NBA Trades: Ranking the Likeliest Deals in the Offseason

The trade deadline came and went. Of course, that doesn't mean the trade talk is over—it just means that it's been pushed to this summer. 

Teams are set for the rest of this year, but that's just this year.

Eventually, the playoffs will come. Eventually, all but one team will lose. Eventually, all of these teams will be looking towards what they can do to win a championship next season. 

Here are five moves that some teams might make this year if they don't win it all. Bear in mind that the operative word here is "if." If they do win, they are far less likely to make a move, but each of these is if they don't win it all.

In every one of these trades, the rule is that you have to give something to get something. None of these trades would be east for the teams who are involved, but what they acquire makes a big difference.  

Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers

The Houston Rockets have been on a mission to find their big man for a year now, and they still haven't landed him. Marcus Camby is a stop-gap, but he's not the long-term answer. 

The Los Angeles Clippers will make the payoffs this year, but Nick Young, while providing some scoring lift, won't be the go-to scorer they need at shooting guard. 

A trade that would work for both the Clippers and the Rockets is this: The Clippers send DeAndre Jordan and Nick Young to Houston in exchange for Samuel Dalembert and Kevin Martin. 

The Rockets get a big man that they can build around. Absent Blake Griffin, Jordan can develop his offensive game more. Young would make a quality player who can come off the bench behind Courtney Lee, who would be primed to step up and take over the starting job. 

The Clippers get a proven defensive presence in the middle to replace Jordan. They also get an outstanding shooting guard who can close and take pressure off Chris Paul. 

Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies

Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay have yet to click together. Both players have established that they can be counted on, but the team has had trouble peaking with both of them in the lineup. Some of that is because they can't seem to stay healthy at the same time, but some of that is that their styles don't mesh. 

Memphis could also use a player who can lead its bench unit. 

Philadelphia has a diversity of scorers and tremendous depth, but they don't have a guy who can take over games late and be a bona fide closer. 

Both teams could solve their problems in a trade that would send Rudy Gay to Memphis in return for Lou Williams and Andre Iguodala.

Likely, the instant reaction from fans of both teams is going to be "no way."

That's where the "give something to get something" rule needs to come into play. In Iguodala, Memphis gets a defensive-oriented small forward who would be an excellent compliment to the big men and inside-out game. They also get a scorer off the bench in Lou Williams. 

The 76ers sacrifice their best player and a bit of their depth, but they get the one thing they really lack right now—a player who can shoulder the team down the stretch. 

Los Angeles Lakers and New Jersey Nets

The New Jersey Nets need a compliment to Deron Williams to get him to commit to stay. He may be opting out this summer, but that doesn't mean he's ruled out re-signing with Brooklyn. (By the way, "re-sign" is the opposite of "resign"—fun fact/pet peeve). 

The Lakers passed on shopping Pau Gasol for now, but that doesn't mean they aren't open to in the future. 

If they don't win the Finals this year, there's a good chance that the team that beats them is either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Miami Heat. 

If that's the case, then they could get defensive help for the future in Gerald Wallace and a replacement for Pau Gasol in Brook Lopez. This would also go along with the Lakers' current commitment to getting younger while cutting salary. 

The tandem of Lopez, Andrew Bynum and Brook Lopez would be nearly as good as Gasol and Bynum, but it would also give Bynum a chance to step up more into the role of the second-best player on the roster and prime him to take over as "the man" in the future. 

A starting five of Ramon Sessions, Kobe Bryant, Gerald Wallace, Brook Lopez and Andrew Bynum is a team that could contend for a title, and match up well with Miami's Big Three.

Chicago Bulls and Denver Nuggets

If the Bulls don't make it past Miami this year, the brunt of the blame will fall on Carlos Boozer—whether it's his fault or not—and they may have to deal him just to save his life. 

The Denver Nuggets just dealt their best inside scorer in Nene, in a move that more or less stunned Denver. They now have a lack of interior scorers. They also have a pretty hefty contract in Chris Anderson. 

Boozer's numbers are actually better than people make them sound: 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, 18.5 and 9.8 per 36 minutes on .538 shooting from the field. He's just sharing a lot of minutes with the emerging Taj Gibson. 

A trade of Carlos Boozer for Arron Afflalo and Chris Anderson would help both teams where they are in need of help, and both teams would be dealing from a position of strength. Boozer might be slightly overpaid, but so are Afflalo and Anderson, so that evens out. 

Miami Heat and Utah Jazz

The Miami Heat have had difficulty against teams who are big inside. They have Joel Anthony, who plays solid defense for his height. They have Chris Bosh, whose game is outside as much as it is inside. They have Dexter Pitman, Eddie Curry and Mickell Gladness as a trio of bigs who provide somewhere between little and nothing. 

They are ranked 23rd in the NBA in net production in the paint. They are 16-11 when they have a lower efficiency recap in the paint this season, compared to 15-0 when it's better. They are 18-11 when they are outscored in the paint, compared to 13-0 when they outscore their opponents. 

They are only winning the battle in the paint about 35 percent of the time. When they lose that battle, they go from being an unbeatable team to a very good team. In short, if they don't win the NBA Finals, it will be because they didn't win the battle inside against someone, either Chicago or Los Angeles. 

Their most tradable asset (other than Dwyane Wade and LeBron James) is Chris Bosh. If the Heat don't win it all, they are going to have to consider breaking up the Big Three.

I propose a trade of Bosh and Mike Miller to the Jazz for Al Jefferson and Derrick Favors. 

The Jazz have an abundance of bigs, but they don't have a really good pick-and-pop player to work a high-low game with. Both Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson get the majority of their points at the rim. 

Trading for Al Jefferson would give the Heat a truly powerful inside presence. Jefferson could be the new starting center, and Favors would be the new starting power forward. The Heat would be much deeper in the middle. 

The Jazz would get that pick-and-pop player they need, as well as a three-point shooter.