Trade Buzz: Countdown To The Deadline

Welcome to the final hours before the trade deadline. Normally everyone is abuzz, anticipating a trade that could pay dividends for a team on the rise. However, sometimes life gets in the way. And suddenly this trade deadline doesn't feel quite as important.

Nonetheless, years from now, this may be remembered as a key deadline for the development of this Blazers team. There have been minimal updates on the Blazer front this afternoon, and the NBA is seemingly in a waiting pattern until the ticking clock forces teams to make their move. In the meantime, be sure to check out Willy Raedy's post about the Blazers and the trade deadline.

The NBA Trade Deadline is today at Noon, Pacific time. It is very common for trades to be submitted mere minutes before the deadline, and become public knowledge over the next 30 minutes afterward. So if there is no news by Noon, that doesn't mean there hasn't been a trade. If there is no news by 12:30pm, that's probably a bad sign.

Here are the players who have been most often discussed in overall NBA rumors (translation: not necessarily involving the Blazers):

- Arron Afflalo (DEN)
- Wilson Chandler (DEN)
- Ty Lawson (DEN)
- Goran Dragic (PHX)
- Zoran Dragic (PHX)
- Minor rumors about Kevin Garnett (to Minn), Joe Johnson, Norris Cole, Gary Neal and many others.

Here are the latest (minimal) Blazer rumors from Wednesday:

- Denver is reportedly getting offers for Arron Afflalo, and the Blazers are considering giving up a first round pick for him. There are high odds that Afflalo would opt out of his contract and be a free agent after the season. So he would be a short-term rental. As of this writing, this is the latest info about Afflalo:

Denver sifting offers on Arron Afflalo tonight, w/ some "late-chargers" thickening plot, sources tell Yahoo. Blazers still strongly in mix.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 19, 2015

- There have been no concrete reports of status of Wilson Chandler. No hints of deals that are close.

- Thomas Robinson was held out of interviews after practice Wednesday. This may have simply been a kind gesture by the team, since he would have likely been asked about trades repeatedly.

- Tayshaun Prince may be bought out of his contract in Boston, and the Blazers have been linked to him. This feels like a backup plan, but details are sketchy.

- The Minnesota Timberwolves are being fairly tight-lipped about the status of Kevin Martin. There were brief rumors that he could be bought out, but later reports stated the opposite.

Feel free to hang out here and discuss any breaking news or rumors about the trade deadline.

If any major rumor or news breaks about the Blazers, continue to discuss it here, and we'll likely have a fresh article about it as soon as feasible.

Please be respectful of each other, and keep the conversation constructive. Thank you!