Ten NBA Players Who Could Be Moved by the Trade Deadline

Last season, the NBA experienced a carousel of player movement that seems to only happen once per decade.

I can't recall another season where so many former All-Stars changed teams. Antoine Walker, Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace, Shaquille O'Neal, Shawn Marion, Pau Gasol, and Jason Kidd all packed their bags mid-season. Other notables like Joe Smith, Kurt Thomas, Mike Bibby, and Larry Hughes changed addresses as well.

Most pundits attributed the sudden surge in trades to a domino effect that began when the Lakers made a play for Pau Gasol. The minority opinion was that the premature emergence of the  Lakers and Hornets forced the Suns and Mavericks to make the type of "all-in" moves which acknowledged that their respective windows were closing.

With so many teams jockeying to have cap space in 2010, I would be shocked if we saw the same number of deals or the same number of big names traded. With only two years left until 2010, it's also unlikely that you'll see teams within the same division try to help each other out the way the Cavs and Bulls did last season.

The wonderful thing about trades, though, is that it only takes two teams to make a deal go down. As long as there are teams looking to shake things up and teams looking to create more cap space, it's all but guaranteed that at least a few deals will go down by the deadline.

All that being said, here are 10 players who might want to consider hiring a real estate agent now:

1) Allen Iverson, Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets were eliminated in the first-round of the playoffs for the fifth year in a row. In an attempt to trim payroll, the front office traded Marcus Camby to the Clippers for the right to swap second-round picks in 2010, and allowed it's only other decent defender, Eduardo Najera, to flee to New Jersey.

If the Nuggets don't look like they're headed to the playoffs you can expect Iverson's name to be floated in trade rumors before the end of the year. He's entering the final year of his contract and has already said he'd be willing to take a pay cut to stay in the Mile High City. But even if he takes a pay cut, the Nuggets might still feel as if his price tag is too high to commit long-term dollars.

The Nuggets could trade him to a team that is looking to free up cap space for 2010, or to a team that thinks he could be the missing piece.

For example, the Pacers could offer the Nuggets Jarrett Jack, a first-round pick, and the expiring contracts of Rasho Nesterovic and Marquis Daniels to get Iverson.

2) Shawn Marion, Miami Heat

The Suns decided to trade Marion to Miami because they were afraid that Marion was going to opt out of his deal and they'd be left with nothing if they lost him. So they traded him to the Heat for Shaq. Marion didn't opt out. Nor did he raise a fuss when the Heat gave no indication that they were willing to give him the type of extension that he craved from Phoenix.

It doesn't seem like Marion fits in with the Heat's long-term plans, so they could move him again if he could net them the type of player who better fits in with their big-picture plans.

Someone like...

3) Lamar Odom, Los Angeles Lakers

Like Marion, Odom is entering the final year of his contract. Going into the start of camp, Phil Jackson brought up the possibility of Odom assuming the sixth-man role on the team behind Trevor Ariza—an idea that Odom has already nixed.

Miami could bring back Odom and re-sign him for a fraction of the money that Marion is sure to ask for. In Marion, the Lakers could get themselves a better defender and a better outside shooter than Odom. If the Lakers fall short of the championship, it would be highly unlikely that they would give him an extension next summer.

4) Kirk Hinrich, Chicago Bulls

Hinrich has one of the NBA's most cap-friendly contracts, because it actually decreases with each successive season. The arrival of first-overall pick Derrick Rose should eventually make Hinrich expendable. The Bulls could use Hinrich to net them the type of low-post player they haven't had since Eddy Curry was traded to the Knicks in 2005.

Teams like the Warriors, Heat, Nuggets, and Magic could all show an interest in him.

5) Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks

There were two reasons Kidd was ecstatic when the Nets traded him to the Mavericks last season. For starters, he would be going to the playoffs. More importantly, though, he was traded to a team with an owner who hasn't shown the least bit of fear when it comes to going over the luxury tax limit.

Kidd turns 36 in March. Mark Cuban might be the only owner in the NBA who would consider giving Kidd two more years and another fifteen-to-twenty million dollars per year. But the Kidd experiment didn't really work out the way that Mavs fans had hoped.

With new head coach Rick Carlisle, Kidd will have another opportunity between now and the deadline. If the Mavs look like they're going to miss the playoffs or finish with a seventh or eighth seed, Cuban might look into moving Kidd again.

On the bright side, the Mavs have an owner willing to spend money. And since they won't have cap space in 2010 anyway, the Mavs could be one of only a few teams willing to take on a long-term contract the way the Lakers did last season with Gasol. Kidd's $21-million contract could net them a  really good player from a team looking to rebuild or shed salary—someone like Michael Redd, Andrei Kirilenko, or Zach Randolph.

6) Darko Milicic and Antoine Walker, Memphis Grizzlies

These two guys are sharing a spot, because I can see one of them getting traded but not both. The Grizzlies have the luxury of not having to match salaries with their trading partner since they have the available cap space to absorb a contract.

We can call it "Chris Wallace's Revenge". Wallace, the Grizzlies' general manager, has to be tired of hearing about how the Lakers fleeced him for Gasol. He'll look at trading these  these guys as a chance at redemption.

Milicic has two more years and $14.5 million left on his deal—not that bad if you think about it. He's a defensive specialist making mid-level money and he's a free agent in 2010.

There were rumors of a trade between the Grizzlies and Knicks involving Milicic and Randolph, but they died—reportedly because the Grizzlies insisted on receiving a first-round pick as part of the deal.

Walker is making a little over $9 million, and any team that trades for him would have the option of ripping up the contract at season's end. If the Grizzlies could get Randolph by giving up Walker instead of Milicic and saving him for another trade, then the Grizzlies could be better sooner than most people think.

7) Chris Wilcox, Oklahoma City Thunder

In my opinion, Wilcox is one of the league's most underrated players. He's in the final year of his deal and probably isn't in the Thunder's long-term plans (still not used to writing that). They could probably trade him to a contender for a young player like Jason Maxiell, Carl Landry or Kosta Koufos.

The only thing with Wilcox is that his scoring and rebounding numbers have taken a slight dip over the last three seasons. How he performs with the motivation of a new contract should tell us if that's a trend or an aberration.

8) Jamal Crawford, New York Knicks

Crawford turns 29 in March. He's making a little over $8 million, and has an option at the end of the season for two more years and about $20 million. Crawford would be smart to opt out and try to get a four-year or five-year deal at 29 then exercise the option and try to get a long-term deal at 31.

Crawford is one of those guys who thinks he's a lot better than he actually is. It's almost certain that he'll opt out—much to the delight of Knicks' fans keeping track of the team's cap space.

9) Mike Bibby, Atlanta Hawks

Bibby and Kidd are actually in similar situations. The difference with Bibby is that his team has his replacement sitting on the bench, while the Mavs have no future point guard behind Kidd.

The Hawks drafted Acie Law IV with the eleventh pick in the draft to be a franchise guy. If they look like they aren't going to the playoffs, then expect them to unload Bibby and his expiring $15-million contract to fill a hole.

10) Raymond Felton, Charlotte Bobcats

Every offseason I look over all of the final stats and there's always one guy that I'm shocked that his numbers are as good as they are—this year that guy was Felton. 14.4 ppg, 7.4 apg, and 3.0 rpg.

He's also been durable. In three seasons he's missed a total of seven games. Perhaps it's due to the success of the two guys drafted right in front of him, Chris Paul and Deron Williams, that clouds the publc's unfair perception of Felton.

But the writing is on the wall for him. The Bobcats selected D.J. Augustin with the ninth pick in this year's draft. Felton is a restricted free agent at the end of the season, and the Bobcats appear to be in financial trouble. I can see them trading Felton for a rookie—or maybe even a draft pick.