Another NBA Trade Rumor
by Patrick Austin

Another NBA Trade Rumor

The newest NBA trade rumor being bantered about is Vince Carter and Jalen Rose getting shipped out of Toronto and heading to Portland for Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Derek Anderson, and possibly Vladimir Stepania or Qyntel Woods. This NBA trade rumor has been reported by ESPN and OregonLive.com.

The Portland radio station, 1080TheFan, has gone so far to say that this deal should not be considered a rumor and is legitimately “on the table”.

I still consider this an NBA trade rumor because the details are still being worked out and nothing has become official. The reason this deal hasn’t been consummated yet is because Toronto is trying to get Nick Van Exel in the package rather than Derek Anderson. Why? Because Van Exel’s contract is expiring, whereas Anderson’s deal still has three years and nearly thirty million dollars left on it. Since this trade is basically a salary dump for Toronto, they will want to get as many expiring contracts as possible.

If this NBA trade rumor were to really go down, it would send shockwaves through the league. The Portland Trailblazers would catapult to contender status in the West, while the Toronto Raptors would officially begin rebuilding their franchise around Chris Bosh. The Western conference will be getting that much stronger, while the Eastern conference falls deeper into mediocrity.

The Blazers are always apart of the NBA trade rumor grapevine. They love making blockbuster deals and this trade is the ultimate blockbuster of blockbusters. Adding two legitimate all-star caliber players like Vince Carter and Jalen Rose would make them incredibly talented and versatile. Of course, if this deal happens, another NBA trade rumor will pop up with Portland involved, since they would be loaded at the shooting guard and small forward positions. Unless they plan on playing Jalen Rose at point guard, expect a new NBA trade rumor to start up with the Blazers dealing Rose for someone like Jason Kidd or Sam Cassell.

On the Raptors end, this trade is a salary dump, plain and simple. They would be offloading their two biggest(and burdensome) contracts while picking up major cap relief with Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s expiring contract. This would allow them to make Chris Bosh their new franchise player and rebuild around his talents.

Though I have my doubts about any NBA trade rumor, I believe this one will come to fruition. It appears both sides are ready and willing to pull the trigger.

Previous NBA Trade Rumor