We ranked eight NBA teams that need to make a move, and took our best shot at coming up with one trade each of them could pull off.
It’s fake trade season in the NBA.
It’s not actual trade season for a while. Teams don’t buy or sell when they either theoretically liked their roster going into the season or hated it but need teams to get more desperate before cleaning house. Usually, those talks don’t start happening until Dec. 15, when most of the league that was signed last offseason becomes eligible to be traded.
But that doesn’t mean I (or everyone else) can’t pontificate about who should make moves when the time comes! With our situations ranked in order of most to least dire, let’s fire up the trade machine and give it all she’s got.
1. Denver Nuggets
Photo by Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images
The Problem: This is a no-brainer. In fact, it’s such a no-brainer that I wrote this section in a deep and restful sleep when my brain activity was as close to zero as a living person’s can get.
It was previously thought impossible go from a real threat to win the West to no longer a contender in fewer than ten games, but the Denver Nuggets are nothing if not innovative. This roster isn’t just bad, it’s non-functional. In under two years, the Nuggets have gone from having eight quality rotation players and a plan to build a dynasty to questions about if they’re just cooked. Save for Nikola Jokic, their starters have stopped getting better. Their bench is nonexistent. It’s a calamity, and there is no way in hell that they let this ride out.
The Solution: They have a concerning lack of tradable contracts, and would probably have to attach Zeke Nnaji — a player I was excited about — to any deal if they actually want to get better. They don’t have many tradable picks whatsoever, so this will have to improve along the fringes rather than with a blaze of glory… unless they can actually figure out how to trade Michael Porter Jr. (I tried… I really tried).
Half-baked trade they could legally make
Nuggets Receive: Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schröder
Nets Receive: Michael Porter Jr., cash considerations, Nuggets’ 2030 first-round pick (Lottery Protected)
2. Brooklyn Nets
Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images
The Problem: This roster is terrible, but it’s not as unimpeachably terrible as it needs to be to get in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. Cam Thomas isn’t winning any playoff series’ by taking 26 shots per game, nor is Nic Claxton going to lock down the paint against the East’s premier creators. But mix Dennis Schröder in with some Ben Simmons playmaking and they might accidentally win too many games to get the draft pick they need to fix this thing.
Remember: the Nets had to trade for their own 2025 first round pick back so they could feasibly trade Mikal Bridges and tank like an adult. This team has no avenue to compete unless they get elite young players in the door, and that is going to require a fire sale of any and all winning contributors on this team.
The Solution: How many shots can Cam Thomas take in a game? 30? 40? Can we make a mockery of usage rate and make prime James Harden, prince of heliocentrism, look like an unselfish off-ball cutter? Thomas’ shot-chucking is an elite tanking asset, and should be maximized to its fullest.
Around the fringes, here’s what we can do: Ben Simmons has a massive expiring contract that could find a home, and both Claxton and Dorian Finney-Smith (who I sent to the Nuggets a second ago) are moveable assets who should be promptly moved.
Half-baked trade they could legally make
Nets Receive: CJ McCollum (to flip elsewhere as soon as possible), 2028 first-round pick swap
Pelicans Receive: Nic Claxton
3. Atlanta Hawks
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
The Problem: Raise your hand if you see an avenue for this team to win a playoff series. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? This team has been marching around stuck in the mud for five straight years, unable to build a functional contender around Trae Young, whose only chance at becoming a franchise centerpiece was becoming the next Stephen Curry. And there was like… two-ish years when that felt possible. Now? Not so much.
This team has floundered its way through so many iterations of “Trae Young and the switchable wings” that they may as well be Fleetwood Mac in the mid-70s and ‘80s. This team needs a new identity, so let’s get cooking.
The Solution: I don’t think the Hawks would — or should — trade Young, though it’s an idea they should entertain if someone wants to don their Corleone hat and make ‘em an offer they can’t refuse. Otherwise, they do have quality players that contenders might like. Bogdan Bogdanovic is dying to make a splash in the playoffs, and Hunter has the size and skillset to play good minutes on a contender that doesn’t need him to start or live up to his current extension. With younger, more promising forwards like Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher kicking around, Hunter might make sense to move. His contract isn’t great — three more years in the low $20 millions — but isn’t completely untradeable.
Half-baked trade they could legally make
Hawks Receive: Jerami Grant, cash considerations
Trail Blazers Receive: Deandre Hunter, Hawks’ 2028 first round pick (lottery protected)
4. New Orleans Pelicans
Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images
The Problem: This team is redundant and confused. Too many people do the same thing, and nobody seems to know which of those people are supposed to do the most things. Zion Williamson, like it or not, is their best player and must be going forward. He can’t seem to stay healthy, and is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury, but this team will still need to eliminate redundancy to build a real contender.
With Dejounte Murray showing up, what is CJ McCollum actually doing here? What is Brandon Ingram still doing here? Is Herb Jones playing enough? Is Jordan Hawkins actually just not going to get minutes? They seem to have 30 million shooting wings and off-ball shooters, but do they have one single center? Daniel Theis? Really?
The Solution: Their big swing this summer was getting Murray in the building, but I and everyone else thought that would coincide with an inevitable Ingram move. With Trey Murphy III’s extension inked, it seems like an Ingram deal is only a matter of time. Maximizing return will be key, but he’s a professional scorer who should command real return.
Half-baked trade they could legally make
Pelicans Receive: Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Jaxson Hayes, Lakers’ 2029 first-round Pick
Lakers Receive: Brandon Ingram
5. Milwaukee Bucks
Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
The Problem: This season hasn’t exactly started… uh, particularly well. They are 2-8, in second-to-last place in the East and can’t seem to buy a win even with their absurd offensive talent. Why? Because they can’t guard a parked car.
Damian Lillard is a horrific defender. He’s aloof to screens coming to swallow him and disinterested in fighting through them. They rely on drop coverage with Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo, which conversely gets them torched from beyond the arc. Khris Middleton isn’t healthy, and even when he is, he has no chance against elite wings like Jayson Tatum, who he’ll be asked to guard on an island.
The Solution: While it’s true that a lot of people would say they should be higher on this list considering their apocalyptic start, part of me wonders if a solution even exists outside the building. They are capital L Locked into this team, with every asset imaginable poured into trades for Holiday and then Lillard. They have basically no tradable assets and are relying on out-of-body leaps from third-tier rotation players like Gary Trent Jr. and Taurean Prince and not getting them.
But even though I don’t see an easy trade to make, this cannot continue uninterrupted. Maybe this whole thing turns around and they go on a tear to get back to .500 by December. But if this continues, and the Bucks are 9-17 on Christmas, heads are going to have to roll.
Half-baked trade they could legally make
Bucks Receive: Tyler Herro, Kel’e l Ware, Nikola Jovic, Duncan Robinson, Josh Richardson, every draft pick the Heat can legally trade
Heat Receive: Damian Lillard, Pat Connaughton
6. Washington Wizards
Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images
The Problem: This is one of the worst rosters I’ve ever seen. There are theoretical pieces showing energy and promise — I like what I’ve seen out of Bilal Coulibaly and Bub Carrington this season — but man, are they lacking a centerpiece. This team is ludicrously raw, and is going to need a lot of pressure and time to make anything into a diamond.
This isn’t a secret, and I’m not breaking any news to Wizards President Michael Winger or Wizards fans. They flipped Deni Avdija, their most dynamic player last year, to Portland for assets, and this team might be the furthest from contention of any in the entire league. It’s almost like a liminal space where basketball distorts into bizarre concepts that no one has seen before. So in the meantime, we’re going to get useable assets out the door.
The Solution: Everyone over the age of 24 (other than Corey Kispert, and maybe even him) is available. Jonas Valanciunas? Gone. Kyle Kuzma? Get him on a plane to Los Angeles, I don’t care which team. Saddiq Bey? Someone name your price. Jordan Poole? Sure, if someone wants him. This team is in perpetual tear-down until they figure out who is going to lead them to the promised land.
This isn’t a particularly complex situation, but the Wizards will have to be careful not to sell too eagerly or early. When you’re this bad, every marginal move is important.
Half-baked trade they could legally make
Wizards Receive: Jalen Smith, Chris Duarte, Jevon Carter, 2027 Bulls’ first-round pick
Bulls Receive: Kyle Kuzma
7. Los Angeles Lakers
Photo by Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images
The Problem: It’s not actually… that big of a problem. This team has a generationally great two-way superstar continuing to add levels to his game, and LeBron James. It’s not a horrible situation, and JJ Redick has done well to give Anthony Davis the keys and force him to maximize his dominant game.
The issue is time and luck, with James and Davis getting older and not getting any more durable. Unlike the Wizards, this team isn’t going to just make itself better by playing more NBA minutes, even if it does become more coherent. Is this roster actually competitive, even with the Oklahoma City Thunder bringing a rocket launcher to a fistfight in the West? Right now, it doesn’t look like it.
The Solution: Fringe improvements. I don’t know about you guys, but I am ready for the D’Angelo Russell trade after two years of talking about it (and it seems like Redick may be ready for a move, too). And this team lacks dudes off the bench (their recent loss to the Pistons saw only nine total shots from that unit), so one of those “here’s all my second round picks, can I have Bones Hyland?”-type deals might do well for them.
When LeBron is on your team, questions 1-5 are “can we win a title right the hell now?” I don’t think the answer is yes, yet, but if the fringes get better and Davis stays dominant and healthy — which is a MASSIVE if — there might be a way to get there… sooner than we may think.
Half-baked trade they could legally make
Lakers Receive: Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard
Grizzlies Receive: Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Jalen Hood-Schifino, 2028 first-round pick swap, two second-round picks
8. Houston Rockets
Photo by Michael Starghill Jr./NBAE via Getty Images
The Problem: Every team has dudes, but this team has an overwhelming, suffocating and potentially self-destructive number of dudes. Here’s where I think they stand:
Potential Alphas: Jalen Green, Alparen Sengun
Peripheral players who seem to understand they are peripheral: Jabari Smith Jr., Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet (maybe), plus Tari Eason and Steven Adams
Guys who need to play more and probably think they could be the best player on the team if Ime Udoka would just give them the chance gosh dang it: Amen Thompson, Reed Shepherd, Cam Whitmore
I have no idea what to do with that. As fun as it sounds, the Rockets can’t keep taking high lottery picks and hoping they all figure out how to play together. It’s a team that desperately needs to trade up and commit to one identity or another. Is Sengun or Green taking the last shot?
The Solution: The Rockets seem to be sitting on the fence of that question, and signed Green to a noncommittal and tradable contract right before the season. That may have tipped their hand, but I wonder if Green’s style of play will ultimately be more attractive than Sengun’s archaic post-play, however swagalicous it may be.
The Rockets are dying to make a three-for-one trade like it’s the early-2000s and you can trade seven dudes and a pick for Kevin Garnett. Actually pulling one off is different question, but this team does not need to tank. I repeat: they do not need to tank. Tanking will accomplish nothing they haven’t already done, so it’s time to answer the questions they’ve put off.
Half-baked trade they could legally make (buckle up for this one)
Rockets Receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis
Bucks Receive: Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Fred VanVleet, Cam Whitmore, every single first round pick the Rockets can find
Hopefully by now I’ve fixed the NBA, or least offered up a framework with which we could go about fixing it. But in the world of fake trades, there is literally always more that could be done, and there will be plenty more to move, groove and shmoove once Dec. 15 comes around.
And if one of these deals I made above actually happens verbatim? I will be throwing myself a pizza party. Yes, everyone is invited.
