The NBA trade deadline is a couple weeks away and that has front office executive positioning their teams as buyers or sellers heading into the middle of February.
The way things stand now, it appears that there are more sellers than buyers this season, as a number of teams feel they remain in the playoff race and do not want to start shipping off players. Neil Greenberg at the Washington Post writes that the eastern conference has more sellers than buyers this season, as teams like the Hawks, Bulls, Celtics, Pistons, Pacers, Hornets and Knicks are all close in the standings as they try and get in position for the playoffs.
The west has a number of teams that look like they will be sellers, including the Lakers, Timberwolves, Suns, Pelicans and Nuggets, as all of those teams are way out of the mix in the standings. The Kings also could be in that mix and the team has been mentioned in connection with deals for Rudy Gay. The Jazz are currently on the outside looking in for the playoffs, but Zach Lowe at ESPN writes that the team could consider making moves at the deadline, including adding a point guard like Jeff Teague.
The Hawks are an interesting team to watch, as they are in the top half of the east standings right now, but they have been mentioned in numerous trade deals this winter. The team is reportedly listening to calls for Jeff Teague and the Hawks are also reportedly open to dealing either Teague or Dennis Schroder. While that doesn't mean the team definitely will deal, the fact that they are listening to offers is telling for what they may do at the deadline.
One east team that could be a buyer and a seller is the Boston Celtics. The team has a ton of draft picks to use if they want to deal and the team has been mentioned in reports about trading David Lee. The Celtics are about to come up to a summer when they will have a ton of cap space and making some moves now could set them up even better to chase free agents once that happens at the end of the season.
Marc Stein at ESPN reports that the Lakers could be sellers at the deadline, as names like Roy Hibbert, Brandon Bass, Nick Young and Lou Williams could be available. Stein writes that Hibbert is the most likely player to get moved, as he is the only one of the group that has an expiring deal. The Nuggets reportedly are shopping JJ Hickson, while the Pelicans may look at trading Ryan Anderson at the deadline.
Kevin Martin has been mentioned in trade rumors for the Timberwolves, while the Suns may finally pull the trigger on a Markieff Morris deal. Morris has been mentioned in trade talk since the summer, but Stein writes that the team is not looking to just trade Morris to make a deal and that they would like some value back.
