Hoopinion: NBA.com: Smith: [Josh] Smith in the Trade Mix?

[Hawksquawk]

Sekou Smith agrees that it would be folly for the Atlanta Hawks to trade Josh Smith barring exceptional circumstances:

If the Hawks didn’t move Smith in a rumored deal for Amar’e Stoudemire (it came up a couple of years ago and again last season around the trade deadline, when Stoudemire was the hottest name in the game), I can’t see any reasonable explanation for trying to move him now.

This Hawks' team has yet to plateau, so trading anyone off this roster right now (even Crawford) makes little sense to us. Are they ready to challenge for a title right now? No. But Sund would be taking a huge gamble trying to find the right piece by the trade deadline by moving a piece as integral as Smith is to this team.

Now we're not crazy. If you can leverage Smith for someone like Chris Paul or even Carmelo Anthony, then you have to explore your options. You never say never.

But unless you are talking about acquiring a player of that caliber in a package, this is a waste of time.

Someone has to go, but it needs to be someone other than Smith.

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