The NBA’s Feb. 18 trade deadline is only a week away. Here’s some of the latest buzz from around the league. The Skinny: ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz and Brian Windhorst are reporting that the Atlanta Hawks may be looking to break up their team’s core in a big way and are considering dealing all-stars Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver. Analysis: If Atlanta really is looking to deal away its core this appears to be a case of a team taking a good, hard look at itself in the mirror and just realizing that it can’t accomplish its ultimate goal – a stunning revelation considering the Hawks won 60 games last season, was the East’s No. 1 seed and went to the conference final. No matter how shocking, however, this does make sense. The Hawks are currently sitting in fourth place in the East, 8.5 and 6.5 games back of the first and second place Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, respectively. Barring anything really crazy happening, they likely aren’t catching either of those teams, so they can’t really be considered part of the Eastern Conference’s elite anymore. So that then begs the question if they really want to just be part of the mediocre second-tier and keep trying with a more veteran core? - See more at: http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/nba-trade-rumours-al-horford-a-possibility-for-the-raptors/
