NBA Trades: There wasn’t precisely a lack of action during the 2023 NBA offseason.
Potential game changers like Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson, and Brandon Miller were invited to the draught. Players like Bradley Beal, Marcus Smart, Chris Paul, Kristaps Porziis, and John Collins were moved about throughout the NBA trades market. Jerami Grant, Fred VanVleet, Kyrie Irving, and Draymond Green all received nine-figure contracts during the free agency period.
NBA Trades That Ought To Have Taken Place This Offseason
Although there was a lot of activity, the Association might have been more, well, active. We’re starting the NBA trades engines and listing five exchanges that ought to have taken place this summer as a result.
The Nets sign a long-term flyer, Warriors add a plug-and-play wing.
- Golden State Warriors receive: Dorian Finney-Smith
- Brooklyn Nets receive: Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II
The Dubs’ two-timeline approach would have been effectively halted by this agreement, but that strategy is still barely alive. Golden State has dealt Ryan Rollins, Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and James Wiseman all within the past year. The Warriors are currently wholly focused on winning, as they should be.
Golden State should make every effort to make the most of Stephen Curry’s remaining peak as it’s rare for someone with his skill to come along once in a lifetime. If doing so boosts the Warriors’ chances of winning the title in the ensuing season, doing so is worth trading a possible future star for a reliable role player.
This agreement would have achieved that. Kuminga may still have a very high ceiling, but the Warriors don’t trust him to help them win a championship. That much was evident during their most recent playoff run, during which time they played him for just 61 minutes total over 10 games and didn’t use him as a substitute in three different contests.
Golden State wouldn’t have the same worries if they had Finney-Smith, who is precisely the kind of shape-shifting defence this club needs more of. Despite his shooting declining this past season (33.7 percent from deep range compared to 38.9 percent the three seasons prior), he has established himself as one of the top three-and-D role players in the league.
In Golden State, his defensive flexibility and ability to spread the floor might net him close to 30 minutes every night. That’s almost definitely more playing time than the Warriors would want to get out of Kuminga, whose growing pains have proven to be more than the Dubs are prepared to tolerate, and Payton, a terrific defender with significant offensive limitations.
However, because the Nets don’t have the same sense of pressure to win the title or go home, they can see the value in giving Kuminga room to develop. With Mikal Bridges still in his prime, he may have a lot to offer if he matured rapidly enough. Payton would mostly be added for salary-matching reasons, but Brooklyn could appreciate him as a defensive leader.
You might also be interested in reading this: Top 20 Most Influential NBA Trades Of All Time
Celtics, Wizards Swap PGs
- Boston Celtics receive: Tyus Jones and Ryan Rollins
- Washington Wizards receive: Malcolm Brogdon and 2024 first-round pick
In the three-team trade that sent Marcus Smart away from Boston and brought Kristaps Porziis back, the Celtics and Wizards teamed up for what may have been this summer’s largest NBA trades. But they could have made another agreement and rubbed each other’s back better.
Originally, Brogdon was meant to be removed from that transaction in place of Smart. The fact that it is now well known hasn’t pleased Brogdon, maybe leading to a distraction that this team doesn’t need.
In 2022–23, New York suffered a terrible minus-10.7 points per 100 possessions at crucial moments (last five minutes with a scoring margin of five points or fewer), allowing a number of tight games to slip away from them.
On the Celtics Beat podcast from CLNS Media, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe noted, “He wasn’t happy in July.” “Will he still be as unhappy in September? We are unsure. He hasn’t spoken to anyone all summer. Malcolm Brogdon was not pleased with the agreement or the possibility of being dealt with. He was furious.”
If the Celtics had believed they could rely on Brogdon, perhaps they wouldn’t have attempted to deal with him. But they are unable to do so since he has never played in more than 70 games in his seven-year career, rendering him meaningless. He likes to score to set the table, thus they could have concluded he wasn’t the ideal match for this core.
Jones could have been a better option because of this. The floor general is allergic to turnovers and is always looking to pass. The gap between Jones’ career of 2,108 assists and 400 turnovers would be mind-boggling for a club striving to improve its playmaking and offensive organisation.
His increased scoring and shooting danger in recent years has increased his allure. He has put up a respectable 14.4 points per 36 minutes on average since the 2019–20 season began, hitting 36.9 percent from three. Jones may have served Boston well, and the Celtics could have given Rollins a chance to establish himself as a perimeter threat.
The incoming first-round selection would have been more important to Washington than any of the players involved. The Wizards may have marketed Brogdon to win-now purchasers in an effort to successfully obtain more assets from this transaction.
Raptors look to the future as Pacers add a star PF.
- Indiana Pacers receive: Pascal Siakam
- Toronto Raptors receive: Buddy Hield, Daniel Theis, Obi Toppin, 2025 first-round pick (top-five protected) and 2027 first-round pick
With Toppin (the No. 8 selection in 2020) and Jarace Walker (the No. 8 pick this year) both having a shot to someday manage what has been a difficult position for this club, the Pacers were wise to invest in their power forward rotation this summer. However, given that the rest of the roster appears to be prepared, this core may have required a more immediate response.
Last season, Indiana finished 26-22 with a plus-6.4 net rating while Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, and Benedict Mathurin were all on the team. With a net efficiency only surpassed by the Boston Celtics, that is a 44-win pace.
Imagine now bringing in Siakam, a two-time All-NBA pick. Siakam can be a major scorer (24.2 points per game last year), a secondary facilitator (5.8 assists), or even a spot-up shooter (38.1 percent) on catch-and-shoot threes in 2018–19, when he was playing off of Kawhi Leonard, making him competent enough to co–lead this offence with Haliburton.
Haliburton, a pick-and-roll ball handler in the 87th percentile last season, could direct many films alongside Siakam and Turner. Together, the large men could defendably cover an incredible amount of ground. As a slasher, aggressor, and long-range shooter, Mathurin may excel. The other holes would all be filled by Bruce Brown, who would play the same glue-guy position he excelled in with the reigning champion Denver Nuggets this past season.
Walker could be prepared to fill the vacuum even if Siakam left after this season, which is possibly why Indiana “reached out” to Toronto over Siakam earlier this summer, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange. The Pacers appear to have a bright future, but Siakam’s presence would make the team’s current season much more engaging.
This NBA trades would have put Toronto’s long-term prospects front and centre. Scottie Barnes, whose up-and-down sophomore campaign did not irreparably harm his imposing two-way ceiling, might have served as the Raptors’ focal point with Siakam off the roster.
While Toronto wouldn’t receive many players back (Hield might be used as a NBA trades chip and Theis as contract padding), Toppin’s finishing ability may have made him a good match for a playmaker of the calibre of Barnes. Additionally, Siakam, who is expected to become an unrestricted free agent after this season, would have received a respectable haul from the two selections (one weakly protected and the other not at all).
Bulls Reset, Knicks Acquire a Closer
- New York Knicks receive: DeMar DeRozan
- Chicago Bulls receive: RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes and 2024 first-round pick (top-10 protected)
The ‘Bockers are essentially running it back aside from signing Donte DiVincenzo. To enter the top tier of the Eastern Conference, they most likely still require an outside boost if they have any aspirations of above mediocrity.
It’s unlikely that internal development will be sufficient to drive the transition from reasonably good to excellent because there isn’t a clear star possibility in their prospect pool. DeRozan, who contributed the second-most clutch points in each of the previous two seasons, would have been a proven late-game player who might have solved the problem.
at 2022–23, New York suffered a terrible minus-10.7 points per 100 possessions at crucial moments (last five minutes with a scoring margin of five points or fewer), allowing a number of tight games to slip away from them. Maintaining momentum on that front may be the difference between a victory total in the mid-50s (or higher) and the upper-40s.
Although DeRozan, Jalen Brunson, and Julius Randle are all used to manoeuvring through congested lanes, their presence wouldn’t solve the Knicks’ spacing problems. In addition, the Knicks aren’t getting many long-range shots from Barrett, so it makes more sense to replace him with someone who can be more effective in the mid-range as a scorer and shot-creator.
The Bulls, meanwhile, would have come to terms with what everyone else has known for some time: that a rebuild became necessary as soon as Lonzo Ball sustained a knee injury that will likely keep him out until the 2023–24 season. To disregard all of the facts that it cannot raise its ceiling above mediocrity, its front office selected the alternative course of investing in this core.
Dealing with DeRozan would have shifted Chicago’s attention, as it should be, squarely to the future. Barrett, Grimes, and an upcoming first-round selection would have added to a youthful core that already had players like Patrick Williams, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and (keeping my fingers crossed) perhaps Dalen Terry to give this franchise the boost it needs.
Nets Sign Lillard, Assemble Blazers’ Resources
- Brooklyn Nets receive: Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkić
- Portland Trail Blazers receive: Ben Simmons, Spencer Dinwiddie, Noah Clowney, Dariq Whitehead, Day’Ron Sharpe, 2025 first-round pick
Lillard has been delayed in the Pacific Northwest for more than two months after making his first trade request, so this deal may yet go through. But if it had happened earlier in the summer, it would have made clear Portland’s long-term objectives as well as Brooklyn’s aspirations to win now.
Lillard may not have a favourite team, but the Nets are led by Mikal Bridges, a guy Lillard has previously shown a love for. They would also be able to quickly climb the Eastern Conference standings with a Lillard offensive wizard. Lillard’s presence would elevate all the catch-and-shoot perimeter shooters they would have surrounding this very talented combo, demoting Bridges to a more natural second-star role.
Bridges has a higher gear than anybody realised he had, as Brooklyn witnessed firsthand. After joining the Nets on a trade-deadline basis, he scored 26.1 points on 47.5/37.6/89.4 shooting in 27 games. Only three players, including the finest scorers on the globe in Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving, averaged 26 or more points on 47, 37, and 89 percent shooting last season.
With this wealth of inbound assets, the Blazers could have started their post-Lillard era off to a flying start while still saving money on salaries by not having to pay Lillard and Nurki’s outstanding debts. While Clowney, Whitehead, and Sharpe are all still young enough to establish themselves as members of the team’s core for the foreseeable future, all three firsts would come from veteran-heavy, championship-chasing organisations with hazy futures.
Dinwiddie and Simmons would both be salary-fillers in many ways. However, if the three-time All-Star is ever going to turn things around, this circumstance may bring out the best in him. With powerful, youthful guys like Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and Anfernee Simons in Portland, he could go up and down the court with ease, and the front office would have the time to carefully fill out the rest of the roster with players who could enhance Simmons’ strengths.
NBA Trades That Ought To Have Taken Place This Offseason. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
