1. Kent Bazemore
Kent Bazemore has consistently drawn trade interest over the last few months and it isn’t hard to figure out why. He’s developed a reputation as a reliable 3-and-D player over the last few seasons, and since those sort of players are in short supply, it makes sense that teams would kick the tires on the 29-year-old.
Of course, three factors could affect how much the Hawks could get in return for the veteran swingman:
- His substandard production from 3-point range at 32.7 percent
- His $19.2 million player option for 2019-20 (which he’ll almost certainly pick up)
- An ankle injury that has him out indefinitely (the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chris Vivlamore reports there is no timetable for his return)
Still, Bazemore has shown flashes of competent 3-point accuracy, shooting 37.1 percent on wide open 3s, and has graded well defensively.
Assuming he gets healthy before the deadline, there’s a good chance that any interested teams will chalk his long range struggles up to some poor luck — he’s shooting 23.5 percent on 3s when a defender is between 4-6 feet away, which qualifies as an open look — and bite the bullet on his contract to take advantage of the floor-spacing and athleticism he brings on both ends.