ProBasketball Talk: Josh Smith rumor likely came from his camp

NBA trade season so expect a lot of stuff to be thrown out there and then quickly refuted. It was just yesterday that a report was made that linked the Phoenix Suns to Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith. Late Thursday night Phoenix sports radio host John Gambadoro denied that the Suns have any interest in Smith:

The stories about the Suns being interested in Josh Smith are ridiculous, there is zero interest there -ZERO!

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo620) February 1, 2013

ProBasketball Talk's Kurt Helin points out that if the Suns were interested then it is likely that they wouldn't have leaked out the rumor. They would prefer to get Smith while giving up the least amount of assets possible. Once the rumor gets out there then the price goes up. As far as where the rumor came from? Helin has his own theory on that as well:

In the Smith case, the Suns don't have anything to gain from this talk. Even if they had interest in Smith they would want to do this quietly. But while the Suns want to add a star they don't want to give up a lot of assets to do it, and trading enough to match Smith's $13 million salary would be a lot of assets. This trade idea doesn't make sense for them.

Now, if you're in the Josh Smith camp, you want to get your guy moved and you're trying to make it sound like there is a lot of interest... you decide for yourself where you think this came from.

So really who knows but I do stand by my thinking that there is a trade to be made between the Hawks and the Suns should both parties be interested. One thing is for sure, these rumors are just going to get more frequent as we get closer to the deadline.