NBA Draft Rumors: Last-Minute Trade Buzz Surrounding Picks and Veterans

Adam Silver is set to announce the first pick of the 2015 NBA draft later Thursday night. Of course, the trade buzz won't subside before, during or after the draft, as the league is in the meat of its roster construction season.    

Expecting rumors to manifest exactly is an exercise in frustration, but in general, teams leak everything for a reason. While certain players or picks might not be the precise targets, every rumor belies an organization's specific agenda.  

Rounding up the latest buzz on the day of the draft, here's a look at which teams could be the most active Thursday night, as well as the likelihood of these moves actually unfolding.

Lyles to New York?

Kentucky big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein have garnered most of the top-10 buzz for the Wildcats in the pre-draft process. However, their backup from last season, Trey Lyles, could crash the party and perhaps even end up in the top five:

It wouldn't be surprising to see Lyles move ahead of Cauley-Stein, given that the 7-footer's draft stock is reportedly slipping amid concern from a lingering ankle injury. Conversely, Lyles has steadily seen his stock rise throughout the process. In an article from SB Nation's Ricky O'Donnell, Lyles opines that playing on the wing has given him an unmatched inside-outside versatility among big men:

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Playing the wing helped me out a lot just by having to chase around smaller guys. Guys who are 6-foot and stuff like that. It helped me in my all around game defensively and offensively...It doesn't matter to me if I'm playing inside or out. It just matters on the matchup that I have. If it's a small guarding me, then I'll post him up. If it's a big guarding me, I'll face him up.

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Despite his youth, Lyles also exhibits a high basketball IQ and surprising polish in his ball-handling. Though he'll need to grow into his frame to become a workable defender, there are also few players with his combination of size and versatility.

Going fourth overall to the New York Knicks would still qualify as a shock, but Lyles looms as a possibility if the Knicks trade out of the pick. New York has appeared indifferent since failing to land a top-two pick, making it a prime candidate to trade into the latter half of the top 10 and nab Lyles at a better value.

Hornets Want Kaminsky?

Another top-10 team potentially on the move is the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets hold the No. 9 pick for the second consecutive season, but they just traded away last year's pick, Noah Vonleh, in a deal for Nic Batum, per Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. With Vonleh and Gerald Henderson gone, the Hornets have reportedly set their sights on prolific scoring big Frank Kaminsky:

Woj's report suggests a Kaminsky pick is contingent on Charlotte trading away Cody Zeller for a wing, but with Batum's acquisition, perhaps that becomes a moot point. The Wisconsin big has largely been projected as more of a No. 10-15 prospect, but Sporting News' Sean Deveney suggested recently the Knicks could be considering Kaminsky, even as high as pick No. 4. 

That's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but following the Batum trade, the ninth pick suddenly looks like a strong possibility. Charlotte absolutely needs more range, as its 45.6 percent effective field-goal percentage (which weights three-pointers) ranked dead last in 2014-15, per Basketball-Reference. Of the eight Hornets to attempt at least 100 three-pointers last season, only Marvin Williams (35.8 percent) made more than 34 percent of his attempts.

Kaminsky is someone who could be invaluable for Charlotte's floor-spacing and open cutting lanes for Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Moreover, he'd represent a natural complement next to defense-only center Bismack Biyombo. Watch for the Wisconsin product to come off the board if he's still available when the Hornets are on the clock.

Spurs Trying to Move Up?

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The San Antonio Spurs have picked at the scraps of the first round for much of the past two decades or so. However, there's new buzz that the Spurs are planning a big move up the board into unforeseen territory for the organization:

It's unlikely picks would be part of the haul: San Antonio does not have an extra first-rounder and has been loath to trade away even its late first-rounders. Moreover, with only five players under contract, the Spurs have a limited range of trade chips to offer Oklahoma City. Boris Diaw's expiring $7.5 million contract might be the best combination of skill and finances to offer, but Diaw played a valuable Swiss Army knife role on the Spurs' 2014 championship team.

Regardless, it's becoming apparent that San Antonio, which traditionally drafts long-term developmental prospects and lets them mature away from the NBA grind, might take more of a short-term approach in 2015. The clock is ticking if Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili return, and according to the Associated Press' Raul Dominguez (via Yahoo Sports), Gregg Popovich believes next year's roster could undergo a shakeup:

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We've got a pretty good number of free agents. So with RC and our coaches, we've talked about what we want to do going forward with the makeup of the team. The team will probably look considerably different than it did this year because we have so many free agents and we want to retool a little bit. We want to try to start not exactly over again, but these last four seasons have been a grind.

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Moving up to the late-lottery range could put the Spurs in position to take a prospect like Bobby Portis, Jerian Grant or Montrezl Harrell who might help in their short-term push to squeeze one more deep playoff run out of their core. The end might be near for this historic group, but San Antonio appears set to maximize its twilight days.