NBA Trade Rumors: Ranking the Wildest Rumored Deals That Will Never Happen

The last couple of days have been pure insanity in the NBA and the amount of rumors and trade proposals thrown out there have become mind numbing.

The Chris Paul fiasco is going to go down as one of the biggest gaffes in David Stern’s long and previously illustrious history as commissioner. Dwight Howard is getting drunk phone calls from CEOs and Kwame Brown is somehow still worth $7M. It’s insanity!

All of the deals that are actually going down pale in comparison to some of the proposals that have been reported in the past two weeks. Whether it be a bad fit with the salary cap, on the court or just a plain rip off, there have been plenty to sort from. 

Here are the five most ridiculous rumors that will never come to fruition. (Hint: All of them involved Chris Paul and Dwight Howard.)

5. Stephen Curry For Chris Paul

The Golden State Warriors heard CP3 was on the market and figured “why the heck not?” and threw out a half-baked proposal that the Hornets likely smirked at and quickly told them to beat it.  

Curry has averaged 18 points and six assists in his two-year career, but it remains to be seen how he’d fare on a team that doesn’t specialize in the fast break.

His defense isn’t even close to the level of CP3 and his abilities to be a pure point guard are still up in the air.

With better offers provided by the Lakers and the Clippers, this deal was thrown out and forgotten about in a hurry. 

4. Rajon Rondo for CP3

This nixed deal is going to have a lasting negative impact on the Celtics.

Rondo for Paul straight up was a red-hot rumor 10 days ago and a potential deal was certainly in the realm of possibilities.

Once again the Hornets front office (aka David Stern) felt the deal wasn’t good enough even though Rondo is two years younger and doesn’t have the baggage of a knee surgery like Paul does.

While the deal may have about five to 10 percent chance of still happening, odds are Rondo isn’t going anywhere, which is a big problem. The soft skin of Rondo is going to be brutal to overcome. This is the guy that went into a huge slump after President Obama made a harmless crack on Rondo about his shaky jump shot.

Who knows how he handles this debacle. 

3. Dwight Howard to the Nets for Brook Lopez and 2 First Round Picks

The Nets are one of the few teams on Howard’s “exclusive” list of teams he’d be willing to play for so this trade technically could still happen. The Nets potential offer would include Lopez and two future first-rounders.

But if giving up Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for Chris Paul is unacceptable…there is no way this deal is deemed fair by the league.

Lopez might be the softest 20-point scorer in the league. He only corralled six boards a game in 35 minutes of action on a team where Kris Humphries may have been the next best big man. Howard pulled down 14 in 37 minutes of a game.

Ouch.

2. Clippers Pu Pu Platter For Chris Paul

The Hornets (Stern) rejected a deal that would have sent Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu and Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-round draft pick to the Hornets in exchange for Paul.

They wanted a different Eric involved. They wanted Eric Gordon, the 22-year-old that is fresh off scoring 22.3 points a game to go along with 4.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game and is shaping up to be one of the bright young stars in the game.

So in other words, Stern wants the Clips to surrender a future All-Star, a potential lottery pick, an above-average center and a young player that can develop for one player that has dealt with a major knee surgery.

Absurd. 

1. Dwight Howard for Amare Stoudemire

The Knicks are still a mess on defense and nabbing a player that has won Defensive
Player of the Year on three separate occasions would certainly help.

It’s unlikely that the Knicks would pull the trigger because they just committed over $100M to Stoudemire last summer, but it would definitely be an upgrade. The Magic could build around another star center that is from the area.

Too bad it will never happen.

The Knicks have absolutely zero trade assets to dangle and really don’t even have the payroll to afford Howard’s max deal if they plan on making any other major additions.

This would be one of the biggest blockbusters of the last 20 years, but the logistics of it all just don’t work.