As we near the NBA trade deadline on February 7, the Hawks are making several of their veterans available on the trade block. According to Marc Stein of The New York Times, Atlanta’s Jeremy Lin, Dewayne Dedmon and Kent Bazemore will be available.
“The Hawks are known to have made the veteran point guard Lin, big man Dewayne Dedmon and swingman Kent Bazemore available in advance of the Feb. 7 trade deadline in search of more draft picks.”
And while it’s unclear at this point how much interest Dedmon and Bazemore will draw, Lin is already attracting attention from the Sacramento Kings, according to Stein.
“Sacramento is among the teams that have expressed exploratory trade interest in Hawks guard Jeremy Lin, according to league sources.”
The Hawks are in the cellar of the NBA for the second straight season. After finishing with the Eastern Conference’s worst record in 2017-18 with a 24-58 mark, the Hawks are 13-30 and have the fourth-worst record in the East, which they’ll put on the line Tuesday night when they host the Thunder (7:30 p.m. ET — Watch on FuboTV with NBA League Pass extension). They’re seven games behind the eighth seed and it’s becoming clear the organization has no plans of attempting to clinch a playoff berth this season or any time in the near future.
Although Lin has served as a starting point guard for much of his NBA career, he has come off of the bench for the Hawks this season and is averaging 10.8 points in 19.5 minutes per game.
The Kings are currently tied for ninth place in the Western Conference and are just a half-game behind the Utah Jazz for the final playoff spot. They haven’t made the playoffs since the 2005-06 season, but they have every intention of being buyers at the trade deadline in an attempt to clinch a postseason berth for the first time in 13 years.
As far as the other Hawks are concerned, Bazemore is averaging 14.0 points per game on 44.1 percent from the field as the team’s starting shooting guard. Meanwhile, Dedmon is averaging 9.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game after starting 23 of his 34 appearances at center.
Because all three players are proven veterans in this league, it seems safe to expect that Lin, Bazemore and Dedmon will all be moved by the trade deadline.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
