Trade rumors are starting to rave-up as many teams are already now thinking about the February trade deadline which is about two months from now. And it seems that the Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings are the first ones that will plunge on it. Joakim Noah, Rudy Gay, and Ricky Rubio are some of the players that being mentioned on a rumored deal.
Noah picked up the attention of the rumor mills since he is not performing well with the Knicks. He is just averaging 4.0 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks in 15 games he has played for the team. His poor showing doesn't seem what the Knicks expected on him when they signed him as a free agent during the offseason.
On the other hand, Gay has already announced that he will leave the Kings after the season where he will become a free agent. Now, the Kings are considering to trade him right now rather than lose him as a free agent. As for Rubio, many say that he became dispensable to the team with the emergence of Kris Dunn as a true point guard.
And now, a proposed deal is being suggested to the Kings, Knicks and Timberwolves that involves 8-players on their roster. Trade scenario is suggesting as follows:
1. The Sacramento Kings will obtain Ricky Rubio from the Timberwolves and Lance Thomas from the Knicks;
2. The New York Knicks will then get Rudy Gay from the Kings and Nikola Pekovic and Cole Aldrich from the Timberwolves;
3. Finally, the Minnesota Timberwolves will acquire Joakim Noah and Sasha Vujacic from the Knicks and Ben McLemore from the Kings.
By breaking down the acquisition of all three teams, the trade deal seems to be fair to all parties. The Kings will get the needed capable point guard in Rubio and a wingman in Thomas. While the Knicks will have a perfect backup for Anthony with Gay plus a substitute for Noah in Aldrich and Pekovic if ever he'll be moved.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves will have two shooting guards (Vujacic and McLemore) that they also needed and a reunion of sorts for Noah and former coach Tom Thibodeau. Earlier reports by New York Daily News stated that Noah has said that he misses coach Thibodeau on the eve of the match-up between the Knicks and Timberwolves and that heats up speculations that he wants to reunite with his former coach.
If ever the three team agree on this deal, one roadblock will prevent this to happen. Noah, Vujacic, Thomas from the Knicks and Aldrich from the Timberwolves cannot be traded as they just recently signed contracts to their respective team and it will violate the NBA trade rules if they are moved.
The rumored deal between the Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, and Sacramento Kings seems to be unfeasible at this moment and it will not work under the NBA trade rules.
