Where Are The NBA Trade Rumours? (By Jordan Hamel)
Be careful what you wish for.
By Jordan Hamel.
Ladies, gentlemen, NBA gossip hounds, I have some terrible news. It's three weeks until the NBA trade deadline, normally at this time of year we’d be up to our nipples in rumours, proposed deals, Woj tweets and all sorts of shady back office wheeling and dealing. But so far this year, next to nothing, breadcrumbs, whispers, sweet jack-all. To a fan like myself, who not only loves the free market nature of NBA transfers, but also the drama and narrative that goes with it as the clock counts down; this is disappointing and I’m not happy.
Without this annual tradition I’ve had to turn to other places for distraction, like Bortlesmania, the latest season of Black Mirror and trying to learn what a Bitcoin is. While all of these things are great in their own right, none can replace my first love.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly why this season is so devoid of trades and rumours so far but I have a few theories.
Maybe everyone in the NBA is too distracted to realize the deadline is coming. Between locker room brawls in LA, a certain loud-mouthed NBA dad ripping on his son’s coach, or woke NBA players and staff replying to Trump’s ‘Shithole Countries’ remarks or Rudy Gobert’s social media game, there’s been a lot going on around the league recently.
The trade deadline is a lot earlier this season and while I don’t actually believe 30 GMs forgot to update their Outlook calendars, the earlier deadline may be significant. Teams have roughly two weeks less than they usually would to assess their place in the NBA foodchain. Are they contenders or do they need to start rebuilding? Are they buyers or sellers? Currently there are seven teams within five games of a playoff spot, that’s a large playoff bubble. While this will undoubtedly burst for some teams over the next few weeks (the Bulls run as the greatest team in basketball history has to end soon right?), right now they can still hold onto hopes of an 8th seed and don’t have to face the harsh realities that come with being out of contention.
The harshest of all is that some of these teams may need to blow it up, sell off their best players for a shot at a brighter future down the line. Is it time for the floundering Hornets to part with Kemba Walker? Do the Grizzlies need to bring an official end to grit and grind by seeing what they can get for Marc Gasol and Mike Conley? Is it time for the Jazz to have a fire sale where everything not named Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert must go? We may not get answers to these questions before the deadline, but its time for these teams to start thinking about their futures.
For the teams in Championship contention it’s a different story. Ever since the acquisition of Kevin Durant, the Warriors have had a stranglehold on the NBA, and as much as we love to sing the praises of other, very good in their own right teams, they’re not going to beat the Warriors and they know that. During of the off-season before his acquisition of Chris Paul, Rockets GM and all round smart guy Daryl Morey spoke about the need for teams to ‘expand their risk profile’ in order to have a shot at contending with the Dubs. This means making bold moves that may blow up in your face, like putting an ageing, useage-heavy guard like Chris Paul next to James Harden in an offence that thrives on run and gun. This move seems to have worked for the Rockets so far but other teams in similar spots know that a big move is not going to be enough to get them over the line.
Time will tell whether teams like the Cavs and the Thunder are willing to sacrifice long-term sustainability and financial flexibility for a shot at one of the most dominant teams in NBA history, but for now it appears as if they’re not prepared to put their remaining chips on the table. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still hanging out for an unexpected blockbuster deadline deal (e.g Boogie Cousins circa 2017), but it seems pretty unlikely. There’s one potential deal that has been floating around in the NBA ether, and since I’m having trade withdrawals, indulge me while I deep dive on this.
DeAndre Jordan to Cleveland
This one has been thrown around a lot this year, although it's looking less and less likely with the Clippers literally fighting their way back into playoff contention. The crux of the rumour revolves around the Cavs sending Tristan Thompson - who’s now fallen victim to the famed Kardashian Kurse - and the Brooklyn Nets 2018 pick they acquired from Boston, to LA for DJ.
On one hand this makes sense for the Cavs, they need to do whatever they can to keep LeBron James from leaving, and if that means giving up a first round pick that could fall as low as 10 for a much needed rim protector and interior defender like Jordan, then so be it.
But there are several problems with this that the Cavs could face:
LeBron’s not going to give the Cavs any indication of plans for next year until the off-season so there’s no guarantee that getting DJ will help convince him to stay, his mind may already be made up.
DJ is getting old and can opt out of his contract at the end of this year, at which point he’ll want to get paid big time. So the Cavs would have to back up two Brinks trucks in the off-season, one for the aging, injury prone Isaiah Thomas and one for DJ, now I’m no NBA GM but giving out bloated contracts to two limited players past their prime is the definition of bad management.
Despite Jordan’s defensive prowess, he’s probably not enough to move the needle against a team like Golden State. The Cavs are woeful on defense and have problems creating without LeBron on the court. The addition of DeAndre probably won’t be enough to match the Warriors with all their two-way wings and position-less basketball.
If LeBron leaves at the end of this season, the Cavs will have nothing, they can pay Isaiah and DeAndre, run it back with Kevin Love and fight for a low playoff seed, but they would be devoid of picks and have no financial room going forward, which would ultimately put the Cavs in NBA purgatory for years to come. The Cavs need to hold on to the Brooklyn pick.
So as you can tell unless the Cavs are desperate and incredibly short-sighted, this trade probably won’t happen. But still its fun to speculate, and I’m hoping NBA teams start getting their asses into gear so I can speculate some more over the coming weeks.