Don’t you just love it when a trade just slaps you in the face out of nowhere? Well I certainly do. You read it and you just speculate for a couple of minutes as if you’re an actual analyst, breaking down the players involved and wondering who was the winner of this deal.
Well let’s analyse together shall we. Today’s random trade comes from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Portland Trail Blazers dealing their two-way maestro Nicolas Batum to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson.
Batum has one year left on his contract, and Charlotte would own his Bird Rights with the inside track on re-signing him to an extension next year.
Charlotte has been intrigued with Wisconsin’sFrank Kaminsky with the No. 9 overall pick, league sources said. Kaminsky hasn’t worked out for the Hornets, but league sources believe that owner Michael Jordan has great interest in him. Charlotte also is looking hard at Arizona’s Stanley Johnson and Kentucky’s Devin Booker at No. 9.
I like this trade for both parties. The Hornets get a great, reliable starting piece to help Kemba and Jefferson. And the Blazers get a good replacement for Arron Afflalo in Henderson while also having a great potential starter in Vonleh. Trouble is that this deal makes the Blazers a worse team in the short-term. Which means that the chances of LaMarcus Aldridge leaving have risen.
