So far, it’s been quiet leading up to the trade deadline. Many more teams are buyers than sellers (thanks to the game changing dynamic), which has forced several sellers to keep their prices high. There was smoke, but there are still no real fires in the trade market.
A guy who could be on the move. Spurs center Jakob Poeltl. He’s drawing a lot of interest from teams, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on NBA Countdown Saturday.
“There’s a lot of interest in Poeltl and there’s a lot of teams, I think, for San Antonio, they’re going to make offers that they want to move him…
“But if you’re San Antonio and you win the Victor Wembayama draw, he makes great sense in the middle at the umbayama four. So I think for San Antonio, you saw him do that with Dejounte Murray… They got an overwhelming offer from Atlanta, they moved him. I think you’ll see some real significant deals at the trade deadline. A lot of teams want size.”
One of the trade challenges for Poeltl is which team will deal him and then have to pay and re-sign him next summer. Poeltl is making $9.4 million this season, below his market value, and that low salary means the most the Spurs (or any team that trades for him) can offer for four years is $58 million right now. extension period in dollars. He’ll get more than that in free agency this summer, and any team that trades for him will have to pay enough to keep him.
Poeltl is averaging 11.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, plus he plays solid defense in the paint; he could help a lot of teams, especially stretch-four teams, or he could use size when looking at potential playoff matchups against quality centers. Of course, as Voy points out, the Spurs could be one of the teams with a quality front four next season, so what do they want to do before the deadline?
Expect a lot more Poeltl rumors between now and February 9th.
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Report: The post Spurs’ Jakob Poeltl receiving ‘heavy interest’ in trade originally appeared on NBCSports.com.
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