2012 NBA Draft Day Rumors and Potential Trades

It’s the day of the 2012 NBA Draft and that means there are plenty of rumors and potential trades swirling around the league right now.

The only certainty about tonight so far is that Anthony Davis will be the No. 1 overall draft choice. After that just about every team is open to trades involving their picks.

• The Houston Rockets have been making the most moves so far. They have acquired the 12th, 16th and 18th picks in the first round. Their ultimate goal is to somehow trade with Orlando for Dwight Howard. The first step towards getting Howard to Houston is trading with the Kings first. The Rockets first offered Sacramento Kyle Lowry and two of their first rounders for Tyreke Evans and the 5th overall pick. The Kings turned down that offer.
• The Kings aren’t sold on any prospect yet at No. 5. They are hoping that Thomas Robinson could fall to that spot although that is pretty unlikely. Robinson is currently projected No. 2 overall to the Bobcats but the Bobcats reportedly have five offers on the table for that pick. The Kings were earlier rumored to have been eyeing Harrison Barnes with the fifth pick but now are possibly thinking Andre Drummond instead.
• The Bobcats have been shopping their No. 2 overall pick for awhile now. We first heard of them targeting James Harden for the pick. The Thunder have expressed interest in Bradley Beal but would have to part ways with Harden to move high up enough to draft him making that very unlikely.
• The Timberwolves have reportedly offered Charlotte Derrick Williams – last year’s No. 2 overall pick – for this year’s No. 2 overall pick. Williams wasn’t terrible this season but the idea of possibly pairing Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio alongside Beal or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is enticing.
• The most likely deal to be made with Charlotte for the No. 2 pick would involve Cleveland and their No. 4 and No. 24 picks in the first round. The Cavs would most likely want to move up to jump Washington so they can pick Beal but it has been reported that Cleveland is considering Dion Waiters with the No. 4 pick as well.
• Waiters has been shooting up draft boards a ton these past few weeks. Now the Toronto Raptors are also interested in moving up to pick Waiters. Toronto has the No. 8 pick and has been projected to select a shooting guard with that pick from day one. If Waiters is not there for them, they could choose between Austin Rivers and Jeremy Lamb with the pick.
• Kidd-Gilchrist is considered by a lot of experts to have the second most potential of any player in this draft behind Davis. The Bobcats have showed little interest in him and he has been rumored to potentially slide as far down as No. 5 for Sacramento.
• The Los Angeles Lakers have put Pau Gasol on the market the past few days and have expressed some interest in MKG as well.
• The Atlanta Hawks are interested in dealing Josh Smith for Gasol but the Lakers haven’t shown much interest in that yet.
• Drummond is another prospect with tons of potential but also considered a risk. He could go in the top five or drop as low as nine. The Rockets would like to use some of their picks to move up to No. 7 if Drummond is there and trade with the Warriors.
• The Warriors are looking for a player to be an immediate impact. It would be hard to consider anyone other than Davis as an immediate impact player in this draft but if Barnes slips, the Warriors could try and move up to draft him.
• The Portland Trailblazers have two lottery picks at No. 6 and No. 11 and they intend to use both as opposed to packaging the two to move into the top five.
• The Boston Celtics would like to move into the lottery. They currently have the No. 21 and No. 22 picks in the first round. They were rumored also to have promised Royce White that they would draft him at that time if he is still available.

This is just the tip of the ice berg so far today in terms of NBA Draft rumors. We are just over five hours until the draft will begin and there will surely be plenty more stories developing until that time.