We are just days away from the NBA trade deadline — Thursday, Feb. 5, at 3 p.m. Eastern — and the trades are coming fast, with De’Andre Hunter and Keon Ellis switching teams. The rumors are coming faster. To help you stay on top of all of it, the NBCSports.com NBA crew is on it, putting updates on everything worth knowing in this one place. Just refresh here and stay up to date on everything.
Clippers players react to Harden report
A couple of weeks ago, Tyronn Lue said he expected this to be a quiet trade deadline for the Clippers. He was asked that same question Monday night — just after his team lost to the 76ers.
“I’m not sure,” Lue responded this time.
That’s because news has broken that Harden wants out and the Clippers are looking to trade the 11-time All-Star before the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
Lue’s Clippers — without Harden, who missed the game for “personal reasons” — came out Monday night and looked distracted in falling behind 16-2 early to the 76ers and never getting within single digits the rest of the night. That said, to a man the Clippers players said postgame that they were shocked by the news and didn’t learn about this until after the game.
“It’s a surprise…” Kawhi Leonard said. “Respect his decision, or whoever’s decision it is. That’s still gonna be my boy. Trust the front office.”
“It definitely was shocking,” John Collins said. “Obviously, I don’t know too much right now. Just gotta continue to see how it unfolds.”
Harden is a Southern California guy who went to Artesia High School just 20 miles from the Intuit Dome, and his coming home to the Clippers was and is a big deal.
“He means a lot, yeah, he means a lot to our team as we’ve seen in the last three years. So he means a lot,” Lue said.
Is Harden the kind of guy Lue would want on his roster for a playoff run?
“Who wouldn’t have James Harden?” he asked.
As for how to deal with the distraction, Lue was pretty old-school and straightforward.
“Be professional, just come to work every day and be ready to play,” he said.
Harden for Garland trade in “advanced” talks
James Harden was out for the second straight game for the Clippers Monday night, due to what coach Tyronn Lue said pregame was for “personal reasons,” but didn’t elaborate beyond that. Turns out it was something else.
The Clippers and Cavaliers are in “advanced talks” of a James Harden for Darius Garland trade, a swap of point guards, reports Chris Mannix at Sports Illustrated.
The deal would represent an exchange of former All-Star guards. Harden, 36, has been a workhorse for the Clippers this season, averaging 25.4 points in 35.4 minutes per game. Garland, 26, has battled injuries this season. He missed Cleveland’s first seven games recovering from offseason toe surgery and has been sidelined since Jan. 16 with an ankle sprain. On the season, Garland is averaging 18 points per game.
This is not the only trade the Clippers and Harden have looked at, the two sides are working together to find a trade that works for both sides and are talking to multiple teams, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. The conversation between the Clippers and Harden had been going on for a couple of weeks.
The Cavaliers are asking for a first-round draft pick — or at least a first-round swap — as part of this trade but the Clippers are balking at that price, Mannix reports.
This is all about money, league sources told NBC Sports. Harden has a player option for $42.3 million next season, but only $13.3 million of that is guaranteed (it was a dual option contract). Harden wanted assurances that the Clippers were not going to exercise their option and that he was going to get his full salary next season, plus he wanted to talk extension next summer (Harden is not extension-eligible during the season). The Clippers are looking to pivot out of the Harden/Kawhi Leonard era and did not want to extend him after beyond next season. That was what sparked the disagreement.
Cleveland has already given Evan Mobley a max extension, and this summer it can and will extend Donovan Mitchell for up to five years, $273 million. This may be a signal that Garland is the person left standing without a chair when the music stops, plus due to his ongoing toe injury issues he has given them very little this season. Harden serves as a shorter-term answer to keep the Cavaliers in contention.
Harden and Garland can be traded for each other straight up under the CBA, despite the Cavaliers being over the second apron because Harden makes about $300,000 less than Garland. Garland has two years and $87 million left on his contract. While the Clippers have not wanted to take back money in a trade that extends beyond next season, they might be willing to make an exception for a 26-year-old All-Star guard (but are they willing to blow up their 2027 cap space plan).
Cleveland is in Los Angeles right now and will take on the Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Wednesday, which makes the timing interesting. Both the Clippers and Cavaliers have been playing their best basketball of late. That said, the Clippers understand they are not a contender in the West and are looking beyond the Harden/Leonard era to what is next.
Cleveland entered the season thinking it should be a contender in the East, but then got off to a sluggish start, and Garland has missed much of the season dealing with a toe injury that dates back to last postseason. That said, the Cavs have climbed up to fifth in the East and in recent weeks have looked as good as any other team in the conference. They have done that without Garland.
How would the ball-dominant Harden and Donovan Mitchell mesh as a backcourt? Harden has meshed with Kevin Durant and other high-volume scorers in the past, but this would not be good for the Cavaliers’ defense.
Will Bucks trade Antetokounmpo at deadline?
It’s the question everyone in the NBA is asking: Will the Bucks trade Giannis Antetokounmpo before the Feb. 5 deadline, or will they hold off until the summer?
Nobody knows. The Bucks probably don’t even know — this isn’t a general manager question, this is an ownership question. While sources NBC Sports has spoken to lean heavily toward a summer trade (“maybe 10-20% chance” it happens before the deadline, one front office person told me), other people are saying this is closer to a coin toss. Situations like this have their own momentum, their own logic, and factoring into all of this is the question of what the locker room in Milwaukee would be like the rest of the season if Antetokounmpo is still there and walks back in. The Bucks should be in tank mode, but Antetokounmpo will return and want to play — and this is basically a .500 team this season with him on the court. What happens if the Bucks want to shut him down?
Where do things stand with the Bucks? Here is how ESPN’s Shams Charania summed it up on SportsCenter Monday evening.
“The Bucks are sifting through proposals specifically from the Heat, Wolves, Knicks and Warriors. And throughout the whole process, the Bucks have wanted a young blue-chip talent and or a surplus of draft picks. And so my understanding is the Warriors have made a pick-heavy offer. Minnesota is more of a player-centric offer, and Miami is somewhere in the middle, somewhere between players and picks. And so the Bucks are going to have to choose. Do we take one of these offers?”
Other reports say the Knicks are not being that aggressive at the deadline. Both the Heat and Timberwolves are trying to find three or four-team deals that are more enticing to the Bucks. That pick-heavy offer — Golden State can offer up to four first-rounders and a swap — is considered the frontrunner by many, reports Sam Amick of The Athletic.
None of that answers the question: Will the Bucks pull the trigger on a trade before the deadline? The only answer right now is nobody knows.
Will Bulls trade White or Dosunmu?
The Chicago Bulls appear ready to trade one of two guards at the trade deadline: Coby White or Ayo Dosunmu.
White, in his seventh year, is the player Chicago is pushing more, but they are having difficulty getting the first-round pick return they envisioned for a guy averaging 18.5 points and 4.8 assists a game, something Joel Lorenzi wrote about at The Athletic.
While so few transactions have made the going rate for Bulls guard Coby White difficult to gauge, one league source indicated that Chicago has struggled in early attempts to net a first-round pick in a deal that might involve the seventh-year guard. Any reluctance stems from his expiring contract, the potential figure on his next deal and his nagging calf issues this season.
Another factor is teams like Dosunmu, who is younger, a better defender, and is averaging 14.8 points per game while shooting 44.1% from 3. Our old friend Matt Moore nails the vibe.
Everyone wants Ayo, Bulls understandably don’t want to trade him, teams will offer way more for Ayo.
Few teams interested in White, Bulls understandably want to move him, teams won’t offer as much. https://t.co/PcqS7M5BB5
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) February 2, 2026
Denver’s deadline plan: Duck the tax
Denver may be the team — once fully healthy — best equipped to push (and maybe beat) Oklahoma City in a seven-game series. Does that mean at the trade deadline they are looking to add that one more player that puts them over the top?
No. Instead, look for them to make a money-saving trade to get below the luxury tax, Bennett Durando reports at the Denver Post.
The team’s aim, as I’ve reported in recent weeks, will be to duck the luxury tax with a minor deal and convert Spencer Jones to a standard contract so he can continue playing, as long as his money aligns with [team owning family] Kroenkes’ end goal. The Nuggets would be able to treat Jones as an upgrade to their power forward depth for the stretch run and the playoffs. Aaron Gordon’s ongoing injury woes have increased the sense of urgency at that position…
The Nuggets have paid the luxury tax three consecutive years, meaning if they finish either of the next two seasons with a payroll that exceeds that threshold, they’ll trigger the repeater tax. This is basically a more dramatic tax penalty imposed on teams based on four-year windows, incentivizing owners not to spend excessively over the salary cap for prolonged periods of time.
Denver is just $400,000 over the tax line right now. They can get under that number with a small trade that does not impact them on the court. Look for that to happen.
(This summer, keep an eye on Denver and its spending when the tax is still an issue and both Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun both see their salaries spike with their extensions, plus Peyton Watson is owed a raise.)
Timberwolves aggressive in Antetokounmpo pursuit
Minnesota has emerged as the most aggressive suitor in pursuit of a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade before the deadline, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Here is what he said on the network’s “Get Up” show Monday:
“The most aggressive team in the West right now is the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are in the game for Giannis. I don’t believe that their offers can outweigh the other offers and I’m not even sure that Giannis is getting traded before Thursday. The Timberwolves are being aggressive. If they don’t make what I would call a Hail Mary Giannis deal, I think they are aggressively looking to upgrade their backcourt.”
Minnesota’s problem is simple: Milwaukee wants a lot of draft first-round picks, and the Timberwolves don’t have any. Straight up, Minnesota’s best offer is something like Julius Randle, Jade McDaniels, Rob Dillingham, and some first-round pick swaps. That’s not going to get it done, which is why the Timberwolves are trying to loop in a third and maybe fourth team — likely Brooklyn and Portland — to secure the picks they need. At some point, Minnesota needs to step back, ask, “We have beaten the Thunder already twice this season, do we really need to blow up our roster and depth for this trade?”
The backcourt move by Minnesota seems more likely. They have been linked to Chicago’s Coby White, among others.
On that same episode, Windhorst said the Knicks “are not showing that aggression to get Giannis right now. And I think that’s because they like this team.” Same as the Timberwolves, the only way the Knicks make this trade work by the deadline is to bring in a third and maybe fourth team to get more picks, and in doing so completely blow up their roster. As evidenced by their win over the Lakers on Sunday on NBC, the Knicks may not need to do that to win the East, given how they are defending lately.
One other Antetokounmpo trade note: The Bucks have made counteroffers to some of the teams that have called about the Greek Freak, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
No Chris Paul trade near
The last time Chris Paul played in an NBA game was Dec. 1. After that, a frustrated Tyronn Lue and the Clippers sent him away from the team as they worked to find a trade.
There has been “no substantial movement toward finding him a new home,” sources told Michael Scotto of Hoopshype. That echoes what NBC Sports heard from league sources, that any teams interested were just going to wait until he gets bought out, then snap him up as a free agent. —Kurt Helin
Knicks deadline decisions
If the Knicks — both the front office and their fans — could waive a Harry Potter magic wand and make it happen, Giannis Antetokounmpo would be a Knick before Thursday. The reality is that leaks coming out of New York suggest they may not think that will happen.
There was the well-connected Brian Windhorst of ESPN saying recently on his Hoop Collective podcast that the Knicks “believe in the core of this team and this roster.” Then there is what James Edwards III wrote at The Athletic on Sunday:
“The Bucks are looking for a premier young player(s) and multiple, good draft picks in exchange for one of the three best players in the NBA. The Knicks have neither of those, and to get close to what the Bucks are asking for, New York would need to trade two or three players in its starting lineup, most likely OG Anunoby, [Mikal] Bridges and/or [Karl-Anthony] Towns.”
If the Knicks are not going to get Antetokounmpo before the deadline, they have other priorities.
They are focused on landing a big man for depth and have trained their sights on Goga Bitadze, who has fallen out of the rotation in Orlando, or on New Orleans’ Yves Missi, reports Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Either man would just be bench help for now, although Missi — just a second-year player — could grow into a larger role. —Kurt Helin
Doc Rivers thinks Giannis stays a Buck. For now.
What else is Doc Rivers going to say? You think he wants to stick around and coach through a rebuild?
On ESPN’s NBA Countdown over the weekend, the Milwaukee Bucks coach said what he has always said, that Giannis Antetokounmpo is saying all the right things to his teammates, and that Rivers expects him to be with the Bucks past the deadline.
“Giannis has said everything that we need to hear, that he wants to be a Buck, he loves the city and that’s all I can go by as a coach right now. Has it been difficult? Yeah. Your players every day have to hear stuff. Every single day, about not just their best player but they’re thrown in the mix as well. My favorite day of the year this year will be the day after the trade deadline. That’ll be my favorite day. I think everyone will be here.”
Rivers may well get his wish, with league sources continuing to tell NBC Sports they expect the Antetokounmpo trade saga to drag out past the Feb. 5 deadline and into the offseason. Whether Antetokounmpo — and for that matter, Rivers — are back with the Bucks next season is another question. —Kurt Helin
DeMar DeRozan staying put
There’s no real interest in DeMar DeRozan around the league, and while that could change it seems more likely DeRozan will play out the season in Sacramento, reports Sam Amick of The Athletic. DeRozan can still get a team buckets, he’s averaging 19.2 points a game this season and shooting 50.6% from the floor, but he’s a midrange shooter who is 36 and making $24.6 million this season and $25.7 million next season. That’s more than teams want to take on in the apron era, at least at the trade deadline. —Kurt Helin
Ja Morant’s cryptic post
Ja Morant trade talk has died down, and it appears highly unlikely he gets traded before the Feb. 5 deadline. With that in mind, what does this cryptic social media post from Morant mean? — Kurt Helin
Handling trade rumors in locker room
It’s an issue for every NBA coach in February: How do they keep their team focused with trade rumors swirling around and players looking ahead to the upcoming All-Star break? The Knicks’ Mike Brown summed it up well, talking to Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
“We understand that we have no control over the noise out there, so we have to have a bunker mentality. Not just at the trade deadline but all the time because there is a lot of noise out there. We’re all human and you try not to listen to it – you just try to stay together. You keep moving forward, trying to get better as the days go along and I think that’s what this group is trying to do.”
—Kurt Helin