Potential Trade Packages for NBA's Best Available Players Entering 2015 Deadline
Just because there's no actual pro basketball until Thursday night doesn't mean the NBA is quiet right now.
Quite the opposite, actually. The run-up to the Feb. 19 trade deadline has everyone—front-office folks, players, coaches and fans alike—on pins and needles, wondering what will happen next.
This year's deadline had the makings of a relative dud. A slew of playoff contenders (i.e. the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns) have already cashed in some of their chips to pull off transactions of all shapes, sizes and impacts.
Despite all that, the Association appears as restless as ever. There are still plenty of impact players available on the market. And with the championship chase as wide-open as it is and salary-cap figures set to skyrocket after the players refused to "smooth in" the coming television money, there's no shortage of clubs with good reason to wheel and deal.
Don't be surprised if any of these seven players wind up on the move or if the deals struck to get them in motion resemble any of those proposed herein.
Goran Dragic, G, Phoenix Suns
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Trade No. 1: Goran Dragic to Houston; Terrence Jones, Jason Terry, 2015 first-round pick (from New Orleans) and a future second-round pick to Phoenix
The Houston Rockets' interest in Dragic is no secret. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported last week that the Houston Rockets were hot after Dragic, who spent a season-and-a-half in Space City before returning to Phoenix in the summer of 2012.
The Suns, on the other hand, seem keen to unclog their crowded backcourt. And as USA Today's Sam Amick revealed Tuesday, Dragic "has no plans to re-sign in Phoenix this summer as a free agent."
Houston, on the other hand, has to feel confident about its chances of retaining Dragic, given his familiarity with the organization. Jones doesn't exactly fit the bill of a potential All-Star that the Suns are looking for, but the 23-year-old has some serious ability.
Terry's in there more for salary filler than anything. The real prize here is the first-round pick, which will land in the lottery in the likely event that the New Orleans Pelicans can't peck their way into the playoff picture out West.
Trade No. 2: Dragic and Gerald Green to the Los Angeles Lakers; Jordan Hill, Ryan Kelly, Jordan Clarkson, 2015 first-round pick (from Houston) and a 2015 second-round pick to Phoenix
Chances are, the Lakers will bide their time (and save their assets) for a run at Dragic via free agency this summer.
If they were to move on Dragic now, though, they could put together a package revolving around Hill's team-friendly contract, Kelly, who may yet fill Phoenix's need for a shooting big man; Clarkson, a promising point guard prospect to slip into the Suns' depth chart; and the first-rounder the Lakers nabbed from Houston for taking on Jeremy Lin's salary this past summer.
Trade No. 3: Dragic to Miami; Luol Deng and a 2017 first-round pick to Phoenix
According to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Heat are among Dragic's preferred destinations, and while Miami doesn't have much to offer, it may have just enough to get a deal done. Phoenix has shown interest in Luol Deng before, as Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick reminded yours truly (and the rest of Twitter).
Packaging Deng with a 2017 first-rounder should be more than enough to land Dragic in Miami's backcourt next to Dwyane Wade. If nothing else, that two-piece package is probably better than anything the Lakers and New York Knicks can come up with in time.
Brook Lopez, C, Brooklyn Nets
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Trade No. 1: Brook Lopez to OKC; Kendrick Perkins, Jeremy Lamb, Reggie Jackson and a future second-round pick to Brooklyn
According to Sporting News' Sean Deveney, a package of Perkins and Lamb wasn't enough to entice the Brooklyn Nets into parting ways with Lopez, and it should not have been.
Reuniting Perkins and Kevin Garnett, who played in two NBA Finals together with the Celtics, would be nice for those two, but it wouldn't offer Brooklyn much more than salary relief once Perk's contract expires this summer. Lamb, on the other hand, has done little to move the needle in the NBA to date.
Throwing Jackson into the mix would be a risky move in some respects for OKC. He's won big games for the Thunder before (see: 2014 first-round series versus Memphis), and jettisoning him would all but hand the keys to OKC's second unit to the inconsistent Dion Waiters. But Jackson, a restricted free agent after this season, could command much more this summer than the Thunder are willing to pay him.
This trade would make Jackson's future Brooklyn's concern, not OKC's, while also assuaging the Nets' lack of future assets somewhat with a token second-round pick.
The Thunder, meanwhile, finally get the skilled 7-footer at center whom general manager Sam Presti has been pining for since the 2008 draft, per Basketball Insiders' Alex Kennedy.
Trade No. 2: Lopez and Mirza Teletovic to Denver; Kenneth Faried, Arron Afflalo, J.J. Hickson and a 2015 first-round pick to Brooklyn
Multiple reports have linked Lopez to the Denver Nuggets in recent weeks. He appears to be just the sort of low-post operator through whom head coach Brian Shaw can run his half-court offense.
The return for Lopez in this case is far from ideal. Faried seems like the only member of last summer's Team USA squad who's taken a step back this season, Afflalo can be a free agent this summer and Hickson is the sort of player whom Denver is probably looking to dump at this point.
Then again, Faried, a Newark native, could find his comfort zone in Brooklyn under head coach Lionel Hollins, who's shown how well he can work with young bigs. Adding a first-round pick—of which the Nuggets could have three this year—to the stash figures to be of vital importance to the Nets' gloomy future.
And if Brooklyn is dead set on playoff participation now, having a solid veteran like Afflalo in the mix can't hurt. Teletovic, who's out for the season due to a diagnosis of blood clots in his lungs, gets tossed in as salary filler until he hits free agency in July.
Trade No. 3: Lopez to Charlotte; Lance Stephenson and Noah Vonleh to Brooklyn
Miami is the other team that's more recently been tied to Lopez, per Sporting News, but figuring out a way for the Heat to swing such a deal is darn near impossible. Doing so with the Hornets isn't nearly as difficult, assuming Charlotte has a means of getting Brooklyn to bite the bullet on native son Stephenson.
Enter Vonleh, the No. 9 pick in the 2014 draft. The Indiana product has played just 91 minutes as a rookie, due to both early-season injury issues and the sheer volume of big bodies in Charlotte's frontcourt (Al Jefferson, Cody Zeller, Bismack Biyombo).
Vonleh was the Mr. Upside from last year's draft, thanks to his age (19), ridiculous physical gifts and tantalizing potential to stretch the floor at power forward. He's just the type of talented prospect the Nets will need if they're to avoid an extended blackout from NBA relevance.
And if the Hornets can flip him and their problem-child free-agent signee for a former All-Star who might otherwise pass over the Queen City, all the better.
Joe Johnson, SG, Brooklyn Nets
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Trade No. 1: Joe Johnson to Detroit; Brandon Jennings, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jonas Jerebko and Joel Anthony to Brooklyn
According to ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk and Mike Mazzeo, the Detroit Pistons have discussed a deal with the Nets that would bring Iso-Joe to Motown and deliver the injured Jennings and a slew of expiring contracts back to Brooklyn. In this case, Jerebko and Anthony would be the players whose contracts would come off Brooklyn's books this summer.
With Johnson in tow, the Pistons would no longer have a great need for KCP on the wing. They could include Caldwell-Pope as a sweetener of sorts, since the Georgia product is young (just turned 22), cheap (on his rookie deal through 2016-17) and replete with the sort of upside the Nets will need as they attempt to retool.
As for Johnson, he'd give Detroit a reliable veteran scorer to help create space for Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond on the interior and goose an offense that, per NBA.com, still ranks among the league's bottom half.
Trade No. 2: Johnson to Charlotte; Lance Stephenson, Marvin Williams, Gerald Henderson and a first-round pick to Brooklyn
This is pretty much the same transaction that the Nets and Hornets discussed in late January, per Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. The biggest difference? A first-round pick to make the risk of taking on Stephenson, a Brooklyn native, more palatable to the Nets.
Charlotte's offense, second-to-last in the league in offensive efficiency, per NBA.com, needs all the juice it can muster to help the Hornets hang onto a playoff spot. His arrival would render Henderson expendable. Williams is already in that category on account of Cody Zeller's emergence as a starter.
Ty Lawson, PG, Denver Nuggets
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Trade No. 1: Ty Lawson to Boston; Brandon Bass, Evan Turner, two first-round picks and a second-round pick to Denver
After trading Timofey Mozgov to Cleveland for a pair of first-round picks, Denver Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly appears to have set such a return as the baseline for his current and future discussions.
Whether that's a realistic expectation is another story. The Celtics, though, possess more than enough picks to make the Nuggets happy. Boston could have as many as five first-rounders at its disposal in 2015, though protections on some figure to knock that sum down to three.
Either way, the C's have more than enough chips that would help the Nuggets accelerate a needed rebuild, if that is, in fact, the direction in which Denver is headed.
Lawson's overlap with promising rookie Marcus Smart could be a concern for Boston, but the Celtics would be hard-pressed to complain about getting a borderline-All-Star talent in exchange for salary filler and a slew of other peoples' picks.
Trade No. 2: Lawson and Arron Afflalo to Sacramento; Derrick Williams, Darren Collison, Nik Stauskas and Ben McLemore to Denver
If new Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl had his druthers, he'd probably prefer to have some of his old Nuggets players on hand to help him. Lo and behold, Denver appears to be open for business ahead of the trade deadline and amid its own ongoing internal turmoil.
Basketball Insiders' Alex Kennedy certainly wouldn't be surprised, then, if the Kings made a play for Lawson, who was at the helm when Karl's Nuggets won an NBA-franchise-record 57 games in 2012-13. According to Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher, the Kings are already "trying to reunite" Afflalo with his old coach.
Stauskas, McLemore and Collison (Williams is in there mostly to make the money work) would constitute a pretty penny for Lawson and Afflalo—and the Nuggets may well insist on the inclusion of a pick or two to grease the skids—but Sacramento's new ownership has been nothing if not dogged in its desire to pull the Kings out of their longstanding doldrums as soon as possible, irrespective of expense.
Trade No. 3: Lawson to Houston; Jason Terry, Terrence Jones, Kostas Papanikolaou and a first-round pick to Denver
Grantland's Zach Lowe mentioned a deal along these lines in his trade-deadline column. Adding a talent like Lawson makes sense for Houston, and it's not just because the West is loaded with top-quality point guards:
"Houston will have a hard time creating max-level cap space this summer, so landing a big fish now is enticing."
Indeed, if the Rockets can nab a borderline All-Star for a young, displaced starter (Jones), an underperforming rookie (Papanikolaou), a first-rounder and Terry's expiring contract, they'd be smart to do so.
And if the pick Houston includes is New Orleans' potential 2015 lottery selection, Denver just might say yes.
Arron Afflalo, SG, Denver Nuggets
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Trade No. 1: Arron Afflalo to Oklahoma City; Reggie Jackson, Anthony Morrow and Andre Roberson to Denver
According to Sheridan Hoops' Michael Scotto, the Thunder have "strong interest" in adding Afflalo, a solid two-way wing, to the mix. Personality-wise, Afflalo should have little trouble fitting in; he's a well-traveled, well-respected veteran, and he played alongside Russell Westbrook at UCLA once upon a time.
Conceding anything of value for Afflalo, a potential free agent this summer, could be tricky for OKC. But Roberson, who played his college ball at Colorado, is limited as a three-and-D option at shooting guard, and Jackson, who went to high school in Colorado Springs, will be a restricted free agent himself at season's end.
Which is to say, Morrow, a quality shooter who doesn't offer much resistance defensively, would probably be the biggest loss for OKC in this case.
Trade No. 2: Afflalo to Portland; Dorell Wright, Thomas Robinson and a first-round pick to Denver
CSNNW.com's Jabari Young summed up the Trail Blazers' interest in Afflalo thusly:
"Here is what’s known: the Blazers like Afflalo, but would prefer [Wilson] Chandler. Afflalo is known as a decent locker room guy, can knock down an open shot, and he’s a veteran, which Terry Stotts likes. Should the Nuggets’ asking price seem fair, and Chandler is a no-go, it won’t be a surprise to see Afflalo in black and red.
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If the asking prices were equal, Chandler would be the more appropriate choice for Portland. His size and skill set at small forward more closely mirror what the Blazers will need in the event that Nicolas Batum doesn't snap out of his season-long slump.
But by all accounts, Afflalo is more available—which, obviously, is important. The contracts of Wright and Robinson would make the money work, and if the Nuggets insist on a first-round pick, Portland has all of its own to offer up for the foreseeable future.
Trade No. 3: Afflalo to Charlotte; Gerald Henderson and a first-round pick to Denver
Basketball Insiders' Alex Kennedy pegged Charlotte as a potential destination for Afflalo. Given the Hornets' prior interest in Joe Johnson and persistent scoring struggles, adding the younger, cheaper Afflalo at shooting guard makes a ton of sense.
As far as the numbers are concerned, the Hornets can get this deal done with either Henderson or Marvin Williams straight up. Henderson's positional overlap with Afflalo makes him the more sensible choice, especially if Denver holds out for a first-rounder as part of the return package.
Enes Kanter, PF/C, Utah Jazz
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Trade No. 1: Enes Kanter to Boston; Brandon Bass and a first-round pick to Utah
The Celtics have about a bajillion first-round picks at their disposal over the next few years. Moreover, they've never been big players in free agency and don't figure to start now, what with their roster more closely resembling a passel of spare parts than an actual team.
Both of those factors make the recent rumors, from both Hall of Fame NBA scribe Sam Smith and the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett, connecting Kanter to the C's all the more believable.
The titanic Turk's ever-expanding shooting range—he's hit 13-of-41 from three this season, after shooting 1-of-3 from distance over his first three seasons combined—makes him an intriguing fit for Brad Stevens' wealth-spreading, all-hands-on-deck offense.
And if the C's like what they see, they can match whatever offer comes Kanter's way in restricted free agency.
On Utah's end, snagging a useful veteran forward (Bass) and a first-rounder for a 22-year-old free-agent-to-be who wants out would be darn clear close to a coup.
Trade No. 2: Kanter and Steve Novak to Milwaukee; O.J. Mayo and a first-round pick to Utah
The Bucks' frontcourt has been thin all season and could get even thinner if the team buys out Larry Sanders. According to USA Today's Sam Amick, those discussions are ongoing.
So, too, is Milwaukee's interest in beefing up its rotation of bigs, per Sam Smith. Kanter would bring more size and skill to the table for Jason Kidd's squad, and if his audition goes well, the Bucks will have the right of first refusal over Kanter's future.
Milwaukee could send Mayo back to Salt Lake City, where the Jazz are somewhat starved for production at shooting guard in the absence of Alec Burks. Mayo's been decently productive for the Bucks, but if they can rid themselves of the $16 million remaining on his deal—and get a quality youngster in return—you'd have to think they'd do it, even at the expense of a first-round pick.
As for Novak, he's here for salary matching more than anything else.
Trade No. 3: Kanter to Atlanta; Shelvin Mack, John Jenkins and a draft pick to Utah
As great as the Atlanta Hawks have been this season, they're far from flawless.
Their frontcourt rotation, buoyed by Al Horford and Paul Millsap in the starting lineup and Mike Scott and Pero Antic off the bench, is chock-full of skill. However, it leaves something to be desired in terms of size and strength, particularly on the boards. It should come as little surprise, then, that Atlanta ranks 25th in the league in rebounding percentage, per NBA.com.
That's not going to cut it come playoff time in the East, when the Hawks have to battle the likes of Chicago, Cleveland and Washington—all of which have been top-10 rebounding outfits this season.
Kanter may not be the perfect solution, given his lack of experience, but he's a big bruiser nonetheless. Moreover, he's skilled enough on the offensive end to fit into Atlanta's rotation without taking much (if anything) away from the team when he's out there. And if Millsap bolts in free agency this summer, the Hawks can turn to Kanter, a restricted free agent himself, as a potential replacement.
Mack and Jenkins would hardly be the most tantalizing return Utah could dream up, but both could bolster the Jazz's weak backcourt. Whatever other concerns the Jazz have might just as easily be quieted by a draft pick anyway.
David West, PF, Indiana Pacers
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Trade No. 1: David West to Toronto; Amir Johnson and Terrence Ross to Indiana
According to ESPN's Marc Stein, the Indiana Pacers aren't eager to move West, especially with Paul George on the mend, and they won't do so unless the veteran power forward pushes for an exit—which, at this point, seems unlikely.
Nevertheless, West would be an intriguing choice to bolster Toronto's so-so frontcourt. What he lacks in athleticism and energy compared to Johnson, he more than makes up for in skill, savvy, experience and toughness. If the Raptors are to keep pace with the East's big bullies (i.e. Chicago, Cleveland and Washington), it'll need heaping helpings of everything that West brings to the table.
The Pacers would probably prefer a first-round pick for West, per Grantland's Zach Lowe, and the Raptors do have some to offer. But Ross, a talented 24-year-old who can stretch the floor with his threes, might just as easily suffice, as both support at small forward until George returns and as a more permanent solution at shooting guard thereafter.
Trade No. 2: West to Charlotte; Lance Stephenson and Cody Zeller to Indiana
This trade is just too poetic to be true, isn't it?
Stephenson returns to Naptown to occupy Indy's backcourt, under the watchful eye of his former mentor, Larry Bird. Zeller, who played his college ball at IU and was a native Hoosier before that, gets to play in front of friends, family and legions of adoring fans back in his home state.
On the other end, Charlotte gets a veteran—and one whose toughness and smarts should suit head coach Steve Clifford just fine—to (finally) fill the power forward spot vacated by Josh McRoberts.
Really, though, who says no?
Trade No. 3: West to Houston; Jason Terry, Kostas Papanikolaou and Terrence Jones/a first-round pick to Indiana
All the chatter about the Rockets going after a big-time floor general ignores one crucial point: They don't really need one. James Harden has done a marvelous job of running Houston's offense all season, and Patrick Beverley is as pesky a defender as there is at that position.
What the Rockets really need is a power forward who can go toe-to-toe with the frontcourt terrors out West (i.e. Tim Duncan, Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, Zach Randolph). West is certainly capable of that, more so than Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas would be.
He's no stretch 4, but West's jumper is reliable enough in the dreaded 18-to-20-foot range to afford Harden all the driving lanes he needs and Dwight Howard all the low-post space he requires.
On Indy's end, JET gives the Pacers another backcourt scoring option for now, while Papanikolaou and Jones infuse their wing-forward spots with more youth for later. If the Pacers prefer a first-rounder, Houston has some to spare.
Good luck talking Daryl Morey into parting ways with one, though.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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