kanter's camp has “really turned up the heat” on Jazz management for a trade in recent weeks, the source added.
Not surprisingly, Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey responded with a “No comment.” Ergul denied to the Deseret News that he’s been trying to get the Jazz to trade Kanter for years.
"
It's the classic case of a player—and his agent—thinking he's capable of more than his current organization is giving him the chance to be.
In many such cases, a player with as much potential as Kanter can make working through it worth the struggles. But this case is amplified by Gobert and Derrick Favors—two thriving young frontcourt studs who could be the big men to build around in Utah.
The writing had been on the wall for Kanter to find greener pastures, and it looks inevitable as the trade deadline nears.
Goran Dragic
Phoenix Suns guard Goran Dragic had no trouble convincing the NBA of his ability to be a leading backcourt player for a playoff-caliber team.
But he has had trouble earning that sort of security in Phoenix. The Suns re-signed star Eric Bledsoe and brought in Isaiah Thomas while leaving Dragic to free agency this offseason.
And according to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times, he may not last that long:
You can hear the whispers around NBA front offices now: "That's it?"
Don't get me wrong; a first-round pick is no small piece of pie for any team to give up. But when you're talking about a talent like Dragic, that has to be just the first asset in a potential trade.
The 28-year-old's stock soared after his breakout 2013-14 season, after which the Suns could have easily gotten a first-round pick and more for Dragic had they wanted to. If that's what they're asking for now, it's not like Dragic (16.2 points, 4.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds) has played his way out of that price range in 2014-15.
The Suns might be mailing in their fleeting playoff hopes by dealing one of their best players, but it could instead be a chance to open up the backcourt for Bledsoe and Thomas. With Dragic's 13.1 field-goal attempts per game gone, Thomas could increase his impact.
It could turn into a good thing in the long run for Phoenix, but only if the Suns get a proper return.
Arron Afflalo
The Denver Nuggets once again positioned themselves for a playoff run in the offseason, and they once again enter the All-Star break all but eliminated from contention. At 20-33, they're past the outside of the West playoff hunt and instead vying to be one of the conference's worst teams.
Cue the trade rumors for the valuable piece who is failing to fit, which just so happens to be Arron Afflalo.
ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported the latest on the pursuit of Afflalo by a number of teams:
Afflalo was brought into Denver via an offseason trade with the Orlando Magic, and hopes were high that he could become a perimeter defender and a sharp-shooting threat for the Nuggets. The 29-year-old has struggled despite playing more than 33 minutes per game, scoring 14.5 points per contest on .428 shooting—his lowest clip from the field since his rookie season.
The seventh-year veteran's struggles haven't done much to lower his trade value, however, and the Nuggets' recent haul of two first-round picks for Timofey Mozgov will have Denver looking for a high price tag, as Shelburne noted:
But while the Nuggets have plenty of reasons to wait for the right deal, they might be better off simply taking the best offer on the table come the trade deadline.
In the cutthroat West, Denver has no chance to make a late push for the playoffs. That doesn't necessarily make Afflalo expendable, but the fact that he owns a player option for next season should.
After the way this season has progressed in Denver, it'd be easy to see Afflalo opt out and test the open market. In that case, the Nuggets will get nothing out of his departure other than clearing up some cap space.
If the Nuggets want something—anything—for Afflalo, it's now or never.
Amar'e Stoudemire
Plenty of players have seen their names floated around the rumor mill often in recent years, but none more than Amar'e Stoudemire. With immense injury struggles, a rapid decline and poor play immediately following his huge Knicks contract, he's become more of a liability than an asset.
And with his Knicks in an absolute free fall and eyeing the draft lottery, now is the perfect time.
The loudest rumblings are perhaps the most intriguing, pitting Stoudemire with a potential return to the Phoenix Suns. Jordan Schultz of The Huffington Post reported what he had heard:
It may not be the reunion many Suns fans envisioned when Stoudemire left town a few years back, but it could be the right time on both ends.
It's obvious how the trade would benefit the Knicks. New York has been looking for a way to get Stoudemire's contract off the books for years, which would undoubtedly streamline the rebuilding efforts heading into the offseason and free agency.
As for the Suns, they desperately need an injection of energy into the frontcourt if they're going to make a playoff appearance in the West. Shelburne already mentioned the worries surrounding Len, and Stoudemire's occasional contribution could take some of the load off the Morris twins.
Stoudemire is nowhere near the same player he was when he last put on a Suns jersey, but his former team doesn't need him to be that player. If he can come in and contribute 10 to 15 minutes of high-energy play, Phoenix would benefit greatly.
