New injury development could shake up the NBA Trade Deadline
By Ian Levy
We’re still more than a month from the NBA Trade Deadline but the prime targets are already taking shape. But injury news could be taking one off the board.
You never know what trades will actually be completed but usually, contract details, skill sets and team circumstances give us a pretty good idea of who might be available well in advance. Players like John Collins, Myles Turner, Jae Crowder and Kyle Kuzma have been mentioned in trade rumors since before the season even began. Kelly Oubre Jr. has often been mentioned right alongside them but it might be time to take his name off the board.
Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that Oubre Jr. has opted for surgery to fix a nagging injury that has been bothering him since early in the season.
Sources: Hornets forward Kelly Oubre Jr. will undergo surgery on a torn ligament in his left hand and miss 4-to-6 weeks. Oubre – averaging a career high 20.2 points – suffered the injury in the first week of the season and has been playing through the pain on his shooting hand.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 3, 2023
Is Kelly Oubre Jr. still worth pursuing at the NBA Trade Deadline?
Oubre Jr. had been one of the most interesting names on the trade market, averaging 20.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game for the rebuilding Wizards. He’s assumed a feature-scoring role by default for the rebuilding Hornets but is much better suited to the kind of complementary role he’d play on a potential contender, with his versatile defense on the wing a huge asset.
With the timeline reported by Shams, it’s possible we won’t see Oubre Jr. back on the court before the actual deadline which makes him a big gamble. He could be healthy enough to make a big difference for a playoff run but a team will have to trade for him without knowing for sure. In addition, he’s an expiring contract and part of the appeal of trading for him was the opportunity to re-sign him. If the injury has any lingering effects, a team would be giving up assets for a player they may find they don’t actually want to keep long-term.
All that is to say, Oubre Jr. is still in play for the NBA Trade Deadline but he may be a less appealing asset than he was a few weeks ago, drawing interest from fewer teams and potentially commanding a smaller return for the Hornets.
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