The NBA All-Star game is now in the books, which means the second half of the season is now here, and teams are aiming to improving their roster for a playoff push.
Here are the latest trade rumors leading up to the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 23:
DeMarcus Cousins: The failing relationship between center DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings could finally be coming to an end.
According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Kings have made Cousins available in trade talks.
Why have the Kings finally decided to reportedly move on from Cousins?
Wojnarowski writes:
In recent weeks, Ranadive has become more open to the front office's willingness to trade Cousins, passing on the commitment of a five-year, $209 million designated maximum contract extension this summer, league sources said. Cousins' uneven behavior in recent weeks has softened Ranadive's resolve to hold on to Cousins. Two incidents in particular - an expletive-laced remark Cousins made about Golden State after Sacramento's overtime win over the Warriors on Feb. 6 and the astonishing 17th technical foul this season, and resulting one-game suspension, against New Orleans on Feb. 12 - have caused Ranadive to have serious concerns about tethering the franchise to Cousins long term. As a result, Ranadive has started to adopt management's concerns about Cousins' temperament to become a franchise pillar, sources said. Nevertheless, Ranadive has gone back and forth in recent days about his willingness to ultimately unload Cousins, sources said.
Cousins is averaging 27.8 points and 10.6 rebounds this season.
It is unclear at this point which team would be the favorite to land Cousins.
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Carmelo Anthony: Although nearly everyone seems to agree the chances are slim, the idea that the Knicks could end up trading Carmelo Anthony to the Cleveland Cavaliers will not go away.
Here is the latest, per Cleveland.com:
The Cavs are trying to use a trade exception that expires Monday and also continue to explore the very slight possibility of acquiring Carmelo Anthony by Thursday's deadline. The trade exception, left over from trading Anderson Varejao last season, is worth about $4.4 million. Anthony is a 12-time All-Star with a $24.6 million salary. So obviously one move would not be related to the other, and the way, way outside shot (we're talking like, say a 93-footer) of acquiring Anthony in a deadline deal with the New York Knicks would be the much bigger transaction of the two.
Jahlil Oakfor: The Sixers were close to trading Jahlil Okafor the Portland Trailblazers last week, which is why they pulled him the lineup, per NBA.com's David Aldridge.
Okafor is averaging 11.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks this season in 23 minutes a game.
The Sixers have been trying to trade Okafor for weeks, as they have three centers on the roster -- Okafor, Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel -- but can't play them all.
Okafor has returned to the team since the attempts to trade him fell through.
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