Officially entering 2022 also means that there is only one month left before the deadline for this season. The management of each team can be said to be pregnant with ghosts. Some teams want to seize every opportunity to adjust and upgrade the lineup as much as possible, increasing the likelihood of reaching the playoffs or even competing for the championship; others, on the contrary, they will act as sellers, and all the players in the team who have value but are not planning in the future will be sold by them to harvest more fresh blood.
Because the free agency market was relatively deserted last summer, the media predicted that many teams would be gearing up in the middle of the season and going to do a big job before the deadline. They also published an article listing the players most likely to be sent away by each team's deadline, which could bring them closer to their goals or change the situation to some extent.
On the Los Angeles Lakers side, the natural person on the list is Russell Westbrook. Of course, the media also said a few words for him, thinking that Westbrook is not the only problem with the Lakers, and even sometimes can play quite well. But the problem is that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the Lakers' real non-selling products now, and most of the other players, not to mention their performance, due to the relatively low salary, can only be used as a head add-on at best. So whether it is from the perspective of breaking the game or freeing up future salary space, if the Lakers want to have a big move, Westbrook may have to go.
As the Lakers' city rivals, the Clippers are not in much trouble, and Gemini stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will be absent for a long time. While the Depth of the Clippers' roster is staggering, and other players have shown enough resilience, the strength has indeed been greatly reduced. There are not many adjustments on the Clippers side, and Eric Bledsoe should be the player most likely to be sent away by management. After all, he is not cheap, and the function is very similar to Reggie Jackson, the Clippers have two options, one is to sell Bledsoe at the same time, get a guard who is better at controlling the court, even if it is his replacement. Another way is to simply send Bledsoe away and save salary expenses in the case of no struggle for the championship.
The Suns' rise in the past two years has been very rapid, and they soared to the Finals last season and are now the best team in the league. The Suns are overcrowded on the inside, with DeAndre Ayton and Javier McGee taking up a lot of playing time, and Bismarck Biyombo, who has just signed a short contract, has also performed exceptionally well after joining the Suns, not counting Dario Sharic, who is in recuperation. As a result, Jaylen Smith's situation in the team is still very embarrassing, because the Suns gave up the implementation of his team option in advance, so even if the youngster performed well during this time, the Suns may not be able to keep him at that time. So taking advantage of Jaylen Smith's good potential, it should be a better choice to sell him out in exchange for strong reinforcements from other positions.
The Nets now finally have the Big Three together, with Bruce Brown, Joe Harris, Patrick Mills and Nicholas Clarkston all providing some support, and it doesn't make much sense to send away the bottom-paid veterans. So for the Nets, the most likely person on the team to be peddled is likely to be backcourt sapper Javin Carter. He was sent to the Nets by the Suns last summer, and this operation has been criticized, and Landry Shamet, who was sent to the Suns, has effectively improved the team's outside firepower and lineup depth. For the Nets, the Dayron Sharp and Javin Carter were mediocre, the former was still young after all, but the Nets estimated that they did not have so much patience with Javin Carter.
As defending champions, the Bucks naturally don't easily make drastic changes to the roster, especially considering that the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Chris Middleton and Juil Holliday are in excellent shape. The Bucks are determined to complete the title, so veterans like Brooke López, Wesley Matthews and George Hill will also have higher value. In this situation, similar to the Suns, the Bucks may consider sending Jordan Wola away, the youngster has improved significantly this season, but the Bucks can't let him let go of his hands and feet to perform, but it is better to exchange some assets in advance.
The Bulls have been recruiting since the second half of last season, and from the current point of view, the effect is very significant. After an eight-game winning streak, the Bulls have replaced the Nets to dominate the top spot in the East, and they are talented in the backcourt, with Ronzo Ball and Zach Lavin starting and Ayo Dusson and Alex Caruso on the bench, which makes Kobe White's situation extremely embarrassing. Everyone knows that the Bulls urgently need to strengthen the strength of the frontcourt, and the qualified number four position and the replacement center need to be considered, and Kobe White is the most likely chip for the Bulls to come up with.