Oftentimes stale and uneventful, the NBA trade deadline this season is looking like it could finally live up to the hype that always surrounds it.
A combination of the Eastern Conference being dreadful, bad teams doing better and good teams doing worse than first predicted and a big coming off-season has opened up a number clubs who should figure to be buyers as the 3:00 p.m. ET deadline approaches on Thursday.
The looming 2014 draft class will also deeply figure into teams’ plans as there are still a few who are stuck in no-man’s land, seemingly having not decided on which direction they want to go in.
As a result, there’s been no shortage of rumours that have been bounced around the league all season long.
Here’s what you need to know heading into a promising deadline week.
Kyle Lowry probably won’t be moved
Despite all of the activity earlier in the season, Toronto Raptors point guard likely won’t be moved at the deadline.
Lowry’s name has been buzzing all season because of the borderline All-Star level he’s been playing at and the attractive expiring contract he’s currently on.
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has also said he hasn’t heard from anyone lately about making a deal but certainly won’t close the door on anything should anyone call.
Pau Gasol to Phoenix
Despite having helped them win two championships, Pau Gasol’s time with the Los Angeles Lakers has always been a little bumpy resulting in him always being the subject of trade discussions. In fact, Gasol was actually traded in 2011 for Chris Paul but the league ended up blocking that deal.
This season, Gasol’s name has popped up again with the Phoenix Suns being the prime candidates. Phoenix has been a major surprise this season, working its way into the playoff picture after it was expected to be in the lottery, resulting in the Suns potentially being buyers at the deadline.
The move for Gasol would make quite a bit of sense because Phoenix could use an upgrade at the power forward position and his $19.2-million expiring contract will help clear up cap space for the Suns to lock up Eric Bledsoe who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
Cavaliers buzz
Cleveland Cavaliers interim general manager David Griffin is expected to be busy this week as he tries to right the ship that former GM Chris Grant supposedly allowed to spiral into dysfunction.
The biggest buzz around the Cavaliers now is that the Griffin is looking to deal Luol Deng just shortly after Cleveland gave up a 2015 first-rounder to the Bulls in order to acquire him.
Deng is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and his scoring ability could still help a contender so the thought is, with the Cavaliers going nowhere this season, they will dangle him to try to get another first-round pick in this year’s draft.
Teams that need to be buyers
The Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Bobcats, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New York Knicks are all teams that should be trying to make moves to improve themselves at the deadline.
All of these teams are between the seven-to-10 seeds in their respective conferences and they also likely won’t have a first-round pick in this year’s draft, meaning they must make the playoffs to make those past trades worth it.
Most active on this front has been the Knicks who are scrambling to not only make the playoffs but acquire assets to convince Carmelo Anthony to stay as the Knicks forward can opt out of his current deal this summer.
As for those other teams, they all have valuable expiring contracts that could be levied into something of worth that could lock them into a playoff position, with the exception to this being the T-Wolves and Nets. No matter how much it may want to make a deal, Minnesota likely won’t be able to make deal because of the team’s reluctance to cross the luxury tax threshold. The Nets, on the other hand, don’t really have tradable assets other than Shaun Livingston’s and Paul Pierce’s expiring deals that definitely won’t be dealt.