NBA News: Is Toronto planning a big trade? Dunk gate, A hard cap? More

Good day, Hoops Heads! Here’s the latest NBA news from around the league.

NBA News: Is Toronto planning a big trade?

Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujuri is known for making bold moves, and other executives expect him to do just that before the trade deadline if the Raptors aren’t better, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (subscription required).

They’ve been linked to Spurs center Jakob Poeltl and were willing to give up a first-rounder but have yet to meet their asking price.

It remains to be seen if they will ultimately acquire him, but Gary Trent Jr. and Fred Van Vleet’s names were also mentioned as possible trade candidates given their contract situations. If Van Vleet, Trent Jr., and a first are what Uruji is willing to trade, then it seems that he is indeed looking to make a big splash ahead of February’s trade deadline.

NBA News: Kevin Durant powering the Brooklyn Nets’ surge.

The Brooklyn Nets are quietly surging right now, thanks in large part to Kevin Durant, who is averaging nearly 30 points per game for the second straight season. Despite the fact that he is 34 years old.

His offensive brilliance, along with a well-timed coaching change, has resulted in the Brooklyn Nets going 9-3 in their last 12 games, and they’re now fourth in the East. Better yet, they just got reinforcements in Yuta Wantanabe and TJ Warren rejoining the team, with Wantanabe missing eight games and Warren missing more than a season.

Considering the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat are struggling right now, a case can be made that the Nets are indeed one of the four best Eastern Conference teams,  behind the Cavs, Bucks, and Celtics.

NBA News: An NBA hard salary cap?

With negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement underway, it appears that the owners are seeking a hard cap of sorts. According to Marc Stein, the owners want an “upper spending limit” for competitive balance.

While there are teams such as the Golden State Warriors that are spending well over the salary cap, they will also pay $170 million in luxury tax. Meanwhile, most teams would be foolish to remain in the luxury tax. Is that a competitive imbalance? Not really.

The luxury tax system hammers teams that spend well over the salary cap, even more so if they make a habit of it, and that essentially serves as a hard cap. And it’s not like the Warriors are dominant; instead, they are only 14-13, even with their outrageous spending.

That is due to competitive balance, and the owners’ attempts to limit how much teams can spend on salaries are just them being cheap. Especially since the NBA TV contract expires in 2025 and a new deal will result in a significant increase in the salary cap. There’s no way the NBAPA will agree to limit players’ earning potential before that.

NBA News: Dunk gate

On Friday night, the then top two seeds in the West the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns faced off, but the outcome of the game quickly became an afterthought. This was a result of the “controversy” surrounding an impressive Zion Williamson 360-degree windmill dunk in the closing seconds of their 9-point win over the Suns.

The Suns found it disrespectful, and there was even an altercation between both teams immediately following the throwdown. Suns backup point guard Cam Payne explained why the Suns took issue with Williamson’s dunk.

However, CJ McCollum had this to say about this situation.

Still, unwritten sports rules are unwritten for a reason; they don’t matter. If the Suns didn’t want Williamson to throw it down late in the game, then they should’ve stopped him like McCollum said. Or, better yet, they should’ve beaten them. Instead, they take issue with two points scored late in a game that they lost.

NBA News: The San Antonio Spurs bounce back.

After going more than a month without a win, the San Antonio Spurs have strung together back-to-back wins. Snapping an 11-game losing streak has to come as a relief for the players who don’t have that stink cloud hanging over them. That said, their losing streak had a lot to do with injuries, with the Spurs often having at least three rotation players out.

That might just be the injury bug, or it could be partially strategic. After all, during the losing streak, they dropped to the second-worst record in the NBA, but now have only the fifth-worst record in the league.

That’s likely temporary, considering they don’t figure to win many games this season anyway, but they will have to balance competing with staying in the race for Victor Wembanyama.

A lot of bad teams will have to do the same thing since a bottom-three finish gives each of those teams a 14% chance at winning the lottery. Just something to keep an eye on. That’s all for now, Hoops Heads.