There were several deals involving big names that were discussed, but never got done by the 2020 NBA trade deadline.
In his latest Inside Pass column, Shams Charania of The Athletic detailed some of the deals that were discussed.
The Phoenix Suns made a late push for the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon, while the Dallas Mavericks did the same for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Danilo Gallinari.
Gallinari is on an expiring contract, but Gordon is under team control for two more years beyond this season and is expected to receive interest from multiple teams this offseason if the Magic are willing to move him, according to Charania.
The Los Angeles Lakers offered a package including Alex Caruso and draft compensation for Derrick Rose, but the Detroit Pistons turned it down.
The Lakers would have needed to include at least one more player in that package for salary-matching purposes.
Still, the Pistons had no interest in dealing Rose.
The Denver Nuggets also attempted to make a “major trade” right before the deadline, sources told The Athletic.
Charania notes that Jrue Holiday had significant interest from the Nuggets, but it’s not clear if he was the player that they were targeting at the deadline.
Like the Pistons with Rose, the New Orleans Pelicans never showed interest in moving Holiday.
Even though these trades never happened, there’s value in knowing which teams were interested in which players, as many of them could become trade targets again in the future.
