On Thursday, the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans agreed on a deal highlighted by Nikola Mirotic. He’s a good player who will help New Orleans by spacing the floor and providing valuable three-point shooting to a team without it, but he is not a star. At least not yet.
There is a week left until the 2018 NBA Trade Deadline, and the league has already seen some groundbreaking, earth-shattering trades. That leaves one question as the deadline creeps up:
Have we seen all of the big moves already?
Just days before Mirotic’s deal to New Orleans, the Clippers traded Blake Griffin to Detroit for Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and a first-round pick. That’s a huge trade, especially in the middle of the year, but it’s hardly the biggest deal of the season.
A handful of stars have already changed teams:
June 20: D’Angelo Russell traded to the Nets
June 20: Dwight Howard traded to the Hornets
June 22: Jimmy Butler traded to the Timberwolves
June 28: Chris Paul traded to the Rockets
June 30: Ricky Rubio traded to the Jazz
July 4: Paul Millsap traded to Nuggets, Danilo Gallinari traded to Clippers
July 6: Paul George traded to the Thunder
Aug. 22: Kyrie Irving traded to the Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and the Nets’ 2018 pick
Sept. 23: Carmelo Anthony traded to the Thunder
Nov. 7: Eric Bledsoe traded to the Bucks for Greg Monroe
This season has been full of player movement, and deadline season is barely underway.
Should we expect more trades?
Yes, but they may not be blockbusters at this point. Here are a few teams that should be active:
Clippers
The Clippers were rumored to be ready to deal both DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams after sending Griffin to Detroit, but Los Angeles instead signed Williams to a three-year contract extension. DeAndre Jordan is still on the table but so far it’s been hard for LA to find a partner.
Lakers
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Jan. 8 the Lakers have made it clear to teams that Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr. are available for trade. Randle is from Dallas, so he has been tied to the Mavericks.
Kings
The Kings nearly dealt George Hill to the Cavaliers, but trade talks broke down. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst appeared on a recent episode of The Hoopshype Podcast with Alex Kennedy to discuss the status of that deal:
“The reason I was so [adamant] that it was going to happen is because they talked to the players about it,” Windhorst said. “When it’s the actual team [executives] going to the players and saying, ‘This is going to happen,’ typically that means it’s going to happen.”
Cavaliers
George Hill alone won’t fix the Cavs’ league-worst defense. They need a rim protector and are reportedly in play for DeAndre Jordan. Cleveland is always active on the trade front midseason, and with the disappointing start the Cavs have had — falling down to just third in the Eastern Conference that they’ve dominated since LeBron came back home — expect some feathers to be ruffled.
Hornets
Charlotte has made former All-Star guard Kemba Walker available for trade, so long as another team gives up an All-Star caliber player and takes back one of the Hornets’ bad contracts.
Other rumors
Teams making a playoff push are looking to add talent and depth to their wing position, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and are targeting Brooklyn’s DeMarre Carroll, Orlando’s Evan Fournier, Atlanta’s Kent Bazemore, and Utah’s Alec Burks. The Pistons, Pelicans, Knicks, and Trail Blazers are other teams looking to improve on the wing, according to Woj.
As the trade deadline gets closer, two things happen: playoff teams look to improve, and the teams either middling or at the bottom of the standings begin dealing off their best older players if it means landing another first-round draft pick. You can expect more of both of those in the days leading up to the deadline, but there’s a new phenomenon that is slowly beginning to replace the hype surrounding the trade deadline:
The buyout market
As the trade deadline creeps up, teams and players will look to negotiate a buyout at a fraction of their agreed salary. That allows a player to leave one franchise and play for another, while getting his original team off the hook for the total balance of his contract.
One player that won’t work for? Joakim Noah. The Knicks gave Noah an exorbitant four-year, $72 million deal (hi Phil Jackson) only for him to be injured much of last year and feud with head coach Jeff Hornacek while only appearing in seven games this season. Noah has another two years worth $37.8 million left on his deal. Teams will steer clear of that mess unless the Knicks sweeten the pot with a young player or a draft pick, while also taking back an ugly contract of their own.
In short: New York is better off riding the Noah saga out.
This year the Cavaliers and others are diving head-first into the waters of the buyout markets, and they can probably come up with something good.
Greg Monroe and the Suns successfully agreed on a buyout, and he’s already a front-runner to sign with the Pelicans. Joe Johnson is reportedly seeking a buyout in Utah and can help a team as a veteran scorer off the bench. Tony Allen is expected to have his contract bought out after New Orleans traded him to Chicago. The buyout list will continue to grow as the trade deadline approaches and eventually passes.
We’re midway through the regular season and many big names have already changed teams. But it’s not over; it’s never over. Things should get more hectic closer to Feb. 8, and if not, then you can always count on the buyout market to make things interesting.