Blockbuster NBA Trade Ideas That Would Reshape the Association
Take a mental snapshot of the NBA as you know it now for memory's sake.
Our blockbuster trade ideas are about to reshape the heck out of it.
With the offseason fast approaching, it's our duty as dreamers of dreams to think big. Huge. Gargantuan. And that's what we're here to do.
Most of these concocted trade scenarios will stray from the rumor mill. Preexisting speculation will play a part in determining which players appear in this space, but they will have little to no bearing on the proposed destinations.
All deals will cater to the present state of every team involved. Rebuilding squads will look to flip established talent for picks and prospects. Contenders will be looking for an added edge. A select few outfits will be looking to end their rebuilds or vault up the Association's status ladder.
Matching up player salaries isn't as important here. Many teams are able to absorb bigger salaries in the offseason, when they have contracts coming off the books and cap space to wield. Those financial situations will be kept in mind—and subsequently exploited—throughout this trade-fest.
Staying true to the concept, these are all blockbusters. Superstar-level names will headline every deal. Remember, the NBA needs to looks drastically different after we're done. And that means we'll be taking leaps as we play the part of an ambitious keyboard general manager.
Which, really, is all part of the fun.
Ty to Texas
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Denver Nuggets Get: F Terrence Jones, F Kostas Papanikolaou and No. 18 pick in 2015 draft (via New Orleans)
Houston Rockets Get: PG Ty Lawson
Just after the regular season, Lawson waxed love for the Dallas Mavericks on Instagram. With the Mavericks barren of trade assets, though, he'll have to settle for another side of the Texas Triangle.
More importantly, the Nuggets will have to settle for what Houston can offer.
Although the Rockets can technically sugarcoat this deal with their 2017 first-rounder, they have no incentive to fork over that many assets. Lawson is talented enough, sure. But everyone and their mother's third cousin's husband's best friend's dog sitter know that Denver's relationship with its point man is deteriorating.
Aside from Lawson's public infatuation with playing for another team, there's the actual rumor mill. The Nuggets are open to dangling both Kenneth Faried and Lawson in trade talks, according to ESPN.com's Chad Ford, a factoid that is officially the NBA's worst-kept secret.
Grabbing Jones and the No. 18 pick is the equivalent of snagging two first-rounders. The Nuggets cannot ask for much more at this point.
Jones would instantly be the closest thing to a stretch forward in their employ, and he makes it easier for them to flip Faried and his $50 million contract elsewhere without asking for more than cap relief and used tube socks in return.
The Rockets, for their part, just need another point guard. Restricted free agent Patrick Beverley isn't a playmaking floor general, and James Harden cannot run point by himself over the course of a 100-plus game championship run.
Lawson isn't a proven catch-and-shoot scorer, something that could be problematic alongside the ball-dominant Harden. But his career three-point clip (36.9 percent) suggests he can develop into a spot-up weapon.
Giving up Jones does sting for the Rockets, since they're light on floor-spacing forwards themselves. Josh Smith's respectable playoff run, however, lends hope to the belief that he may develop a semi-reliable three-point stroke yet.
And with Lawson owed just $25.6 million through the next two seasons, the Rockets should have enough coin to chase a stretch 4 not named Smith or Donatas Motiejunas in 2016, once the salary cap skyrockets.
Calls to drastic action aren't standard for conference finalists by any means. But the Rockets still need to keep pace with the ever-savage West.
Landing Lawson is a good way to ensure they not only remain in the championship conversation but dominate it.
Four-Team Extravaganza Alert
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Boston Celtics Get: C Joakim Noah
Chicago Bulls Get: SF Nicolas Batum and No. 16 pick in 2015 draft (via Boston)
Denver Nuggets Get: PG Marcus Smart and two 2016 second-round picks (via Boston)
Portland Trail Blazers Get: SF Wilson Chandler and PF Danilo Gallinari
Imagination hats on.
First off, the salaries don't come close to matching up here. But the Blazers and Celtics both have the financial flexibility to absorb way more salary in return, so it'll all work out in the end. Don't you worry.
Noah should not be considered safe under the Bulls' new regime. Sheridan Hoops' Joe Kotoch says they're actually looking to deal one or both of Taj Gibson and Noah. New head coach Fred Hoiberg likes to space the floor, and Chicago has a surplus of lane-cloggers in its frontcourt triumvirate (Pau Gasol, Gibson, Noah).
Batum is a more than adequate consolation prize anyway. Both Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic are better off as stretch power forwards, and the Bulls don't have their small forward of the future in town. Knowing Jimmy Butler is barreling toward a max deal, that No. 16 pick comes in handy as an affordable bench reinforcement.
Acquiring Noah gives Boston a defensive linchpin who only knows one speed: never stop. He's a flight risk in free agency next summer, but this is the exact type of deal Celtics president Danny Ainge has positioned his team for—one that nets a star-caliber cornerstone and free-agent draw.
Smart isn't a necessity anymore with Avery Bradley, Isaiah Thomas and Evan Turner in tow. He's more valuable to the Nuggets, who, in our blockbuster-brimming universe, would be sending Lawson to the Rockets.
Flipping the expiring contracts of Gallinari and Chandler officially puts them in full-on rebuild mode. They would have prospects in Smart and Jones to evaluate, first- and second-round picks to use, and a world of financial wiggle room.
Over in Portland, the Blazers just need to get deeper, even if we're to assume LaMarcus Aldridge returns. Wesley Matthews is a question mark after tearing his Achilles, and Arron Afflalo will opt out of his contract to explore free agency, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
Chandler and Gallinari help fill what projects to be a shallow supporting cast once more. The former can at least begin to replace Batum's defense and scoring, while the latter remains a viable stretch 4 who can either play beside Aldridge or help Meyers Leonard replace him.
So, to recap: The Celtics expedite their rebuild considerably, the Nuggets hit reset in a big way, and the Blazers and Bulls bet on rotation-reshaping moves helping them push forward.
Blockbuster-y enough for you?
DeMarcus Cousins Wears a Different Shade of Purple
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Los Angeles Lakers Get: C DeMarcus Cousins and PF Carl Landry
Sacramento Kings Get: PF Julius Randle and No. 2 pick in 2015 NBA draft
To answer your question, no, we aren't yet ready to get off the Cousins treadmill. Sources told Bleacher Report's Howard Beck back in February the Kings don't view him as untouchable, and the relationship between him and the franchise has long seemed, shall we say, tenuous.
Not yet 25 years old, Cousins is young enough to headline an extensive rebuild. But the Kings are at a point where they can try to start over.
Cousins isn't a perfect fit for head coach George Karl's uptempo style of play, and there's a chance that No. 2 pick becomes Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns, a more explosive big with the gait of a small forward. Even if Towns is off the board, the Kings are still left with a top-two building block.
This deal also rids them of Landry's pact while netting a top-seven prospect in Randle, a nimble forward who rebounds like Faried, passes like Lamar Odom and scores like Zach Randolph. Karl can work with that.
Pulling the trigger on this is a no-brainer for the Lakers. Randle is a question mark after breaking his leg, and as Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding pointed out, they're obsessed with structuring their roster around talented towers.
Pair Cousins with a healthy Kobe Bryant and more seasoned Jordan Clarkson, and the Lakers will be fun to watch again. The All-Star behemoth is the post-Bryant cornerstone the Lakers desperately need; he won't earn more than $18.1 million annually through 2017-18, allotting general manager Mitch Kupchak greater flexibility for two full summers after the cap erupts in 2016.
To that end, Cousins is the free-agent draw Los Angeles doesn't otherwise boast. He doesn't need to play with his back to the basket to be effective, and his passing ability from inside the post perfectly complements any rangy wings the Lakers can place around him.
Now, a move like this doesn't impact the Kings' standing much. It sends them deeper into their rebuild, setting them back a few years as they bank on the big picture yielding better returns.
For the Lakers, though, this is their ticket back to relevance, improving their immediate outlook in ways even the most ideal foray into 2015 free agency cannot.
Another Four-Teamer
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Minnesota Timberwolves Get: 2016 top-15 protected first-round draft pick (from Philadelphia, via Oklahoma City)
Philadelphia 76ers Get: PG Eric Bledsoe
Phoenix Suns Get: PG Darren Collison, C Joel Embiid and SG Kevin Martin
Sacramento Kings: C Alex Len
Let's dive in head first, shall we?
Minnesota is rebuilding to the umpteenth power and should jump at the chance to flip Martin for a mid-end first-rounder. Easy peasy.
Same goes for the Kings. They can draft a point guard (D'Angelo Russell, Emmanuel Mudiay) with the No. 2 pick we have them acquiring from the Lakers and then select a big such as Willie Cauley-Stein at No. 6 to evaluate against Len in Cousins' absence.
The Sixers aren't ones for trading draft picks, but this is a can't-miss deal. General manager Sam Hinkie apparently shopped Embiid at the trade deadline, according to Forbes' Mark Heisler, and the team needs a point guard.
While the Sixers could use their No. 3 pick on a floor general, things don't look great on that front. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer brought word that Russell cancelled his visit with the team at the last minute. (It turns out he was just really sick.)
Mudiay is always an option, but the Sixers need to do something about their frontcourt logjam. As CSNPhilly.com's John Gonzalez previously wrote, their plan right now is to hope Nerlens Noel can play power forward:
"In preparation for that eventuality, Brown moved Noel to power forward toward the end of the year. The current concept calls for Embiid to play the five and Noel to play the four and everyone to dance happily off into the distance. Traditional position names and requirements — you’re a five, you only stand under the basket — are often overblown and outmoded.
But in very loose, macro terms, playing Noel at power forward and Embiid at center will theoretically, at times, require Noel to move away from the basket at both ends of the floor.
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Given Noel's offensive limitations—he shot 26.3 percent outside eight feet last season—Embiid is actually better suited to play the 4. Complicated still, Philly is trying to bring overseas prospect Dario Saric, another forward, stateside for 2015-16, according to EuroBasket.com's David Pick.
To top it all off, Draft Express has the Sixers taking Latvia's Kristaps Porzingis, yet another big, in the draft. That's too many bigs. Embiid should not be considered untouchable—especially when he would bring in someone who actually fills a need.
Nothing out there suggests the Suns are prepared to move Bledsoe, like they did Goran Dragic and Thomas. But they have Brandon Knight (restricted free agent), and Collison can help them maintain their dependence on dual-point guard lineups.
Martin is a wheels-greaser. The Suns could use a spot-up three-point shooter with Gerald Green hitting free agency and Dragic, one of their best catch-and-shoot gunners, playing in Miami.
Embiid is the meat and potatoes. He projects as a fortunes-turner, and the Suns cannot pass on the chance to bring in someone with his ceiling. He can score in and outside the post, play above the rim, run the break, pass and block shots.
In other words, he can put them back on the map.
Kevin Love Joins The Brow
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Cleveland Cavaliers Get: PF Ryan Anderson, SF Tyreke Evans and 2017 first-round pick
New Orleans Pelicans Get: Kevin Love
Viewed in a vacuum, Cleveland is not better off without Love. We're stepping outside that vacuum.
Asked if he planned on suiting up for the Cavaliers next season, Love offered a response that left no margin for speculation, per Northeast Ohio Media Group's Chris Haynes: "Yes sir." And yet, speculation hasn't died.
Speaking with one another on The Lowe Post podcast (h/t RealGM), Grantland's Zach Lowe and ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst both reiterated that Love is a flight risk. Lowe then expanded on Cleveland's own dilemma in a later column:
"Love is still valuable to the Cavaliers, but it becomes a question of resources: Can you really give max contracts to three players — LeBron, Love, and Tristan Thompson — who should all play heavy minutes at power forward, and with two other rotation big men already on the books? Doing so would put Cleveland in the ballpark of the biggest luxury-tax bill in league history next season, and when you lap Mikhail Prokhorov’s embarrassing Brooklyn debts, you’ve really done something. Splurging on everyone could even imperil Cleveland’s ability to add talent as the cap rises in 2016 and 2017.
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The Cavaliers already know they can make it out of the Eastern Conference without Love. It's their lack of a supporting cast that's killing them.
Turning Love into two rotation players makes the roster more dangerous. Evans is a decent defender and a solid passer, and he is learning to score off the ball; he hit 35.2 percent of his spot-up treys during the regular season. Anderson, meanwhile, is the poor man's, second-unit version of Love: a stretch 4 who drains threes and grabs the occasional rebound.
Add them to a docket that will still presumably include LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Timofey Mozgov (team option), Matthew Dellavedova (qualifying offer), J.R. Smith (player option) and Iman Shumpert (qualifying offer), and the Cavaliers will be able to deploy a rotation that stretches more than seven players deep.
Evans and Anderson will also cost less than it will to re-sign Love to a five-year deal, whether that happens this summer or in 2016. Anderson himself comes off the books after next season, and Evans will earn just $10.2 million in 2016-17, so the Cavaliers would be somewhat flexible for next summer's cap explosion.
One of two things must happen for Love to end up in New Orleans: He must agree to a sign-and-trade or, more preferably, opt in for 2015-16, in which case the Pelicans are betting they can sell him on a long-term partnership with Anthony Davis ahead of his free agency.
There's no reason to believe they can't either. Love would be the No. 2 option in New Orleans, as opposed to playing third fiddle. A floor-spacing 4 such as himself is also an ideal fit for Alvin Gentry's pick-and-roll spread offense.
And though Love doesn't provide much—or anything—on defense, he may actually help the Pelicans' rim protection by forcing them to slot Davis at the 5, where he can exclusively police the paint rather than chase around every opposing ball-handler before doubling back to protect the rim.
Coupling a top-two—yes, top-two—player such as Davis with a top-15 talent such as Love puts the Pelicans in the running for a top-five playoff seed in the brutally built Western Conference.
Consider the NBA officially, unequivocally, wholly shaken up.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited. Salary information via Basketball-Insiders. Draft-pick commitments from RealGM.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @danfavale.
