Five teams that could define the 2024 NBA trade market

The party started early in the NBA, as teams have chosen to skip the line and get straight to making deals rather than waiting for the deadline, as we’ve seen in the past. Buyers, sellers, coming-of-age teams and those with an identity crisis, the league is more active than ever, and it’s open season for every organization. 

Star players are being moved at a never-before-seen rate, as James Harden, OG Anunoby and now Pascal Siakam have all switched jerseys ahead of the Feb. 8 deadline. 

It makes sense, though. If a team is comfortable with the potential fit that a player could bring, why not go all-in for a coveted player before other teams get a chance to make a more concerted effort? If the time is right, no better time than the present to pull the trigger. 

The Toronto Raptors have made the biggest impact on the league, turning the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, two teams that made first-round exits last year, into plucky contenders, so they’re exempt from this list.

With just under a month to go until the deadline, here are five other teams that could have the biggest impact on the trade market in the next few weeks.

Team needs: Backup big, wing depth, one more star piece? 

Moveable players: Davis Bertans (one year, $17M + player option), Kenrich Williams (three years, $6.8M + team option), Ousmane Dieng (two years, $5.3M + team option), Josh Giddey? (two years, $6.8M)

Possible targets: Kelly Olynyk (Jazz), Royce O’Neale (Nets), Bruce Brown (Nets), Dorian Finney-Smith (Nets), Wendell Carter Jr. (Magic), Lauri Markkanen (Jazz), Mikal Bridges (Nets), Marcus Smart (Grizzlies)

Why they should make a move: Everyone’s Cinderella pick to turn their fortunes around this year, the Thunder have done that and more, going from 10th in the West with a 40-42 record last season to sitting pretty as the second seed with a 27-13 record at the halfway mark. 

This team is no longer in rebuilding mode. As their record states, the Thunder are ready to win now, and with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the helm making a case as the best guard in the NBA, why waste time? Elsewhere on the roster, Chet Holmgren is on track to win Rookie of the Year, Jalen Williams is taking a massive leap in his second year and Josh Giddey, though he’s taken a step back, has found ways to succeed with the ball in his hands as a more connective player, and every role player on the roster seems comfortable at their position. 

With the most ample war chest of draft capital in the league (15 first-round picks and 22 second-round picks until 2030), the Thunder could make an offer that no team can refuse, should they spot a player who fits exactly what they want and need ahead of the deadline. Why not make a move for a star who could be on the outs? Someone like Markkanen in Utah, a team that seems a bit far from contention for his timeline, or Bridges with the Nets, who hasn’t blossomed into a star after being given the opportunity to lead his own team. 

If they’d rather just build around the edges and keep their core intact, wings like Bruce Brown who could be relocated from Toronto, or the Nets’ plethora of guys could be great depth additions for a team that plays small past its starting five.

Team needs: Prospects, draft picks, wing depth … and clarity. 

Moveable players: Zach LaVine (three years, $43M + player option), DeMar DeRozan (one year, $28.6M), Alex Caruso (two years, $9.25M); in all honesty, everyone should be on the table. 

Trade targets: Jaden Ivey (Pistons), Andre Jackson Jr. (Bucks), Jalen Hood-Schifino (Lakers), Max Christie (Lakers), Nikola Jovic (Heat), any cap filler needed to take on Zach Lavine’s contract … 

Why they should make a move: With the reboot of Mean Girls recently, it’s an appropriate time to channel Regina George and remind people that we need to stop trying to make the Bulls' big three happen. It’s just not going to happen. 

After penning Zach LaVine to a massive contract extension in 2022 and following it up with Nikola Vucevic on a three-year, $60-million deal this off-season, the Bulls have refused to move on from a core that hasn’t given them more than a crushing first-round exit two years ago. 

They finally seem ready to pull the trigger on it, with DeMar DeRozan’s and LaVine’s names being floated more frequently as players potentially on the outs by the deadline. And with the emergence of Coby White and Patrick Williams this season, the Bulls finally have some solid young players to take up the mantle and build around once they deal away these more established players, giving them a sense of direction they may not have had in prior years. 

Much like the Raptors, though, the question of timing comes into play, as the values of DeRozan and LaVine aren’t anywhere near as high as they may have been in prior years. Instead, look at Alex Caruso as the player who could potentially fetch them the best return in this window as more teams are looking for players with his skillset on the market. 

Team needs: Secondary offensive creator, 3-and-D wings, the procedure from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that helps them forget the past

Moveable players: Andrew Wiggins (three years, $27.3M + player option), Chris Paul (one year, $30.8M), Jonathan Kuminga (two years, $6.2M), Moses Moody (two years, $4.3M), Klay Thompson (one year, $43M)

Trade targets: Dejounte Murray (Hawks), Jerami Grant (Trail Blazers), Kyle Kuzma (Wizards), Dorian Finney-Smith (Nets), Alex Caruso (Bulls), Pascal Siakam (oops)

Why they should make a move: It was a great run, guys, but it’s time to hang it up. One day, the Warriors' big three will all have statues outside Chase Centre, but it could be time to let the past be the past. 

Though Steph Curry seems to be taking the LeBron James masterclass on aging, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson haven’t adapted nearly as well. Thompson is a shell of what he was on both ends and Green is using his on-court antics to get more listeners on his podcast. Andrew Wiggins, though much less of a key figure in their dynasty, also needs to be shown the door, as his production this year has taken a wicked nosedive. 

Fortunately, the Warriors have drafted well in recent years and haven’t gone all-in on the trade market and forfeited their picks. They have the capital and the prospects to make a deal for a true secondary star alongside Curry to give them the jolt they need, now it just comes down to which one could be the best fit. They also need to off-load some of their bigger deals to get some flexibility for the seasons to come as they're way past the luxury tax.

Adding Pascal Siakam would’ve been the best-case scenario as a versatile secondary scorer and playmaker, but they were jumped by the Pacers. They could instead look at Dejounte Murray, whose two-way profile could fill a few roster holes, or Kyle Kuzma and Jerami Grant, whose size at the wing combined with their solid three-level scoring could give them a jolt offensively. 

Team needs: Lockdown defender, versatile wing scorer, someone to help split up Trae Young and Dejounte Murray

Moveable players: Dejounte Murray ($18M this season, four years, $28.5M after extension kick in next season), Clint Capela (two years, $22.9M), De’Andre Hunter (four years, $22.5M), Bogdan Bogdanovic (three years, $17M + team option), Saddiq Bey (one year, $4.5M), Patty Mills (one year, $6.8M)

Trade targets: Lauri Markkanen (Jazz), Alex Caruso (Bulls), Bruce Brown (Raptors), Dorian Finney-Smith (Nets), Rui Hachimura (Lakers), Max Christie (Lakers), Jerami Grant (Trail Blazers), Marcus Smart (Grizzlies)

Why they should make a move: Despite signing Dejounte Murray to an extension last summer, this felt like a decisive year for the Hawks backcourt to see if they could figure it out or not. They haven’t. 

Murray has taken a big dip defensively, finishing with a career-worst 121 defensive rating and -0.9 defensive box plus/minus this season. Meanwhile, the Hawks have the third-worst scoring defence in the league, giving up 123.0 points a game and allowing the second-highest opposing effect field goal percentage at 57.5 per cent. 

Having him and Trae Young together hasn’t worked, and the Hawks are bearing the brunt of it during one of Young’s best seasons in Atlanta. It’s time to split them up. 

There’s still a ton of need for someone with his playmaking and shot-creation ability, and should a team believe that he’s able to recapture his defensive prowess, he would be a valuable addition to anyone needing a lead guard. 

Acquiring a couple of defence-first off-ball players in a swap for Murray, though the team may not have the star power, could be a huge help scheme-wise for the Hawks, allowing them to retool around Young rather than rebuild from the ground up. 

Team needs: Secondary ball-handler, off-ball scorer, three-point sharpshooter, point-of-attack defender

Moveable players: DeAngelo Russell (one year, $17.3M + player option), Rui Hachimura (three years, $17M), Gabe Vincent (three years, $11M), Jalen Hood-Schifino (two years, $4.5M + two-year team option), Max Christie (one year, $1.7M)

Trade targets: Zach LaVine (Bulls), DeMar DeRozan (Bulls), Alex Caruso (Bulls), Dejounte Murray (Hawks), Tyus Jones (Wizards), Collin Sexton (Jazz), Terry Rozier (Hornets), Dorian Finney-Smith (Nets)

Why they should make a move: Death, taxes, and LeBron James-led teams being active at the trade deadline.

After having a seemingly solid off-season, re-signing DeAngelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt, then acquiring Gabe Vincent, Taurean Price, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes, they looked poised to build on the roster that brought them to the Western Conference Finals last season. 

Midway through the year, though, they sit at 21-21 and 10th in the West, but hey, at least they won the In-Season Tournament. The Lakers once again look like a team ready to overhaul its roster by the deadline, with the only three seemingly untouchable players being Anthony Davis, Reaves and James. 

They’re in desperate need of an offensive jolt, as they sit 22nd in the NBA in offensive rating at 113.0, and take the least threes in the NBA at 30.3 a game, hitting only 35.9 per cent of them. 

How they choose to remedy those problems will be definitive of how this team moves forward in the coming years. Whether they choose to go with the nuclear option and absorb LaVine’s or Murray’s massive contracts to have that third star in L.A. or if they chose to build around the edges with role-players Dorian Finney-Smith or Tyus Jones, the Lakers, as they always do, will likely look hugely different come Feb. 9.