{"id":574422,"date":"2026-02-01T05:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/574422\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T05:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:08:21","slug":"trade-rumors-ellis-hunter-ball-bucks-sochan-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/574422\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade Rumors: Ellis, Hunter, Ball, Bucks, Sochan, Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

In addition to the Cavaliers, the Lakers, Pacers, Spurs and Celtics are among the many suitors for Kings guard Keon Ellis<\/a>, sources tell Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line<\/a> (Substack link). The Timberwolves\u00a0and Knicks have also been mentioned<\/a> as teams interested in Ellis.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old is an intriguing trade candidate because his $2.3MM expiring contract makes him an attainable piece for just about any NBA team. If he\u2019s dealt, Ellis\u2019 Bird rights<\/a> would travel with him and he\u2019d become extension-eligible on February 9, just a few days after the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Cleveland has seemed to be in the best position to acquire Ellis over the past 48 hours, Fischer reports (via Twitter<\/a>), but other teams are still in the mix as well.<\/p>\n

According to Stein and Fischer, while the Kings are reluctant to take on long-term money in trades, they\u2019re believed to be open to that possibility if Malik Monk<\/a> is included the deal. Sacramento has also brought up including DeMar DeRozan<\/a> in trades involving Ellis.<\/p>\n

Here are several more trade rumors from around the NBA:<\/p>\n

Although the Lakers have been mentioned multiple times as a potential suitor for De\u2019Andre Hunter<\/a>, Stein and Fischer hear Los Angeles\u2019 interest in the Cavaliers forward has been \u201crepeatedly overstated.\u201d As Stein and Fischer explain, Hunter\u2019s $24.9MM salary for next season would inhibit the Lakers\u2019 offseason flexibility, which they prefer to maintain.
\nBefore Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> became the center of the trade deadline, the Bucks made offers for Hunter centered around Kyle Kuzma<\/a> and\/or Bobby Portis<\/a>, Stein and Fischer confirm. Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported<\/a> on Friday that Milwaukee had pitched Cleveland on the idea of a Portis\/Hunter trade, but the Cavaliers declined. The Warriors also held a level of interest in Hunter, per Stein and Fischer, but that was before the Bucks began listening to offers for Antetokounmpo and now their focus is on the two-time MVP.
\nThe Wizards have checked in with the Cavaliers about Lonzo Ball<\/a> and have let teams know they\u2019re willing to be a salary dumping ground if they receive draft compensation in return, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype<\/a>. Cleveland is the only team in the NBA over the second tax apron, and Ball \u2014 who is shooting just 26.9% from three-point range \u2014 is on pseudo-expiring $10MM contract ($10MM team option for next season).
\nWhile this sort of move would be contingent on what happens with other trade constructs, the Bucks have expressed interest in packaging some of their minimum-salary contracts to acquire higher-priced players, including Nets guard Cam Thomas<\/a> and Mavericks guard D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/a>, sources tell Scotto<\/a>. As Scotto explains, Milwaukee\u2019s goal would be to either take an upside swing (Thomas) or add second-round picks by taking on unwanted money (Russell). Thomas, an unrestricted free agent this summer, holds an implied no-trade clause after signing his qualifying offer last offseason.
\nSeveral teams \u2014 including the Suns \u2014 have talked to the Spurs about fourth-year forward Jeremy Sochan<\/a>, according to Scotto. Those discussions, which Scotto describes as exploratory, also involved Phoenix center Nick Richards<\/a>, but the Suns weren\u2019t interested in that swap because it would have pushed them deeper into the luxury tax, which they\u2019d prefer to dip below.
\nWe\u2019ve only seen one in-season trade to this point. One veteran NBA executive who spoke to Stein and Fischer is optimistic about that number rising significantly in the coming days. \u201cI still think the avalanche is coming,\u201d said the team official.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In addition to the Cavaliers, the Lakers, Pacers, Spurs and Celtics are among the many suitors for Kings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,507,103,959,7265,1219,3213,2724,3211,124,4442,1267,102,121,3871,6,7797],"class_list":{"0":"post-574422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bobby-portis","10":"tag-bucks","11":"tag-cam-thomas","12":"tag-dangelo-russell","13":"tag-deandre-hunter","14":"tag-demar-derozan","15":"tag-jeremy-sochan","16":"tag-keon-ellis","17":"tag-kyle-kuzma","18":"tag-lonzo-ball","19":"tag-malik-monk","20":"tag-milwaukee","21":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","22":"tag-milwaukeebucks","23":"tag-nba","24":"tag-nick-richards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115993647951901866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}