The NBA free agent market and trade rumors have already begun to run rampant with speculation despite the league potentially headed towards a long and drawn out lockout. The trade rumors is what everyone is buzzing about as of late with a lot of big-name players possibly heading elsewhere before or during next season, but there are a few game changing free agents that are getting some attention as well.

Perhaps the most talked about free agent since the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals is backup point guard J.J. Barea. With Barea torching teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat in the playoffs, the Puerto Rico native has seen his stock go through the roof with a lot of teams interested in his services moving forward.

The one team that has been mentioned more than any in terms of being about to lure the Puerto Rican away from the Dallas Mavericks is the Los Angeles Lakers. With the Lakers in desperate need of an upgrade at point guard, Barea would be able to come in and instantly make this storied franchise better in the backcourt, but they won’t be able to pay the kind of money that Mavs owner Mark Cuban is ready to throw at him.

There is no question at this point in time that the Dallas Mavericks has the edge in terms of re-signing J.J. Barea before next season, but the lightening quick guard has said he is not opposed to signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks or the Miami Heat. All three of these teams could use him and might consider putting him in the starting lineup, but the Dallas Mavericks will be doing everything within their power to keep him in a Mavs’ uniform for the foreseeable future.

Back in 2007, the Portland Trail Blazers had an extremely tough decision to make between whether to pick scoring machine Kevin Durant from Texas or perhaps the next best center in Ohio State’s Greg Oden with the number one pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Even though this decision seems silly at this point in time as Oden is now labeled as a bust due to injury problems and Kevin Durant is arguably one of the best scorers in NBA history, the Blazers had a tough time making the decision and ultimately went with the promising center out of Ohio State.

These days the Portland Trail Blazers franchise feels a bit cursed when it comes to making picks in the NBA draft as they never seem to make the right decision and always pass on a future Hall of Famer like Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls), but even though Blazers fans want to forget about the Greg Oden experiment in Portland, the Blazers aren’t ready to give up just yet.

Reportedly, the Blazers have offered Oden a pretty lucrative deal to stay in Portland for at least one more season. The deal will be worth $8.8 million dollars and if Oden doesn’t take it then he can kiss his chances of making that kind of money in the NBA goodbye!

This is godsend for Greg Oden as no other team in the league right now will offer the injury prone more than a couple of million for one season. Not only will teams around the league be looking to offer Oden much less than what the Blazers are offering, but the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) might make it even tougher for the former Buckeyes’ center moving forward.

The speculation surrounding pending future free agent superstar Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic seems to grow every single day as more and more teams around the league show interest and the trade rumors run rampant. The reality of Dwight Howard actually becoming a free agent after next season is very real as the superstar might be able to avoid being traded before the NBA trade deadline, but the best option for the Orlando Magic will be to trade him before that time to avoid not getting anything in return for their best all-around player. Continue Reading…

Last season the New Orleans Hornets were somewhat of a surprise team in the Western Conference as they were able to get back into the playoffs and actually gave the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers a run for their money in the first round of the playoffs. Even though they won two games in that series against the Lakers, the Hornets still fell short and were knocked out of contention by Kobe Bryant and company. Continue Reading…

The Los Angeles Lakers are still licking their wounds after getting dominated by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs. Not only did the Mavs sweep the Lakers and go on to win their first NBA title in franchise history, but Dallas may have put some serious pressure on the Lakeshow to make some changes before next season. Continue Reading…

There is no question that aftermath of the Los Angeles Lakers collapse in the playoffs has given the storied franchise a reality check. Kobe Bryant is no longer young superstar he used to be and this team as a whole isn’t getting any younger. With that being said, GM Mitch Kupchak has to start weighing his options as this championship caliber team might be on the verge of an extensive rebuilding process in the near future.

With Kobe Bryant having about three to five years left in his legs, the Los Angeles Lakers will need a superstar to take over for him when he does decide to call it quits. In the meantime, this team can still contend for an NBA title, but a lot people believe that Andrew Bynum and/or Pau Gasol need to be traded in order to do so. Continue Reading…

Last season was a rebirth of the Bulls franchise in the Windy City as point guard Derrick Rose went from an up-and-coming All-Star into one of the best all-around players in the league. Not only was Rose able to win his first NBA MVP award, but the team came together under new head coach Tom Thibodeau and got people thinking that the Bulls are back in contention for NBA title in the years to come.

With the Chicago Bulls looking as promising as they were last season and the fact the finished the regular season with the best record in the league, the future is definitely bright in the Windy City, but they will need to surround Derrick Rose with some better players in order to make it to the next level. Continue Reading…

Last season the Miami Heat was officially dubbed the new enemies of the NBA. After signing three superstars in Dwyane Wade (re-signed), LeBron James (free agency) and Chris Bosh (free agency), the Miami Heat were instantly favorites to win the NBA title and they had no problem letting the rest of the league know that they were the team to beat.

After the three superstars were officially in South Beach, they Heat had a rally of sorts and LeBron James said this team would win up to seven NBA titles. In their first season together, the Heat lived up to their end of the deal as they made it to the NBA Finals, but came two games short of winning the title as the veteran Dallas Mavericks were able to beat them in six games. Continue Reading…

Ever since the Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA title in franchise history, the league has been buzzing with potential trades and big-names players possibly heading elsewhere. The biggest name in the recent trade rumors has been perennial All-Star center and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. Continue Reading…

During Game 4 of the NBA Finals, all anyone could talk about was Dirk Nowitzki’s fever and 100+ body temperature. This seems to be a common thing in big games in the NBA these days ever since Michael Jordan had such a brilliant performance for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz in 1998.

Obviously, with Nowitzki having this fever, the consensus was that the Miami Heat would be able to dominate the Dallas Mavericks. With that being said, the Heat were thought to cruise to victory and a 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals. Continue Reading…