Atlanta Hawks: Kent Bazemore Trade Scenarios for Every Contending Team

Fairly Likely:

A similar deal to this has already been laid out, but it bears repeating in a slightly different iteration. The Denver Nuggets are for real and Nikola Jokic is a legitimate MVP candidate. Though they’re one of the best teams in the league, if the Atlanta Hawks can swing a deal with them to send Baze over for a future draft pick, I think it would behoove the Nugs to listen to such overtures. While Miles Plumlee has really been playing well for Denver and Trey Lyles provides good depth, Bazemore would help to insure a strong playoff rotation on the wing and Justin Anderson would be another warm body for the Nugs as they suffer through some tough injury luck.

This deal is fairly “out there” and unorthodox but bear with me. The Thunder are currently one of the best teams in the league, and the Big 3 of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Steven Adams have been playing lights out in the second year of their partnership together. The team’s defense is stout and loaded with plenty of young, long-limbed bigs and wings, which begs the question: Is Andre Roberson expendable for this team? In this deal, the answer is yes. Adding Baze to the mix for the Thunder would double down on the team’s defensive chops and give the Thunder three of the best in the business at steals and deflections (Russ, PG, Baze). Patrick Patterson has not been playing well so including him for salary-matching also makes sense.