Thursday's NBA Draft has the potential to alter the balance of power in the NBA, starting with No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama. But what is perhaps more immediately influential are all the potential trades.
The 2023 NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, June 22 at 8 p.m. E.T. in Chicago. While all eyes will be on Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs at No. 1, not to mention the Hornets and their decision at No. 2, draft night has the potential to be shaped by the trade market as much as anything else.
We have been inundated with trade chatter starting as early as Charlotte in the No. 2 slot and Portland in the No. 3 slot. Several big names have already infiltrated the rumor mill, from aging stars to pre-prime superstars with tattered reputations.
With every team preparing for the new collective bargaining agreement and the myriad financial restrictions it will impose starting July 1, expect a flurry of activity. Teams will be looking to balance the books, manage star salaries, and place renewed energy into player development — starting with the incoming rookies.
So, which current NBA players should be dealt as part of this flurry? Here are five names that simply make too much sense.
No. 5 player who should be traded during NBA Draft: Tobias Harris
The Sixers have been tethered to Tobias Harris for the last four years after he signed a ludicrous five-year, $180 million extension in the fateful summer of 2019. That decision has hamstrung the Sixers' ability to maneuver on the trade market and in free agency ever sense.
Well, not anymore.
Harris is entering the final year of his mega-deal with roughly $39.3 million left on the books. That number is still egregious and no team will be outwardly begging to pay him that much money for what he provides on the court.
That said, the new CBA will have teams interested in big chunks of expiring money. Harris is off the books clean next season and even if his next employer wishes to re-sign him, the price tag won't be nearly as high.
For the Sixers, it's time to flesh out the depth chart and shake things up around the Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tyrese Maxey core. Harris is a respectable fourth banana who has made real efforts to conform to his smaller role, but he's still a square peg in a round hole half the time. If Philadelphia can exchange him for a couple legitimate role players — maybe even some draft capital — it would be worthwhile.
No. 4 player who should be traded during NBA Draft: Deandre Ayton
The Suns made the first big splash of the summer by acquiring Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, and pocket change (a lot of pocket change, to be fair). Now Phoenix is left with four guaranteed contracts on the books ahead of free agency and the draft: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and… Deandre Ayton.
Those four players combine for over $160 million in payroll. Ayton is the obvious odd man out if Phoenix wants to spread the wealth a bit more evenly around their new 'Big 3.' The No. 1 pick's poor effort in the playoffs, career-worst regular season, and obvious friction with the coaching staff and front office only increases the odds — maybe even the necessity — of making a move.
Ayton doesn't have any built-in problems with new head coach Frank Vogel, but even the change in leadership doesn't erase questions about Ayton's fit. For all his physical gifts, Ayton isn't a prolific rim protector. Frank Vogel is a defensive savant who has always built his most successful units around elite shot-blockers like Anthony Davis or Roy Hibbert.
The dream scenario here is for Phoenix to turn Ayton into multiple rotation-level players — ideally a replacement center with some length in the middle and a wing or two to populate the rotation around Durant, Booker, and Beal.
Ayton's trade value is evidently not very high, but it's hard to imagine no teams taking interest in a 24-year-old center with Ayton's intersection of skill and body-building physique. There is absolutely untapped star upside and it does feel like a change of scenery is the only path to unlocking it. The Suns should be actively looking to trade him and other teams should be actively looking to poach him for pennies on the dollar.
No. 3 player who should be traded during NBA Draft: OG Anunoby
OG Anunoby's name was flying fast and frequent at the NBA trade deadline in February but the Raptors ultimately held out despite several very appealing offers. Now Toronto, fresh off missing the postseason entirely, is staring down the barrel of another mediocre season. It's time to make real changes to the roster, starting with Anunoby.
On the surface there's no reason for Anunoby specifically to be the starting point for Toronto's rebuild/retool. He's only 25 years old and he was just named to the All-Defensive team. Projecting over the next half-decade, how many wing defenders are more bankably elite than Anunoby — even considering the injury history? Not many.
That said, every reported trade offer for Anunoby grows more and more ludicrous. If the market for Anunoby is what it's reported to be and the Raptors take serious stock of their roster situation, there's simply no justifiable reason not to trade Anunoby.
Toronto received multiple trade offers of three first-round picks for Anunoby last season and it appears that he is garnering similar interest ahead of Thursday's NBA Draft. While Anunoby is undeniably talented, combining his marvelous point-of-attack defense with brute-force isolation scoring and reliable 3-point shooting, he is not the second coming.
The Raptors have the talent to avoid a full-blown rebuild if that's what Masai Ujiri and the front office crave. The path there doesn't involve trading your superstar in Pascal Siakam, and it doesn't involve letting go of your recent Rookie of the Year in Scottie Barnes. Selling high on Anunoby for a gaggle of picks and an influx of guard talent to space the floor and resuscitate the Raptors' halfcourt playmaking apparatus is the way to go.
No. 2 player who should be traded during NBA Draft: Dejounte Murray
The Hawks traded an alarming amount of their future to acquire Dejounte Murray last summer. The early returns were quite poor, with Atlanta finishing the year at exactly .500 — well below expectations for a team hoping to build on that not-so-distant conference finals appearance a couple years ago.
There was always built-in risk pairing Murray with Trae Young in the backcourt. The latter is the most ball-dominant point guard in the NBA east of Dallas. Murray was the central force in San Antonio's offense before his arrival, sporting a high usage rate of his own and averaging 9.2 assists per game in his last season with the Spurs.
For Atlanta, the bet was simple: Murray is an All-Star who can lessen the burden on Trae Young, lead the second unit offensively, and completely revamp the Hawks' porous perimeter defense. That last point was more than half the equation, frankly: Murray was supposed to be the Hawks' long-missing perimeter stopper.
That ultimately wasn't the case. Murray's length and instincts still poked through from time to time, but he was far from the All-Defense force Atlanta fans expected. On the offensive end, he frequently looked lost without the ball in his hands, floating aimlessly on the perimeter and not shooting enough 3s to make the Young fit work. Had Young been more willing to explore his movement shooting ability off the ball, maybe Atlanta's offense would have been something fearsome. But that wasn't the case — Young still sported the seventh-highest usage rate in the NBA last season.
Atlanta cannot become the next victim of the NBA sunk cost fallacy. The Hawks will not receive the same trade value for Murray that San Antonio received from Atlanta. That shouldn't prevent the front office from recognizing a failed experiment for what it is and making the best move for the team. If Murray can net the Hawks something like a rotation wing and a decent draft pick in the final year of his contract, that's probably enough to warrant consideration.
No. 1 player who should be traded during NBA Draft: Damian Lillard
Damian Lillard's unwavering commitment to Portland has been admirable. He wants to bring a championship to the team that drafted him. You can't knock him for that. Portland's commitment to Dame has been equally admirable. There aren't many modern-day examples of team and star being so connected.
That said, the synergy between player and city seems to be unraveling. Dame won't demand out, that's evidently not his style, but he will talk about hypothetical trade destinations. The Blazers have a difficult decision with the No. 3 overall pick on Thursday: trade it to fully embrace Lillard's win-now timeline, or draft your potential next franchise cornerstone in Scoot Henderson.
We can't fault the Blazers for wanting to compete with the superstar they already have. There's no guarantee Henderson ever approaches Lillard's current level of stardom and in a mid-sized market like Portland, it's hard to acquire talent through free agency. The Blazers would be committing to years of rebuilding with a Lillard trade with no guaranteed better outcome.
Unfortunately, the timelines simply don't add up. Portland's next-best players are Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe who are 23 and 20 years old, respectively. Jerami Grant is a free agent, Jusuf Nurkic is on a steep decline, and all of Portland's recent trade acquisitions — Matisse Thybulle, Cam Reddish, etc. — are blatantly angling for youth. It's turning into a far less fruitful version of the Warriors' two timelines approach, with Lillard simply not capable of sustaining a winning team on his own like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green.
It's time for Portland and Lillard to accept reality. The best move for the Blazers is to embrace the inevitable and load up on assets while there's still time. Lillard is 32 years old coming off the best individual season of his career. His trade value won't get any higher with age. For Lillard, there's no harm in embracing the next step either. He should have a significant say in his next home, with teams like Miami or Brooklyn looking more than ready to assemble a contender around him.
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