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Huge Trades: Will Paul George, DeAndre Jordan and DeMarcus Cousins Be On New Teams Soon?

The trade deadline is only about two months away. After last year’s DeMarcus Cousins trade that took place during the All-Star break, the NBA moved its trade deadline to the Thursday before the All-Star Game, which will be February 8 this season.

We’ll likely get to see a couple of major moves prior to that, possibly continuing where we left off after one of the craziest offseasons in NBA history. Some teams do have to make important decisions and weigh their options. If we’re talking All-Stars, three names stand out. The Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, the Thunder’s Paul George and the Pelicans’ DeMarcus Cousins. Here is why:

DeAndre Jordan:

After a promising start, the Clippers have fallen off. They’re currently standing at 11-15 and their chances of making the playoffs have dwindled with more and more key players getting injured. Patrick Beverley is out for the season, Blake Griffin likely out until late January, Austin Rivers entered the concussion protocol last night and will be out for a while and Danilo Gallinari is out with the same injury that benched him for the better part of the past 6 weeks. The front office didn’t want to start over completely after their star point Chris Paul left the team and tried to build a competitive team around Blake Griffin with the additions of Beverley, Teodosic and Gallianri.

With the injuries, their plan seems to now move towards a different path and it is very likely that they will be entering a rebuilding process. The first major move could be to trade All-Star center DeAndre Jordan. Jordan owns a player option which would allow him to become a free agent before the 2018-19 season. So the Clippers have to trade him now to get something in return.

There are several teams interested in acquiring Jordan. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors seem interested, but the current front-runners are the Milwaukee Bucks. According to Bleacher Report’s Ken Berger, the Bucks want to add size and rebounding at the trade deadline and have Jordan as their key target. On top of that, Jordan’s agent used to represent Milwaukee head coach Jason Kidd during his active playing career. Chances are high that DeAndre won’t be wearing Clippers colors for too long.

Paul George:

We’ve seen enough games to say that things in Oklahoma City haven’t worked out. The team started as a potential contender after acquiring All-Stars Carmelo Anthony and Paul George this past offseason. The Big 3 haven’t clicked yet and it seems as their time to figure it out is limited due to the team’s tricky situation.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, this year will be the only chance for a title this big 3 has. Both, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony have their contracts expiring at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, and the team most likely won’t be able to afford keeping them both. If both players insist on coming back though, it would be tough for the Thunder as George and Anthony have player options for the 2018-19 season of $20.7 million and $27.9 million, which would lead to an insane amount of luxury tax to be paid.

“If we’re being honest with ourselves, this is a one-year run with this team. They have one chance with this team because they cannot bring back this team together next year. Even if Paul George re-signs and says ‘I want to stay.’ Financially, it is impossible for this team, I don’t want to say remotely look the same, but the idea of Carmelo, Westbrook and George on the same roster withe Melo opting into his salary next year.”

Maybe George and the Thunder spoke about this whole situation prior to the trade, and may even have agreed upon it being a one year thing. George’s plan has always been to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times wrote:

“According to people not authorized to speak publicly, George, a Palmdale native, is still telling friends that he intends to be a Laker in 2018”

To get something in return, the Thunder would have to make a move now. Possible trade destinations for George are the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers.

DeMarcus Cousins:

The Pelicans basically have only one option if they intend to keep All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins. They have to make the playoffs this year and then go all in this next offseason to keep his talents in the Big Easy.

Cousins’ contract expires this coming summer. The Pelicans hold his bird rights but rumors say that the team isn’t willing to offer him the max. If this turns out to be the truth, a trade prior to the deadline doesn’t seem out of reach.

Potential trade partners: Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Portland TrailBlazers.