NBA Trade Rumors: Teams Frustrated by Lack of Available Impact Players
As the NBA trade deadline nears, NBA teams are reportedly unenthused about the players who are available.
"When you talk to teams right now, there's a little frustration out there that there may not be a lot of real significant impact players available between now and the trade deadline," ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said (3:00 mark).
Some of the biggest potential deals of the NBA season have already taken place—like the one that sent a disgruntled James Harden out of Houston and to the Brooklyn Nets, or ones that moved other perennial stars including Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul and Jrue Holiday.
ESPN's Tim Bontemps reported Saturday that "league insiders expect the next few months to be relatively light from a transaction standpoint."
Per Bontemps, most of the league's stars have all moved within the last season-and-a-half—Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward are among players who have swapped jerseys at some point since the 2019 offseason.
As for the others, Giannis Antetokounmpo signed a major extension.
Even though the Wizards are near the bottom of the league yet again after two losing seasons, Bradley Beal "wants to remain in Washington and has not indicated he prefers to be traded," according to Shams Charania and Fred Katz of The Athletic.
While all of that doesn't have the makings of a busy trade season, Wojnarowski proposed one potential trade chip for the Cleveland Cavaliers—Kevin Love.
Love is reportedly nearing a return from a calf injury that has limited him to just two games this season, but he's proved to be a strong piece for Cleveland when healthy, averaging at least 17.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game through the last three seasons.
While he has a hefty contract—nearly $60 million over the next two seasons before free agency in 2023, per Spotrac—Wojnarowski proposed that he could be one of the biggest names circulating as the March 25 deadline approaches.
