NBA Teams in Desperate Need of Trades
Certain NBA teams have seen enough of their products to know things just aren't working.
Maybe they tried to expedite a rebuild and failed. Perhaps they went all-in on last season's model only to see the upgraded version flop. Some squads might have a superstar approaching free agency and are better off capitalizing on his trade value than potentially losing him for nothing. A select few teams simply aren't good and need to pivot.
Whatever the case, we are deep enough into the 2016-17 crusade to start calling for changes.
Not all truly bad teams will be the subject of our microscope. Those who are close to rock bottom can usually stand pat and organically increase the value of upcoming draft picks (shoutout to the Dallas Mavericks). Likewise, teams that are right where they need to be aren't up for consideration. There's no need to panic because the Golden State Warriors aren't undefeated; they're fine.
Mediocre outfits are more desperate for changes. Many of them need to choose between rebuilding and competing—and exploring the trade market is the best way for them to find direction.
Honorable Mentions
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Minnesota Timberwolves
People around the league expect Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and president Tom Thibodeau to eventually auction off some of his young studs for a veteran impact player, according to Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher.
Endorsing this impatience is a mistake.
Minnesota is the youngest team in the league. A postseason berth should have never been the expectation, inside or outside the organization. The core of Gorgui Dieng, Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, Ricky Rubio, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins deserves time to marinate.
If a Jimmy Butler- or Paul George-type player becomes available, then the Timberwolves have enough incentive to consolidate some of their assets. Otherwise, there's no point in mortgaging the future for a better shot at an early postseason exit.
New Orleans Pelicans
On the one hand, the New Orleans Pelicans should want to make a trade and pursue a playoff spot to keep Anthony Davis happy.
On the other, Davis has to know the Pelicans can't embrace feelings of desperation. They don't have the bargaining-table leverage necessary to be on the buyer's end of a blockbuster deal. They're better off preserving future first-round picks, prospects and cap space.
Even using a pot-sweetener—contract or pick—to offload Omer Asik should be considered taboo. It's time New Orleans committed to playing the long game.
Philadelphia 76ers
Finding Nerlens Noel a new home is the only move the Philadelphia 76ers need to make. Not only do they have too many bigs, but the 22-year-old wants to play elsewhere, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
Beyond that, the Sixers are free to bask in Joel Embiid's world domination and anxiously await Ben Simmons' NBA debut. If a palatable deal for Jahlil Okafor presents itself, all the better. But Philly shouldn't be in a rush to shop any more of its players.
Super Honorable Mention: Sacramento Kings
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Six games south of .500, with aspirations of ending a 10-year playoff drought, the Sacramento Kings should be nothing if not desperate. And yet they stand alone as a super honorable mention.
What gives? Logistics.
There isn't a move in the chamber that can salvage the Kings' fast-fading playoff hopes. Their best assets are some combination of Rudy Gay's expiring contract, a slumping Omri Casspi, restricted-free-agent-to-be Ben McLemore, Kosta Koufos and a first-round pick in 2021 or later they have no business selling.
It makes more sense to stand pat rather than chase a move that isn't there or pretend another deal is something it's not. This way, when it becomes clear—by Sacramento's standards—that these Kings aren't postseason material, the front office will be more motivated to shop DeMarcus Cousins.
General manager Vlade Divac should already be taking calls on his prized big man. Cousins is a free agent after next season, and the idea he'll re-sign with Sacramento following its nine years of 20- and 30-something win campaigns grows more far-fetched by the loss.
Suitors will always line up for an All-Star stretch 5, but it becomes harder to command a king's ransom (pun half-intended) when a player has one year left on his deal. So unless Sacramento is ready to make the tough decision that's been staring it in the face for years, it's best the team refrains from making impulsive moves of any kind.
Denver Nuggets
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Talent has not translated into wins for the Denver Nuggets. They have the 11th-best record in the Western Conference, don't play much defense and are one of the NBA's 10 worst teams in crunch time.
Injuries to Will Barton (ankle), Gary Harris (foot) and Nikola Jokic (wrist) haven't helped matters, but the Nuggets' depth and inexperience are also sabotaging continuity. They've used nine different starting lineups through 21 games, and only two of their five-man combinations have seen more than 50 minutes.
Rookie Jamal Murray has hustled his way into the rotation, joining a carousel that already includes Emmanuel Mudiay, Jameer Nelson, Barton and Harris. The frontcourt pecking order is even harder to juggle now that it's clear Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic can't play together.
Holding serve with the roster would be fine if this depth-chart hodgepodge tied the Nuggets to a direction. But they're not good enough at the moment to push for a playoff bid, and they're too good to tank.
Besides, they don't need another prospect—they need a superstar. And fortunately for them, they have the trade chips to acquire a household name.
Denver owns all its first-round picks and has a boatload of intriguing youngsters: Malik Beasley, Juan Hernangomez, Harris, Jokic, Mudiay, Murray and Nurkic. Kenneth Faried, Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler are on some of the most team-friendly deals in the NBA and can serve as financial anchors for a blockbuster. That top-five-protected pick from the Memphis Grizzlies is looking mighty fine this side of Mike Conley's back injury as well.
Any superstar or high-impact player who reaches the chopping block should be within the Nuggets' grasp. Hell, they have assets who can turn untouchable talent into obtainable targets.
For the sake of escaping the middle and consolidating excess, it's important Denver begins using them.
Indiana Pacers
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Paul George didn't need to miss six of seven tilts for the Indiana Pacers to know they're not who they hoped to be.
They don't play exceptionally fast, and both their offense and defense fail to crack the top 15 in efficiency. They've mirrored the net rating of a 48-to-50-win team (plus-3.6 prior to Monday's game) when George is on the floor. But their preferred starting five doesn't score, and the bench is anemic.
Team president Larry Bird can approach the Pacers' reality check one of two ways: try to upgrade the roster in hopes of making Indy a real playoff threat, or steer into this skid, using it to justify a full-scale rebuild.
Option 1 would be the clear winner if the Pacers had any attractive trade bait, which they don't. Myles Turner is a unicorn-in-training and should be untouchable, while the contracts of Monta Ellis, Al Jefferson and Thaddeus Young won't fetch more than spare parts.
Blowing up the roster is easier to do and more valuable long-term, albeit harder to accept. It starts with moving Paul George, who is a free agent after next season (player option) and, as Cameron Stewart wrote for Hoops Habit, a definitive flight risk:
"George will surely get a max deal, so salary will not be an issue. For surefire max players, their decision hinges largely on three things: basketball situation, location and how a new team could help them off the court. This doesn’t bode well for the Pacers’ hopes of retaining George.
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Indiana isn't a free-agent destination and will need to pay C.J. Miles (player option) and Jeff Teague over the summer. A good way to avoid doubling down on a mediocre nucleus is to turn George into a collection of picks and prospects and then sell off the supporting cast wherever possible.
Would the Boston Celtics give up both Brooklyn Nets picks in any deal for George? Might Minnesota consider packaging Zach LaVine and/or Andrew Wiggins? Would Denver offer the world in exchange for a patented superstar?
The Pacers, painful as it will be, should find out.
Orlando Magic
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Checks the Orlando Magic's roster. Sees they still have Bismack Biyombo, Serge Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic.
Yep, Orlando still badly needs to make a trade.
Head coach Frank Vogel has the Magic deploying a top-three defense, but the offense is bad. Orlando ranks 29th in points scored per 100 possessions (96.8) and is 28th in three-point accuracy (32.2 percent).
Tweaks to the rotation haven't helped the cause. Vogel has changed the starting lineup three times over to no real avail. Most recently, he swapped out Jeff Green, Elfrid Payton and Nikola Vucevic for D.J. Augustin, Bismack Biyombo and Aaron Gordon. Though Orlando is 3-2 in this new era, the resulting starters post bottom-five marks on both ends of the court.
There is only so much internal shape-shifting the Magic can endure. Gordon shouldn't be functioning like a small forward on offense. Ditto for Green. There isn't room for all of Biyombo, Ibaka and Vucevic in the frontcourt.
Admitting defeat and dangling at least one of the bigs should help Orlando add another shooter. Biyombo's four-year, $72 million deal ($68 million guaranteed) is close to immovable, and the Magic gave up two top prospects—Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis—to get Ibaka.
Vucevic is the odd man out by default.
Extracting value out of centers who don't shoot threes or protect the rim is hard. But Vucevic is a bargain with three years (including this one) and $36.8 million left on his contract. Plus, he has drilled six of his 16 three-point attempts this season and remains an above-average threat on long twos.
Orlando can get super-desperate and try attaching Vucevic to Gordon and picks in hopes of securing a higher-end wing via a three- or four-team super-buster. Either way, whether the Magic are playing for now or later, they need to break up their offensive sinkhole.
Portland Trail Blazers
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Spending themselves into oblivion over the summer has backfired for the Portland Trail Blazers.
No defense is allowing more points per 100 possessions (109.6). Evan Turner, one of Portland's two $70 million free-agent investments, looks out of place next to the ball-dominant Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. The Blazers have a ton of bigs but no permanent frontcourt solutions; they need Ed Davis' defensive versatility, Meyers Leonard's spacing and Mason Plumlee's passing rolled into one player.
Maurice Harkless' three-point shooting (38.1 percent) is a feel-good story, and the Lillard-McCollum combo remains detonative. But Portland is barely playing .500 basketball.
This is a problem for a team that expected to improve and doesn't know how to pivot from its disappointing start. As ESPN.com's Zach Lowe wrote of potential trade scenarios:
"The Blazers are in win-now mode with Lillard and McCollum in their primes, but it's unclear how much they really have to trade. They have an extra first-round pick from the Cavs, and some need to offload a big contract in the face of what could be hilariously huge tax payments starting next season. Harkless and [Al-Farouq] Aminu are valuable trade chips, but they are more valuable to the Blazers as players. [Allen] Crabbe and Turner look untradable.
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Actually, the Blazers should be able to move Crabbe in the right deal. He is putting down nearly 38 percent of his triples and can be an asset on defense when not forced to spot-cover so many pick-and-roll ball-handlers.
The Blazers will find it tougher to get their hands on a concrete upgrade. Maybe the Magic could throw them Vucevic in a trade built around Crabbe and Davis, but that won't solve any of their defensive warts. McCollum, as Lowe noted, gets them in the conversation for bigger names, but his cap value is weird until his extension kicks in next season.
Franchises should never make wholesale adjustments on a whim, and the Blazers might be a playoff team as constructed. Still, they have roughly $130 million on next year's books, with Plumlee speeding toward restricted free agency. Remaining idle isn't an option either.
Washington Wizards
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Consider the Washington Wizards a less severe version of the Pacers. Their star, John Wall, won't hit free agency until 2019, and they have another high-end cornerstone in Bradley Beal. But they need to make a change.
Washington has the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference after playing through a below-average schedule. The offense and defense hover around the bottom 10 of efficiency, and only two players—Otto Porter and Wall—are at least plus-one contributors on both sides of the floor.
Thirteen of the Wizards' first 19 games have seen them trail by no more than five points during the final three minutes, so they're within striking distance of enemy combatants. But they are 5-8 in those contests, with some of the NBA's worst crunch-time shooting percentages.
"We keep putting ourselves into that situation," Wall said, per the Washington Post's Candace Buckner. "I like the strides we’re taking, but I’m tired of saying that. We’ve got to start converting these strides we’re making into wins."
Failing a sudden turnaround, the Wizards need to work the phones. Their starting lineup is fine, but many of their supporting units are not; they have the worst bench in the league on both ends, according to HoopsStats.com.
It takes value to get value, so Washington will not emerge from talks unscathed. Ian Mahinmi is untradeable (for now), and neither Andrew Nicholson nor Kelly Oubre Jr. is good enough to permanently fill in for Otto Porter or Markieff Morris.
Offering Porter and filler is intriguing if a high-impact wing is coming back. But a Porter-headlined deal gets a Danilo Gallinari-caliber player, and the Wizards are more than one Gallinari away from making a splash in the East. Beal and Porter, plus filler and picks, for DeMarcus Cousins might pique the Kings' interest, but Washington then needs to dump Marcin Gortat and/or Mahinmi.
If that needle-nudging deal isn't out there, the Wizards have to contemplate biting the bullet and trading Wall. Suitors will trip over themselves to bid on a superstar in his prime who isn't a flight risk for two-plus seasons, and any deal is bound to stock Washington's cupboard with enough picks and prospects to begin a low-key rebuild around Beal and Porter.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are accurate leading into Tuesday's games unless noted otherwise. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter:@danfavale.
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