Remember how boring the 2024 NBA trade deadline was? Well, there are two schools of thought on what's coming next. There is a scenario in which the new CBA has so restricted player movement that we can now expect what we saw in 2024 to be the norm. Right now, there are 11 teams, the ones currently above the first apron, that essentially cannot trade with one another. There are a handful of others facing different restrictions, and not coincidentally, these are mostly the sort of good teams that would want to make significant upgrades during the season.
That's the pessimist's view. The optimist's view is that the CBA is a hurdle to be cleared, not a roadblock. Historically, this tends to be what happens when new CBAs take effect. It takes a year or two for teams to learn how to navigate them. Eventually, player movement returns. When the stakes are high enough, teams get creative. In a year in which seemingly half of the league is all-in on winning a championship or coming close, the stakes have reached sufficient heights. Teams are going to want to trade. Logically, that means they're going to figure out how.
We can't predict the "how." We can take a stab at the "who" though. Given the complications this CBA creates, true superstar trades are probably off of the table this offseason. Let's use Jimmy Butler as an example of why. The Heat are one of those 11 first-apron teams. It stands to reason that most of the teams that would be interested in an older star like Butler would be teams with immediate championship ambitions. Most of those teams are also among the 11 first-apron teams, and any team above the first apron cannot bring in more salary than they send out in a trade. This effectively means that two such teams cannot trade with one another unless they are sending two exactly even dollar figures back and forth, which is almost impossible at the level of a Butler trade.
Apply this to most of the NBA's best players. Could we see surprises in which a team grows especially desperate, a star grows particularly anxious, or a surprising suitor emerges? Sure. But most likely, we're looking for players that have cleaner paths to trades. Maybe they're making less money. Maybe they're younger and could attract a wider variety of suitors. Maybe their team is just desperate enough to move them to take less than the sticker price. With those conditions in mind, let's dive into the 10 best players who could be traded this season using the CBS Sports top 100 as our ranker.
1. Brandon Ingram (50)
The Pelicans tried to trade Ingram all summer and failed. He seems very much aware of that fact. New Orleans traded for Dejounte Murray this offseason, who plays a very similar offensive role as an individual shot-creator. He shares a position with Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, younger and more versatile players that fit more easily next to franchise player Zion Williamson. Oh, and he seemingly wants a very hefty contract extension at a time when belts are tightening around the league. He's no longer a long-term fit in New Orleans. The Pelicans badly need to find a center, as they're either going to abandon the position this season or turn it over to minimum-salary free agent Daniel Theis. An Ingram trade is their best hope of filling that hole. They'd prefer to move him for fair value, but when push comes to shove, he's also a hefty expiring contract. The Pelicans can't afford to lose the salary slot, so if they have to treat him as more of a cap figure than an asset in a February trade, they might just do it.
2. Julius Randle (54)
Randle is also due a new contract, but unlike Ingram, there's still a reasonable argument for his fit in New York. While dissenters will claim that New York's best look moving forward would be built around Jalen Brunson and all of their wings, someone else needs to serve as a secondary shot-creator. Randle is going to get the first crack at that job. But if Mikal Bridges or someone else can feasibly fill it, New York has another major hole at center. Isaiah Hartenstein left as a free agent and Mitchell Robinson simply never stays healthy. Even if the Knicks would prefer to keep Randle as a secondary creator, the need for a rim-protecting center might supersede that desire. At the end of the day, teams only have so many sizable salary slots. If the Knicks look like anything less than a bona fide contender early in the season, Randle's salary is going to be floated as the ballast needed to land a Hartenstein replacement.
3. Darius Garland (55)
The Athletic reported after the season that Darius Garland's camp would prefer a trade if Donovan Mitchell extended. That noise died down after Mitchell actually extended, but it came from a genuine place. Fundamentally, Cleveland has two point guards when it only needs one. Mitchell is the better player and has, therefore, had to sacrifice less. Garland has struggled to fit into an off-ball role, and injuries exacerbated those issues last season. Cleveland isn't going to trade him just to trade him. He's so good and so vital as long-term Mitchell insurance that he should only move in a deal for an equivalent wing. But if the Cavaliers can find one? Yeah, it probably makes sense to split up their backcourt.
4. Jarrett Allen (59)
Most of what I wrote about Garland applies to Jarrett Allen. He's redundant. Both he and Evan Mobley are non-shooting big men. You can't really build around two of them in the modern NBA. Mobley is younger and better. There are so many center-needy teams right now that Cleveland could probably generate a strong offer if it made him available, but remember, the Cavaliers just hired his former Nets coach in Kenny Atkinson. They seemingly want to take one last swing at making this foursome work before they really renovate their flawed roster. Allen's availability probably depends on where the Cavaliers stand in February. If they're not genuine contenders in May and June, though, he becomes an obvious trade candidate in July.
5. Zach LaVine (76)
Our first four players range from "we'd trade him if we could" to "we might trade him depending on how things play out." But Zach LaVine? He's firmly planted in "Would you please just take him off of our hands for us? We'll give you stuff!" territory. The Bulls might have had a moment in which they could have gotten off of his contract relatively painlessly. That ship has long sailed. He has three years left on a five-year max and he just played 25 games in a season that was disappointing even when he was healthy. Score-first guards that don't defend or help their teammates are out of vogue right now. Good luck moving him, Chicago. You'll need it.
6. Jerami Grant (78)
Jerami Grant really shouldn't be on the Trail Blazers, but this is what happens when you re-sign a veteran to a five-year deal one day before your franchise player asks to be traded. Portland is now stuck with a handful of veterans that should probably be moved. Robert Williams III likely will be, provided he can prove that he is healthy. Deandre Ayton is too expensive. But Grant is the most valuable of the three, and there's a bit of a clock here, given his contract and age (30). High-end offensive wings that can hold their own defensively are rare. Portland can get a first-round pick and knock a few wins off of their total this season the moment they decide to move Grant. It's just a matter of embracing the rebuild they've fully entered.
7. Jonathan Kuminga (83)
The Warriors tried to trade for Paul George and Lauri Markkanen this offseason. By all accounts, Brandin Podziemski was off limits. Do the math here. Golden State wants to trade for a veteran superstar for one last Stephen Curry-centric title push. You have to give something to get something, and even if draft picks are the center of any trade, players need to be involved for both financial and practical purposes. Kuminga is the valuable young player Golden State is open to dangling, and as he is extension-eligible, the Warriors are motivated to come to a decision on his future one way or another sooner rather than later.
8. Anfernee Simons (86)
Remember the whole "scoring guards who don't defend or help their teammates" point we covered with LaVine? Well, there's context there. Simons makes half as much, is four years younger and has a relatively clean bill of health. He's not going to fetch a superstar's price, but he's a pretty desirable player, and just as it makes more sense for Portland to trade Grant, the Blazers would probably be best served cashing in Simons now while he's still young and comes with meaningful team control. Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe make up the backcourt of the future here, and if they're not, Portland will be tanking long enough to find another high-end guard or two. Simons can help plenty of contenders (Orlando most of all), so there will be good offers out there if he ever hits the market.
9. Jalen Green (92)
Green is the slightly worse version of Kuminga for our purposes. He's extension-eligible, and his team wants to trade for a star soon. The Rockets have no shortage of backcourt alternatives. They've used back-to-back top-five picks on Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard, both of whom have more clearly defined roles on the team. Fred VanVleet is still here and on a max contract. The Rockets likely wouldn't mind locking Green up to a reasonable contract now, but he's still probably in a place where he wants to bet on his vast upside. If there's not a middle ground, it makes sense to trade him before that upside gets obscured by his actual production.
10. Bogdan Bogdanovic (97)
We've zoomed past the former All-Stars and the exciting young players down to the veteran role players. Bogdan Bogdanovic is a reliable bench creator that could fit into pretty much any offense. He's 32, likely too old for a Hawks team going young, and while the Hawks are light on guards after trading Murray, several of their forwards (Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels and Zaccharie Risacher) are going to need the ball in their hands a bit. With Trae Young in place, it just makes more sense to turn Bogdanovic into assets that fit with that core rather than the older one that is being phased out.