The Minnesota Timberwolves made a bold move in trading for Rudy Gobert and the follow-up to it if it continues to be a disappointment could be a trade of Karl-Anthony Towns to try to repair the situation. Towns has been out since November with a calf injury and the franchise has tiled even more heavily toward Anthony Edwards in his absence. 

"It has felt like the inevitable end game where at the very least it is something that is talked about between teams," said Zach Lowe on his podcast of potential chatter around the Wolves trading Towns.

"Teams are already talking about it," Jon Krawczynski replied. "There's no doubt that other teams are eyeing this situation and looking to see if KAT will become available.

"I can tell you from everyone that I've talked to within the organization, they very much believe in KAT. They believe that once he comes back and they have some time to build around ANT and Gobert and KAT, they very much believe that can still work. Chris Finch believes it. Tim Connelly believes it. They don't have any plans to trade him.

"But if the bottom falls out of this thing and they go forward that way, there are going to be teams knocking on the door. I do think that overall, especially locally here, there's a lack of appreciation among fans for what Karl-Anthony Towns is as a player."

The Detroit Pistons preemptively traded Saddiq Bey to the Atlanta Hawks before he became a restricted free agent this offseason. Detroit took a flier on James Wiseman despite the presence of multiple young bigs on their roster in Jalen Duren, Marvin Bagley and Isaiah Stewart instead of contending with a contract situation with Bey.

"I had heard he was asking for insane money this upcoming summer," said Jonathan Givony of ESPN. "That the feeling was he would need a DeAndre Hunter type contract in order to keep him. So if that's the case, to me he's closer to a midlevel guy than $20+ million per year."

Hunter signed a four-year, $95 million extension with the Hawks before the start of the current season.

Bey shares an agent with former teammate Cade Cunningham in James Dunleavy.

Bradley Beal was asked to describe where his patience level is currently with the Washington Wizards. The Wizards have reached the playoffs just once since 2018. 

Beal re-signed with the Wizards in 2022 on a five-year, $251 million deal that contains a no-trade clause. 

"I’m patient, but there comes a time where you have to be a little selfish and draw a line in the sand, for sure," Beal told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. "So, I have thoughts in my head but at the same time I stay in the moment. I stay engaged with what we have and what we do and don’t get caught up in noise and just go from there, take it a day at a time, control what I can control."

Beal was asked if he's spoken with Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard or any former stars who played for only one franchise.

"We all think the same," said Beal. "It’s just our commitment to want to win where we’re at, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. We’re just trusting the organizations that drafted us. They put that trust in us. They continue to invest in us, and we’re just trying to pay that back. We’re trying to give them our all that we possibly can, and I love it, man. I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with it. I take pride in that."

The future of Anthony Davis with the Los Angeles Lakers has come into question in recent weeks, largely due to his strange body language when LeBron James broke the scoring record, followed by his comments to the media attempting to explain it.

"While I admit there might be something amiss there, I don't think Anthony Davis wants to not be a Laker," said Brian Windhorst on the Dan Patrick Show. "My understanding is he still is 100 percent bought in on that."

Davis has an Early Termination Option he can exercise in 2024 on the five-year, $190 million extension he signed in 2020.

Davis was also the subject of trade rumors after the 21-22 season, which he publicly addressed.

Both the Dallas Mavericks and then the Brooklyn Nets turned down offers of multiple second rounds picks for Dorian Finney-Smith, sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo.

The Nets acquired Finney-Smith from the Mavericks as part of the Kyrie Irving trade.

Finney-Smith signed an extension with the Mavericks in February 2022 worth $52 million over four years. 

Shortly before the Mavericks traded Finney-Smith, there was a report from Shams Charania linking him to the Utah Jazz. The Mavericks knew at that time it would take the inclusion of Finney-Smith to lead them to acquire a star player. 

Kevin Durant had his introductory press conference with the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, one week after he was traded by the Brooklyn Nets.

Durant said he ultimately pushed for a trade to Phoenix largely because Kyrie Irving put in his own trade request to get out of Brooklyn. Durant acknowledged that Irving's trade request "took away our identity" as a team.

"I was upset that we couldn't finish," Durant said. "I thought we had some good momentum. We were finally building a culture that we always wanted. I felt like every game we were building our chemistry, but I didn't know what was going on with Kyrie and his situation with the organization, so I didn't really focus on that. I only focused on what we were doing on the court, and it was a blow to our team. It just took away our identity. He was a huge, huge part to what we do. His game, he's a Hall of Fame player, a great, great player, that can do everything on the floor and we relied on that.

"So without him we didn't have a clear identity. So that was tough for me to stomach. I love playing with those guys throughout the year. I felt like we had dudes that were stepping up and doing stuff that they didn't do on their previous teams. So I enjoyed everything about it -- it was tough not finishing the season, but I just tried to move forward as quickly as I can and try to figure something out for myself, but also still focus on trying to rehab and get back. So it all happened so fast, but I'm glad it worked out this way."

The Dallas Mavericks made a risky move ahead of the trade deadline in acquiring Kyrie Irving.

Sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo that Doncic gave the Mavericks his approval on the trade before it was executed.

While Doncic strongly indicated his desire for the Mavericks to upgrade their roster this season, sources tell Fischer that Doncic has "remained far from contemplating any future with another franchise." In other words, Doncic is nowhere close to seeking an exit from the Mavericks. Doncic cannot become a free agent until 2026 at the earliest. 

Doncic can sign his next supermax extension 2025.

The Memphis Grizzlies pursued a trade for Mikal Bridges both before he was dealt from the Phoenix Suns to the Brooklyn Nets and also afterwards.

Bridges is on a value contract at an annual average of $22 million and cannot become a free agent until 2026.

The Nets did not serious entertain offers for Bridges after they acquired him as part of the Kevin Durant trade with Phoenix. There will likely be many teams interested in trading for Bridges again this offseason should the Nets bring him to market.

Sources say the Grizzlies are a suitor to keep an eye on when it comes to Bridges. 

Memphis also pursued OG Anunoby of the Toronto Raptors.

The Golden State Warriors approved the four-team trade that sees them acquire Gary Payton II ahead of Sunday's 9:30 PM ET deadline.

Golden State found a core muscle injury when completing Payton's physical. That put the trade in jeopardy of being finalized. The Warriors are reportedly working the NBA, as they believe the Portland Trail Blazers withheld key medical information during the process of completing the four-team trade.

Once pushed through, Golden State will acquire Payton and two second-round picks. The Atlanta Hawks will acquire Saddiq Bey, while the Detroit Pistons will acquire James Wiseman. The Portland Trail Blazers will acquire Kevin Knox and five second-round picks.

The Golden State Warriors are working with the NBA on a way to complete a four-team trade involving Gary Payton II.

The Warriors want to preserve their rights to pursue recourse on how the Portland Trail Blazers shared Payton's medical information. 

There is a 9:30 p.m. ET deadline on the Warriors to make a final decision on Payton's physical and the fate of the trade.

A Golden State physical revealed that Payton would be out for a significant part of the remaining season.