It's barely three weeks before the trade deadline and the NBA trade rumors have not been rocked by the blockbuster Boston Celtics trade.
Their search for a center continues, as Al Horford seems most effective as a stronger stretch four. The prize continues to be DeMarcus Cousins and despite the recent reports that the Sacramento Kings are in talks about him again, there could be better options.
According to Sporting News, the Philadelphia 76ers have already made their choice on which center to trade and all indications point to Jahlil Okafor.
"The Sixers will continue to build around potential superstar Joel Embiid, and Nerlens Noel, Ersan Ilyasova and Dario Saric all stepped up when Okafor missed significant time in January with a knee injury. That's without mentioning rookie Ben Simmons, who could make his debut after the All-Star break," Jordan Greer of SN said.
Okafor has long been linked as a good target for the Celtics even before they acquired Al Horford. That has not changed, but Horford is already a post scorer and ideally, the Celtics would be better off with a defensive orientation.
It might be a long shot, but Andrew Sharp of Sports Illustrated presented strong arguments for trading Andre Drummond now as his trade value may actually dip.
"The market for centers is tricky across the league, but Drummond is still young enough to sell teams on his potential, and he's signed through 2020. If the Pistons admit this experiment is failing before it actually bottoms out, they can market Drummond as a double-double machine that just doesn't click with Van Gundy."
In his "dream scenario" the Pistons would trade Drummond for DeMarcus Cousins. This could work for the Pistons, but part of why Sacramento Kings team owner wants to keep Boogie is that he is a crowd drawer and also their top offensive option.
Drummond would not be capable of filling out those roles. Most of his offense stems from putbacks and from playing with a capable point guard (like Reggie Jackson), something that the Kings don't have.
What Drummond can do is defend and rebound, which works well with Al Horford. The Celtics can definitely assemble a package for Drummond, hinged on the Brooklyn Nets' pick and possibly Jae Crowder.
This is still highly speculative and the Pistons would definitely hesitate on trading Drummond, but Sharp's arguments make sense as the Pistons have been a disappointment this season.