With the Eastern Conference being relatively wide open following the struggles of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the injury the Boston Celtics faced with Gordon Hayward, more teams believe they have a chance to advance far into the playoffs. That mindset may may for a more active trading period.

"There's a lot of teams between 7-4 and 4-7 who still are trying to figure out who they are and where they're playing," said Wojnarowski. "In the East, are the Cavs vulnerable here? They've looked very vulnerable. There's teams now, multiple teams thinking 'hey, we have a chance.' There's several teams in the East who think they can get to the Eastern Conference Finals.

"In the West, I don't think anybody's feeling has changed about Golden State.

"I think that's going to dictate, as we get closer to trade season, just the idea that with so many teams in the East especially thinking 'we have a chance', executives think there's going to be a lot of activity this year. As one said to me, 'you may see a lot more West to East deals where teams in the West who just don't think they can compete, whether they're getting salary off or trying to create flexibility for the summer. You may see some of these contenders in the East trying to load up and you may see that talent surge from East to West, you may see it come back this year."