The NBA feels like it’s in the calm before the storm in the week leading up to the 2024 trade deadline. Over the past six months, the league has seen a number of big trades, including Damian Lillard to the Bucks, James Harden to the Clippers, and OG Anunoby to the League. knicksand Pascal Siakam to the Pacers — but it feels like a quiet deadline could be in store for a few different reasons.
At the moment, there appear to be more potential buyers than potential sellers in the NBA world. After so many trades in recent years, the lack of available first-round picks doesn’t give potential buyers the ammunition they need to acquire help. A new CBA agreement with a more punitive luxury tax threshold also hurt the poor season.
Of course, things can change quickly. Last year, I wrote a trade deadline prediction article that listed Fred VanVleet as the best player to change teams. Less than 48 hours later, Kevin Durant was traded to the Suns. VanVleet did not change teams until the summer, after which he left the Raptors and signed with the Rockets as a free agent.
Here are the biggest predictions for the 2024 NBA trade deadline.
Sixers make the NBA’s biggest move
No team is better equipped to make a big impact at the trade deadline. sixers. Philadelphia has a ton of expiring contracts, a surplus of first-round picks after the Harden trade earlier this season, and the belief is that if they make the right moves they can climb atop the Eastern Conference. There’s no doubt that Joel Embiid’s knee surgery will complicate the process, but Philadelphia has enough to push hard if they believe Embiid can be nearly 100 percent back on the court in time for the playoffs. There’s a reason.
The Sixers could use a third scorer to take pressure off Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. You can use a shot or use another impact defender. Dejounte Murray is a popular player, but another Hawks guard, Bogdan Bogdanovic, might be a better option for Philadelphia. The 31-year-old has a reasonable contract for the next two seasons, with a player option after that. He would give the Sixers another shooter who can be a leading scorer in the right situation. He’ll likely be in the lineup with Embiid on the floor or on the bench.
Ideally, the Sixers could also acquire Alex Caruso from Chicago. Caruso is the most impactful defender per minute in the sport, shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point range on 4.4 attempts per game and spending his entire career on offense. Neither move is easy to pull off, but Maury has the ammunition to pull it off.
Bulls keep Alex Caruso, that’s a mistake
The Bulls are forever stuck in the NBA’s terrifying no-man’s land. It’s not good enough to earn an outright playoff berth, but it’s not bad enough to warrant a franchise player in the draft. Chicago wants to make the playoffs every year, but the play-in tournament is the best they can do since Lonzo Ball went down with a knee injury more than two years ago. The Bulls would be wise to undertake a complete rebuild and sell some of their more talented veterans, and that starts with Caruso, who reportedly has significant league-wide interest.
There’s only one problem. The Bulls still hope to win the two play-in games to make the playoffs, and believe keeping Caruso is their best chance to do so. What a sad way of thinking. Chicago missed out on selling DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine at a high price last year, but Caruso is currently at the peak of his value. Will the Bulls make the same mistake again? Probably because VP Arturas Karnisovas is notoriously inactive during the trading period. The Bulls have made just one trade since 2021, the least in the NBA, and that was for a second-round pick in the previous draft.
The Bulls need to stop thinking that “continuation” will solve their problems. That won’t happen. Just making the playoffs in a league where more than half of the teams make the playoffs every year isn’t high enough for such a legendary franchise, so they need to readjust their goals. The Bulls need to make some real moves, and that starts with trading Caruso for a ton of assets.
Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images
If a star was to be traded, it would be Mikal Bridges.
1 year ago, brooklyn nets They had Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on their roster by the 2023 trade deadline. The big piece Brooklyn brought back in the KD trade was Mikal Bridges, who suddenly became the Nets’ new franchise player. Unfortunately for Brooklyn, the team is in a very bad situation with Bridges as their primary option, which makes his name interesting in trade rumors this season.
The Nets are currently 20-30 overall, but the team can’t even move up in the standings. houston rockets Acquired a first-round pick in the James Harden trade. That’s why a trade that sends Bridges to Houston makes sense for both sides. Brooklyn could get its pick back and have more flexibility in its rebuild, while Houston could add a great wing in the prime of his career to rebuild of its own. next level.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka will like Bridges, who is the type of perimeter defender and floor spacer his team needs to really compete in the West. For Brooklyn, this amounts to a get-out-of-jail-free card and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to undo the disastrous trade for Harden a few seasons ago. There’s an argument that Houston should be more patient than this, but Bridges is locked into a cheap contract and would be a good fit with the team’s young core. A trade from Bridges to Houston makes a lot of sense if either side has the guts to go for it.
