2. Trading DeAndre Jordan to the Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are another team, like the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, who are not playing up to expectations this season. The Hawks made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals last season and with a young roster, conventional wisdom told us that they would get even better with that playoff experience under their belt.
That has not been the case this season as the Hawks have struggled to put together any sort of momentum this season. The Hawks are not even in a playoff position if the season were to end today as they are 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 16-19 record.
This is not a team that is going to simply roll over and the Hawks should be looking to switch some things up in order to build a more cohesive unit. Trading for DeAndre Jordan is not going to suddenly raise the Hawks’ championship ceiling but it could be a small, positive addition in a slew of other moves.
While the team has a solid Clint Capela that starts at center, the depth leaves more to be desired. Gorgui Dieng is a bit undersized and is not the traditional rim-protecting and rebounding center that the Hawks might need to bring off the bench. That is all they have at the center position.
The Hawks also have a non-guaranteed contract to trade in Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Luwawu-Cabarrot is averaging just 12.6 minutes per game this season and really is not making much of an impact on the Hawks. In fact, he has been making a negative impact with a -4.3 Box Plus/Minus.
The Hawks would have no problem flipping him in a deal like this.