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Anfernee Simons #4 of the Boston Celtics <\/p>\n
There is just about a month to go ahead of the deadline for\u00a0 NBA<\/a> trade rumors to turn to realities, and now is about the time that the fuzzy speculation will need to turn to concrete talks and deal-building. The real business of the trade deadline generally waits until the week before the day strikes\u2014it\u2019s February 5 this year\u2014but now\u2019s the time to lay groundwork.<\/p>\n There has been speculation that this will be a slow NBA trade deadline, but that should always be taken with a grain of salt. We were told last year that new NBA rules would stifle the deadline altogether and we still got Luka Doncic<\/a>-to-the-Lakers, one of the biggest in-season blockbusters in NBA history.<\/p>\n So who\u2019s on the clock here? Let\u2019s see \u2026<\/p>\n Playoff Contenders Celtics, Warriors Weighing Moves<\/p>\n Boston Celtics<\/a>. Despite his recent good play, if the Celtics could move off of guard $26.6 million guard Anfernee Simons<\/a> and bring in a quality replacement who shaves $12 million off their payroll and gets them under the luxury tax, they would. There have been reports that Boston, No. 2 in the East, wants to stick with what they have and be a contender, but that\u2019s only because they really have no other options. \u201cIt is too difficult a needle to thread, sending out a big salary and getting back a good player who makes half as much money. They\u2019ll try, but \u2026\u201d said a Western Conference executive.<\/p>\n Golden State Warriors<\/a>. The list of teams tabbed as interested in Jonathan Kuminga goes: Kings, Suns, Bulls<\/a>, and Mavericks, with Yahoo\u2019s Kevin O\u2019Connor adding<\/a> the Blazers, Pelicans and Wizards to the mix. The Warriors can begin considering trading Kuminga on January 15. \u201cThere will be teams no one is expecting getting involved with him,\u201d one GM said. \u201cEveryone has known he is going to be traded. If you have not already called (the Warriors), it does not mean you\u2019re not interested. It just means you\u2019re going to wait until the 15th and call them.\u201d<\/p>\n Desperation Fueling Bucks, Mavericks NBA Trade Rumors<\/p>\n Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>. The Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> should part ways, but Milwaukee is not going to enter trade talks on their franchise icon until he demands it\u2014and he has not done that. Now, it looks like the Bucks will compound the mistake they made in waiving Damian Lillard<\/a> and signing Myles Turner by taking a swing at another bloated contract for a flawed player, whether it\u2019s Michael Porter Jr., Zach LaVine<\/a> or Jerami Grant<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dallas Mavericks<\/a>. Maybe trading Anthony Davis is the right move, shifting Dallas\u2019 focus to budding teenage superstar Cooper Flagg<\/a>. \u00a0But Davis is 32 and has been his usual injury-prone self this season, playing in 19 of 37 games, so the Mavericks will get pennies on the dollar in moving him\u2014and they\u2019re worried about the optics of dumping their main return in the Luka Doncic deal for expiring contracts and heavily protected draft picks. Angst might ultimately foil a Davis deal. Rival execs tab the Mavs as an organization without a direction just yet, which makes them hard to engage on deals.<\/p>\n GettyAnthony Davis #3 of the Dallas Mavericks<\/p>\n Bottom-Feeders Fueling NBA Trade Rumors<\/p>\n Brooklyn Nets<\/a>. We reported back on December 27<\/a> that Michael Porter Jr. was finally \u201cgetting buzz\u201d as an NBA trade rumor fixture. This week, the Bucks, Warriors and Pistons<\/a> were tabbed as potential landing spots. MPJ was viewed as untradeable because of his contract, but that changed quickly. \u201cTeams are engaging on him, teams have some interest, so\u00a0 there is still the hope that something can get done there,\u201d a GM told me in late December.<\/p>\n Sacramento Kings<\/a>. The Kings have been riddled with injuries and effort issues from talented stars who have not formed any semblance of chemistry\u2014they\u2019re 8-29. They\u2019re willing to sell off most pieces, and moving Zach LaVine and the two years, $97 million on his contract would be Job 1. Said LaVine on the subject<\/a>: \u201cI think that there\u2019s been trade talks with a lot of teams. I don\u2019t think I worry about that. I think that\u2019s your guys\u2019 job to try to put some storylines out there. You can run with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Indiana Pacers<\/a>. Keep an eye on them as the deadline approaches. They\u2019re a league-worst 6-31 but are thinking about next year\u2019s roster, with Tyrese Haliburton<\/a> back and healthy. They want to bring in a center and are open trading Bennedict Mathurin<\/a>, who still has a market despite an ongoing thumb injury.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Anfernee Simons #4 of the Boston Celtics There is just about a month to go ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-397768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2250618166-e1767229544320.jpg\")
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