As the NBA calendar turns to Dec. 15, the start of NBA trade season kicks off in earnest.
Why does Dec. 15 matter so much? That’s the date many of the players who agreed to free-agent deals over the summer are eligible to be moved, thus opening up a significantly larger number of possibilities for trades. As my colleague John Hollinger often says, in the NBA, you trade contracts, not players. The Dec. 15 date thus creates more contractual flexibility.
The other reason Dec. 15 is such a critical date is that it leads into the G League Showcase, scheduled for Dec. 19-22 this season. That’s the first in-season event with a significant number of league power brokers all in the same place, allowing them to sit down — possibly over a few drinks — and chat about the state of their rosters. Armed with nearly two months of an in-season sample, executives will feel like they have a better grip on projecting their teams’ futures this season.
With that in mind, it’s time to launch the NBA Trade Deadline Big Board, our annual list of potential trade targets across the league ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
This first version is somewhat conservative. As you’ll notice, it features a lot of players with some combination of the following attributes:
- Their names have already been raised in trade conversations between teams.
- They play for teams that already appear to be outside the playoff picture.
- They have contracts that expire after this season.
- They are not currently in their team’s playing rotation.
As you’ll see, it does not feature many All-Star level players, outside of a few exceptions. For example, Lauri Markkanen is not on here because, despite the Utah Jazz’s poor record, there is no evidence (yet) that they will actually look to move him considering he is locked up on a bargain contract for the next two years. One could easily make the case the Jazz should look to move Markkanen, with the thought that his trade value will never be higher than it is now. Eventually, if Markkanen keeps improving, he’s going to be signed to a contract twice as expensive as this one. But there is no real necessity for the Jazz to look to move him right now, despite their losing, and they still have time to figure out his long-term situation. Beyond Markkanen, though, Utah has several options at its disposal, from moving veterans under contract like John Collins and Collin Sexton to just moving expiring deals.
On the flip side, a team like the Toronto Raptors does not have time with Pascal I’m sorry and OG Anunoby because both are free agents at the end of the year (Anunoby has a player option for 2024-25 but almost certainly will opt out). Those two players headline our initial board because the Raptors have to take a look at what’s out there and understand their options moving forward.
This trade board will be fluid over the next two months. The names featured now may change based on further reporting or extensions being signed that take the player off the trade market. But this is where we’ll start for now.
GO DEEPER
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