The Dwight Howard effect. It's actually remarkable that they have caved as fast as they have! I'm enjoying every minute of this season.
Denver engaged in serious talks to acquire Millsap last summer and is known to be interested again, alongside Toronto and Sacramento. (The Nuggets, for the record, are now openly shopping third-year big man Jusuf Nurkic in addition to the widely assumed availability of vets Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler). The Hawks, sources say, want at least one quality first to headline a Millsap deal. Spoiler You're undoubtedly wondering what the Warriors will do in response to Cleveland's looming acquisition of Korver. There will be buyouts in various corners of the league, after the Feb. 23 trade deadline and before the March 1 playoff eligibility deadline ...and figures to be the surest route to them adding another player who can help in the playoffs. Given this week's loss of Justise Winslow for the season, on top of the ongoing unavailability of Chris Bosh, Miami would seem to have more motivation than ever to fully embrace The Tank and start shopping Goran Dragic. Miami's price for acquiring Dragic, however, is still said to be too high to encourage any serious trade discussions. Word is that two first-round picks is the Nets' current asking price for center Brook Lopez. Sources with knowledge of the Bulls' thinking emphatically deny the notion that All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler is available. I'm told Dallas' Wesley Matthews, like Butler, is not in play. The prospect of an Andrew Bogut trade remains very real in Big D -- an outcome even Bogut has acknowledged -- but sources say that the Mavs are batting away pitches for Matthews as he continues an impressive recovery from an Achilles tear. Word is Portland, of late, has been tracking Tyson Chandler as a potential trade target, since the Phoenix center could certainly help the Blazers with their defensive issues. Chandler, 3X, has two seasons left on his contract after this season valued at $26.5 million, but it remains to be seen how willing the Suns are to part with their interior anchor after Chandler encouraged the club to resist outside trade interest last summer. DeMarcus Cousins became even less likely to be moved once the NBA's new labor deal was hatched. The Kings, as you surely know by now, are openly desperate to bring their 10-season playoff drought to a halt. Those who know Sacramento best continue to say that, as long as the West's No. 8 seed remains within the Kings' sights, they'll be increasingly reluctant to part with their All-Star center. But sources also say that the Kings, at season's end, want to pitch Cousins on a long-term partnership in the summertime, knowing he's going to be eligible in July for a Designated Player Extension that could make him one of a handful of $200 million players league wide. The latest signals suggest it would take a monster offer to get the Kings to tweak those plans. In addition to the veteran free agents looking to make a return to the league in 2017 that we reported on earlier this week -- guards Jarrett Jack and Mario Chalmers and forward Carl Landry -- add the name Norris Cole. According to a report by my ESPN colleague Chris Haynes, Cole is also nearing a return to full fitness after a hamstring problem scuttled his recent stint in China. http://www.espn.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/4869/what-the-hawks-seek-in-a-paul-millsap-trade
nurkic would be an amazing get. man, i'm licking my chops at the thought of brew being upgraded to someone like wilson chandler...
Houston will be a 3rd team on this trade talks that may land them a solid big fir chump change of Harrell
Harrell isn't chump change. In fact, I'm willing to bet that every other team in the NBA would love to have him on their roster.
They have won 6 in a row and are tied for 4th in the East ... and perhaps more importantly, WHEN you start to field offers for a certain player is important. They might be able to maximize return closer to the trade deadline. Might... not definitively
