Carmelo Anthony Isn't the Only Impact NBA Player on the Trade Block

Carmelo Anthony is dominating the headlines in the NBA. We cannot turn on the radio or television or go to the movie theater without hearing about the new details of the latest Carmelo trade rumor. I was watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother the other night from 2007 and Barney made a comment about how he doesn’t go to New Jersey and neither should Carmelo.

I am very against Carmelo Anthony ending up in New Jersey. We know he wants to play in Madison Square Garden, but I think his best destination is right where he is or another Western Conference team.

That is another story for another day though.

There are some other guys out there right now that are on the trade block and deserve a little bit of attention.

Guys like Anthony Randolph who is about to be run out of New York. The Knicks allegedly want a first-round pick for him and teams like the Pacers, Timberwolves and Blazers are all interested in him. He’d get a little more burn for each of those teams, but he definitely isn’t worth a first-round pick. The Knicks want to add another piece for their bid for Carmelo Anthony, but for Anthony Randolph?

Maybe that’s why the Timberwolves are on the list. With David Kahn anything is possible. On top of that the Knicks might want to dial up the 901 and get Chris Wallace on the phone. They could maybe get a first-round pick, OJ Mayo and Marc Gasol.

Speaking of OJ Mayo, he was the latest person thrown into the Melo trade talks and he was supposed to end up in Denver, but then he said he didn’t want to go to Denver, Chris Wallace said he wasn’t available via trade and here we allegedly stand.

There have been a few teams to inquire about Mayo recently though and there have been some serious talks with teams like the Blazers and Hornets.

I don’t think the Blazers would be a good fit, but the Hornets could be. They desperately need a strong shooting guard and a third option behind Paul and West that can take some heat off them. I don’t see the Hornets making that move even though it would be a good fit. The NBA will probably wait until Steve Ballmer has control of the team before any moves are made.

Staying with the Grizzlies, Marc Gasol is another person on the block and was rumored to be headed to every team under the sun. Oklahoma City wants him in the worst way, but I don’t think he’ll end up there. If the reports are true, Grizzlies are working on making Gasol a cornerstone in the franchise with Rudy Gay.

You think those two are going to like playing in the Papa John’s Arena in Louisville?

Staying with small-market teams that no one cares about. I think the Thunder are trying to find a suitable partner to take Jeff Green. Sam Presti wants two first-round picks for him and not many teams are willing to give that up. Presti knows he can't afford to pay Green, Westbrook and Harden the contracts they are going to want over the next couple of years and it looks like Jeff Green is the odd man out in OKC.

Even though he's a much better fit for the team than Westbrook and Harden. Feel free to disagree.

Houston allegedly has put everyone up on the block, but can we really break down every possibility of where Jordan Hill or Chase Budinger might end up? The only person I can think of off the top of my head is my buddy Trevor and he’d swear both those guys are worth two first-rounders.

Yao Ming is on the block though and a team could be had by a team looking for some cap relief next season, but would have to give up assets to get that lovely expiring contract. Same thing is happening in Portland with Greg Oden.

How many millions of dollars David Kahn is going to pay Greg Oden to play three games in Minnesota next season (barring lockout)?

I wonder if Allen Iverson and Flip Murray will be recruiting Oden to play in Turkey with them after his 18th knee surgery in four years. Even in Turkey you need a big man to win a championship.

You think Allen Iverson has ever been inside a Turkish prison?

We then come to Steve Nash. Nash is a man who deserves to be traded to a contender and have a great chance at winning a championship. There are very few teams that are in that position and could give up the assets that the Suns want in return.

The Lakers would be an interesting team to consider. They’d get more scoring with Nash, but Kobe wouldn’t like all his dribbling around that Nash does and I don’t like any scenario that would involve my boy, Stevie Blake getting a lesser role.

Watch, Stevie Blake is going to contribute a lot more than Derek Fisher in the playoffs.

A lot of people say he’d work out great in Atlanta. I disagree though. Why play for a team that doesn’t even work well in its own city and will get swept in the first round of the playoffs?

Miami doesn’t have the assets to get him to South Beach. Dangling Carlos Arroyo out there isn’t going to work. Why would Phoenix take Carlos, when his mother wouldn’t trade his brother Pedro for him?

Nash ending up in Boston isn’t a bad idea. He could play backup to Rajon Rondo and would be a great game-closer. Unlike Rondo, he can make a free throw. Nash in Boston makes a lot of sense. Just very hard to make all the numbers work without a third team to make it even.

I don’t think Phoenix would like to have Nate Robinson and Jermaine O’Neal’s corpse for the next year and a half. In Phoenix I think Robinson could put up 40 a night and become Monta Ellis light.

Is Detroit willing to give up Rodney Stuckey and Chris Wilcox in that deal?

San Antonio doesn’t really need him; they have cheaper and younger options on the bench. Greg Popovich could pull me off the street and turn me into a serviceable player and my prime was three years ago averaging 17 and eight in Los Angeles rec. leagues.

I’d love to see him back in Dallas, but I wouldn’t want Mark Cuban to give up Roddy in exchange for him. Nash only has a few years left and Roddy is going to be a very good player and giving him up this early would really hurt the long-term growth of the Dallas franchise. Sure they’d probably win a title with Nash, but you have to think about the future too.

I’d say Dallas should give up Caron Butler’s expiring contract a few picks to Phoenix and get Nash back home. It’s obvious that the Mavericks need another scorer with Dirk being gone and Caron Butler probably never playing another game there. Nash would finally be that championship piece the Mavs are missing.