NBA Buzz: Siakam, Trade Rumors, Pacers, Suns, Mills, Little, Hawks

The Raptors are moving on from Siakam, trading the big man to the Pacers for a package that includes multiple picks.

Toronto will receive three first-rounders from Indiana in addition to Bruce Brown and Jordan Nwora. The finalized trade will reportedly also include the Pelicans, as guard Kira Lewis is also headed to Toronto.

The Pacers have been linked to Siakam for quite some time, though with the Pistons making a cap-clearing trade earlier this week, there was some speculation that Detroit would be the team for Siakam. Nevertheless, Indiana wins the Siakam sweepstakes and has a new 1-2 punch with the former NBA champion playing alongside rising guard Tyrese Haliburton.

After the move, oddsmakers have the Pacers at +7000 (via  Draft Kings) to win the NBA title, which are the 17th-longest odds (Indiana was +15000 heading into the new year). While the trade doesn’t push the Pacers into serious contender territory, it does give the franchise a nice foundation to continue building.

The Siakam trade is the third deal in the NBA this season and the second trade involving the Raptors. 

Latest on the Suns

Last week, we relayed Kevin Durant‘s insightful interview with Fox Sports where he indicated that he didn’t want to be traded and that he wasn’t frustrated with the team’s early season struggles. We told readers that the Suns’ struggles were a bit overblown and the team was likely to get back on track (Phoenix hasn’t lost since the KD interview), though trades around the edges of the roster were likely to come.

Trade rumors have been swirling around Phoenix with Nassir Little seemingly representing the team’s most logical trade candidate.

Reports that the team is “exploring” what Little and Grayson Allen would net them in a trade have surfaced recently, though longtime Phoenix radio host John Gambadoro doesn’t see Allen going anywhere.

As for Little, no reputable NBA news-breakers have come forward to state that they expect the 23-year-old to remain in Phoenix.

Little, who was the No. 25 overall pick in the 2019 draft, is in the first season of a four-year, $28 million deal. He arrived in Phoenix as part of the Deandre Ayton offseason trade and was expected to add depth to the Durant-Devin Booker–Bradley Beal core. He’s played 15.2 minutes per game so far this season and doesn’t appear to be quite ready to help a true title contender compete, posting an 11.2 PER while accumulating just 0.7 win shares.

The Suns have four second-rounders that they can trade, so packaging Little with one or more of those selections could be the team’s best route to improving the roster.

One Potential Nassir Little Trade

If you didn’t realize Patty Mills arrived in Atlanta this offseason, we won’t fault you.

The point guard was reportedly on four different teams during a 10-day stretch this summer:

• Mills was traded from Brooklyn to Houston along with a second-round pick in what appeared to be a salary dump.
• He would later be rerouted to the Thunder in an expanded deal that OKC called a five-team trade during a Saturday afternoon press release in early July.
• Not long after that, Mills was sent to Atlanta in what was reported as a stand-alone trade that saved the Hawks roughly $4.5 million and netted the Thunder an additional future second-round pick and three players who never suited up for the team (in total the Thunder accumulated four future second-rounders from bringing in Mills and trading him away).

Mills has only played in nine games for the Hawks, seeing more than 10 minutes just five times. He’s mostly been a spot-up shooter in Georgia, making 5-of-11 total attempts from behind the arc.

He’ll be 36 this offseason though he did play alongside Kevin Durant during their time together in Brooklyn, so his familiarity there might make it worth exploring whether he has anything left in the tank for a critical Suns’ run over the next few months.

The former Spur is on a $6.8 million expiring contract, so while Mills for Little may be a small-time trade, it would have long-term implications, such as freeing up future cap space for the Suns to make other moves, including a potential new contract for Allen.