The NBA free agency period is winding down and that means trade rumors should start heating up and names like Kevin Love, Klay Thompson, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jordan Crawford, Derrick Williams, DeJuan Blair and Carl Landry could be traded this summer and teams like the Dallas Mavericks, LA Lakers and Golden State Warriors could be interested in making moves.
There are some trades in the works right now, as the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards are working on a deal for DeJuan Blair. According to ESPN.com, the Wizards are targeting Blair as a trade option, as the Mavs are looking to move his deal to help sign their other players, including Chandler Parsons. Jordan Crawford has also come up in talks as an option for the Brooklyn Nets, Knicks, LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks and the Warriors said they would be willing to pull a sign and trade.
The Blazers and Aldridge dealt with trade rumors through last season, but now it appears that he wants to stay with Portland for the long haul. According to ESPN.com, Aldridge was offered a man contract extension by the team, but he is planning on rejecting that deal. The report says that Aldridge is not rejecting it because he doesn't want to be there, but because he wants to sign a true max deal after this season when he hits free agency. Aldridge has that right and the Blazers understand that as well.
While the Blazers are planning on keeping Aldridge, the fact that he will be on the last year of his deal and asking for a max contract will still bring up trade rumors. He will be very expensive and so will Damian Lillard and keeping both players is no guarantee. Aldridge likely will come up again this season even if the Blazers aren't looking to deal him and they get a great offer, they may not be able to drop it.
Thompson has been mentioned numerous times in trade rumors this summer, but right now it looks like the Golden State Warriors are not trading him. Thompson first came up as a piece involved in the Kevin Love trade talks and for a while it looked like the Warriors would land Love. But things hit as snag when some in the organization did not want to put in Thompson. The team was worried about breaking up the duo of Thompson and Steph Curry and that put a hold on the deal.
Before the draft the Lakers trade to facilitate a three team trade with the Wolves and the Warriors in the hopes of landing Thompson, but that did not go through either. The Wolves did not want to give up Love to the Warriors without getting Thompson and that basically was the major move that kept things from happening. Now, the Warriors are planning to hold onto Thompson and if the Kevin Love talks come up again, he likely will not be involved. There are many trades that could go down this summer and some of these could be the start of bigger deals that lead into the deadline, including for Kevin Love.
