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After a league-wide stalemate, the NBA’s trade season finally got warmed up this past weekend with a pair of smaller deals.
The NBA saw the Cleveland Cavaliers send De’Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder, and then the Portland Trail Blazers added Vit Krejci from the Atlanta Hawks in a swap for Duop Reath. While neither deal can be considered a blockbuster, they were the first real movement in almost a month.
Much of the trade market has been on hold due to uncertainty regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s availability from the Milwaukee Bucks. The two-time MVP’s status remains the focus of trade chatter, with the Bucks now willing to listen to offers, and until he’s moved or it becomes clear Milwaukee will keep him until the summer, we likely won’t see too many other major moves.
With just over three days left until the 3 p.m. ET deadline on Feb. 5, the window is rapidly closing for a team to pull off an Antetokounmpo deal and swing the balance of power in the NBA. In our latest roundup of NBA trade chatter and rumors, we start with a team once considered a frontrunner for Antetokounmpo that doesn’t seem, as of now, like they’ll be in the mix at the deadline.
Knicks not aggressively pursuing Giannis
The New York Knicks were reportedly the No. 1 team on Antetokounmpo’s wishlist this summer when the Bucks had brief discussions about a deal that would send the Greek Freak to the Big Apple. Those talks never got far, but New York has remained one of the presumptive frontrunners for Antetokounmpo if he ever requested a trade.
However, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst poured some cold water on Antetokounmpo becoming a Knick by Thursday’s deadline, explaining that New York isn’t showing any real aggression to make the moves necessary to present the Bucks with a strong offer by the deadline.
“The Knicks believe in this team,” Windhorst said.”…They believed in this team last summer when Giannis was loosely available in those discussions. They didn’t make an aggressive offer at the time to progress those talks. If they want to win a bidding war now, i think its going to take a 3 or 4 team trade where they take some of their players and get other assets for them, and then come back to the Bucks and make very strong offers. That is just not happening. They are not showing that aggression to get Giannis right now and I think thats because they like this team.”
Windhorst’s report tracks with everything the Knicks have said publicly, most notably James Dolan doing a rare interview early in January where he spoke about how much he likes this group and believes they can win if they get to the postseason healthy.
It also makes sense given the Knicks lack of draft assets after shedding so many of their future picks to acquire Mikal Bridges. As noted, the Knicks would need to loop in other teams to put together the kind of picks package Milwaukee is looking for to help kickstart a rebuild without Antetokounmpo. That’s always difficult to do — especially when teams aren’t always keen to help a rival acquire a superstar — and New York’s best offer to the Bucks likely can’t be made until this summer.
As such, it’s good business to state your belief in the current roster, knowing that if things don’t go according to plan in the postseason and Antetokounmpo doesn’t get traded this week, the Knicks can be one of the top suitors again this summer. That seems to be New York’s plan, and now the question is whether the Bucks find a suitable offer elsewhere in the next three days to ruin the Knicks’ backup plan for the summer.
Mavs ‘feel no pressure’ to move Anthony Davis at deadline
One of the other big names that’s been in steady rumors all season is Dallas Mavericks center Anthony Davis, but his market (along with Ja Morant‘s and others) has been put on a back burner due to Antetokounmpo-mania across the league.
Dallas remains interested in discussing Davis trades, but “feel no pressure” to trade him by Thursday and would be comfortable keeping him through the rest of the season, according to Marc Stein. Davis has had an odd tenure in Dallas, marred by injuries, most recently suffering a hand injury that will keep him out through the All-Star break at least.
By all accounts, pursuits of Davis are minimal. There was reported interest from the Atlanta Hawks after they traded Trae Young, but those rumors cooled off and all indications are Atlanta won’t seek to make any aggressive offers for the former All-Star big man. As such, it makes sense that the Mavs and Davis would look to finish out this season — where rookie Cooper Flagg is emerging into a star in Dallas — and assess the market and their options this summer.