NBA Rumors: Latest on Possible Kent Bazemore Trade, Nets’ 2019 Targets and More | Bleacher Report

The NBA is a forward-thinking league.

If teams aren’t actively trying to improve today, they’re identifying ways to better their future.

That means movement in the hoops world never really stops. Rumors may not be flying as fast or as furious as they did in July, but there are still rumblings traveling across the basketball landscape.

Let’s get to the latest.

Two Trade Suitors for Kent Bazemore?

The Atlanta Hawks might only be one season removed from a string of 10 consecutive playoff appearances, but they’ve taken the long view with their rebuilding project.

They not only changed coaches this summer (Mike Budenholzer out; Lloyd Pierce in), they also tied their fortunes to 19-year-old Trae Young. The latter boasts a deep bag of offensive tricks, but his game and his body both require an ample amount of work. Atlanta’s possible rise is likely directly tied to Young’s.

Theoretically, that suggests the Hawks’ remaining veterans should be up for grabs. Perhaps no one seems a more likely candidate than Kent Bazemore, who is the club’s highest-paid player but also one capable of attracting win-now suitors as a plug-and-play wing with defensive versatility and three-point range.

Kelly Iko of Rockets Wire reported both the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans have interest in Bazemore.

The Hawks like Bazemore, Iko notes, and view him as a positive presence for their changing locker room. But they would “move him for the right offer.”

Draft considerations are presumably at the top of Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk’s wish list, but only he knows if a non-lottery first-rounder would be enough when Atlanta would take back a weighty contract to match Bazemore’s (two years, $37.3 million remaining).

Nets Aiming High in 2019?

It’s been an agonizing wait to reach this point, but the Brooklyn Nets are positioned to potentially make a major splash (or splashes) next summer.

Their draft debts from the ill-fated Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trade are finally paid, and they could hold two first-rounders in the 2019 talent grab. They’ve also created a path to multiple max contract slots, meaning they could pitch two superstars on the idea of teaming up together.

Their sights are set sky-high for free agency.

Marc Stein of the New York Times writes there are “credible rumblings” the Nets will pursue Kyrie Irving. That could put them in the market for Jimmy Butler, too, since ESPN’s Zach Lowe says there is “credible chatter” that Irving and Butler would like to join forces.

NBA.com’s David Aldridge added he thinks Brooklyn will get “a fair hearing” from Kawhi Leonard, whose tenure with the San Antonio Spurs overlapped with that of Nets general manager Sean Marks.

Maybe this sounds overly ambitious, but the franchise has more to sell than its 69-177 record over the past three seasons would indicate. The New York market is the biggest draw, but Marks has quietly assembled some intriguing young talent and head coach Kenny Atkinson runs a player-friendly system built around pace, movement and a nearly team-wide green light to shoot.

Opening Night Schedule? 

The NBA’s season opener is always a can’t-miss event.

It sounds like the 2018-19 version will be more of the same.

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe relayed a possible two-game slate for the campaign’s first national broadcasts, and both matchups are predictably phenomenal:

The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers might run the Eastern Conference for most of the next decade (perhaps depending on the success of the Toronto Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard gamble). Both clubs have established stars and surging youngsters, making them rare win-now and win-later squads.

The Golden State Warriors, meanwhile, had their hands full with Kevin Durant‘s old club last season. The Oklahoma City Thunder ultimately split their season series with the champs, but they won the first two meetings by 37 total points. Russell Westbrook and Paul George combined for 126 points in the two contests.

If these are the two games we’re getting first, this season should surge out of the gate.

Statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com. Salary information obtained via Basketball Insiders.