Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The Atlanta Hawks have the main ingredient required for breakout success in the NBA and that’s a bona fide star on the rise: Trae Young.
The Atlanta Hawks have the main ingredient required for breakout success in the NBA and that’s a bona fide star on the rise: Trae Young.
Aside from Young, the Hawks are loaded with talent and now have the added confidence of defeating the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers in the postseason. However, do they have what it takes to get over the hump and actually make it to the NBA Finals?
Below, check out our preview for the 2021-22 Suns campaign.
This deadline is sure to be a good one.
It’s quiet in the NBA. Probably a little bit too quiet. You can literally count the number of trades that have happened this season on one hand.
It feels like we’re due for an explosion and that could come on Thursday when the trade deadline hits. Most of the league feels like they’re in a position to compete this season, so there isn’t a lot of selling going on.
It’s hard to keep track of what everything is and what everyone is thinking so far — even some the bottom-feeders are trying to get better.
Luckily for you, we’ve got you covered here. Here’s who is buying, selling and standing pat at the deadline.
All salary cap data pulled from EarlyBirdRights.com.
It’s rare that you see the worst team in the NBA as a buyer, but here the Hawks are. They’re looking to get newly minted All-Star Trae Young some help in the front court — specifically at center. They’ve been linked to both Andre Drummond and, more recently, Clint Capela.
The Celtics are also buyers and are looking to shore up their center spot being occupied by Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter at the moment. Like the Hawks, they’re in on the Capela sweepstakes.
The Mavericks have a massive title window with Luka Doncic in hand, but they still want to try and win as much as they can this year. They’re in the market for a wing upgrade after trading for Willie Cauley-Stein when Dwight Powell went down.
The Nuggets have a two very tradeable assets in Gary Harris and Malik Beasley with Beasley being the more moveable piece. The rise of Michael Porter Jr. has strengthened their wing rotation but they’re still looking to upgrade at guard. They’ve made calls on Jrue Holiday, ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports, but it’ll take a lot to pry him from New Orleans.
The biggest thing for the Clippers right now is getting all of their best players healthy at once, but they’re looking to upgrade at multiple positions, but especailly on the wing. They’ve been rumored to have their eyes on Marcus Morris, Andre Iguodala and Robert Covington as potential upgrades.
The Lakers are trying to upgrade at the guard spot and on the wing, but they don’t really have the ammo to pry Iguodala from Memphis. They’ve also been connected to Bogdan Bogdanovic, who would be a great pickup. But the Kings have said Kyle Kuzma isn’t enough and he’s the Lakers’ best trade chip.
The Heat are mostly trying to keep their books clear for the summer of 2021, but they think they have a shot to win now. They’ve been linked to Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguodala and Danillo Gallinari. They’ll be active on Thursday.
The Timberwolves have been absolutely zeroed in on D’Angelo Russell and are trying to organize a convoluted four team deal to get draft picks that they’ll trade to the Warriors to land him in Minnesota. Uhhh, yeah, keep an eye on this one.
The Knicks, per usual, are a dumpster fire. They’re refusing to trade Marcus Morris in a lost season but are also willing to give up assets for D’Angelo Russell…who they could’ve signed in free agency last summer. Quick — somebody check on Charles.
You can just feel a panic trade coming from Philly after two straight big losses to the Celtics and Heat. They need shooting and Robert Covington is on the front of their list, but he’s on everyone else’s, too. We’ll see if they have the assets to get it done.
No idea why but the Wizards are trying to push for the playoffs and get the 8th seed just to get swept by the Bucks in May. They want to upgrade at center and Tristan Thompson is in their sights.
The Hornets are in cost cutting mode with a ton of big salaries in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marvin Williams and Bismack Biyombo that they’d like to shed. Their focus is going to be moving those guys along and bringing in assets.
The Cavs are finally hitting the reset button. They’re trying to move both Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love to new teams. They’d better hurry before Love throws another fit.
As the Pistons’ season has gone into the tank, they’ve been trying to move on from Andre Drummond to avoid paying him a massive contract this summer. Also in a shocking move, they’re on the cusp of moving Luke Kennard to Phoenix for a future first rounder.
It feels strange to say, but the Rockets are actually trying to shed money with the deadline looming. They’re $321,465 into the luxury tax right now. They’re in the middle of talks with Minnesota and Atlanta right now to move on from Clint Capela and bring in Robert Covington, which would save them a bit of money so expand some deal to come forward.
The Kings have a ton of logjams all over the place — they’re a roster filled with power forwards and shooting guards. They’ve been in trade talks with teams about Bogdan Bogdanovic, but they haven’t been wowed by an offer so nothing has changed…yet.
We knew the Spurs would definitely be sellers this year, but we got the players wrong. We thought DeMar DeRozan and Lamarcus Aldridge would be on the table but once Aldridge realized it was 2020 and started shooting threes, they became fine. Instead, it’s Demarre Carroll and Marco Bellinelli on the market.
Kyrie Irving is hurt again with a knee injury, so moving Spencer Dinwiddie doesn’t make sense right now. Joe Harris, Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince are all rotation players they’re going to need next year when Kevin Durant comes back. A move to build for the future makes no sense. Their window to win opens next year — draft picks won’t help with that.
The Bulls are in a tricky situation. Otto Porter, Kris Dunn, Wendell Carter Jr. and Lauri Markkanen are all missing significant time right now. They can’t make a move because they haven’t seen their whole roster fit together.
The Warriors are almost $4 million over the luxury tax threshold, so a move to shed salary wouldn’t be a surprise. But they’ve been adamant that it’ll take a really good deal to move D’Angelo Russell who is their most tradeable asset right now, so we’ll see. The Wolves are trying their hardest to get that done.
The Pacers’ biggest addition this season was always going to be getting Victor Oladipo back from injury. They’re going to see how this squad plays together. And those Myles Turner rumors? Put them to bed, please.
The best move the Grizzlies can make right now is moving Andre Iguodala before this beef escalates any further. I’m only half kidding.
The Bucks are in a tricky situation. They want to show Giannis Antetokounmpo they mean business but they don’t want to shake up the team’s chemistry. A good trade could guarantee them a spot in the Finals. We’ll see what happens.
Literally everyone in the league wants Jrue Holiday on their team but the Pelicans seem to be content with keeping him. They’re just 5 games back of the 8th seed and are 6-4 in their last 10. No sense in moving him now.
The Thunder are a weird team of misfits that everyone wants a piece of. The Nuggets and Heat want Gallinari, the Knicks want Dennis Schröder, everyone wants Chris Paul. But the Thunder are a playoff team and they’re not inclined to move any of them barring a crazy deal. They’re also not looking for help.
The East is so bad the Magic will probably limp their way into the playoffs but, darn it, they’re going to make it. They’re so hurt right now on the wing with Jonathan Issac and Al-Faroq Aminu out it’s too dangerous to make a deal.
The Raptors are sitting pretty at second in the East despite injuries throughout the year to big names like Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol. At the beginning of the season, if anything, it felt like they’d be selling at this point. But they’re so good it doesn’t actually make sense to.
The Blazers are just a couple games back of the Grizzlies for the 8th seed and are 7-3 in their last 10 with Damian Lillard playing like a maniac. That big move that we all thought they needed to make seems less necessary now.
The Jazz are probably too busy celebrating having a couple All-Stars to care about the trade deadline — people are finally talking about their team. Seriously, though. They already made a move for Jordan Clarkson to shore up their backcourt. All that’s left is to figure out what role to play Mike Conley in.
Many expected the Oklahoma City Thunder to move on from either Chris Paul or Dennis Schroder once they landed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Many expected the Oklahoma City Thunder to move on from either Chris Paul or Dennis Schroder once they landed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
After all, these three players all play the same position and it would be hard to build around Gilgeous-Alexander with Paul or Schroder potentially taking away from his touches. As such, Oklahoma City was considered a team most likely to sell their assets at the trade deadline.
Meanwhile, however, only the Milwaukee Bucks have won more games than the Thunder (13) since December 1. One of the factors for the success has been the decision to play their three point guards at the same time, which coach Billy Donovan hinted he would do before the season began.
Billy Donovan says there might be times when all three of Chris Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schröder are on the floor together.
— Brett Dawson (@BDawsonWrites) September 30, 2019
Oklahoma City originally started using this group more often when Terrance Ferguson missed time between December 6 and December 14. But now even with Ferguson back in the rotation, it is clear that there is something positive there with the three-guard lineups.
Paul, Gilgeous-Alexander and Schroder have played 206 minutes together so far. During that time, they have outscored opponents by a ridiculous 26.7 points per 100 possessions. Their offensive rating (125.9) has been the best in the NBA among all three-man lineups with as much playing time together.
Steven Adams, who alongside forward Danillo Gallinari has been on the floor with the guards for the majority of these possessions, explained why it has worked so well (via The Athletic):
“You’ve got four playmakers that put a lot of pressure on different parts of the floor. You’ve got Dennis who can get to the paint, you’ve got Shai who can also, also Chris who can, and Gallo … It’s pretty tough on the switches. Say one forces a switch, and they’ve got a guard on Gallo. They can all attack and cause the defense to make these sort of rotations. They can beat their man whenever they want.”
While they have obviously had team success with the group, the three have all played well individually when sharing the floor as well. All three players are scoring at least 20 points per 36 minutes when they’ve played together.
It is worth mentioning that more than half of the minutes that this trio has been used (115) have occurred in the fourth quarter. Perhaps the biggest surprise is how well they have shut down opponents to close games.
Paul spoke about their defensive prowess as a unit despite being relatively undersized (via Oklahoman.com):
“We all bring different abilities defensively. Shai has his length. Dennis is a pest, you know what I mean? Me and Dennis usually argue a lot of times about who’s going to guard who. Like, I had Luka for a second, and Dennis said he wanted him. So, we all bring something different.”
Their collaborative perimeter defense has been arguably their best attribute. Teams are shooting just 28.5 percent from three-point range with the three guards on the floor, per NBA Wowy.
It is what has allowed the Thunder to be a potential playoff contender in the Western Conference despite lowly preseason expectations.
[lawrence-related id=1276966]
