We may have already seen the season’s biggest trade: Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Two contenders swapping big men and a key rotation wing is going to be hard to top.
However, it will not be the last trade. Maybe far from it. With a very crowded West packed with quality teams, and teams looking for an edge in the East, plus a handful of potential sellers looking to get worse and chase Cooper Flagg (and company), things are set up for a flurry of in-season trades.
Here are 10 players most likely to be traded this season, broken down into a couple of categories.
BIGGEST NAMES ON THE BOARD
The three names in this “big names” section were all in trade rumors this summer and in each case the market was much cooler for them than they or their current teams hoped.
Brandon Ingram
Ingram is a quality wing who can get a team buckets, he averaged 20.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists a game last season. However, the former All-Star is seen around the league more as a floor raiser than a guy teams want as a key piece of a contender. Those concerns lead to the bigger issue: This is the last year of Ingram’s contract and he’s looking for a four-year, $208 max contract extension (or a max contract next summer). Teams don’t want to pay it. Add in that no team is willing to rent him as a floor raiser in a season where it will pay to be at the top of the draft, and the market for Ingram dried up quickly.
After Paul George chose Philadelphia, the market did heat up around Ingram for a time, with Sacramento, Golden State and Cleveland all mentioned as having interest. All three went in another direction.
The market could bounce back. Teams’ self-evaluations will change once the games begin, there will be injuries, and the market for Ingram could open up again. The Pelicans may not be able to get the quality center they want in a trade, but there should be options.
Zach LaVine
LaVine has been available in a trade for a year-and-a-half and that’s not changing. LaVine is a former All-Star and an elite isolation scorer who averaged 19.5 points a game last season and is a career 38.2% shooter from 3.
Why are teams not interested? It starts with a contract that has three years and $138 million remaining on it — LaVine is expensive in a tax-apron world. Then there’s his injury history, he played just 25 games last season and has played in 65 or more games in four of his 10 NBA seasons. Finally, there are concerns about his lack of defense and how much he contributes to winning.
Like Ingram, this is a case where the market might shift as the season progresses, but for now, the Bulls are moving forward with LaVine as part of the team.
D’Angelo Russell
If the Lakers are going to make a bold move to become contenders again in the LeBron James era, it likely involves trading D’Angelo Russell.
That was also the thinking going into last season, then Russell got red hot in January — averaging 22.7 points and six assists a game that month — and became too valuable to trade for a Laker team trying to make the playoffs. Why they wanted to trade him in the first place came up again in the playoffs when he averaged 14.2 points a game on 38.4% shooting.
Russell is a veteran who can run the point and has a very tradable $18.7 million expiring contract. His name is going to come up in trade talks, whether a deal that fits the Lakers becomes available is another question.
THE BROOKLYN NETS
The next three names on this list are all from the same team: Brooklyn. The Nets are all-in on tanking after trading away Mikal Bridges and everyone on the roster is available. However, these names stand out.
Bojan Bogdanovic
Bogdanovic was sent to Brooklyn from New York in the Bridges trade. He’s a 6’7″ wing and a career 39.4% shooter from 3, a position and skill set a number of teams covet. However, before he is traded, the 35-year-old is going to have to show that his offseason wrist surgery is a thing of the past and that he can still light it up. Still, expect to see his name in trade rumors as the season wears on.
Dorian Finney-Smith
It’s a little surprising that Finney-Smith is still with the Nets. There was plenty of interest in the 31-year-old high-level defensive wing who averaged 8.5 points and 4.7 rebounds a game for Brooklyn last season. His name came up in trade talks during the summer, too, but no deal was struck.
Wing defense is a high priority around the NBA and as teams try to separate themselves in a crowded West — or try to make a leap in the East — expect some team to step up and get a deal done.
Cameron Johnson
The most coveted Nets player by a lot of other front offices, the 6’8″ wing is plug-and-play as a quality wing defender who is a career 39.2% shooter from beyond the 3-point line. He also has playoff experience, including having gone to the NBA Finals with the Phoenix Suns in 2021.
Brooklyn’s front office knows other teams covet Johnson and have kept the price high. However, if a team needs shooting and help on the wing — for example, if Cleveland got off to a slow start despite bringing back its four-man core that includes two bigs but questions on the wing — expect a deal to get done.
If you’re betting on one Nets player to get traded, bet on Johnson.
OTHER NAMES TO WATCH
Kyle Kuzma
The first two names on this part of the list are Wizards, a team in much the same boat as Brooklyn: Tanking and selling off its veterans.
Kuzma’s name has been in trade rumors since last February’s deadline but nothing has happened — and that’s good with Kuzma. He reportedly rejected a chance to be traded to Dallas last season, apparently choosing the larger role in Washington over returning to a role with a contending team (like when he won a ring with the Lakers in 2020). Would that be different this season?
Kuzma averaged 22.2 points and 6.6 rebounds a game last season, he’s not a great 3-point shooter (33.6% last season, in line with his career average) and is a minus defender. Kuzma can provide solid rotational depth at the forward spot and is on a reasonable contract, making $23.5 million this season and that number decreases each of the next two years (to $19.4 million in 2026-27). Teams like that contract, and it’s very tradable if they need to flip him again.
Jonas Valanciunas
A big-body, floor-spacing center is the kind of player a few teams could use (including the one he left in New Orleans). He averaged 12.2 points and 8.8 rebounds a game and is reliable — he’s played in at least 74 games each of the past three seasons. He’s also on a very reasonable contract making $9 million this season and $20.4 million over the following two seasons combined.
The Wizards will be sellers and Valanciunas’ name will come up. That said, no deal can happen for Valanciunas until after Dec. 15 because he signed a new contract this summer.
Bruce Brown
The sixth man who was critical for Denver in its championship run took the money last season in Indiana, but things never quite fit there. Brown was traded to Toronto, but the Raptors are rebuilding around Scottie Barnes and are expected to listen to trade offers for Brown — and plenty of GMs saw what he did in Denver and would love a guy like that on their bench.
Brown is a solid defender, is fantastic in transition and can provide secondary shot creation — a skill set that would plug effortlessly into a contender’s bench. Brown is making $23 million this season in the final year of his deal, so teams would not be taking on long-term money.
If I were going to bet on one guy on this list to be traded this season, it would be Brown.
Jerami Grant
The Trail Blazers are rebuilding and 30-year-old Grant no longer fits their timeline. He is the kind of big two-way wing who can shoot the 3 (40.2% last season, over 40% the previous two years in Portland) and provides size and scoring, he averaged 21 points a game last season. He is similar to Kuzma in that he sought out a larger offensive role on a lesser team rather than be the fourth option on a contender, but playoff teams calling on Grant will ask him to return to more to more of what he did in Denver.
Grant’s salary and injury history make a trade more difficult. He has four years and $132.4 million left on his contract (the fourth year is a player option) and he has not played in more than 63 games each of the last four seasons. Still, there will be interest because a lot of teams will be looking for help on the wing.
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