So we've got a lot of trade rumors poppin'. They're all the rage. It's happening next week when we're having our super Bowl week, when I'm gonna be in Phoenix, Arizona, the trade deadline will come and it will pass and people will be moved. I thought I would fill people in before we head on the road to discuss some of these rumors. Number one on the trade rumor block is Bones Highland. I did not see that one coming.
Bones Highland of the Denver Nuggets possibly might be on the move, And I said to myself, why house Way, Denver's a top the standings. Bones Highland is a really nice young player. He's only in what his second year. He puts up buckets. What is happening. He's a nice young player that's playing really well. Right, well, if you look at what he's been doing lately, not so much. He's averaging just seven points a game in his last eight games, from down from seventeen a game in the
previous eight games. So I don't know if this is just a way for the Nuggets to scare him. That's what I'm hearing is maybe they want to get him back into shape. Maybe they don't think his decision making is commensurate on the timeline of a team that's trying to win a title now. But our favorite old man yells at the Clouds former coach George Carlisle. I don't know why he decided he wanted to speak on this, but he did. He tweeted Bones's shot selection could kill
a potential championship team. I am supportive of the Bones trade by the Nuggets. I am not sure who asked for this insight from George carl I do not give a fuck honestly about your opinion on the Bones Highland trade rumors. Do you have some sort of reason to chime in on this? Do you have a dog in this fight? You do not. Why are you speaking? And I don't know, I don't know why you had to
do him like that? Why do you have to make him seem like he's not a player who could help a championship team he is anyway, Moving on the Bucks, the Bucks are gonna be some busy beavers. It appears they're going to move Jordan Nora, who, let's be honest, isn't getting a lot of playing time for a good reason. And the latest news is they got permission from the Suns to speak to Jay Crowder. That's been the rage for pretty much the entire season, even in the off season.
Would they get Jake Crowder? Where they get Jake Crowder? Where they get Jake Crowder? That would be the PJ. Tucker type player that they are missing. I think that they are a team that's going to make some moves Bulls and the Blazers. Blazers getting Jay Crowder would be electric factory. I would love that. What trade is Josh Heart and would trade in Yusuf Nurkic for Jake Crowder and DeAndre Ayden. How's that? I think Jay Crowder is gonna get a lot of suitors, so we'll have to
see where he goes. But it looks like the Bucks
are front runners. The Celtics even though they're front runners, even though they have the best record, looks like they are looking to upgrade their roster as well, moving possibly Peyton Pritchard, who also just went on the Point Forward podcast which is by Evan Turner and Andrea Guidala, and they asked him what his future held and he said, well, obviously, after I'm done here, after this year, I'd like to have, I don't know, be a part of a bigger role
a little bit. Note the after this year comment. When a team knows that you are dipset after this year, they're not going to try to lose you for nothing. Peyton Pritchard, how about after the trade deadline, maybe you'll have a bigger role moving forward because you're not going to be on this Celtics team most likely now that Malcolm Brogden is there, he is a six man year candidate and that is squeezing you out. We all know. Moving on that Trader Danny, he loves to trade. We
know he loves to make moves at the deadline. They are currently the Utah Jazz looking to shop Malik Beasley and Jared Vanderbilt. And get this, my man, Trader Danny wants a first round pick for both of them, not together for each what So okay, let's let me get this straight. So the Rudy Gobert trade, if he ends up Trader Danny trading Malik Beasley for a first round pick and Jared Vanderbilt for a first round pick, that would net does some quick math, seven first round picks
for Rudy Gobert. Do you think that's fair. I don't know if I think that's fair. I think that's a fleecing. So you get four first round picks, and you get Walker Kessler, who was a first round pick, and then you get Leak Beasley and Jared Vanderbilt. They get to be first round picks. I mean, that's not even considering some of the other guys that you got in that
trade that you could move. And then you move and add in all the picks that could be how many first round picks do you think you can get for Lori Markinen right now? Probably three? So here we're talking about maybe four. Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell may end up netting if you were to just turn all the players that you get and all the picks and combine them maybe fifteen sixteen first round picks. That is a haul. That is a haul. Bro Also, the Jazz, I don't
know why, are interested in Dorian Phinney Smith. I bet they get a first round pick to just get Dorian Phinney Smith as well. I don't think you're paying anything for Dorian Phinney Smith. Let's be honest. The Mavericks have apparently, according to Sham's and an incredibly high price threshold for teams reaching out about Phinney Smith. That seems like a not true statement to me, But keep your on Utah.
I don't think they're done making moves. Uh. The most interesting figure next to Yaka Pearl on the market right now in terms of white big men that you didn't know that you needed, is Mason Plumley. Yes, Mason Plumley actually somehow, some way ballin', averaging thirteen ten and four from the field on sixty seven percent shooting. I looked at Mason Plumley's game log the other day and I was shocked. I was berefed. I could not even I
was a little overclemped. I had no idea, my man, Mason Plumley was putting up twenty on a random night, fifteen rebounds on a random night. Also, there's a lot of people who want Mason Plumley, Kings, Lakers, lots of probably the Blazers. Again. The Hornet's also currently shopping Kelly or Ubre, which I think he's been out for like six weeks with an injury, but someone will want a chucker. And I am sure Kelly Oubray when he gets to that team would love to be on a heat check Bulls.
Bulls currently vacillating between whether they're buyers or sellers, which is pretty much a testament to who they are right now, and not having any sort of team identity, not knowing what direction they want to go, kind of in and out with the wins. But one thing is clear. A lot of teams want Alex Caruso, A lot of teams are coveting him, but it doesn't seem like he's going to go anywhere because the Bulls asking price is right
up there with delusion. Because some people think in the Bulls organization that the goat is worth multiple first round picks, which I am telling you for a guy who I think went undrafted from Texas A and m also not true. Looked into it, reached out to some of these insiders. They told me it was poppycock. They said that first
two first round picks for Alex Crusoe absolute poppycock. He is so, I guess to the Chicago Bulls on top will give in the fact that he has such an astronomical price, and apparently the Bulls believe he's a core part of their culture. Probably the only guy let's be honest that you need on this team to build around. They should build around Alex Crusoe. Why not friend of show uh Jake Fisher. I'm gonna see hopefully this weekend reports that the Lakers' resurgence has made them be a
buyer more likely than a seller. And one player that they're interested in, which is fascinating to me, is Gary Trent Junior. That would be something. They do need shooters, and he can shoot. He can't play a lot of defense. His deflections are way down at just ask Nick Nurse, who thinks he's basically someone who they don't even need on the team, but he would be a nice addition.
Clippers also they need another guard. Kawhi in particular, has gone from being load managed and not thought about or talked about or heard from, to being very vocal, shockingly about bringing in a point guard. They are interested in Gary Trent, but more so former teammate of Kawhi, Fred van Fleet, which if you can get a Fred van Fleet and a Kawhi Leonard, both former champions onto this Clippers roster and Norm Powell, by the way, that would
be something chaos. Like I said in Toronto, that would mean a lot of players on the move Portland. Portland's looking to sell as well. Thank god, get rid of them. Get rid of them now you know what I'm talking about. Get rid of Usif Nurkic, he's been god awful. Please tell me he's on the trade block. Please tell me he's on the trade block. Yes, Josh Hart, Yusef Nurkic contract is an anchor. He's making so much money. He's a clutch client. Please get rid of him. And remains
to be seen. Apparently, according to insiders, whether Yusuf Nurkic is a negative asset. So that little deal you did, that extension you did may not have been a good thing except for just having that salary on your books. A lot of people don't realize this as a quick aside.
Sometimes you make bad deals so that you can make the salaries match, even if you have to attach a pick, because if you were to not sign you said Nurkic, that money would basically not be available to you anymore due to the bird rights that you have for him. So there's a lot of math involved, which is why these bad contracts continue to get done. I've got your bird rights, assign it a twenty five million dollar deal.
Maybe I have to attach a second round or a first round pick to get rid of you, But I get somebody who's actually worth a twenty five million dollars in return. So that's an interesting thing. His ability to pass on a good team and shoot. He's been a good three point shooter. Maybe a team wants to roll the Dices. Wolves have resurrected their season with Karl Anthony Towns on the bench, and it looks like they are
moving on from d LO as a result. I tell you what if this team moves on from del and Carl Anthony Towns is on the bench and they're winning games. I don't know that Carl Anthony Towns is far behind him. D'Angelo Russell and the Wolves are apparently very far apart in terms of the contract extension. He has unfollowed them from Instagram and all the social media accounts that he was supposed to be following he's taken. I think at one point he took Minnesota Timberwolves out of his profile.
These things are lame, but these things are things you have to think about when you're looking at the tea leaves. Apparently Minnesota wants to move them, get some value back. Lakers apparently are interested in having him back. We could just reunite all Lakers. Let's buy them back. Let's get Thomas Bryant back. Oh yeah, he's there. Let's get Kyle Kuzman back. Let's get D'Angelo Russell back. All the guys that you had, maybe even uh Julius Randall, bring him back,
maybe Brandon Ingram. All these players so loaded, maybe you could just get them all and reunite them back now that they've been developed without Lebron having to do the dirty work. The Rockets, let's be honest, they're a hot mess. There are players that seem to be on the move there, Jay Shawn Tate, Eric Gordon. We've been saying this for years. Eric Gordon's been on the move there. It's like Miles Turner, John Collins, Eric Gordon. These are the three most talked
about players in terms of moving them. The problem is that they are looking for a first round pick in exchange for Eric Gordon, which is what they did last year, and which is what they did the year before that when PJ. Tucker was on the move. So I don't know what's going on. Doesn't make any damn sense. Houston's really bad. All the decisions that they make aren't great, so it would not surprise me if Eric Gordon just became I don't know a firm member of their bench
as well. I don't think Eric Gordon is going anywhere. Weirdly, they are connected as well to John Collins rumors which make no sense, which means probably outprin Shanegon wouldn't get any all of these things that happen with the Rockets Taken with a grain of salt, the one and nine Pelicans looks like they are desperate for some help. They have made Jackson Hayes available, Nausei Marshall available, Devonte Grahama via trade. We don't know that they need wings. They
do not need any more guards. This is not a place that a scorer that cannot play defense is going to flourish. Who can they get? I have no idea, but I know that they need to figure it out because Zion is out and Brandan Ingram is not fully healthy, and they're falling like a rock trade deadline right now is next week. It is going to dominate pretty much what we're going to talk about during that time period. Let's try to get some people on. We'll cover all
of that, hopefully give you some more inside tee. Keep you right there, and of course next week everything will come to a close and we'll know who went there. We had Keith Smith on the show, i think last week, and he said he thinks it's going to be a very very busy deadline, so keep it locked and we'll have to see. That's all the time that we have for the Heat Check. Come back on Thursday for an all new episode. We will be breaking down more of
the trades. Of course, have some more tea from around the league. Something bananas will probably happen. I'm going to be very busy filling you in on the details on that. Do not forget to follow us though on Twitter at this heat Check and at Tristan Crick and tell all your friends find me on Instagram. Instagram's blowing up right now. I don't know what's going on with the algorithm, but they're making it better. So go and follow me there. And the Heat Check doesn't sleep even on the weekends.
We'll see you next time.