NBA Trade Watch: With ten days to go until the 2013 NBA Trade Deadline on Feb. 21 at 3pm EST, there are a number of high profile situations to watch: What will the Atlanta Hawks do with pending free agent Josh Smith? Will the Orlando Magic pull the trigger on highly sought after guard J.J. Redick? Is there a deal the LA Lakers will do to help their playoff bid? Those headlines will dominate the landscape for sure, but there are a few smaller market/less sexy teams to watch as the deadline approaches.
Detroit Is A Player: The Detroit Pistons took part in the three-team deal two weeks ago that sent forwards Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye to Memphis in exchange for Jose Calderon, who they obtained from Toronto. The move set the Pistons up to have more than $23 million in cap space this summer to re-tool their roster.
If the Pistons can off-load Rodney Stuckey and his $8.5 million player option for next season or Charlie Villanueva and his $8.5 million player option for next season before the trade deadline they could add to that number significantly.
League sources peg Stuckey as the easiest chip to move and there is a belief that Detroit is more than open to a deal involving one or both.
With so many ending contracts, there has also been speculation that Detroit would seriously entertain trading some of their own ending contracts like Jason Maxiel or Will Bynum if it could return one of the would-be free agents on their wish-list.
The Pistons have been linked to Hawks forward Josh Smith and Bobcats shooting guard Gerald Henderson; both are expected to be offseason targets of the Pistons, especially with so much cap space to play with.
The Pistons have been singing the song that they won’t go crazy with spending like they did in 2009 when they radically overpaid for Gordon and Villanueva. However, if Smith and Henderson headline the offseason shopping list, neither are going to come cheap.
One thing is clear: The Pistons are open for business. The question is can they find a taker for Stuckey and how much will they have to take back to make a deal happen?
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