NBA Trade Rumors: Outlook for Lakers, Knicks and Each Team at the Deadline
With all of the Carmelo Anthony talk this season, it was easy to forget that there are actually some other players in the NBA that could fit nicely into another team's uniform.
For the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets all that matters is Carmelo Anthony. For the other 27 teams in the NBA, there are plenty of workable deals that could be completed by the end of this weekend. These deals would improve rosters and improve some teams' chances of winning the title.
Denver Nuggets
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The Nuggets finally are in a position where they should be able to part with Carmelo and get back something in return.
The Nets offer would give them Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and a whole bunch of draft picks. The Knicks offer gives them a more appealing Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler and a first-round pick.
All that is left is for Carmelo to sign an extension to either team and the Nuggets can move on without having an empty-handed feeling.
New Jersey Nets
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The Nets have the offer on the table for Carmelo.
I know there is talk about trading away Devin Harris outside of a Carmelo deal, but who would he go to? Point guards are the one position in the NBA where most teams have someone in place.
New York Knicks
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The Knicks are about to look really foolish for panicking and including three starters for Carmelo. Yes, it will be good to have Carmelo locked into a contract and fans will love the future prospects of their team, but couldn't this all have waited until the off-season when they could have signed him as a free agent?
Timofey Mozgov, Shawne Williams and Toney Douglas are not going to be traded at the deadline. The only non-Carmelo deal I can see happening is sending away Bill Walker for a back-up center.
Houston Rockets
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I'm not sure why there are no deals floating around about Yao Ming's expiring contract being included in a trade.
Most of the talk with Houston centers around Aaron Brooks, Courtney Lee and Shane Battier. All three guys could really help out a contender, but Houston will not give them away unless a big man is coming back in return.
I like a Courtney Lee for Taj Gibson trade taking place between the Rockets and the Bulls.
I don't see Brooks being traded away and with Battier it's hard to find the right match where the salaries match up and Houston gets a big in return.
Los Angeles Lakers
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It may have only been an exhibition game, but Kobe Bryant looked phenomenal last night. His speed, his wait-Kobe-can-still-do-that dunk, his aggressive defense on Dwyane Wade and his dunk over LeBron James.
Kobe proved again last night that he is the best player in the NBA. If you prefer LeBron over Kobe, then at the very least, Kobe proved he is still neck-and-neck with James. Pau Gasol was solid too.
Do not over-analyze the Dwight Howard video on Yahoo sports right now or Kobe's "big brother" comments with Carmelo, they were all out of fun and not signs that one of those guys is coming to Los Angeles in three days.
The Lakers will not make a trade at the deadline. They are going to ride Kobe and this current roster to see if another championship is in reach. If they find out the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat or San Antonio Spurs overpower them in the playoffs, then the off-season will be full of moves.
Dallas Mavericks
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When Caron Butler went down, a trade for the Dallas Mavericks seemed imminent if they wanted to stay in playoff contention.
Now at 40-16, the Mavericks are amazingly still in the hunt for the one seed if the San Antonio Spurs ever start to wear down.
A trade doesn't make sense right now for the Mavericks. Rodrigue Beaubois is now healthy and is starting to fill in nicely for Butler. Peja Stojakovic has been a surprise help and they can't deal away Tyson Chandler or Brendan Haywood due to a lack of depth in big men.
The only trade I could see happening would be sending away DeShawn Stevenson for some type of back-up post player. Come playoff time, the Mavericks will have Jason Terry, Rodrique Beaubois and possibly Caron Butler back from his injury. They can part with Stevenson.
Detroit Pistons
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The Pistons need to do something in the next couple of days.
Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton should be dealt away.
I like a Prince for Chris Kaman deal. The contracts are nearly an identical $11 million this year and the Pistons would get Kaman for next season under contract. The Clippers need a small forward and could use Prince as a test trial for the rest of the season. Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Tayshaun Prince, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan would be a solid starting five. Kaman would give Detroit a true center.
Hamilton's contract is a little trickier. Finding a team willing to take on $12.6 million for another two seasons means either they A) are close to winning a title or B) will trade back another long-term contract.
The Thunder could deal away expiring contracts Nenad Krstic and Morris Peterson to Detroit for Richard Hamilton. The Pistons would free up $12 million in cap room and the Thunder would have a nice scoring compliment to Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. They would then be able to ship away either Thabo Sefolosha or James Harden in a deal for a much-needed big man.
The Pistons could also ship Hamilton away to Utah and bring back Mehmet Okur and Ronnie Price. Utah needs a solid shooting guard to stay in the playoff race along with giving Deron Williams reason to stay.
Cleveland Cavaliers
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Surprisingly the Cavaliers are not looking to shop Mo Williams or Antawn Jamison even though I think they would find some interest from contenders.
Ramon Sessions is the name being mentioned in potential trades. In fact, Sessions may be the only player that ends up moving this All-Star break. Byron Scott wants to improve on defense and Ramon Sessions has not shown he can be relied on.
Look for Sessions to end up on the Atlanta Hawks this week.
Atlanta Hawks
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I think a Josh Smith for Steve Nash trade would be brilliant. Atlanta would send away Mike Bibby and Josh Smith and receive Steve Nash and Hakim Warrick.
Could you imagine Steve Nash running the offense with weapons like Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford and Al Horford around him? The Hawks could shift Horford over to his more natural power forward position and look to fill in a true center.
Meanwhile in Phoenix, they would attempt at recreating the Steve Nash to Amare Stoudemire connection with Goran Dragic and Josh Smith. Not quite the same, but a pretty good 1-2 punch for the future. Mike Bibby could help share the duties.
However, I would rate this deal at about a 0.9% chance of happening. The Hawks may land Ramon Sessions, but that's about the biggest deal they will be involved in this week.
Boston Celtics
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The Celtics are pretty much locked into their current roster. The only deal I could see happening is trading Jermaine O'Neal back home to Indiana for James Posey.
Miami Heat
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They can't trade anyone from the Big Three. They can't trade away Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller or Udonis Haslem either. They need to have some big men so Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Joel Anthony and Erick Dampier stay put and they need to hang onto outside shooters Eddie House and James Jones.
That makes 11 guys that the Heat can not trade away right now. A playoff roster is 12. Juwan Howard, Jamaal Magloire and Carlos Arroyo are left as potential trade bait.
Come playoffs, I think the Heat will have more of a need for a big man than a back-up point guard. LeBron and Dwyane Wade can bring the ball up when Chalmers isn't in, they do a lot of the times anyway.
The Heat should look to trade Carlos Arroyo and Jamaal Magloire away to see if they can get a more productive big man than old-timer Juwan Howard.
Chicago Bulls
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Derrick Rose could really use a shooting guard.
If the Bulls would have known Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were not going to end up in Chicago at the beginning of last summer, I think they would have held onto Kirk Hinrich. They might be the one seed right now with Captain Kirk in the starting five.
They will address the shooting guard position in the off-season. They're not going to trade away Taj Gibson at the deadline.
Orlando Magic
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Dwight Howard is not going anywhere. Well, at least not this season.
If you're building the Magic playoff roster you have to include Jameer Nelson, Gilbert Arenas, Quentin Richardson, JJ Redick, Hedo Turkoglu, Dwight Howard, Ryan Anderson and Brandon Bass. To protect themselves from Dwight Howard getting into foul trouble and Boston's long list of big men, they need to bring along Daniel Orton and Earl Clark. That leaves third-stringer Chris Duhon as potential trade bait.
A Chris Duhon for Darko Milicic deal would actually work out (Orlando might have to throw in Malik Allen to make the numbers match up). Darko could back-up Dwight Howard at center and Duhon could be the much-needed point guard for the young Timberwolves.
San Antonio Spurs
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46 wins at the All-Star break. Nothing needs to be changed.
Oklahoma City Thunder
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The Oklahoma City Thunder are building the right way.
They have Kevin Durant locked in for the next five seasons. They are keeping plenty of cap room open to re-sign Jeff Green, Serge Ibaka and most importantly, Russell Westbrook. Guys like Nick Collison and Eric Maynor are the perfect back-ups and the combination of James Harden's offense with Thabo Sefolosha's defense gives them a solid 48 minutes at shooting guard.
Nenad Kristic and Morris Peterson do not fit into the future picture of the Thunder. Both have expiring contracts.
The deal I could see working would be Kristic, Peterson and Jeff Green to Memphis for Zach Randolph. Randolph would give them someone who could battle with Pau Gasol and Tim Duncan. I would hate to see Jeff Green leave Oklahoma City, but Randolph could propel this team into the Western Conference Finals.
Portland Trailblazers
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Greg Oden's expiring contract might be appealing to teams far over the cap.
A deal I could see working out would be Greg Oden and Fabricio Oberto going to the Los Angeles Lakers for Ron Artest.
If the Lakers are truly interested in Dwight Howard they are going to need to start clearing out some cap space. Ron Artest has been off this season and Matt Barnes can fill in nicely at the small forward position. For Portland, Artest gives them a boost on defense. For the Lakers, Oberto gives them another back-up post player and Oden could provide cap relief.
In the off-season, the Lakers can either be free six million dollars and let Oden go, or re-sign him for probably four million dollars since he is so injury-prone. Best case scenario, Oden has a miraculous comeback and gives the Lakers the best back-up center in the league.
Utah Jazz
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I highly doubt the Utah Jazz will pull a Tennessee Titans and lose their head coach and quarterback/point guard.
Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko are the most likely to be traded. They are set with Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap so Okur can be shipped around and Kirilenko has a massive $17.8 million dollar expiring contract.
Look for some type of deal to be done with the Detroit Pistons.
Minnesota Timberwolves
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Darko Milicic for Chris Duhon.
Toronto Raptors
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Nothing coming out of Toronto. The Raptors are not looking to do anything drastic.
Philadelphia 76ers
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Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand would be the two guys, if any, that the 76ers would move at the deadline.
The Pistons should have an interest in Elton Brand, as should the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For Iguodala, the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers or New Orleans Hornets could be a good fit.
Philadelphia will most likely hang onto both of these guys and see how far this current roster can take them. Look for Doug Collins and management to evaluate the talent at the end of the season and look to make deals in the off-season.
Milwaukee Bucks
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Michael Redd has an $18.3 million expiring contract.
That should have mass appeal to teams looking to clear off cap room.
A deal I think could work would be the Detroit Pistons sending Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton to Milwaukee for Michael Redd, Ersan Ilyasova and Keyon Dooling. The Pistons would clear out $18 million dollars of cap space and could go out and sign a big name in either this off-season or next.
For Milwaukee, they need this type of firepower to get back into the playoff race. Having Hamilton and Prince inserted into this roster should secure them the eighth seed at the end of the year.
Indiana Pacers
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I doubt these trades will make any sort of headlines, but I expect either T.J. Ford, Jeff Foster or Jamaal Tinsley to be dealt in the next couple days.
Phoenix Suns
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The Phoenix Suns are actually starting to figure things out with this new roster. They've won seven of their last ten and sit only 2.5 games out of the playoff picture. Steve Nash is one of the best competitors in the league and with Utah slumping and Denver possibly losing Carmelo, I see the 37-year-old point guard leading his team into the playoffs.
A lot of money frees up for the Suns at the end of the season. Look for an active off-season but nothing this week.
New Orleans Hornets
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Signing David West to an extension is all that matters right now for New Orleans.
There are no deals right now to be made that would encourage Chris Paul to stay more than locking in West for a few more seasons.
Charlotte Bobcats
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Not many moves happening here. Gerald Wallace does too much on the court to part with and teams will shy away from Stephen Jackson.
Boris Diaw back to Phoenix could have some appeal toward the end of the week.
Golden State Warriors
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The Warriors have expressed an interest in taking a gamble on Greg Oden.
Washington Wizards
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The Wizards actually have a good thing going right now despite their horrendous road record.
John Wall, Nick Young, JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche are a solid four guys to build the franchise around.
Rashard Lewis' contract is not appealing to any team right now and he's actually playing pretty well.
They might look to shop Kirk Hinrich around, but Hinrich's contract at nine million dollars a year does not match up well with other teams.
Los Angeles Clippers
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Keep DeAndre Jordan, ship Chris Kaman.
If Kaman is not shipped away this week expect a trade this off-season.
Sacramento Kings
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Samuel Dalembert's expiring contract and seven-foot size could be appealing for a contender.
The Kings are enjoying their massive amounts of cap room especially when a lower, hard cap may be less than a year away so don't expect them making any big deals.
Memphis Grizzlies
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If they trade away Zach Randolph they will not make the playoffs.
O.J. Mayo makes the most sense to trade, but they don't have to do it immediately. Off-season will work just as well.
I think the Grizzlies will surprise us and make no moves at the All-Star break. They have won eight out of their last ten games and sit tied with the Jazz for the eight seed right now.
Look at the teams ahead of them. The Utah Jazz have been falling apart since Sloan left, the Nuggets will drop out of the race if Carmelo leaves and the New Orleans Hornets have been up and down all year. The Grizzlies are starting to gel as a team and could climb as high as a five seed when it's all said and done.
The off-season will be busy when they have to re-sign Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. They will also probably be looking to trade away Mayo. The All-Star break on the other hand, will be surprisingly quiet.
