NBA trade deadline matchmaker: Best fits for biggest names on the block

The NBA trade deadline is about compromise. Satisfying all parties involved in any deal, much less a blockbuster, is a pretty arduous process, and that makes significant moves somewhat rare, at least relative to the amount of time we spend talking about them. Odds are, if a number of teams want a player, their team is going to send him wherever they can get the most back, not where he wants to go. Conversely, if only a small number of teams wants a player, odds are, those teams aren't going to be especially desirable.

But we're going to flip this concept today. Let's imagine a trade deadline in which the best players are sent to the teams that actually make the most sense for them. The deals have to be somewhat plausible, based either on previous reporting or common sense. We're not sending Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Thunder for a second-round pick. But the goal here is to match these players up with the teams that make the most sense for what they want or need out of the next stage of their career. That might mean a chance to win. It might mean a basketball fit. It might be financially motivated. It might be about a market. 

So long as a deal is remotely plausible, the team is fair game. If the biggest names on the market actually do move this year, here are the teams that they'd actually fit with.

Giannis Antetokounmpo: New York Knicks

If Antetokounmpo had asked for a trade last summer, he likely would have found his way to Houston or San Antonio and would be competing for the 2026 championship. The Rockets and Spurs are probably happy enough with what they have that they wouldn't pay the sort of price it would realistically take to get him. The Lakers would make plenty of sense if Antetokounmpo was willing to wait until 2027 free agency. If he could get to Luka Dončić's team without costing them anything, they'd probably have enough left over between Austin Reaves and their draft picks to trade their way into a worthy supporting cast and go compete for a title. But that's 18 months away, so it doesn't work for our purposes.

Antetokounmpo's goal in asking for a trade would be competing for championships right away. That's a tremendously high bar to clear given how good those Western Conference juggernauts are. The basic idea of Antetokounmpo to the Heat makes some measure of sense until you really think about what sort of team he'd be joining. Bam Adebayo is having a down year. Is Norm Powell really good enough to be the primary perimeter option on a champion? Because Tyler Herro would likely be in that deal. They'd have to overhaul an offense on the fly that they already overhauled over the summer. The Heat could get to championship-caliber eventually, but they probably can't in-season. The Hawks are likely in the same boat. They don't have enough at guard. They've been seeking a center as well, and even if Kristaps Porziņģis were healthy, he'd be in the trade for salary-matching purposes. Antetokounmpo and Jalen Johnson overlap quite a bit. Dyson Daniels is having a miserable shooting year. Again, they could get there eventually. It just wouldn't happen overnight.

So that takes us back to the only team Antetokounmpo is known to have expressed interest in, the Knicks. The fit here isn't perfect. Ideally, Antetokounmpo would play with a shooting center. One would presume Karl-Anthony Towns is in the trade. If he isn't, it means both Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby are, depriving the Knicks of their wing defense. The likeliest construction here probably involves Towns and one of those wings plus draft capital. If Deuce McBride is in the deal too, that chips away at their depth further.

But the Knicks still have enough of the other ingredients to make an Antetokounmpo team work. Jalen Brunson can be what Khris Middleton was for him in 2021 as a late-game shot-creator that eases his offensive burden. If they keep one of the wings, that at least gives them some perimeter defensive presence. Antetokounmpo may have to play some center. Either that, or the Knicks would become more of a blunt instrument, lining him up next to Mitchell Robinson and owning the boards at the expense of spacing. But there's enough talent here for the Knicks to scare even the best teams in the Western Conference. There are plenty of teams that could give Giannis a contender eventually. The Knicks are the team best-suited to doing so right now.

Ja Morant: Miami Heat

Antetokounmpo's goal is winning a championship. Morant's should be a bit more modest. The name of the game here is going to be getting to the right organization. He may not have total control over his health, but he can control his approach to the game and his off-court conduct. Getting him somewhere that will hold him accountable on and off the court, preferably with coaches and executives with track records he'll respect, is key.

That's the Heat in a nutshell, which is why it wasn't exactly surprising when reporting indicated his interest in heading to Miami. Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley have little tolerance for off-court shenanigans or grumbling about playing style. Ironically, the Heat have run an offense very similar to the one Morant bristled against in Memphis last season, and while they'd likely adjust their system to suit him to an extent, the Heat are going to do what the Heat think is in their best interest, not what a single player wants. There are a lot of ball-handlers on this roster, so Morant would have to improve as an off-ball player and defender to work in Miami. Conditioning hasn't been an issue for him, but Miami's strict rules on that front couldn't hurt in helping him retain his athleticism with age.

Morant wouldn't instantly make the Heat contenders. Frankly, he'd be their consolation prize, given the reporting from Marc Stein that the Heat will not pursue Morant if they think it affects their chances of landing Antetokounmpo. But if Antetokounmpo is off of the table, this could be an example of a directionless team and a directionless player uniting at a mutually beneficial moment. The Heat need someone with Morant's talent. Morant needs the sort of environment the Heat can provide. It would take some time for them to figure out the roster and the scheme, but Morant is just 26. They'd have time to figure this out.

Anthony Davis: Charlotte Hornets

I've covered this fit in depth here, so I won't belabor the point too much, but it's become one of my favorite off-the-wall trade ideas of this deadline cycle. The goal for Davis and his camp is seemingly to secure a contract extension. Well, that's unlikely to happen anywhere. His current deal pays him 35% max money through his age-34 season. Given his injury history, extending him beyond that would be irresponsible even if he'd played at his standard level this season, which he hasn't. Securing an extension upon getting traded is probably unrealistic. The goal should be to get traded somewhere he could earn one with time.

Enter, Charlotte. With Kon Knueppel on a rookie deal for three more years, the Hornets have enough financial wiggle room to potentially pay Davis for an extra year or two if he proves he deserves it. Since Dec. 1, only the Nuggets and Celtics have been better than Charlotte on offense. That's nearly a two-month sample, hardly insignificant. In that same span, though, the Hornets rank 17th on defense. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Moussa Diabaté should be part of this team moving forward, but they're both overextended. They should be backing up a more proven big man. You know, like Davis. He'd be the defensive anchor this team needs, and he'd benefit greatly from all of the shot-creation this team has accumulated.

Charlotte has Dallas' first-round pick in 2027. The Mavericks would probably like that pick back. The Hornets have room under the luxury tax to take on some extra money from Dallas, who'd probably like to try to duck the tax. Get Klay Thompson in this deal as a veteran for Knueppel and LaMelo Ball. The pieces are all here. Players of Davis' stature rarely want to go to markets like Charlotte, but it's the best place for the next stage of his career.

Michael Porter Jr.: Detroit Pistons

Porter is sitting pretty. He already has a championship ring. Unlike Davis and Morant, he's playing the best basketball of his career. He'd probably like an extension, but unless he gets hurt, he'd still be a pretty desirable free agent as a free agent going into his age-29 season in the summer of 2027. He'd likely be happy to stay with the Nets, but if there's a contender that makes sense for him, that works too.

There is, fortunately, a contender that makes sense for him. The Detroit Pistons outscore opponents by 14.2 points per game in the paint, but get outscored by around five points per game from behind the arc. Only the Pelicans, Kings and Rockets have a lower 3-point attempt rate, and the Pistons still convert less than a league-average percentage of those attempts into points. We're not asking Porter to just sit in the corner and make 3s, either. Detroit's offense declines by around 10 points per 100 possessions whenever Cade Cunningham sits. The Pistons could use a second, high-level creator to survive those minutes. Porter could bring some of the things that have worked in a higher-usage role when Cunningham sits, but function as more of a supporting piece like he did in Denver when Cunningham plays.

Detroit's biggest expiring contract conveniently belongs to Tobias Harris, their incumbent power forward who is essentially just a worse version of Porter (though, in fairness, is reportedly critical in that locker room). The Pistons control their own first-round picks and have young talent available to trade, so constructing a deal should be reasonably simple. Porter could lift the Pistons to unquestioned favorite status in the Eastern Conference, and the Pistons could pay him handsomely to be a part of their core moving forward.

Trey Murphy: San Antonio Spurs

Everyone wants the Pelicans' Trey Murphy. Everyone could use a Trey Murphy. When you're an elite 6-foot-8 athlete who has always been a great shooter, has grown tremendously as a creator and at least has the tools to play better defense under better circumstances, you're really team-proof. So who's the best fit for the player who fits anywhere? Why overcomplicate this? Let's just take this great player off of the dysfunctional team he's spent his whole career with and put him on a team that actually knows what's it's doing.

The Spurs are likely perfectly happy riding out the season with Harrison Barnes as their shooting combo forward, but Murphy is such a talent upgrade on such a reasonable long-term contract ($81 million for the next three years) that he's one of the few players who would be worth a substantial draft pick expenditure. Remember, Victor Wembanyama's max contract kicks in after the 2026-27 season, and De'Aaron Fox just re-signed at the max, so money is going to be a consideration here. The Spurs fortunately have more than enough leftover draft capital to take this sort of swing. They're projected to pick in this year's lottery (thanks to Atlanta's pick), and they have valuable pick swaps deep in the future from the Timberwolves, Mavericks and Kings.

This would be a splurge, but it would be a worthwhile splurge. The best young center in the NBA, the best pair of young guards in the NBA, a preexisting All-Star guard and a potential All-Star wing all on one team would be borderline unfair. The Spurs, at least for the time being, need to build with Oklahoma City in mind. That's the team they'll be competing with for the foreseeable future. And giving themselves a fifth high-end creator without compromising their spacing would be the best possible way to continue to mitigate the Thunder's defensive depth.

Jaren Jackson Jr.: Portland Trail Blazers

Jaren Jackson's shooting and size make him a theoretical fit for a lot of teams, but there's at least one major holdup for many of the logical suitors. Boston and Indiana would both love him in basketball terms. They're both trying to replace 3-point shooting, rim-protecting big men from their more successful teams of the pst few years. But they're also both prohibitively expensive. The Celtics can't justify 35% max contracts to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown while also paying Jackson a max renegotiated-and-extended contract he signed with Memphis and Derrick White a hefty deal of his own, and they can't move White because his shot-creation is too important with Tatum coming back from a torn Achilles. Indiana owes max deals to Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam already, and depth was one of the team's superpowers last season. They're not looking for a big man making the max either.

What about the Lakers? They need a rim-protector badly, and giving Luka Dončić a big who can shoot seems almost unfair. There are a few issues here. The first is that the Lakers only have one tradable first-round pick right now, not nearly enough to get him. The second is the more pressing one. Jackson can play some center, but he needs to spend a significant chunk of time at power forward partially because of his deficiencies as a rebounder but mostly to protect his body considering his injury history. The Lakers don't have the resources to get Jackson and an appropriate center.

I'm going off-book here. What about Portland? The Trail Blazers have a draft pick surplus thanks to the Damian Lillard trade a few years ago, so they could make the trade. They have Donovan Clingan, a rebounding monster who should fit well alongside Jackson in giving the Blazers one of the best defensive front courts in basketball. His shooting would benefit Scoot Henderson when he comes back, as Henderson's shooting woes are a major weakness and having a big man who can shoot helps mitigate it. Portland doesn't have a single, star shot-creator, but between Jackson, Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, Jrue Holiday and a returning Damian Lillard, it would have a lot of sources of offense next season. The Grizzlies have shown a willingness to take on bad contracts for extra draft picks in deals like this, as they did so with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the Desmond Bane deal, so absorbing Jerami Grant to make the money work seems simple enough.

If Jackson's primary goal is to win a championship, well, figuring it out with one of those contenders would probably give him a better chance. But to maximize him as a player, a roster like Portland makes a lot of sense. Portland wants to take a step forward as a contender. A trade like this would help them do it.