5 Contracts NBA Teams Would Love to Trade Right Now
The NBA has spent the past few years in a Golden Age of Minimally Bad Contracts. That bookkeeping bliss may be coming to an end, though.
For a while now, as salary-cap growth has outpaced players' annual raises and most contracts remain on the shorter end, it has become harder to identify deals that engender legitimate offerer's remorse. To some extent, this remains true.
Few teams are populated with higher-profile deals considered underwater, let alone truly immovable. But that isn't the case across the board. Some contracts, many of them newer, remain ultra-difficult to relocate.
Rather than receiving notable compensation in return, the teams bankrolling these deals would be lucky to exit prospective trade talks this offseason getting anything more than short- and long-term cap relief. At least one or two of these contracts may even require sweeteners attached to them if front offices are serious about getting them off their books.
Bradley Beal, Phoenix Suns
1 of 5
Remaining Contract Value After 2024-25: Two years, $110.8 million
We know the Phoenix Suns would love to trade Bradley Beal because they kept trying to move him ahead of February's trade deadline, most notably for Jimmy Butler. Alas, his pay grade complicates any future talks, as Beal is not providing over $50 million in on-court value at this point of his career.
This isn't the actual issue here, though. That honor belongs to Beal's no-trade clause. He has the right of refusal over any deal the Suns attempt to strike. Leverage does not get any more absolute.
Phoenix might have more success jettisoning Beal over the summer. He could widen his scope of preferred destinations when he's not in the throes of the regular season. He recently hinted to ESPN's Tim MacMahon that he'd be more open to relocation in the offseason.
Even if he does allow a trade to go through, the Suns aren't likely to get assets in exchange for him. Their best-case scenario probably tops out at attaching one or both of their tradable first-round picks to his contract while netting payroll relief and perhaps a rotation-worthy player in return.
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
2 of 5
Remaining Contract Value After 2024-25: Four years, $248.1 million
The Philadelphia 76ers signed Joel Embiid to a three-year, $192.9 million extension this past fall. They're now tethered to him through the 2028-29 campaign (assuming he picks up his $69.1 million player option in his age-34 season) for nearly one-quarter of a billion dollars.
That is a potentially cataclysmic investment given the uncertainty surrounding his left knee and his career-long issues with general availability.
Philadelphia's decision to extend him when it did so remains curious. Embiid is an MVP talent at full strength, but he was far from 100 percent when he put pen to paper on the deal. On the contrary, he was working off an uneven performance at the 2024 Olympics.
Many chalked that up to his typical gradual post-injury crescendoโincluding, it seems, the Sixers. However, there was no harm in letting this season play out and revisiting an extension over this coming summer.
Do not fall for the inevitable reports that Philly wouldn't ever consider moving Embiid. That stance is reflective of his tradability more than his importance to the Sixers' future. Philly would be fortunate to flip him for purely expiring money until he cobbles together a string of availability.
Staring down the prospect of receiving nothing of real value, if not needing to throw in sweeteners of their own, the Sixers are better off holding out hope that Embiid recaptures and maintains his previous form, however unlikely that seems right now.
Paul George, Philadelphia 76ers
3 of 5
Remaining Contract Value After 2024-25: Three years, $162.3 million
When the Sixers signed Paul George to a four-year, $211.6 million max contract this past offseason, most acknowledged the final few years of said deal could age poorly. He holds a $56.6 million player option for 2027-28, his age-37 season.
The thinking goes that you pay him for what he will do in the first few years. However, those first few years aren't so looking so hot themselves.
Various issues have limited George to 41 games this year, and he won't be playing in any more. Philly recently ruled him out for the season after he received injections in his left knee and left adductor.
These injuries do not appear chronic, which lends hope to him being more available and better next year. At the same time, his absence also doesn't seem inextricably tied to the Sixers' tanking efforts. And even if they are, counting on a soon-to-be 35-year-old to regain his All-Star form is hardly the safest bet.
That risk-reward profile will be omnipresent in the event Philly shops him this summer. There is real appeal to freshening the team's financial slate, particularly if the Sixers retain their top-six-protected first-round draft pick. This mystique begins to fall apart when you consider the Joel Embiid of it all, as well as the possibility that prospective suitors won't take on George's deal without receiving something(s) else in return.
Jerami Grant, Portland Trail Blazers
4 of 5
Remaining Contract Value After 2024-25: Three years, $102.8 million
It was understood during the 2023 offseason that Jerami Grant's initial five-year, $160 million contract would not age well. The Portland Trail Blazers were embarking on a wholesale rebuild, effectively disaligning their timeline with Grant's own, and his salary was set to increase year-over-year, leaving him with a 2027-28 player option ahead of his age-33 campaign worth more than $36.4 million.
Rationalizing the investment always required unloading him sooner rather than later. Having someone in their early 30s on the books for around 20 percent of the salary cap isn't the end of the world, but it's not clear Grant's game will age all that well. More critically, devoting 20 percent of the salary cap to non-stars is a bigger risk during the Aprons Era.
Portland almost certainly could have received first-round compensation for him last season. Ditto for over this past summer, too. That's no longer as much of a given. Teams may attempt to leverage the Blazers against themselves, knowing Grant is less important following the emergence of Toumani Camara and the acquisition of Deni Avdija.
Most of Portland's prospective mainstays are receiving plenty of minutes, making the impact of Grant's continued presence far from detrimental. But as the roster changes, the Blazers will need to open up perimeter minutes for new faces. They could also stand to get more extensive looks at Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert and even Matisse Thybulle.
Keeping Grant is counterintuitive to where they're at. It'll be interesting to see whether their asking price for him drops accordingly this summer.
Patrick Williams, Chicago Bulls
5 of 5
Remaining Contract Value After 2024-25: Four years, $72 million
Giving Patrick Williams a five-year, $90 million deal in restricted free agency without facing the threat of any offer sheet looked like a special brand of malpractice by the Chicago Bulls last offseason. It seems even worse now.
Optimists will point to its annual flat rate of $18 million. That will never account for 13 percent of the salary cap, and it projects to dip below 9 percent by 2028-29.
This logic tracks if you believe there's a more dynamic version of Williams to plumb on offense. It's becoming quite clear that there is not.
At a time when Chicago is more experimental than usual, Williams is averaging fewer minutes per game and has seen his true usageโwhich incorporates playmakingโand touches per 75 possessions decline or remain static from last season, according to BBall-Index.
Modest price points can still become cap-sheet warts over a long enough term. This is one of those times. The Bulls not only went out five years on this contract, but they handed him a player option for no readily discernible reason. Williams' trade value is even deeper into the red because of it.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to theย Hardwood Knocksย podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report'sย Grant Hughes.
Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy ofย NBA.com,ย Basketball Reference,ย Statheadย orย Cleaning the Glass. Salary information viaย Spotrac. Draft-pick obligations viaย RealGM.
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