With The Trade Deadline in less than 24 hours, more rumors are swirling around the league. With each teams continue to talk about the availability of each players, expect teams to swap players until the deadline.
With all the rumors swirling in the hours leading up to the NBA trade deadline, one trade went down on Wednesday night that no one was seemingly prepared for.
Shortly before the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors took the court for their respective games, the teams agreed to swap Steve Blake for Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks.
The Los Angeles Times’ Mike Bresnahan first had the news, while USA Today’s Sam Amick reported that the deal was done.
Blake may not be the biggest name to make a move during this year’s deadline, but he’s a solid pickup for the Warriors. Although he hasn’t shot the ball particularly well from inside the arc this season (37.8 percent from the field), he is knocking down nearly two three-pointers per game at a 39.7 percent clip, can distribute (7.6 assists per contest) and run an offense.
Besides, the Warriors don’t need an All-Star. With Jordan Crawford playing more of a scorer’s role off the bench, they simply need a true veteran point guard to backup Stephen Curry, and Blakes fits the bill perfectly.
Yahoo Sports’ Marc. J. Spears applauded the move for Golden State.
It’s somewhat of a bittersweet moment for Blake. He’s going to a potential playoff team, but he has been with the Lakers for nearly four seasons, and as he told Bresnahan, this is a move that will uproot him from his family for the time being.
Lakers fans who are bummed about this move can rest assured that this is more of a rental for the Warriors, who are currently in seventh place in the West and looking to improve for the postseason. Blake hits free agency this summer, and didn’t rule out a return.
For the Lakers, a team with a log-jam at the point guard position, this is a move about shedding salary.
Bazemore and Brooks won’t likely make a large contribution, but as CBS Sports’ Ken Berger noted, this deal will save the Lakers quite a bit of money.
Again, while this isn’t the blockbuster deal people hope to see at the trade deadline, it’s a smart, simple deal that gets both teams exactly what they need.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, nothing is going to happen because the small forward won’t commit to a contract extension and seems determined to hit the open market as a free agent this summer.
As so often seems to be the case during trade-rumor season, this whole Deng situation was a false alarm. Despite interest from the Dallas Mavericks, the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers, nothing is going to happen.
You may now proceed to follow more pressing news.
According to CBS Sports’ Ken Berger, the Dallas Mavericks are interested in acquiring Luol Deng.
There’s no telling what the structure of this potential deal would look like, and I’d greet it with a heavy dose of skepticism. The Cavaliers are coveting players who can help them compete this season, and the Mavericks don’t have any of those readily available.
The Cleveland Cavaliers traded for Luol Deng earlier in the season, sending Andrew Bynum back to the Chicago Bulls so he could be waived and used as a means to clear cap space. But after just 18 moderately successful games with his new organization, the small forward is once again on the block.
Rumor has it that the Cavaliers are testing the market and gauging interest in Deng’s services.
Remember, former general manager Chris Grant let the world know right after acquiring Deng that the two-time All-Star wasn’t just a one-season rental; he was a part of the team’s long-term future.
“We’re bringing him here and we’d like to keep him here long term,” Grant told The Plain Dealer’s Mary Schmitt Boyer. “He’s 28 years old. We see him as part of our core and our youth moving forward. We’ll get through the season and get into those conversations at the appropriate time.”
But that was before all the trouble started. It was prior to the start of rumors that everything was falling apart in Cleveland, creating a mess that Deng just couldn’t stand. The quote was relayed before this report from ESPN’s Marc Stein, which references the Cavs losing to a Los Angeles Lakers team that was depleted to the point of only having four healthy players who hadn’t fouled out:.
Even though the Feb. 18 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers gave Cleveland a five-game stretch of undefeated basketball, one that offers hope for a second-half turnaround and eventual playoff berth, the Cavs are well-aware that re-signing Deng may now be a pipe dream.
“The Cavs, according to sources, are concerned about their ability to re-sign Deng this offseason, as he’ll be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career. Several teams with cap space, including the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, are expected to be interested in signing Deng,” reports ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
It’s hard to change a culture this quickly, although firing Grant seemed to be a step in the right direction. Deng may already have seen enough, making up his mind well before the free-agency period actually unfolds.
Cleveland, in an act that should be commended, is recognizing the potential futility of its situation and doing its due diligence. While they should feel a modicum of embarrassment for letting the 2013-14 season reach such a low point that this is necessary, it’s best to react to developments rather than refuse to acknowledge them.
Deng, in all likelihood, will remain a member of the Cavaliers. It will be tough for any team to meet the asking price—which involves helping the Cavs upgrade this season’s level of talent, per Windhorst—when there’s no telling what he’ll do in free agency this summer.
Houston Rockets Reportedly Interested in Rajon Rondo Trade with Boston Celtics
Sources told ESPN’s Marc Stein that the Houston Rockets have entered the conversation.
Unlike the Knicks, and many other teams, the Rockets have assets Celtics general manager Danny Ainge might actually want to look at. The problem is, one of those assets is Chandler Parsons.
Boston has remained firm in its refusal to sell low on Rondo, so it makes sense the team would seek Parsons—who is averaging 17 points on 50.2-percent shooting this season—as compensation. It also makes sense that the Rockets are refusing to deal him, since he’s one of their most deadly (and only) shooters.
Making Parsons untouchable impedes Houston’s ability to assemble an enticing trade package, but doesn’t kill it entirely.
The Rockets do have some interesting, albeit expensive, contracts on their hands in Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik. Stein named the Celtics as one of Asik’s suitors in December, so he’s a good starting point.
Houston can also offer a 2015 first-round draft pick. Ainge has made collecting first-rounders a priority since initiating Boston’s rebuild last summer. Any proposal that includes an unprotected draft pick in the next two years is something he’s likely to consider.
Boston has also lost some of its leverage in Rondo negotiations.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears, a potential deal with the Sacramento Kings that would have landed Ben McLemore, Isaiah Thomas and a pick with the Celtics had to be nixed because Rondo isn’t interested in re-signing with Sacramento.
Chris Broussard of ESPN heard that similar circumstances apply to the Toronto Raptors.
As an unrestricted free agent in 2015, Rondo has some say in where he ends up via trade. If he seems inclined to re-sign in Houston, the Rockets have the upper hand in negotiations.
“Again, I’ve gotten the impression, from everything that I know and from everything that I read, that what you read is a lot more than what’s actually happening,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens told The Boston Globe’s Baxter Holmes.
Soon enough, this rumor will reveal itself as fact or another fantasy in a strand of many. Until then, it’s safe to assume that this isn’t the last Rondo-related chatter we’ll be subjected to ahead of the Feb. 20 deadline.
