To some fans, the NBA Trade Deadline is the most exciting and intriguing day of the NBA season. Luckily for those fans, there are a lot of rumors brewing around the league. Teams will either buy, sell or stay put on this day. There are stars who are unrestricted free agents, leaving general managers of their respective teams with a tough decision: Do we trade him now and rebuild for the future by acquiring cheap, young talent along with draft picks or keep him and try to win right now?
Teams that are in the thick of the playoff race looking to acquire key players and don’t mind giving up a draft pick or two include the Charlotte Bobcats and the Phoenix Suns. This year’s draft is comprised of top-notch talent in the first round. Teams may covet these young players more than they do current stars. This is not the case for the Bobcats and Suns, who have waited for multiple seasons to get back on track.
It’s a “win-now” attitude for them. The Bobcats are in need of a scoring shooting guard to take the load off of center Al Jefferson, who averages 20.1 points per game, perhaps in the mold of Evan Turner of the Sixers, Arron Afflalo of the Magic or Eric Gordon of the Pelicans. The Bobcats may look to trade former high draft pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who has not lived up to the expectations of some. The call: Bobcats acquire Turner.
The Suns are looking for a star to take their surprisingly great season to the next level. They can use a scorer to replace Eric Bledsoe, who has been out for a month and a half with a right knee injury. The Suns may look at acquiring Sixers’ Forward Thaddeus Young, Kings’ Guard Rudy Gay or the Cavalier swingman Luol Deng. They may have to surrender their first round pick that they acquired from Indiana last season, which is not a big deal since Indiana will be picking very low in the first round. The call: Suns acquire Sixers’ Young and Hawes.
The New York Knicks (20-32) are having a disappointing season after being the second seed in last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs. They are a good candidate to be buyers but frankly, lack the draft picks and young talent to acquire a star to convince Carmelo Anthony to stay with the team (who is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end). The call: Knicks trade Anthony and Iman Shumpert.
On the flip side, there are certain teams that currently have good first round draft pick positions and are completely out of the playoff race. Two teams that come to mind that may unload high-impact players to contenders for draft picks or younger and cheaper talent include the Philadelphia 76ers (Sixers) and the Orlando Magic.
The Sixers have a plethora of expendable talent, including the versatile young trio of Turner, Young and Hawes.They have a nice future built with young stud Michael Carter-Williams and fellow rookie Nerlens Noel, who is missing time this season due to injury. On top of that, they have two potential lottery (top 14) first round draft picks and a ton of cap space used to spend on marquee free agents during the next few seasons.
The Orlando Magic have three players that come to mind that may be traded due to their large salaries on a team that will miss the playoffs this season. They include Arron Afflalo, Glen Davis and Jameer Nelson. The call: Afflalo and Nelson get traded while Davis stays.
Today should be a very interesting day in the NBA.
Some teams will be in win-now mode, and others will be in the stage of rebuilding. We will find out soon.
Greg Praver can be reached at gregory.praver@spartans.ut.edu.