Tag: Trade deadline

Report: Despite future obligations, Rockets would still trade 2020 pick

According to the Houston Chronicle, Rockets GM Daryl Morey won’t hesitate to trade his team’s 2020 first-round pick for the right player.

Though his stockpile of future draft picks is less than usual, it doesn’t appear that Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey will let that change his aggressiveness heading toward next Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.

In last offseason’s trade for Russell Westbrook, the Rockets lost two first-round draft selections in 2024 and 2026. Houston can still trade first-round picks before then, as long as they are not in consecutive years, but many around the league had wondered if a lack of pick assets in the long-term could make Morey more stingy in the interim.

According to the Houston Chronicle‘s Jonathan Feigen, that does not seem to be the case. Citing a source, Feigen writes of the team’s strategy:

Their scarcity of future first-round picks will not be a factor in determining whether to deal the 2020 pick they still hold. …

Given the draft obligations owed to the Thunder to land Westbrook, an argument could be made in favor of caution with the pick they still hold. That does increase the value of the pick to the Rockets… but that is balanced by a sense of win-now urgency.

From 2015 onward, Houston has not kept any of its own first-round draft picks. Typically, Morey has moved them before each draft in trades for more immediate help around franchise star James Harden as they pursue an NBA championship. The last time the Rockets kept their own pick was in 2014, when they drafted current starting center Clint Capela.

Per Feigen, the Rockets’ priority in any trade this year is a player “likely to get playing time,” rather than any specific position. Though The Athletic reported last week that Houston was targeting a wing player, Feigen says the Rockets are also open to frontcourt acquisitions.

To that point, on the day of Gary Clark’s release in early January, Feigen reports that the Rockets “were optimistic about completing a deal for a range-shooting power forward that in their system would have been viewed as a potential floor spacing center.”

That deal did not transpire, and Clark’s roster spot remains open.

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The trade deadline arrives at 2 p.m. Central on Thursday, Feb. 6. With Morey having made a deadline deal in nearly all of his seasons in Houston since the late 2000s, the safe bet is on yet another one in 2019-20.

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Report: Clips could be ‘willing to risk’ bringing Paul back to LA

Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report believes if there’s one team willing to take on Chris Paul’s contract, it would be the Los Angeles Clippers.

With the February 6 trade deadline fast approaching, expect that amount of rumors and speculation swirling throughout the league to ramp up a notch.

So it’s no surprise that potential scenarios are being thrown out for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that was defied expectations and has landed in the difficult position of asking should we be sellers or should we stay where we are?

Should Sam Presti decide to go full-on sell (as many people in the NBA expect him to do), one of biggest issues facing the Oklahoma City GM is whether or not to continue to try and trade Chris Paul?

So far, the Thunder haven’t had any luck in that department.

But Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report has an idea. He suggested that OKC could send Paul back to the Los Angeles Clippers.

His reasoning? The Clippers are probably the only team willing to take a chance on Paul given the fact that he’s already been adamant about not turning down his $44.2 million player option for the 2021-22 season.

Paul has been brilliant with the Thunder this season, leading them to a 28-19 record, only one game behind his old Houston Rockets squad. The 34-year old is averaging 17.2 points, 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting 48.3 percent overall.

Despite all of their star power, the Clippers are 24th in assist percentage this year (56.6 percent) and 20th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.54). Paul would unlock the offense by finding open shooters and getting the ball to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in their preferred spots.

While the Thunder wouldn’t get a bundle of draft picks for Paul like they did for Paul George, Swartz believes the Clippers could make it work by sending Patrick Beverly, Maurice Harkless, Ivica Zubac and Rodney McGruder to Oklahoma City.

In this scenario, Swartz notes that Los Angeles could also ask for “additional draft compensation from the Thunder in exchange for the salary relief they would be providing while sending back some usable players.”

Paul has said recently that he’s happy in Oklahoma City and neither he nor his agent has asked for a trade.

But when asked about retirement, he said he wanted to retire in a place he felt appreciated and that was he was in L.A. he “wanted to end it there”.

The Clippers are currently second in the Western Conference while Oklahoma City is in seventh.

The Thunder are back in action Wednesday night in Sacramento.

Report: Andre Roberson could be on the move

According to Erik Gee of Sports Illustrated, Roberson is one of the players to keep an eye on as the Feb. 6 trade deadline gets closer.

There may still be moves to make for Oklahoma City ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

While names like Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams have already been mentioned in conjunction with multiple teams, there are a couple of new news that have popped up as potential trades.

Per Erik Gee of Sports Illustrated, the name that is the most “intriguing” is Andre Roberson.

The thought behind trading Roberson is someone might be willing to take him off (Sam) Presti’s hands because of his expiring contract if the Thunder were willing to part with a first-round pick. Not having to pay the rest of Roberson’s 10.7 million dollar contract could allow the Thunder to be buyers at the trade deadline.

Roberson has been sidelined since suffering a ruptured left patellar tendon on Jan. 27, 2018 and is coming up on two full years without playing competitively in a game.

While Billy Donovan had indicated at the start of training camp that Roberson could be back sometime this season, Roberson moved his rehab to Los Angeles in December and appears to be no closer to a return.

As noted by Gee, ESPN’s Bobby Marks also suggested that Mike Muscala could be on the trading block. Muscala has shot the ball extremely well lately, making four or more 3-pointers in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Oklahoma City made their first trade of the season on Friday when they sent Justin Patton and cash to the Mavericks in a deal for rookie forward Isaiah Roby. According to Marks, the trade is conditional upon Roby reporting and passing a physical.

The Thunder play in the second game of a back-to-back on Saturday night when they travel to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves.

Report: Rockets prioritizing trade for wing player by deadline

The Rockets reportedly hope to trade for wing player by the NBA’s Feb. 6 deadline. One big question is if they have enough tradable salary.

With the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline under two weeks away, the Houston Rockets are continuing their search for a wing player, according to a Friday report by The Athletic‘s Shams Charania.

In his latest “Inside Pass” column, Charania writes:

[Daryl] Morey and his front office will continue to scour the league for potential upgrades. The Rockets have prioritized a potential wing player acquisition before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, and are continuing to make future draft picks available for an upgrade, sources say.

Charania did not identify any specific player targets in Friday’s report, though he had previously listed Houston as an interested suitor for Minnesota forward Robert Covington.

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Houston recently benched former starter Danuel House Jr. at small forward, and they’re currently starting undersized Ben McLemore (6-foot-3) there ⁠— which makes it an obvious spot to seek an upgrade.

That’s especially the case since the Rockets (27-16) entered Friday having lost five of their last seven games, and perhaps in need of a spark to help regain their self-proclaimed status as a 2020 title contender.

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As for potential trade assets, the Rockets have their 2020 and 2022 first-round draft picks available, as well as second-round picks in 2021 and 2023. They also have several small trade exceptions at their disposal, as well as most of their cash allotment to help incentivize other teams.

This is a breakdown of Houston’s tradable picks moving forward:

The lost draft picks and swaps in the 2023-26 range are from Houston’s offseason trade of Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook.

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But even after that trade, it’s not as if Houston is devoid of assets. The larger problem is that they don’t have much “filler” salary for deals.

Any trade for a significant salary such as Covington is tricky for the Rockets, who are well above the league’s salary cap. This means they have to send out close to as much money as they take in to make a trade permissible under the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Eric Gordon cannot be traded this season due to the timing of his contract extension, and the other four significant contracts on the Rockets (Westbrook, James Harden, Clint Capela, and P.J. Tucker) are unlikely to be dealt because of how essential they are to Houston’s championship chances. Excluding those five, every other player on the current roster makes approximately $3.5 million or less.

Thus, potential Houston acquisitions may need to be at a lower price point (in terms of salary) to make a trade workable. They might be able to trade for players making $10 million or more by combining several smaller salaries, but that would likely require a third- or even fourth-team partner for there to be enough open roster spots to send out so many players.

As of Friday, Morey has 13 days left to work his magic. If the Rockets are unable to strike a deal, they also have an open roster spot of their own at the moment, which could be used on a veteran player who is bought out after the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

But for now, it seems trades are clearly the top priority.

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Report: Drummond deal dead, Hawks have Steven Adams on their radar

Per Yahoo! Sports, with talks for Andre Drummond falling through between the Hawks and the Pistons, Atlanta could be targeting Steven Adams.

With the trade deadline fast approaching on February 6, teams are having to make final decisions about which players they’re in on and which players they’re not.

For the Atlanta Hawks, they’ve decided they’re officially out on Andre Drummond.

So what does a failed trade between the Hawks and the Detroit Pistons have to do with the Oklahoma City Thunder?

Well, without Andre Drummond in the middle, the Hawks are still in need of a center.

And as it turns out, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, the Thunder’s Steven Adams could be the player they’re looking at to fill the void.

Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams is also on the Hawks’ radar and talks could potentially pick up steam as the deadline looms, sources said.

As noted by Jordan Green of Sporting News, Adams’ contract could make negotiations somewhat tricky, but the Hawks have the personnel at the price that could make it work.

In terms of trade mechanics, Adams is on the books for $25.8 million this season and $27.5 million in 2020-21, so it would be a challenge for most teams to land him. Fortunately for the Hawks, they have multiple expiring contracts (Chandler Parsons at $25.1 million, Evan Turner at $18.6 million, Allen Crabbe at $18.5 million) and could offer a first-round pick acquired from the Nets or one of their own selections.

Adams’ scoring is slightly down this year after averaging 13.9 points per game in each of the last two seasons.

However, without Russell Westbrook to compete with on the glass, this year Adams is pulling down a career-best 10.0 rebounds per game.

Report: Thunder likely to trade Justin Patton

Per The Athletic’s John Hollinger, OKC will look to trade Patton within the week. Patton has played in two games for the Thunder this year.

It’s been oddly quiet on the trade front.

The common thought was that Oklahoma City was going to be (or at least look to be) one of the big sellers this season, trying to move some of their more valuable pieces and go full rebuild with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and their stockpile of draft picks.

Though there is still no word about potential deals including Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari or Steven Adams, there is an OKC player that could be on the move in the coming days.

According to John Hollinger of The Athletic, the Thunder are likely to trade Justin Patton sometime in the coming week.

With the Thunder a mere $750,250 into the tax and Patton’s deal non-guaranteed, the stars are not aligned in the young center’s favor. By emulating the Houston move enumerated above and paying another team to take Patton and waive him, the Thunder could promote 2-way player Luguentz Dort to get the roster back to 14 and then sign another 2-way, and stay under the tax. As with Gary Clark above, Patton could only be acquired by one of the nine teams with workable trade exceptions, or by the Hawks via cap room.

Patton is in his third year in the league, his first in Oklahoma City. He’s played in two games for the Thunder, averaging 1.0 points and 1.0 rebounds in 4.5 minutes of game time.

He has spent most of his season with the Thunder’s G-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Patton has played in 19 games for the Blue, starting in 18. He’s averaging 10.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 27.1 minutes per game.

Oklahoma City signed the former 2017 Chicago Bulls draft pick on August 13, after he was waived by the Philadelphia 76ers back in April 2019.

Oklahoma City ‘not going away’ as Thunder climbs power rankings

The Thunder climbed one spot in the Uproxx power rankings after going a perfect four-for-four in their games last week.

Oklahoma City has certainly been making moves over the last week or so.

The Thunder are over .500 for the first time this year. They’ve won four straight games, a season’s best. Three of those four victories were comebacks from at least 18 points down.

Dennis Schroder is in the midst of the best season of his career and is coming off a week in which he averaged 25.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. Good enough to earn him league honors for the Western Conference Player of the Week.

All in all, things are looking up for Oklahoma City, their spot in the Uproxx power rankings included.

This week, OKC moved up a spot to No. 13.

Billy Donovan’s team has nine wins in its last 12 games and, during that run, the Thunder have been a top-12 team in the NBA on both ends of the floor. Oklahoma City’s +4.7 net rating, even in a small sample, paints a favorable picture and the Thunder are now above the .500 mark at 15-14 and firmly in the playoff discussion in the Western Conference.

Oklahoma City’s success, this most recent week, in particular, is due in part to outstanding guard play from Schroder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who set and then matched a career-high 32 this week, and Chris Paul.

Gilgeous-Alexander continues to look better and better, averaging 21.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game (on high-end efficiency) in the last nine games. He is flanked by an All-Star caliber contributor in Paul, even if his best days are behind him. The future Hall of Famer isn’t as prolific as he was in his prime, but Paul has a 61 percent true shooting and strong per-minute averages that remind the NBA world of just how good he is.

The Thunder look to have more wins coming, with Memphis and Charlotte on the schedule.

Long-term success will be a question of if Sam Presti decides to keep the team together. Paul, Danilo Gallinari, and Steven Adams are available to be traded, and there are teams that are reportedly interested in Adams.

But for the moment, Oklahoma City has done what most people believed they couldn’t prior to the start of the season – win.

Report: Hawks ‘have discussed’ Steven Adams as potential trade target

Per The Athletic, Steven Adams ‘has been discussed’ as a player the Atlanta Hawks could pursue via trade in an effort to help at center.

Thus far things have been fairly quiet on the trade front since the restrictions on free-agents singed over the summer were lifted on December 15.

But that doesn’t mean that discussions haven’t been going on in front offices across the league.

Oklahoma City has made it known that Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, and Steven Adams are available to be traded. Paul so far hasn’t drawn any interest, but Adams has apparently caught the eye of a team in the East.

Per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk “told season tickets holders the team will have to address the center position in the coming months”. To do that, one of the players Atlanta has its eyes on in Oklahoma City big man, Steven Adams.

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Oklahoma City is open to accepting the higher salaries that teams want to move, including long-term deals. The Thunder’s Steven Adams is one of those players who could be dealt before the deadline, and he is someone who has been discussed by the Hawks, according to a source inside the organization.

A trade for Adams would be appealing for the Hawks because Adams is slated to make $27 million before becoming a free agent in 2021, which, as noted by Kirschner “would not impact the Hawks during what could be a loaded free agency class”.

That being said, to give up Adams, Sam Presti would certainly want something significant in return.

Should Atlanta want to move forward in a deal for Adams, Kirschner believes that the player the Hawks would be most likely to part with would be Chandler Parsons, “because the salaries would match.”

Parsons is making $25 million this year and will hit unrestricted free agency this summer.

Atlanta does have a first-round draft pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but don’t get too excited, Kirschner doesn’t think that the Hawks would be willing to part with it unless it got them a bonafide NBA star in return.

Report: Heat’s interest in Chris Paul is ‘extinct’

According to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, the Miami Heat have completely moved on the idea of trading for Chris Paul.

There was a time that Chris Paul to Miami seemed like a foregone conclusion.

Apparently, that time has come and gone.

The fact that Oklahoma City and the Heat couldn’t come to an agreement over the summer should have been the first clue that Paul was likely to stay in OKC throughout the duration of the 2019-20 season.

The idea that Paul would get off to a good start, while teams that would need the services of a veteran point guard to position themselves for a playoff push, would struggle, was simply that – an idea.

Paul hasn’t gotten off to a bad start. He’s averaging 16.2 points, 6.3 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game. More than that, he’s providing leadership and mentorship to a young Thunder squad that’s surprisingly still in contention for a spot in the West.

The fatal flaw in the plan, however, was anticipating that Miami (or other potential trade partners) would struggle through the first two months of the season.

Unfortunately for Oklahoma City, that hasn’t been the case, especially with regards to the Heat. So much so, that according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, Miami’s interest in bringing in CP3 “is extinct”.

The Heat inquired about a trade for a relic point guard in Chris Paul but weren’t able to come to an agreement with the Thunder this offseason (or with the Rockets when a three-way deal was discussed before the Paul-for–Russell Westbrook agreement). At this point, Miami’s interest in Paul is extinct, according to league sources. Miami is more likely to chase someone like Jrue Holiday, multiple front office executives believe. Holiday was recently made available by the Pelicans, according to The New York Times’ Marc Stein.

It’s not just the Miami Heat that aren’t willing to take on Paul. The market for a 34-year-old point guard with a huge contract is slim at best.

At this point, it’s more likely that Paul will stay with the Thunder through the end of the season, at which point he could either decide to stay or, the more likely scenario, is one in which both sides could come to an agreement on a buyout and allow Paul to pursue other avenues.