NBA Buzz: Trades, Hawks, Cavs, Zion, Beal, Garland, Porzingis

Zion Williamson‘s status remains up in the air, though rival teams are no doubt keeping tabs on the situation in New Orleans.

The Hawks could be one of those teams and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic believes Atlanta would be wise to go all-in on a Williamson pursuit assuming the medicals on the power forward come back clean. Kirschner compares Zion’s potential to that of Joel Embiid (Embiid missed his first two years in the league and much of his “rookie” year in 2016-17 because of injuries).

Atlanta is set up to trade for a star with extra future picks, young players still on rookie contracts, and veterans on team-friendly deals.

More NBA Rumors, News & Notes

Caris LeVert will miss as many as two weeks after spraining his right foot, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. LeVert sustained the injury during practice earlier in the week.
Darius Garland missed Thursday’s game against the Pistons with lower back soreness and it doesn’t sound like his ailment will keep him out as long as LeVert’s. The Cavs indicated that Garland will undergo a period of rehabilitation, however.
Lauri Markkanen is back in the lineup for Cleveland, returning from a high ankle sprain to lead the team in scoring (22 points) on Thursday night.
The Nets are running out of time to turn their season around, Zach Lowe contends on ESPN’s Get Up. Brooklyn lost to Boston on Friday night (failing to cover the spread for the 20th time in their last 23 games). The Nets currently sit at 31-29 on the season, which is 3.5 games behind the Celtics for the No. 6 seed in the conference. Hope is on the way, however, as Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons could suit up soon.
While James Harden‘s arrival in Philadelphia is super exciting, Bill Simmons (on his latest podcast with Lowe) hears that the former MVP wasn’t Joel Embiid‘s first choice. The big man wanted Bradley Beal, feeling that the Wizards star would have been a better fit. There are rumblings that the Sixers could still attempt to trade for Beal via sign-and-trade this offseason.
Should Washington utilize Kristaps Porzingis at the four or give him run at the center spot in Wes Unseld Jr’s rotation? Former NBA power forward and current Wizards broadcaster Drew Gooden believes KP would be better off with less time at the five. “I think he can guard forwards better than he can guard centers,” Gooden said (h/t Bijan Todd of NBC Sports). “Remember, you’re not married to these lineups. You gotta coach the flow of the game, it can switch… I hate when they say, ‘[Porzingis] can’t guard fours or he can’t guard fives.’ Well guess what, how many fours or fives can guard him?”