NBA trade candidates entering 2024-25 training camp
Yesterday at 06:15 PM
It feels like just yesterday that the Boston Celtics won the NBA Finals. They won their league-record 18th championship largely because they drafted and developed elite talent. It took a number of trades to get them over the edge and finally allow the core to take the next step and win it all, though. The Celtics traded for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in the 2023 offseason, and those moves proved to be the right ones that brought in the missing pieces. Additionally, Derrick White took his game to new heights after the Celtics traded for him back in 2022.
Although Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were drafted by Boston, even their acquisitions were the results of trades from before they were in the league. Clearly, trades play a key part in building champions. In the modern NBA, trades are commonplace. Big trades involving the likes of Dejounte Murray, Mikal Bridges, Josh Giddey, Klay Thompson and many more occured in the 2024 offseason.
These trades will shape the outlook of the 2024-25 season, which is just around the corner. Trade season is far from over, though. This season’s trade deadline isn’t until Feb. 6, 2025, but there should be plenty of moves before then. There are even some names who could find themselves on the trading block sooner rather than later. Training camp opens up for every team on Sept. 25, and in this article, we are going to look at what NBA players are trade candidates this season. So, check out the gallery below.
Deandre Ayton
Deandre Ayton was involved in a huge trade last season that saw Damian Lillard end up with the Milwaukee Bucks. The 2018 first overall draft pick found a new home with the Portland Trail Blazers, and a fresh start was supposed to unlock his game. Although Ayton was a solid scorer during his time with the Phoenix Suns, he never quite lived up to the expectations of a number one draft pick, and his tenure with the Suns was filled with drama.
The Trail Blazers were rebuilding, though, and it was assumed Ayton would be handed the keys to their offense. The center didn’t see an expected step up in production, though. Despite playing the second most minutes per game of his career, Ayton had one of his worst seasons ever.
The Arizona product only scored 16.7 points per game in what was his least efficient season (57%) since his second year in the league. While Ayton struggled to develop into the star that Portland needed, other centers stepped up and established themselves as rotation caliber players. Notably, undrafted rookie Duop Reath had an underrated season shooting the deep ball. The 88 three-pointers Reath made were the second most ever for a rookie center, per StatMuse. Now he is in line to steal minutes from Ayton going forward.
Reath is far from Ayton’s biggest concern. The Trail Blazers used their lottery selection to draft Donovan Clingan. The seventh overall pick from UConn was one of the best prospects in the 2024 NBA Draft, and some even viewed him as the best player from the draft class. At 7-foot-2 with exceptional shot blocking skills, Clingan brings a much needed defensive presence, and he signals that the Trail Blazers are going in a different direction at the center position.
Ayton and Clingan are both pure centers, so they likely can’t share the floor together. Clingan’s draft status means that Portland views him as the center of the future, though, so Ayton could be on his way out. We haven’t even mentioned that Robert Williams is on the roster, either.
The often-injured but talented NBA center is likely a trade candidate as well, but he has more experience coming off of the bench than Ayton does. There simply aren’t enough center minutes to go around in Portland, so the former number-one pick will likely be looking for a new home at some point in the near future.
Ayton’s trade value is dwindling rapidly, but he is still an uber-talented player. In the right context, he has the potential to become the star people thought he was coming out of college. Even if he never becomes a number-one option or top-five center, he has demonstrated for six seasons now that he is a high-quality scorer and rebounder. Perhaps another rebuilding team will gamble on his talent, or maybe Ayton will end up with a contender. We’ve seen him contribute to a championship caliber team before, as his Suns made the NBA Finals with him starting. Regardless, it seems inevitable that Ayton won’t remain a Trail Blazer this entire season.
Zach LaVine
Zach LaVine has had his name in trade rumors for a long time now. We not only listed him as a trade target coming into the offseason, but we pinned the shooting guard as a player on the trade block before last year’s trade deadline. In fact, the Chicago Bulls are widely known to be publicly shopping LaVine, probably since even before the deadline, they just haven’t been able to find a partner to make a deal with.
The reason LaVine hasn’t been moved has nothing to do with his talent. Instead, it has been hard to find a team willing to take on his contract, which is one of the worst in the league. The Bulls star is making over $40 million in each of the next three seasons, with that third year being a player option that pays him nearly $50 million.
That is a lot of money tied up into a player who has dealt with injury issues in recent years. Additionally, since you have to match salary in trades, getting the money to work with another team is easier said than done. These factors have made LaVine’s trade value next to nothing.
LaVine is still an attractive piece that can significantly help a team, though. His shooting and athleticism combination has rarely been seen in the NBA before. The UCLA product is still only 29 years old, and he averaged 24.8 points per game as recently as 2022-23. Not long before that, during the 2020-21 season, LaVine was a 27.4 point-per-game scorer.
Those numbers prove that the two-time All-Star is a legitimate superstar, so if Chicago can’t get a fair return, then they shouldn’t trade him. LaVine is certainly a trade candidate, though, and the Bulls might be willing to give him up for an under-market rate because of how bad his contract is.
Kyle Kuzma
Kyle Kuzma might not be as good as his numbers with the Washington Wizards indicate, but you can’t ignore the 22.2 points per game he put up last season. Kuzma even scored 21.2 points per game the season prior, so his highly productive year last season wasn’t a fluke. Sure, Kuzma’s numbers are likely inflated by the fact he is on a bad team, and he’s unlikely to get the volume he gets in Washington anywhere else.
Even so, Kuzma will likely be a valuable trade piece this year. Kuzma has a championship under his belt from his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, so he has demonstrated that he can contribute to winning basketball, and he has seemingly developed since that time, too. The Wizards, though, likely don’t have much need for a 29-year-old.
Embracing the tank makes sense for Washington, and Kuzma is their best trade bait. Washington could likely net multiple draft picks for the wing, so he is a prime trade candidate for the 2024-25 NBA season.
Cam Johnson
The Brooklyn Nets signaled a complete rebuild with their 2024 offseason moves. Firstly, they traded the picks that the Phoenix Suns owed them in order to re-acquire their own draft picks. Now, Brooklyn has the freedom to lose games and be rewarded with a good draft pick. The team also traded Mikal Bridges, and they brought in a huge haul of draft picks in the process.
His time in Brooklyn proved that Bridges is probably best served to be a second or third option, and not the lead guy. Despite that, the Nets were able to acquire five first-round picks and pick swap options for his services. While moving on from a two-way star like Bridges hurts, the team was praised for their offseason as it gave the franchise a clear direction. Beforehand, the team was in purgatory: too good to get high draft picks but not good enough to truly contend.
The flurry of offseason moves means that the Nets likely aren’t done reshuffling the roster. It might be tank season for Brooklyn this year, so expect them to trade their best assets for more draft capital and young players. Cam Johnson is one player who will likely hear his name in trade rumors.
Johnson is one of the best floor spacers in the NBA, and he is under team control for three more seasons. Both of those are incredibly valuable in the trade market, so Johnson might return a huge trade package. Johnson’s team control means the Nets won’t be in a rush to trade him, but if they are offered a trade they can’t refuse, then they will surely take it.
Trae Young
The Atlanta Hawks backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray didn’t work out, forcing the Hawks to trade Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans this offseason. While the move signals that Atlanta will continue building around Young, the talented guard isn’t fully in the clear.
The point guard has continued to come up as a potential trade candidate, even after the Murray deal. We think the Hawks will stick with Young, at least for now, but there is a world in which he is traded. The Hawks have disappointed ever since they made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021.
Young’s defense, or lack thereof, is a big reason the Hawks have continuously fallen short. Although he is both one of the best scorers and playmakers in the NBA, it is hard to hide Young on the less glamorous side of the ball. Atlanta has tried to surround their point guard with defensive weapons, and it hasn’t worked.
The Oklahoma product is still clearly a superstar, though. According to HoopsHype, he is one of only two players to ever lead the NBA in both points and assists. The point guard’s wizardry with the ball in his hands is always a sight to behold. If a team needs a star scorer, they might come calling. In all likelihood, the Hawks will scoff at any trade offers, but Young will need to prove that he can play a winning brand of basketball sooner rather than later, or else he might end up with the same fate that Dejounte Murray did.
Brandon Ingram
We already talked about the Pelicans being active in the trade market this year, but they might not be done making moves. Brandon Ingram is an unrestricted free agent after this season, but the Pelicans have been unwilling to give him a contract extension so far. Now, the team is at risk of losing him for nothing, which makes him a trade candidate this NBA season.
Ingram is a lanky scorer, and he has had some success in New Orleans, but he and Zion Williamson haven’t been able to stay healthy together and at the same time, which has led to this Pelicans’ core never advancing past the first round. What was once viewed as a young, up-and-coming team is now viewed as a team that has been a disappointment.
The team’s addition of Dejounte Murray means that the Pelicans will probably wait things out and see if this core can win together before they blow things up, but it also means that the team has a star replacement ready for Ingram if they so choose to trade him.
While the small forward has averaged more than 20 points per game each season in New Orleans, he has never played more than 64 games in his five seasons with the team. Consistency and health have been lacking in the New Orleans organization, and Ingram doesn’t help in those regards. They also have a lot of money tied up into Murray, Williamson, and CJ McCollum for years to come, so they might not want to pay Ingram, especially because their depth was depleted this offseason in the Murray trade.
In the ideal world, Ingram works out with the Pelicans, and the team hands him a new contract. Things don’t always play out as hoped, though, and the Pelicans may be forced to trade Ingram or risk losing him for nothing.
Jerami Grant
The final player we are going to highlight who will be a trade candidate this NBA season is Jerami Grant. On a team full of young talent, Grant is the odd man out as the aging veteran. He can still provide a lot to a team if the Trail Blazers choose to trade him, though.
Grant has averaged over 20 points per game in each of the last two seasons, but Portland needs to give more touches to their young players. Scoot Henderson, the team’s 2023 third overall pick, had a bad rookie season, but the team wants to get him on track. Additionally, Shaedon Sharpe has star-level potential, but he hasn’t received enough touches to get there yet. Even Anfernee Simons needs to get up a fair amount of shots.
Trading Grant would clear up lots of playing time and touches for these young players, and the Trail Blazers would likely return some intriguing assets in the process. Portland traded two first rounders to land Den Advija. Trading away Grant would help replenish their draft capital.
The post NBA trade candidates entering 2024-25 training camp appeared first on ClutchPoints.
