We’ve just about made it to the NBA trade deadline. The deadline is this Thursday, February 8th at 3:00pm Eastern. The rumor mill has been heating up, and we’re sure to see a handful of deals in the coming days.
The Charlotte Hornets, being as bad as they are, should be among the biggest sellers at the deadline and will surely be receiving a lot of calls from good teams trying to acquire players for their playoff pushes. There are a few players that are untouchable–LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams. Everyone else is tradeable if the right offer comes along, and some are likely to be shipped off for any offer the Hornets can get. We’ll look at the rumors player by player.
Kyle Lowry
The Hornets acquired Kyle Lowry and a protected 2027 first round pick in exchange for Terry Rozier. Lowry hasn’t been with the team at all since he was acquired, and the front office has been clear that their intent is to trade him again before the deadline. Believe it or not, the market for a soon-to-be 38 year old point guard averaging eight points per game is lukewarm at best. The Magic are reportedly interested. The 76ers apparently have interest if he gets bought out which means they might could be convinced to give up something to make sure no one else gets him. Either way, there isn’t a whole lot of competition for the veteran guard’s services and it’s not likely the Hornets are going to get anything exciting.
Gordon Hayward
The other overpaid veteran on an expiring contract that currently resides on the Hornets roster. Hayward has been out for about six weeks with a calf strain and there’s no telling how much more time he’ll miss given his frequently extended absences for injuries. If he was healthy, there’d probably be some interest in the swingman that still has some juice in the legs. From various sources, if the Hornets can’t find a trade partner, it’s not a given they’ll buy him out. He may stick around.
Miles Bridges
The beleaguered forward has been linked to a couple of teams with the Mavericks and Suns the most prominent. The Mavericks have some assets in the coffers that could be appealing to the Hornets. There was reportedly interest between Charlotte and Grant Williams last offseason and the Charlotte native would be a natural target in a Bridges trade.
A potential Suns deal would be more complicated. The Suns can’t trade a first round pick until kids born in 2012 are eligible to be drafted (that’s 2031 if you don’t wanna do the math) and don’t have any second round picks until 2026, and that’s the least favorable of the Pistons, Magic, or Bucks. In short, they have no draft assets, and they don’t have much in the way of intriguing young talent either. The Hornets’ best bet is to find a team that’s interested in Jusuf Nurkic or something. I don’t know. It seems like something beyond the creativity threshold of the current front office, but I’ve been wrong before. Either way, it’d be hard for them to get a decent return in a Bridges trade, especially if he goes to the Suns.
The Others
PJ Washington and Nick Richards are apparently garnering interest around the league, but I haven’t seen the specifics of which teams are interested. There has been some buzz about the Suns as a landing spot for Richards, but as we talked about in the Bridges section, I don’t know what the Suns have to offer. The Mavericks have been linked to Washington in the past and there’s that Grant Williams angle again. Both players are the type of archetype that would fit on just about any team, so it’s just a matter of how the chips fall I guess.
