Best and Worst Landing Spots for NBA's Most Rumored Players
The rumor mill is just getting started for the 2024 NBA offseason, but it's already had several All-Stars fall into the mix.
Each of those All-Stars could make some sense for a number of different teams.
Determining who's the "most rumored" takes some projection and subjectivity, though. We aren't just focused on who's shown up in the most reports over the last few months. We're also predicting who'll dominate the next several weeks of headlines when the rumor mill really starts spinning.
As we peg the best and worst landing spots for each, we're trying to stay within the realm of possibility. Sure, we could identify the same title contender as the best spot for everyone and the Detroit Pistons as the worst, but that wouldn't accomplish much.
With that in mind, dive into the best and worst realistic landing spots for the five players whom we think will be in the most rumors this offseason.
Paul George
1 of 5
Best Spot: Orlando Magic
If Paul George doesn't stay with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Philadelphia 76ers loom as his most rumored potential landing spot.
As far as stars go, few have games as portable as George's. He can create on the ball, but he's even more dangerous as a catch-and-shoot threat who can also attack closeouts. It's easy to imagine him flanking the Tyrese Maxey-Joel Embiid two-man game.
Among George's realistic non-Clippers suitors, Philadelphia would probably offer him the nearest-term shot at a title, but Embiid has rarely been healthy in the postseason. The Orlando Magic would likely give George a longer runway.
As long as Orlando wouldn't have to give up Franz Wagner to acquire George, a trio with those two and Paolo Banchero would be among the NBA's most versatile on both ends of the floor. All three can create. All three can defend multiple positions. And assuming some development for Banchero and Wagner, all three could command attention outside as shooters.
Banchero and Wagner are also only 21 and 22, respectively. They should improve throughout the duration of George's next contract.
Worst Spot: Detroit Pistons
George signing with the Pistons would come as a surprise, but they're one of the few teams that can carve out enough cap space to give him a max contract in free agency.
Given the recent ineptitude of the franchise—it is dead last in winning percentage over the last 15 seasons—the Pistons figure to explore every possible use of that cap space this summer.
Even with his outside shooting and defensive prowess, George probably isn't good enough to instantly change the fortunes of perhaps the worst team in the league. While there would be some nobility in trying to teach Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and the rest of this young core how to win consistently, it'd likely take the duration of his last big contract to do so.
Brandon Ingram
2 of 5
Best Spot: Minnesota Timberwolves
We'll get into more specific possibilities for Karl-Anthony Towns later, but there may be something to swapping him for Brandon Ingram.
Towns' ability to space the floor could open up the paint for Zion Williamson, while Ingram's ability to create offense for himself and others could take pressure off Anthony Edwards. Ingram could also improve the defensive optionality of a Minnesota Timberwolves squad that already finished first on that end of the floor in 2023-24.
Ingram is no lockdown defender himself, but he's more mobile and switchable than Towns. Lineups with him, Edwards and Jaden McDaniels at spots 2 through 4 could make life rough on opponents.
Worst Spot: Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks figure to be active in the trade market this summer as they look to move either Trae Young or Dejounte Murray. Ingram could be caught up in those frameworks.
Regardless of whether Ingram was alongside Young or Murray in Atlanta, he would not only have to be a No. 2 on offense, but he wouldn't be as protected on the other end.
Minnesota has the infrastructure to not just hide Ingram defensively. It can help him become a positive. However, a lineup with Young and Ingram could get torched defensively.
Donovan Mitchell
3 of 5
Best Spot: Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers may not have the best assets for a Donovan Mitchell trade, but three first-round picks, salary filler and some good, young(ish) players like Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura is nothing to sneeze at. It will start to look a lot better if Mitchell's camp signals to the rest of the league that he'll only re-sign with a handful of teams (including the Lakers).
If Mitchell winds up there, it'll be easy to buy the Lakers as an immediate contender.
Even at his advanced age, LeBron James was one of the 5-10 best players in the league in 2023-24. Anthony Davis was in the same range. Adding an All-NBA level guard to that duo would not only put them on the same tier of some of the NBA's best teams, but it'd also give L.A. a much brighter post-LeBron future.
Mitchell and Davis can be the faces of a powerhouse for the next several years.
Worst Spot: Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets have a lot of picks over the next several years, but they don't have control of one of their own first-rounders till 2028. That makes tanking almost useless.
Even though the Nets were among the worst teams in the NBA over the last few months of this past season, win-now moves aren't out of the question this summer.
While a top two of Mitchell and Mikal Bridges is interesting, it's hard to imagine that team being any closer to title contention than the Cleveland Cavaliers squad that Mitchell just took to the second round of the playoffs.
Karl-Anthony Towns
4 of 5
Best Spot: Atlanta Hawks
The Minnesota Timberwolves just made the conference finals with a 22-year-old leading scorer. In the past, that would've felt like a surefire "run it back" situation.
But with Minnesota on track to be over the dreaded new second apron, it has to at least consider cost-cutting moves. The most obvious one would be a Karl-Anthony Towns trade, which is why he figures to show up in trade rumors for the next several weeks.
A Hawks team led by Towns and Trae Young would be lucky to be even average defensively. But Atlanta would likely near the top of the league on offense.
The Hawks could play a five-out, three-point-heavy scheme with Towns starting at the 5, and they wouldn't necessarily be sacrificing the lob threat that's such a huge part of Young's game. Jalen Johnson is a high-flyer, and he could become the more common receiver for alley-oops, sort of like Aaron Gordon with the Denver Nuggets.
Worst Spot: Oklahoma City Thunder
Just like Minnesota, the Oklahoma City Thunder are ahead of schedule. They were the No. 1 seed in the West, and they're being led by 25-year-old MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Letting all of the players younger than him naturally develop will likely keep the Thunder in contention.
But OKC also has a boatload of future draft assets in addition to that young talent. Few teams are as well positioned for a win-now move. The Thunder took a more cautious approach at February's trade deadline when they picked up Gordon Hayward, who didn't get them any closer to a title (he had zero points in 46 playoff minutes this year).
Trading for KAT probably wouldn't be the right move, either.
The Thunder could use some size, and there's some potential in Chet Holmgren playing the 4 and becoming a weakside or rotating rim protector. But one of the season-long strengths of this team was its positional versatility and mobility.
OKC could still play five-out offense with Towns, but it'd be a step slower on both ends.
Meanwhile, Towns might have to settle for being a third or fourth option for the Thunder. Holmgren and Jalen Williams could both be 20-point-per-game scorers as early as next season.
Trae Young
5 of 5
Best Spot: Los Angeles Lakers
Young might be an even better fit for the Lakers than Donovan Mitchell. His playmaking volume would likely decrease alongside LeBron James, but he's a better creator and distributor than Mitchell.
After LeBron is gone, the pick-and-roll tandem of Young and Davis would be among the league's best and most prolific.
Defense will be a concern for any team with Young, but L.A. has one of the NBA's best anchors on that end in AD.
Worst Spot: Atlanta Hawks (assuming Dejounte Murray is still there)
It seems ill-advised for Atlanta to bring back its current backcourt next year.
During their two seasons together, the Hawks are minus-2.6 points per 100 possessions when Young and Murray are on the floor, minus-1.1 with Murray and without Young and plus-2.8 with Young and without Murray.
The surface-level takeaway there is that Atlanta should try to move Murray. He's older, and the team has generally been worse in his solo minutes than it has in Young's. But Young should command the bigger return in a potential trade.
Either scenario probably brings more upside than keeping these two together.
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