NBA Trade Rumors: Breaking Down League Buzz Ahead of 2017 Trade Deadline

Two teams, one stuck in neutral (the Detroit Pistons) and another finally enjoying some fruits of The Process (the Philadelphia 76ers), have been mentioned frequently in NBA trade rumors this week.

Let's take a look at the latest news surrounding both franchises.

Detroit Pistons

As the Pistons wallow in mediocrity, sitting at 27 wins and 30 losses while hanging on to eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, the rumors surrounding this team are flying fast.

Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press reported on Wednesday that the Pistons' franchise player, center Andre Drummond, should be staying put for now at least:

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Drummond, who has been the subject of trade speculation leading into Thursday's 3 p.m. deadline, likely will remain with the team, multiple persons with firsthand knowledge of the organization's thinking told the Free Press.

Drummond – along with his teammates – was back at the practice facility on Tuesday following a restful NBA All-Star break.

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Drummond is averaging 14.6 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. He has a 25.2 percent rebounding rate that ranks first in the NBA and he is only 23 years old, so it makes sense to hang onto Drummond and hope that he can continue his development.

Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical also spoke about the Pistons' situation in a live stream (h/t Braden Shackelford of Piston Powered for the transcription, which has been edited for length):

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There are a lot of Pistons players available, I mean, there are a lot of deals that they are open to doing. Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, and an interesting one is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope...I don't think (a Pope trade) will happen, but I do know that Detroit has been open out there to see what might be available for Pope–not because they don't like him, but because they want to see if there is another pretty good young shooting guard or a guy (up-and-coming) that they could get that would be available to them.

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Given that Detroit's current roster has only led the Pistons to a 27-30 record, Woj's comments aren't a surprise. Drummond will likely stay in town unless someone offers a king's ransom, but Jackson is much more likely to leave, as he's recently lost minutes to backup point guard Ish Smith. He's only playing 25.7 minutes per game in February, per Basketball Reference, so he's more expendable.

Caldwell-Pope is an interesting new name to the trade mix. KCP has a lot of plusses: He's 24 years old, durable (only missing 13 games in three-and-a-half seasons) and has improved his three-point shooting immensely this year (37.2 percent compared to 30.9 percent last season). He's also a good defender, ranking 22nd out of 100 shooting guards in defensive real plus-minus, per ESPN.

Of course, those are all reasons not to let KCP go this year. The guess is that the Pistons try to work around a core of Drummond and KCP (unless they get Godfather offers) and trade Jackson before the deadline.

Philadelphia 76ers

Three men entered Philadelphia's frontcourt logjam this season (Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor), and one of them looks like he will leave by Thursday.

Spoiler alert: It's not going to be the guy averaging 20 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes a game. Therefore, Okafor or Noel should be on the move on Thursday.

Wojnarowski also spoke about the 76ers' situation and mentioned that Okafor or Noel could be heading out of town (skip ahead to the 54-minute mark). Okafor seems like the most likely of the two to leave, but if a move can't be made for him, then Noel could be on his way out.

Woj said "there are still teams checking on Noel and re-engaging on him," while also noting that Noel is a restricted free agent who could command a big contract in the offseason, meaning that any team who trades for him assumes a risk.

He also said that there exists a possibility that neither player gets moved and that the 76ers re-evaluate the situation before the NBA draft in June.

Marc Stein of ESPN (h/t Rotoworld) also connected Okafor with Boston (is there a team Okafor hasn't been connected with at this point?), mentioning that if the Celtics can't land a top star at the deadline (e.g. Jimmy Butler or Paul George), then they may look to Okafor as a fallback option.

Okafor, who is only 21 years old, would provide good frontcourt depth for the Celtics. He could slowly develop while incumbent big man Al Horford plays the majority of the minutes at center and provide some spot starts if Horford is hurt or needs rest.

Okafor's career may have gotten off to a rocky start in Philadelphia, but a change of scenery could be what he needs.