Crank Up The Trade Machine: 3 Trades Involving Players You Weren't Thinking About (But Should!)

Plus, why trade values are so hard to measure right now

Hey all!

So I’ve got to confess that I’ve shied away from random trade packages in the past, as I usually see it as a hallmark of clickbaity media that doesn’t really add any value to the basketball world. However, I recognize that it’s inherently fun to send some of your favorite players to the farthest reaches of the NBA like you’re playing MyGM mode on NBA2K, so I do want to return to the concept here.

However, unlike 99% of the media, I don’t want to look at the stars. No Jimmy Butler trades, no De’Aaron Fox nonsense, none of that. Instead, I want to look at some trade packages that I’d like to see happen with players that you probably weren’t thinking about at all. These are the role players, the fringe rotation guys, and the combinations of teams that we don’t normally talk about in the same sentence. No more begging for Jimmy to get traded to the Suns in a 5-team trade that makes about as much sense as an elephant in a minefield, more super niche player you never ever talk about getting sent to a team that you never would have thought he’d go to.

Let’s just get right into it — first up, an excuse to include one of my favorite big men who you’ve never heard of…

Note: Some of these trades may be absolutely terrible — I’m not a GM, so don’t expect these to be fully accurate from a value perspective. Instead, focus on the core pieces, like the main players involved, as draft pick value continues to fluctuate year by year.

Note Part 2: The reason draft pick value continues to be a weird metric is due to teams dishing them out rapidly sometimes and, during others, shying away from including them. Dennis Schroder was traded for a second-rounder, while Mikal Bridges was traded for 5 first-rounders. Hence, it’s hard to measure the current value of picks in today’s NBA.