NBA Trade Rumors: A long list of potential deals kicks off the deadline season

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Is your team looking to improve? Get worse, perhaps? ‘Tis the season!

Ah yes, the time of year where NBA teams are in the mood to begin giving and receiving…not gifts, but draft assets. Not boxes and bags, but players that hopefully that will get a team over the hump – whatever the hump may look like (the playoffs, the play-in…or the NBA Draft Lottery).

With the arrival of December 15th on the NBA calendar comes the fact that over 90% of NBA players are now eligible to be traded. While that’s not to say that stars like Luka Doncic or LeBron James will be on the move, it does mean that their respective teams – the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers – will almost certainly be among those looking for help on the trade market. There are others among them, of course – and the first batch of trade season rumors backs that up.

First, Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports dives deep in to the potential availability of San Antonio Spurs big man Jakob Poeltl.

Fischer mentions that Poeltl could very well re-sign in San Antonio, who is very much in the hunt for one of the top picks in the NBA Draft (and either Victor Wenbanyama or Scoot Henderson), but Poeltl’s impending free agency (and the fact he’s perhaps too good for a bottom of the league team to stay there) clouds that window.

Poeltl, per Fischer, has been linked to both the Toronto Raptors (ironic since he was part of the DeMar DeRozan trade a while back) and the Boston Celtics in the past. He’d help front court depth for both teams, and while Boston has been quiet to this point according to Fischer with their current position atop the NBA regular season mountain perhaps they reinforce their already deep squad even more. The Chicago Bulls are also a possibility, depending on extension negotiations with Nikola Vucevic and their own place in the playoff pecking order.

Fischer also details the Lakers and their lofty (Zach LaVine? DeMar DeRozan? Nikola Vucevic?) and perhaps more realistic (Bojan Bogdanovic?) targets, as well as the Pistons taking calls on Saddiq Bey, the Knicks wanting to shake things up with Evan Fournier being at the head of the trade block, and a reminder that Jae Crowder and John Collins remain very much available.

The Lakers also, per Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, have inquired about bring Kyle Kuzma back to L.A. That seems like a return that feels too good to be true – Kuzma would surely enjoy that outcome. The Lakers desperately want to be good, and the Wizards seem to be on the downward slope of the playoff race. L.A. combines hopeful postseason contender with prime location nicely for a player like Kuzma.

Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report also has some NBA trade intel, acknowledging a lot of the info above while also mentioning an interesting name in Phoenix…

Pincus says in his piece that Suns Forward Cam Johnson, the 26-year-old player our of North Carolina that is a career 39% three point shooter and is approaching restricted free agency, may also be on the trade block. Johnson and Crowder could be a package deal, Pincus says, but the two players bring different value to a potential trade partner. Crowder is a veteran who has played in over 100 postseason games. He’s flawed (a career 34.6% three point shooter with not much offensive ability beyond that) but can defend multiple positions and provide an injection of intensity and professionalism to a locker room.

Johnson, meanwhile, is younger and is a much better flor spacer. He isn’t the inside defender and rebounder that Crowder is (at least historically is), but he is a proven commodity as a shooter that is used to being a reserve. Johnson did take over Crowder’s starting position at power forward for the Suns this season and before his knee injury was flashing improvements beyond his coveted deep shot. Depending on the type of contender…perhaps a more youthful team like the Pelicans, Kings, or Grizzlies…they may want to take a flyer on his upside and see if an extension can be reached this summer. Johnson AND Crowder should mean both could go in separate transactions – not just as a pair.

Finally for this roundup, Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype had some takeaways on players increasing stock on the market.

The Sacramento Kings are written about extensively, and throughout these rumor pieces have been names mentioned for possibly players like Gary Trent Jr. from the Raptors. It’s good to see the Kings potentially be buyers for a change during trade season. Kristaps Porzingis and Myles Turner are mentioned as two names entering free agency this summer that have done a lot for their future contract negotiations (and perhaps trade value, if the seasons of Indiana and Washington go sideways) while Patrick Beverley has been struggling. A Beverley/Kendrick Nunn/1st round pick package isn’t as tantalizing as a larger deal with a seemingly rejuvenated Russell Westbrook may be…and the Lakers remain hesitant to part with two 1st round picks in any dealings.

But with LeBron James nearing the end of his career and Anthony Davis back near his former MVP candidate-self, do the Lakers have the benefit of time? Just how big of a swing must Los Angeles make to be a serious threat in a currently wide-open Western Conference? And do they really have enough assets to pull off a deal?

We have a couple months until the trade deadline to find out.