Another way to explore the validity of trade rumors in general would be to look at the trades that did happen and see if they had been rumored previously. There are plenty of reasons why legitimate trade rumors may not happen.
Boston decided to stand pat and maintain their options. However, in order to get either of the players the Celtics would have to give up at least one of their Brooklyn Nets picks and several other young players. The Boston Celtics appear to have had several conversations with the Chicago Bulls about Jimmy Butler and the Indiana Pacers about Paul George. Teams may have an interest in a player but aren’t willing to give up enough to get him. However, the Nets wanted two first round picks for him and it appears that was too much for any interested parties.ĥ. Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez appeared frequently trade rumors this season. Teams may make a player available but be asking too much for him. The acquisitions of Nurkic and Cousins removed the pressure to add another center.Ĥ. Similarly, two of the teams said to be interested in those players-the Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans-traded for different big men ( Jusuf Nurkic and DeMarcus Cousins, respectively). They dealt Noel to the Dallas Mavericks and held onto Okafor. However, it was unlikely that the 76ers would trade both Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor. Two different Philadelphia 76ers centers were frequently featured in trade rumors. Other trades also affect the direction teams want to go mid-season. Obviously, the Kings would have a difficult time finding a team to trade for him after that.ģ. 18 and had to have season ending surgery. But he tore his Achilles in a game on Jan. Rudy Gay of the Sacramento Kings popped up as the subject of trade rumors in December and early January. Injuries can change the landscape for a team. A 13-game winning streak put them at 25-32 heading into the trade deadline and they are in the hunt for the eight seed.Ģ.
After a 12-30 start to the season that put them near the bottom of the NBA standings, the Heat got, well, hot. Starting point guard Goran Dragic was often in trade rumors, but they appeared to be open to trading anyone on their roster. The Miami Heat are another example of this. However, they went on a seven-game winning streak that propelled them to the fourth seed in the East (they currently sit in the fifth seed), and they decided to stand pat and play out the season. 500, and it looked like they might blow things up after they traded Kyle Korver to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Atlanta Hawks potentially trading All-Star Paul Millsap was a hot rumor for a couple weeks. Situations change as a team’s performance improves or gets worse. Trade rumors can be real but not pan out for a number of reasons.ġ. There are too many variables to go off raw percentages. That doesn’t mean, however, that the trade rumors are invalid. Of course tracking the players mentioned in trade rumors against actual trades will end up revealing a fairly low percentage. Van Gundy’s question about the percentage of trade rumors that come to fruition is a little skewed. Take all the rumors that come up over the course of the year, and really chart them and see what percentage of those ever happen.