NBA Daily: Inching Closer To The Trade Deadline

Inching Closer To The Trade Deadline

The 2018 NBA Trade Deadline is a week from today at 3 pm EST. Most NBA teams have been in deep exploratory talks for weeks, but the next seven days are when things start to get serious. Typically, the last 30 days have been more about what a team “wants,” not necessarily what they will settle for. This is when teams have to get realistic if they want to get something done. Here are some of the things to watch:

The Knicks And Joakim Noah

The New York Knicks and center Joakim Noah seem to be at an impasse that may be unrepairable. Noah and Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek were reported to have gotten into a very heated exchange that ended up with Noah being sent home.

Noah, who has little no meaningful role with the Knicks this year, has grown frustrated with the situation, and it seems both sides are trying to find an exit via trade.

A league source familiar with the Knicks’ thinking suggested New York may be open to giving up their first-round pick this year to offload Noah without needing to buy him out or carry a monster cap hit. The prevailing thought was the Knicks wouldn’t be bad enough to land one of the gems of the draft class, and with so much youth on the roster now, a one year hit to jettison Noah seems to be at least under consideration.

The Knicks have also been weighing options on deals involving possible free agent Kyle O’Quinn, who has a player option this summer. The Knicks have also been fielding offers on forward Willy Hernangomez; there is a sense that both could be moved before the deadline. The question becomes, what’s the return and where do they land?

No Trade Market for Monroe, Hence the Buyout

The Phoenix Suns reached a contract buyout with forward Greg Monroe yesterday; he is expected to clear the NBA waiver process this weekend and hit the unrestricted free agent market.

The Suns tried pretty aggressively to trade Monroe and found virtually no takers on his deal. This becomes meaningful for teams like the Knicks, who are trying to move even uglier money on non-ending deals.

The Suns’ stance for weeks has been that they will use their draft picks and their cap flexibility this off-season to add quality veterans to their youthful roster. In that same vein, there has been a growing sense that one or two of the Suns’ duplicated young guys could be had at the deadline. There is a belief the Suns may wait until the draft when they could leverage one of those players to move into a player they are very high on in the draft or to make a deal for a veteran.

By way of trying to offload Monroe, the Suns have talked with a number of teams, so it’s not out of the question they trigger something at the deadline as well; they not only have cap space to spare, but also have young guys to bargain with.

As for Monroe, the prevailing thought today is that he’ll land with the Boston Celtics when he clears waivers, the team most insiders pegged as likely in early January, mainly because they have north of $8.5 million to offer via the Gordon Hayward Disabled Player Exception.

The New Orleans Pelicans can’t offer nearly the same money, but the belief is they are dangling the notion of a starters spot in their pitch for Monroe.

While this is far from decided, there is a dark horse in all of this, and that might be the Washington Wizards, a team Monroe has had eyes on for some time.

Keeping Them Out Until the Deadline

The Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies have decided to shut down the two players they have been talking trades with in Grizzlies guard Tyreke Evans and Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic.

Evans has been on the trade market for some time, and there is a belief that Boston may be willing to meet the Grizzlies’ asking price of a first-round pick. Evans is on a low dollar deal with the Grizzlies and is owed $3.29 million. The Celtics could simply absorb Evans into their Hayward DPE (Disabled Player Exception) or swap some youth like big man Guerschon Yabusele.

The Grizzlies are said to be fairly active in trying to find a deal for Evans and seem to be open to other ideas as long as they don’t include Marc Gasol and guard Mike Conley, so look for the Grizz to consummate something before the deadline.

The Bulls have been shopping Mirotic for some time, and were close to a deal with the Pelicans that came apart because of Mirotic’s option year.

The Bulls structured Mirotic’s contract to make next season a Team Option year, which in essence makes Mirotic a one-year player, which grants him veto rights on a deal. The Bulls can solve the issue by picking up the team option, but what’s surfaced is some teams want the $12.5 million contract year but want Chicago to take back equitable contract money. Teams that don’t want the guaranteed money next year are the teams Mirotic can veto.

The prevailing thought in NBA circles is that Mirotic wants out of Chicago, but wants his contract guaranteed for next season. That’s likely going to be the outcome of the situation, but that’s likely changing the value of the deal for the Bulls.

The Utah Jazz continue to be the team considered the front-runner to land Mirotic, but they have been unwilling to part with a first-round pick to seal the deal.

The NBA requires players that are in active trade talks to be held out of games, so with both, Memphis and Chicago working the phones on options holding both players out makes a lot of sense, especially considering neither player is expected to be back with the team after the deadline.

The annual Basketball Insiders Trade Deadline Diary will drop on Tuesday February 6, we’ll track all of the news, notes, rumors, tweets and deals as they get done all the way through to the 3pm EST deadline. If you are looking for everything related to the deadline in one easy to read place, you’ll want to bookmark the Basketball Insiders Trade Deadline Dairy.

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