6 NBA Trades That Should Happen Before The Deadline
Boston: Davis Bertans
Washington: MIL 2020 1st, Romeo Langford, & Semi Ojeleye
After spending 3 years with the Spurs, Davis Bertans has had a breakout season with the Wizards. He’s averaging a career high 15 points per game and is shooting a crazy 43% from 3. With the Wizards out of contention and Bertans in the last year of his deal, it makes sense for them to sell high. Boston needs depth on the bench and Bertans should be a great fit along their other talented wings. Washington gets to add to a core much needed of young talent around John Wall and Bradley Beal.
Portland: Kevin Love
Cleveland: POR 2020 1st (Top 5 Protected), Zach Collins, & Hassan Whiteside
Kevin Love is still a really good player that could help out any contending team. But it will hard for the Cavs to move him considering he’s got 4 years and $120 million left on his deal. One team that makes is the Portland Trailblazers. They’re over the cap so they can’t sign free agents and they have contracts to match Love’s salary. In this trade, the Cavs get Whiteside’s $27 million expiring contract and a decent young player in Zach Collins. As for Portland, you get to add another great piece next to Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and once he’s healthy Jusuf Nurkic. On a side note, Whiteside would be an interesting buyout candidate.
LA Lakers: Dennis Schroder & Hamidou Diallo
Oklahoma City: Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, & Quinn Cook
This is a rare trade that would benefit two playoff teams. The Lakers are in win now mode and it appears Kyle Kuzma doesn’t fit on the team anymore. The Thunder are loaded at point guard and could use another wing next to Danilo Gallinari. By acquiring Kuzma, OKC can continue to stay in the playoff chance while they continue to build for the future. As for the Lakers, Dennis Schroder is having his best season as a pro and would be a great 3rd option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Having a legit starting point guard would take a lot of pressure off of LeBron setting up his teammates and focus on scoring more.
Minnesota: D’Angelo Russell & Alec Burks
Golden State: 2020 MIN 1st (Top 3 Protected), Jarrett Culver, Jeff Teague, & Gorgui Dieng
Minnesota is in a dangerous spot as a franchise. Karl-Anthony Towns is in the 1st year of his 5 year max deal and the Wolves are on the clock to prove to KAT that this is where he wants to be. By trading for D’Angelo Russell, you have 3 and a half guaranteed years of KAT and Russell playing together (who are best friends). KAT (24 years), Russell (23 years), and Andrew Wiggins (24 years) would have time to develop together and form a good trio as the 3 of them enter their prime.
As for the Warriors, there have been questions from the beginning if Russell and Steph Curry can coexist in the same backcourt. By trading Russell now, the Warriors get a major head start on their revamp. Golden State could get 3 top 10 picks out of this to add to their core of Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Jarrett Culver was the 6th pick last season, the Wolves pick this year would land somewhere between 7-11, and the Warriors’ own which could end up being the number one pick overall. That would be a grandslam outcome.
Toronto: DeMar DeRozan & Trey Lyles
San Antonio: 2020 TOR 1st, OG Anunoby, & Marc Gasol
Why the hell not? The defending champs are still contending despite losing Kawhi Leonard in free agency. Their defense is still legit but tend have trouble scoring at points. By bringing back DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors have a legit big 3 in Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, and DeRozan. It wouldn’t take long for DeRozan to form chemistry considering his history with the team. As for the Spurs, they’ve never been this bad this late in the season in the Gregg Popovich era. It may be time to blow it up and start over. Gasol’s expiring gives the team cap relief and OG Anunoby is a good prospect to help start a rebuild.
Denver: Jrue Holiday
Dallas: JJ Redick & Juan Hernangomez
New Orleans: 2020 DAL 1st, 2020 DEN 1st, Gary Harris, Delon Wright, & Courtney Lee
This year hasn’t gone as planned for the Pelicans and with Zion still yet play a game, its time get assets and build for the future. The good news is they have valuable pieces contenders would want like Jrue Holiday and JJ Redick. In this trade, the Pelicans get Gary Harris who should be a great compliment to Brandon Ingram and Zion, a solid backup guard in Wright, an expiring contract in Lee, and two 1st rounders.
As for the contenders, Denver and Dallas are two teams that may be a piece away. With Dallas, they don’t have to give up a lot to get one of the 3 best shooters in basketball in JJ Redick. Just imagine how many dimes Luka would get from JJ’s shooting. Finally with Denver, they get an All-Star to pair next to their talented young duo in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Denver has a lot of good players but not a lot of great players. I’m not saying Holiday is a great player, but he would give Denver another dynamic that Gary Harris simply can not give them right now. With the depth Denver has; a trio of Jokic, Murray, and Holiday would be a really tough out in the playoffs.
Steve Santoro
