HoopsHype.com Rumors

Atlanta coach Larry Drew is awaiting his fate, but with the Hawks having eight free agents, expect GM Danny Ferry to make wholesale changes. And the Hawks likely will not allow Josh Smith to walk without compensation. To atract more suitors, the club likely will offer Smith on sign-and-trade deals. However, Smith is seeking the maximum, and interested teams may decrease. Boston Globe

Atlanta Hawks, Free Agency, Trade, Josh Smith 

Warriors coach Mark Jackson with a hard takedown of Monta Ellis. Jackson was asked Thursday how trading Ellis to the Bucks in March 2012 not only brought Andrew Bogut in return as the inside presence the Warriors had long desired but also created a clear path for Klay Thompson to blossom at shooting guard. Jackson's response: “It helped change the culture. Obviously it was easier to pull the trigger because we knew what we had in Klay and it was time for him to be a starting two-guard. And he does everything right.” How did that trade change the culture? Jackson paused four seconds. "It helped change the culture," he finally said. Anything specific? “You know.” Sulia

Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Trade, Monta Ellis, Mark Jackson, Andrew Bogut, Klay Thompson 

The Bucks acquired Ellis from Golden State in March 2012 in a deal that sent Andrew Bogut to the Warriors. Oddly, a member of the proposed ownership group trying to keep the Kings in Sacramento has done some background checking on Ellis as a possibility for the Kings if the team decides to part ways with restricted free agent Tyreke Evans this summer, a league source involved in the discussions said. Ellis is weighing his options and hasn't decided yet whether he will opt out of his $11 million deal. CBSSports.com

Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings, Trade, Monta Ellis, Tyreke Evans 

"I would like to be a part of another championship team here, but it is not totally up to me," Gasol said. "We could definitely get it done [if the roster stayed intact], but I would be pretty surprised if there was no changes whatsoever. I would be surprised if that happens." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Trade, Pau Gasol 

The whispers are becoming louder around the league. They say the Cavaliers might be willing to part with some of their young talent in trades. They went through all the growing pains with Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson, and now they’re going to include them in trades? Sorry, I don’t buy it. If the Cavs are ever going to have a chance to get their hands on players like LaMarcus Aldridge or Kevin Love, they’ll have to deal players like Waiters and Thompson, and much more. Morning Journal

Cleveland Cavaliers, Trade 

How badly do the Bulls want Love?: He has been on their radar for awhile. Like many teams, the Bulls would love to have him. He would serve as one half of a rebounding twin towers next to Joakim Noah. He can also shoot the three and would figure to work well with Noah since both can see the floor very well. Love would seemingly also fit in well to the Bulls locker room seeing that he has trained in the past with Rose and the two have always spoken highly of one another. ESPN.com

Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Trade, Kevin Love 

Steve Kyler: Having talked this through with Lakers sources, they are gonna ride this roster to 2014 and then go shopping from there. They won’t know enough about Kobe’s rehab to make a decision in July and that is when Amnesty has to be done. HoopsWorld

Los Angeles Lakers, Free Agency, Trade 

Privately, the Cleveland front office has pitched a fantasy of trading young players and picks to Portland for All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, sources said. Only, that's never going to happen. Cleveland is far higher on its two top- five picks, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters, than the rest of the NBA. Yahoo! Sports

Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, Trade, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters 

Clippers sources have been adamant that they don’t have to do anything with Bledsoe until next summer or at the earliest the trade deadline in February of 2014. Combine that with Paul’s history of injury, there is concern about liquidating such a low cost and productive player too soon, but it is clear that if the Clippers chose to, they could fetch a nice return on Bledsoe and that might become important once Paul inks his new deal this summer. HoopsWorld

Los Angeles Clippers, Trade, Eric Bledsoe 

Ryan Wolstat: Colangelo says no change with Bargnani but change of scenery has been talked about with agent and might be best for everybody Twitter @WolstatSun

Toronto Raptors, Trade, Andrea Bargnani 

So far, the 76er hasn't had the impact expected as the second overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft. Despite that, Turner said that he'll be a Sixer next season even though his name has come up before in trade rumors. "Not to be arrogant or cocky, but my name comes up, I believe, because of trade value in that situation," Turner said. "Regardless of whether I get heat for certain situations or certain bad nights and stuff, I still think I'm a valuable player in this league." Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia 76ers, Trade, Evan Turner 

As for Valanciunas, the promising Raptors big man who's been averaging a 15-7 since mid-March, here's a true story: When Sam Presti was quietly shopping James Harden last October, he called Toronto to feel out a Jonas package. And got rebuffed. Quickly. Grantland

Oklahoma City Thunder, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Sam Presti, James Harden, Jonas Valanciunas 

Kobe Bryant: Can the talk of trading @paugasol come to a cease now?? Twitter @kobebryant

Los Angeles Lakers, Trade, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol 

The Mavs, depending on Mayo’s decision and the salary cap figure the NBA sets, will have somewhere between $13 million and $18.7 million in spending money this summer -- unless they create more space with salary-dump deals. They need significant upgrades to have a serious chance of competing at the level they had become accustomed to over the previous dozen seasons. “I’ve been saying it all season long: It’s a big summer for us,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who is the only player guaranteed to return to Dallas next season. “We’ll see what Mark and Donnie can come up with. They’re always geniuses at making stuff happen. We need a big summer, obviously, to compete again for the championship and not for the eighth seed.” ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Free Agency, Trade, Dirk Nowitzki 

One thing that many Raptors fans have been anticipating is a trade that would send Andrea Bargnani elsewhere, and while Colangelo worked to make that happen, a couple of unrelated injuries essentially prevented a deal from happening. “We obviously had some frank discussions with Andrea and his agent that a change of scenery might benefit everyone, but his two random and unrelated elbow injuries dismissed whatever trade scenarios were being contemplated,” Colangelo explains. “With the timing of his injuries, we simply just ran out of runway prior to the trade deadline. As far as value, I would disagree [that his is low], good size-to-skill ratio is a commodity in this league, especially the way the game is trending. If Andrea stays, however, I’m hoping [head coach Dwane] Case[y] can find a way to duplicate his tremendous start to the 11-12 campaign, where he was performing at an All-Star level on both ends of the floor.” HoopsWorld

Toronto Raptors, Trade, Andrea Bargnani 

Once the draft plays out, Colangelo does have some specific things he’ll be looking for in free agency and via trade over the offseason. “Very clearly, veteran presence and leadership will go a long way in rounding out our very young nucleus,” says Colangelo. “We can certainly add some mental and physical toughness to our mix too. A full training camp will obviously help everyone, but I do really like the talent level of the young core we have in place. Of course, we need to add a piece or two to the mix, but we should get appreciably better with our efforts of growing organically.” HoopsWorld

Toronto Raptors, Free Agency, Draft, Trade, Bryan Colangelo 

Ryan Wolstat: Still would be very risky of Raptors to pencil in Acy as primary backup big behind Amir next year. Expect a PF coming back in Bargnani trade Twitter @WolstatSun

Toronto Raptors, Trade, Andrea Bargnani 

It's easy to forget now, after they tried so hard to trade him in February, but the Hawks did want to sign Josh Smith to a contract extension before the season started. The figure shared with me this week: Atlanta's offer coming into the 2012-13 campaign was a three-year extension worth in excess of $45 million. Yet sources close to the situation say that the extension talks never got too deep because Smith made it clear from the start that he wanted to make it to free agency, which would enable him to sign a longer deal. League rules on extensions precluded the Hawks from offering anything longer than three extra years during the season. ESPN.com

Atlanta Hawks, Free Agency, Trade, Josh Smith 

The Bucks also made a significant trade right before the NBA trade deadline that changed the make-up of the team to a certain extent. Gone were some of the younger, up-and-coming players like Tobias Harris and Doron Lamb, and coming in from Orlando was veteran sixth-man J.J. Redick, who brought NBA Finals experience to the team, as well as Gustavo Ayon and Ish Smith. “We were hoping to make the playoffs,” Hammond explained. “We thought adding a piece like J.J. Redick could help solidify that opportunity for us and he has. He’s been a great addition to our team. We’re also happy to have Gustavo and Ish Smith. It might be easy to forget about Gustavo and his abilities. We like him as a player, but it was a difficult trade to make to say the least. To move a piece like Tobias Harris and Doron Lamb; we like both those players, both good young players, but we felt at that time it was the right thing for our organization.” HoopsWorld

Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic, Trade, JJ Redick 

Adrian Wojnarowski: Spurs and Jackson discussed a release prior to trade deadline, but sides agreed to go forward together for rest of season, source says. Twitter @WojYahooNBA

San Antonio Spurs, Trade, Stephen Jackson