That's an interesting quote from Feigen about the possibility of a Deron Williams like situation next year. I think there are two possible scenarios: (1) A player is an unrestricted free agent or has a player termination option in 2013 and is unwilling to sign an extension candidates: Chris Paul (UFA), Josh Smith (UFA), Monta Ellis (ETO), Andre Iguodala (ETO), Al Jefferson (UFA), Paul Millsap (UFA), Nikola Pekovic (UFA) (2) A team is in a position were they cannot retain their restricted FA because small market or salary cap hell. candidate #1: James Harden and Serge Ibaka, both of which are restricted free agents in the summer of 2013. During the 2013 season, OKC is on the books for super-max contracts for both Westbrook and Durant, along with 13 million owed to Perkins/Sefolosha. Harden is a near-max player and Ibaka will command a 8 figure yearly salary on the open market. Even if OKC amnesties Perkins, it seems as if they would only be able to keep one out of Harden and Ibaka. No team in the NBA has 4 players that make an annual salary of greater than 10 million. I doubt OKC would be the first. So James Harden may be on the trade block at next year's deadline unexpectedly. candidate #2 Taj Gibson. I think he could be a starting caliber PF and would Chicago, who has never historically paid the luxury tax, pay the tax to retain their THIRD big? I think Gibson's length and defense, along with his young age, would be attractive to the Rockets.
Why is Dragic our most likely to be traded? It seems like the only teams that need an upgrade at point guard would be the Lakers and maybe the Jazz/Portland? IMO Scola should be one we are shopping most heavily.
I'm hard-pressed to find any trading partner who makes sense for Scola. I've looked a lot. The only contender who seems like they might actually be upgraded by adding Scola is OKC, and I'm not sure we could get back much of value from them. Reggie Jackson, Cole Aldrich are their only youngs with potential to be rotation players, and their value is very questionable.
But Feigen was talking about a deal for one of those guys THIS year like what happened to with D-Will last year. The name that jumps out more than any other is James Harden. I get the feeling that he's a max contract superstar in the waiting. Maybe something like this? http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=884wpsp
a) The Thunder would be insane to do that b) They won't trade Harden this year for sure, he's a core part of their rotation and he isn't even an RFA until after next season
Deron Williams was an upcoming UNRESTRICTED free agent who was dealt a year before his contract expired (similar to the names i suggested in the first list). James Harden would not be dealt this year because he is a RESTRICTED free agent and OKC has a lot more flexibility with Harden than the Jazz had with Williams. Plus they are better off trying to make two playoff runs with him before they make a decision. OKC won't have to make this decision until next trade deadline or after the season, but when they do, they won't want Kevin Martin (worse player with high salary) back in return when the only reason they would trade Harden is for salary cap purposes!!! They would want young talent on rookie-scale contracts to compliment the super-max core of Durant and Westbrook.
Well we could try to give them that. What they desperately need is a front court scorer. That was the purpose of Beasley. OKC's biggest problem is that they need a 4th scorer - 3 from the starters and 1 from the bench. Unfortunately for them, they probably can't get that 3rd starting low post scorer without giving up Harden.
