Three Trades That Should Have Happened Before The NBA Trade Deadline
By Andrew Pasquini, Sports 1140 KHTK
The NBA trade deadline came and went today without much noise. Names like Paul George, Jimmy Butler, and Carmelo Anthony were floated around in potential trades but none were moved. While the asking prices were high, the trade deadline would have been more exciting had they been traded. For the sake of seeing what could have happened had those names been traded, here's three trades that should have happened before noon today:
Paul George to the Los Angeles Lakers for Luol Deng, Brandon Ingram, and Houston's first round pick
Paul George was the biggest name being floated around on trade deadline day with both the Celtics and Lakers showing interest. The Lakers would have made the most sense because George has already shown interest in playing for the Lakers when he's a free agent in 2018. The piece that would make this deal work is Brandon Ingram. The Lakers would be able to replace Ingram at the small forward position with George and Ingram could replace him in Indiana to give the Pacers a young piece to build around with Myles Turner.
Jimmy Butler to the Boston Celtics for Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart, and Brooklyn's 2018 first round pick
Jimmy Butler would have made more sense for Boston than Paul George would have because Butler is under contract until 2020 where George probably would have left after next season. Jae Crowder was a piece that the Bulls were interested in but a piece general manager Danny Ainge was hesitant to move. Crowder would give the Bulls a younger player to replace Butler at small forward and Marcus Smart would be a solid back-up at both point guard behind newly acquired Cameron Payne and shooting guard behind Dwyane Wade.
The big piece in this trade would have been Brooklyn's 2018 pick that the Celtics own. Boston would give it up mainly because it isn't Brooklyn's 2017 pick, which most likely will be a top three pick. The Celtics would giveaway the 2018 pick in hopes the Nets would improve next season and wouldn't be as high of a pick 2017 will be.
Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Enes Kanter and Andre Roberson
This trade would have never happened. Had Oklahoma City offered this, Phil Jackson wouldn't be able to hang up fast enough but think of the ramifications of this fantasy trade. First, Phil Jackson would have been able to get rid of Carmelo Anthony like he has been desperately trying to. The Knicks would get two decent trade pieces in return in 24 year old Enes Kanter and defensive specialist Andre Roberson.
The main piece of this trade would be Carmelo Anthony going to Oklahoma City to play side by side with Russell Westbrook, giving Westbrook the sidekick he's been looking for since Kevin Durant left for Golden State. Seeing both Anthony and Westbrook play together would be an interesting experiment. Both players are guys who need the ball in their hand at all times and seeing how that would have worked would have been one of the big story lines going into the second half of the season. Would this trade have ever happen? Absolutely not. Would it have been fun to see? You bet.