A 3-Team Trade Idea Involving Trae Young, Michael Porter Jr. and a Looming Powerhouse
With the 2024 NBA offseason now just weeks away, teams all over the league are making plans for how to improve themselves for either 2024-25 or their long-term future.
And that includes current contenders, up-and-comers and those stuck in the middle.
Today's hypothetical three-team trade involves participants from all three of those camps.
The 2023 champion Denver Nuggets were knocked out in the second round and look like they could use a touch more depth. The Orlando Magic have an exciting young duo, but their offense needs help. And the perpetually mediocre Atlanta Hawks have an ill-fitting backcourt that needs to be broken up.
This deal checks all three of those boxes.
The Deal
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Before we get into the specifics for why each team would be interested in something like this, as always, we'll give you a glimpse of the entire trade in one screen.
Magic Receive: Trae Young and Michael Porter Jr.
Magic Lose: Jonathan Isaac, Cole Anthony, Anthony Black, a 2025 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 first-round pick
Hawks Receive: Cole Anthony, Anthony Black, a 2024 first-round pick from Denver, a 2025 first-round pick from Orlando, a 2027 first-round pick from Orlando and a 2029 first-round pick from Orlando
Hawks Lose: Trae Young, Bogdan Bogdanović and a 2030 first-round pick swap with Denver
Nuggets Receive: Jonathan Isaac, Bogdan Bogdanović and a 2030 first-round pick swap
Nuggets Lose: Michael Porter Jr. and a 2024 first-round pick
Feel free to argue over the number of picks involved, where they're going and whether they should be protected. You might have a few other small contracts you think should be included. But in general, the foundation of this deal makes sense for everyone, and below you'll read why.
Orlando Juices Its Offense
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Magic Receive: Trae Young and Michael Porter Jr.
Magic Lose: Jonathan Isaac, Cole Anthony, Anthony Black, a 2025 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 first-round pick
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner make up one of the most exciting young duos in the NBA. They're 21 and 22 years old, respectively. Both can create for themselves and a bit for others. Both create plenty of issues for opponents with their length and switchability on defense.
And in spite of their age and inexperience, they took the Magic to the playoffs this year, where they pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers to a Game 7.
In the regular season, though, Orlando was 22nd in points per 100 possessions, 30th in threes per game and 23rd in three-point percentage.
The Magic need more shooting. And they need additional playmaking to create open shots.
They could probably get there by merely staying the course, banking on internal development and trusting the talent of Banchero and Wagner, but with those two on rookie deals, they have an opportunity to step closer to contention now.
Orlando can get to over $60 million in cap space this summer, and that's enough to absorb the excess salary coming in with Trae Young and Michael Porter Jr.
However, the financial or technical side of this deal is far from the most important. There's been plenty of criticism of Young, particularly on defense, but he's still one of the best playmakers and pick-and-roll ball-handlers in the league. He'd create more open shots for Banchero and Wagner than they've ever had before.
Porter comes with similar concerns, but he's one of the best high-volume outside shooters in the NBA.
A starting lineup with those four and Wendell Carter Jr. has a good balance of playmaking, size, shooting and even defense.
Giving up one of the best defenders in the league in Jonathan Isaac, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate in Cole Anthony, a promising prospect in Anthony Black and three picks is a lot, but this could give Banchero and Wagner a taste of a deep playoff run before they're even off their rookie contracts.
Atlanta Retools
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Hawks Receive: Cole Anthony, Anthony Black, a 2024 first-round pick from Denver, a 2025 first-round pick from Orlando, a 2027 first-round pick from Orlando and a 2029 first-round pick from Orlando
Hawks Lose: Trae Young, Bogdan Bogdanović and a 2030 first-round pick swap with Denver
Trading for Dejounte Murray in 2022 was a gamble that simply didn't pay off for the Hawks.
The backcourt combination of him and Young hasn't worked. The on-off numbers, win-loss record and good old-fashioned eye test all confirm that.
Atlanta could keep plugging away at it, but breaking up the duo makes more sense. And there are arguments for keeping either one of the guards.
Young is younger and more productive. Building around him is probably the more traditional path, but he's also likely to bring in the bigger return in a trade.
And this is indeed a big return.
Four firsts and a prospect who's just one year removed from being a first-round pick is a ton of rebuilding capital that could either be used to slowly add young talent or repackaged in another win-now move down the line. Anthony's contract is team-friendly and movable, too.
And even without Young, the Hawks can remain relatively competitive as they figure out how aggressively they'd like to pursue a rebuild. This season, Atlanta had a positive point differential when Murray and Jalen Johnson were on the floor without Young.
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Denver Gets Deeper
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Nuggets Receive: Jonathan Isaac, Bogdan Bogdanović and a 2030 first-round pick swap
Nuggets Lose: Michael Porter Jr. and a 2024 first-round pick
The Nuggets won a title in 2023 with Michael Porter Jr. as their third-leading scorer in the playoffs. Prior to the Finals that year, he averaged 2.8 threes and made 40.8 percent of his three-point attempts in the postseason.
That's the kind of shooting Denver needs to maximize Nikola Jokić's playmaking, but the league's new collective bargaining agreement makes it nearly impossible to keep championship cores together. Two or three max-salary players will almost certainly put you in range of the dreaded "second apron" and its accompanying team-building penalties, and the Nuggets are in danger of being one of those teams.
If they're over that line, as they're currently projected to be, it'll be harder to improve through free agency (because fewer cap exceptions are available) or trades (because they can't aggregate outgoing salaries).
The best way to add depth might also be the most painful. Denver might have to move one of the big-contract players who helped them win a title. And though it would certainly hurt to lose MPJ's shooting, this deal checks a couple other boxes.
The Nuggets have long needed a backup center and rim protection. He comes with significant injury concerns, but Jonathan Isaac proved he can be both those things with the Magic this season.
Denver could also use more playmaking for the stretches when Jokić is off the floor, and his fellow Serb, Bogdan Bogdanović, can help with that while also replacing some of Porter's outgoing shooting.
This move and a little internal development for Christian Braun and Peyton Watson could have the Nuggets' 2025 rotation looking a lot more playoff-ready than it did this season.
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