Welcome to the least wonderful time of the NBA calendar.
Free agency has slowed to a halt. The same three marquee players are dominating trade talk. Two of those players are holding us hostage. Reports and rumors have become repetitive—echoes of an echo. The pomp and promise of summer-league play is wearing off.
Let's liven things up a bit, shall we?
Nothing gets the ol' heart rate going like a fresh batch of trade ideas. This time around, Bleacher Report NBA staff writers Grant Hughes and Dan Favale are attempting to plumb previously unexplored or seldomly traveled paths.
Some of the usual names will be sent exactly where you'd think. In these cases, though, we'll be sprucing up or totally overhauling the most talked about packages. Beyond that, we're looking to come up with targets and fits and deals on which the masses have not already burned endless amounts of brainpower.
Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks Receive: Reggie Bullock, Pascal Siakam
San Antonio Spurs Receive: Clint Capela
Toronto Raptors Receive: Kobe Bufkin, Devonte' Graham, De'Andre Hunter, Sacramento's 2024 first-round pick (lottery protection), 2025 first-round pick (less favorable of Atlanta's, Chicago's and San Antonio's, with top-10 protection, via the Spurs)
The Hawks are among the teams most aggressively pursuing Siakam, according to Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer. Their chase has so far proved fruitless, and Dejounte Murray's extension makes it harder, removing him entirely from the table.
Hunter and Bufkin are "well, duh" inclusions. The Raptors just lost an All-Star-caliber guard in Fred VanVleet and need backcourt scoring, shooting and defense. Bufkin can check at least two of those boxes. Hunter is critical for salary-matching purposes yet keeps in theme with Toronto's combo-wing motif.
Finding a third team that values Capela feels like the defining aspect of prospective negotiations—unless Atlanta wants to fork over Bogdan Bogdanovic. The Spurs can afford to take on the final two years and $42.9 million of his deal and could stand to bring in another serviceable big who spares Victor Wembanyama from as many center responsibilities as possible.
Whether San Antonio would surrender a first at this stage of the rebuild is debatable. But this pick profiles as lower level, and the Spurs are getting out of Graham's partial guarantee for 2024-25 and actually increasing their current cap space. They can yank Bullock from the table if they'd rather keep him.
Toronto walks away with Bufkin, Hunter and two first-round picks—a worthwhile package for contract-year Siakam, and one that jibes with the organization's caught-between-rebuilding-and-competing direction.
