NBA Trade Rumors - January 2009

Posted by Phil Partington Jan 16, 2009

There've been some trade rumors floating around the NBA recently. Here are my thoughts on each one of them:

• The Phoenix Suns would trade Steve Nash, Leandro Barbosa and Robin Lopez to the Toronto Raptors for Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono and possibly Jamario Moon as cap filler. Phoenix should make this deal. Calderon isn't quite Steve Nash yet, but he's getting there and he's a lot younger. Nash has a few good years left in him at best, and this team, despite its successes, probably missed the boat on winning a championship. Barbosa is solid, but doesn't have the upside of Andrea Bargnani. This trade would make the Suns deeper, giving them a starting rotation of Shaq at center, Amare Stoudemire and Grant Hill at the forward spots, with Bargnani coming off the bench, and Calderon and Jason Richardson at the guard spots. I don't understand this trade from Toronto's standpoint. They seem desperate to make up for a slow start. Yet, Calderon's been hurt and Bargnani's been playing strong of late.
• The Memphis Grizzlies would trade Mike Conley to the Milwaukee Bucks for Ramon Sessions and Joe Alexander. This deal makes not sense for Milwaukee. Ramon Sessions has shown more than Conley has, and Joe Alexander still has a lot of talent.
• The Charlotte Bobcats would end up with DeSagana Diop and Earl Watson and more; the Dallas Mavericks would end up with Raymond Felton and Nazr Mohammed; the Oklahoma City Thunder would end up with Jerry Stackhouse. It seems like the Bobcats could get more for Felton. Who knows? They might get a draft pick out of it, too. At any rate, they're trying to make room for D.J. Augustin, but this deal is on hold, as Augustin's injured. Felton would give Dallas depth on the perimeter and Mohammed would make the defensive loss of Diop not quite so bad.