NBA Trade Rumors: Phoenix Suns, Charlotte Bobcats interested in Luol Deng trade?
By Josh Hill
The NBA trade deadline is rapidly approaching which means teams are starting to hammer down strategies to get what they want. A few teams we expected to be sellers at the deadline are actually going to be buyers, and some teams have already been buyers this year and have now morphed into sellers.
Cleveland is in the latter situation, as they bought high on Luol Deng but may now be trying to flip him to recoup their losses — and there have been plenty of those this year in more ways than one. According to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders, the Bobcats, Suns, Wizards and even the Pistons may be ringing the Cavs up at the deadline asking about Deng.
"Because there are very few All-Star caliber players available at this year’s deadline, the Cavaliers may be able to create a bidding war for Deng’s services. He would be an upgrade for the Suns, Bobcats, Wizards and Pistons at the small forward position, and as a strong veteran, he’d likely be able to help each of those teams on and off the court. While his numbers have been slightly down in Cleveland, it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t return to form in a better situation."
The Suns and Bobcats are interesting landing spots, as are the Washington Wizards. It’s not typical that Phoenix, Washington and Charlotte are all better options for an All-Star like Deng than Cleveland is, but thus is the case this year.