Players Most Likely to Hit Trading Block After 2016 NBA Draft
Serge Ibaka, Victor Oladipo and Thaddeus Young were among the most noteworthy chess pieces to move Thursday around and during the 2016 NBA draft. You can bet, though, they won't be the last to relocate this offseason—not with the other big names that were bandied about in trade rumors, and not with the league bracing for a deluge of TV dollars.
With so much money soon to be floating around, and so few marquee free agents to gobble it up, the trade market could turn into an all-out feeding frenzy once official business begins again on July 1. If your team is packed to the gills with cap space and attractive assets, you might be better off shopping for players currently locked into reasonable deals than luring in guys looking for exceptionally lucrative ones under the Association's exploding salary regime.
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Those same forces figure to keep the Sacramento Kings clinging to DeMarcus Cousins and the Chicago Bulls to Jimmy Butler, for now, despite rampant speculation to the contrary.
But for these eight players, draft night might be just the beginning of the trade chatter that surrounds them and all the anxiety that comes with it.
Brandon Knight/Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns were plenty active on draft night, albeit not to the extent that rumormongers might've expected. They swapped picks Nos. 13 (Georgios Papagiannis) and 28 (Skal Labissiere), a 2020 second-rounder and the rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for No. 8 pick Marquese Chriss.
Coming into the draft, the Suns seemed hell-bent on moving one of their incumbent point guards, between Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight. Per ESPN's Marc Stein:
Injuries to both floor generals, along with Devin Booker's emergence in their absence, opened the door for such maneuvering. General manager Ryan McDonough's recent history as a shuffler of point guards (i.e. Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas) won't do anything to quell those rumors.
Perhaps the Kings will come calling for Bledsoe or Knight this summer. They'll have a hole to fill at the 1, with Rajon Rondo bound for free agency. According to Sactown Royalty's Blake Ellington, Sacramento general manager Vlade Divac was eager to find a long-term replacement in the draft:
That effort fell flat but won't likely be the end of the Kings' point guard pursuits. Given Sacramento's fondness for Kentucky products—from Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein to Labissiere and Rondo—either of Phoenix's highly paid Wildcats should fit the bill.
Jodie Meeks, Detroit Pistons
According to The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Detroit Pistons are looking to move shooting guard Jodie Meeks. That probably has less to do with the drafting of Syracuse's Michael Gbinije in the second round than it does the fact the Pistons already have Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tobias Harris slotted as wing starters, with Stanley Johnson behind them.
Factor in fellow youngsters Darrun Hilliard and Reggie Bullock, and it might be hard to find room for another swingman in the Motor City.
Meeks is still the best shooter of the bunch by a mile. But injuries to his back and foot marred his first two seasons in Detroit and dropped him behind younger, more versatile players on Stan Van Gundy's depth chart.
The Pistons' loss here could be a substantial gain for a team seeking more shooting. And if Meeks doesn't pan out, his next squad will only have to sweat out his (relatively modest) $6.54 million salary for one season before he hits free agency.
Zach LaVine/Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves
Chicago Bulls general manager Gar Forman made it clear that, despite reports to the contrary, his front office was not trying to trade Jimmy Butler on draft day.
"We like Jimmy Butler, we did not shop Jimmy Butler," Forman insisted, per CSN Chicago's Vincent Goodwill. "Did we receive calls? Of course we did, and that's our job to listen to calls. We get calls on a lot of our players, and that's stuff that happens all throughout the league."
Among those calling, per the Vertical's Shams Charania, were the Minnesota Timberwolves, who appeared to push Ricky Rubio and Zach LaVine into the fray:
Minnesota's choice of Providence's Kris Dunn at No. 5 won't do anything to dissuade speculation on that front. Dunn is a point guard whose two-way talent drew rave reviews from scouts and observers around the league and could've landed him as high as third in this year's draft.
Dunn's arrival doesn't necessarily portend the end for Rubio or LaVine in the Twin Cities. Their skill sets—Rubio's as a passer and defender, LaVine's as a leaper and shooter—could complement Dunn's as well as each other's.
But if the T-Wolves intend to stock up with veterans around the league's last two Rookies of the Year (i.e. Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns), Tom Thibodeau and Co. could fuel that retool by drawing from their ever-deepening store of guards.
Nerlens Noel, Philadelphia 76ers
Speaking of Dunn, the Philadelphia 76ers did their darndest to add this year's most coveted point guard prospect to a class that included No. 1 pick Ben Simmons, per ESPN's Marc Stein:
Instead, the Sixers have the same logjam they've been trying so diligently to unclog. Between Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor and the recovering Joel Embiid, Philly has three young centers who, despite sporting entirely different skill sets, make for awkward fits up front. Throw in the supersized abilities of Simmons and 2014 draftee Dario Saric—plus a glaring deficit at point guard—and the team has every incentive to spin that surplus of bigs into help elsewhere.
So far, Noel seems to be Philly's first choice to move. He might also be the most attractive among the Sixers' young pivots. His length, athleticism and mobility make him a difference-maker on the defensive end (3.5 combined blocks and steals per game as a pro) and a strong finisher in the pick-and-roll (71.6 percent shooting within three feet of the rim last season).
That combination of abilities could render Noel an attractive addition in today's NBA, especially with his upside at the age of 22. That wasn't enough to move the Boston Celtics to surrender the No. 3 pick in the 2016 draft, of course, but it may convince another general manager—one who loses out on the likes of Hassan Whiteside, Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol in free agency—to surrender something juicy this summer.
Jae Crowder, Boston Celtics
After angling to axe some picks from his arsenal, Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge settled on Cal's Jaylen Brown at No. 3. So far, Ainge seems keen to keep the 19-year-old swingman.
"Yeah he had me say, 'Wow,' a few times," Ainge said of Brown, per MassLive.com's Jay King.
That reaction could eventually spell the end of Jae Crowder's days in Beantown. Like Crowder, Brown is a big-bodied wing whose jump shot and on-ball decision-making could use some work. However, his ability to defend multiple positions and bully his way to the basket should allow him to shine in the meantime.
The biggest difference? The six-plus years that separate them, along with the disparity in salaries.
Crowder's take, along with his skill set and year-over-year improvement, should make him an object of affection around the league. In the coming cap mayhem, his contract—which runs through 2019-20 and tops out at around $8 million—will be one of the best veteran bargains around. Crowder, then, could become the centerpiece of any package Ainge puts together in his ongoing quest to add an established star.
If that effort falls flat for the umpteenth time, Boston may soon have a homegrown stud, in Brown, to kick things up a notch.
Greg Monroe, Milwaukee Bucks
According to Woelfel's Press Box's Gery Woelfel, the Celtics entertained trade talks with the Milwaukee Bucks before the draft, with Greg Monroe among those who might've left Wisconsin. If the Bucks' draft haul is any indication, Monroe shouldn't cease packing his bags just yet.
The team rolled the dice on well-traveled high-schooler Thon Maker with the No. 10 pick. While amply tall (at 7'1" in shoes) and skilled for an NBA prospect, he has yet to test himself against pro-level competition. And at a rail-thin 216 pounds, he's probably not ready for the physical poundings that await him.
Which is to say, don't expect Maker to siphon off all, or even a much, of Monroe's minutes. Over the long haul, though, grooming another fluid big man with ball skills to partner with Giannis Antetokounmpo could maintain Milwaukee's trajectory toward becoming the East's most terrifying team of the future.
Monroe doesn't quite fit that vision. On offense, his post-ups don't gain as much traction as they should in the absence of multiple perimeter threats. Defensively, he's more of a plodder than a rim protector.
"The company line is that he just doesn't fit in with the team's offensive and defensive schemes," Woelfel wrote.
He could fit neatly into someone's cap space, though. At $17.1 million next season, Monroe will look like a steal under the league's new salary structure—even more so if he opts into his $17.9 million take for 2016-17, when the cap is expected to soar north of $100 million.
