A year ago, Paul George and Kyrie Irving were the highest-profile stars to push their way out of their longtime NBA homes, asking for trades to new teams and having those requests granted. During the 2018 offseason, Kawhi Leonard followed suit.
Now that Leonard has been dealt to the Raptors in a trade that sent DeMar DeRozan to San Antonio, there are no marquee names still out there on the trade market.
Kevin Love looked like a possible trade candidate in the wake of LeBron James‘ free agency departure, but the Cavaliers opted to lock up Love to a long-term extension rather than shopping him. Kemba Walker was also viewed as a potential trade chip, but both he and the Hornets have been saying all the right things as of late about keeping their relationship going beyond his 2019 free agency.
With offseason roster moves slowing down, there doesn’t appear to be a star player out there who is unhappy enough in his current situation to request a trade before the season begins. Still, based on recent NBA history, it’s likely only a matter of time before the next star player becomes available.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders tackled this topic on Tuesday, speculating about a few All-Stars who might be among the next group of disgruntled veterans to seek a change of scenery. Kyler named Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, and Anthony Davis as possible candidates, though he acknowledges that it would take a disaster scenario for some of those names to show up in the rumor mill.
A player’s contract situation and his team’s success – or lack thereof – generally goes a long way toward determining how stable his situation is. A player like Butler is a candidate for this list because he can become a free agent next summer and the Timberwolves aren’t necessarily a lock to make the postseason in a hyper-competitive Western Conference. If Minnesota gets off to a poor start and whispers about supposed tension between Butler and his younger teammates persist, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear his name involved in trade rumors before the 2019 deadline.
Still, Butler is hardly the only candidate to be the next star player traded. Besides Kyler’s choices, newly-acquired stars like Leonard and DeMarcus Cousins could find themselves back on the trade block at some point in 2019 if things don’t go well with their new teams. Maybe the Wizards underperform again and decide to break up their All-Star backcourt. Perhaps a healthy Celtics roster creates playing-time problems for certain players and makes one of the team’s veteran stars unhappy.
Some of these situations are, of course, less likely than others, but it’s hard to rule anything out entirely — after all, we never thought the Leonard/Spurs situation would become as toxic as it did.
What do you think? Who will be the next NBA star who is traded, either as a result of a trade request or his team deciding to make a change?
Jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Don’t know if Tobias Harris is considered a star, but a lot of teams covet him. Stretch 4’s are a premium.
Blazers deal CJ if they look like they’re falling out of the playoffs.
To the Warriors to be with his buddy KD
Davis is always in trade rumors, no way he leaves New Orleans now with a 23 year old Julius Randle there now.
Kyrie and Jimmy play out this coming season with their respective teams and get together on the Nets next summer.
The nets? Idk about that i can see the knicks but idk bout the nets
Nets have over $90mil in cap space next year. $100mil if they can find somebody to take on Allen Crabbe’s contract.
Brooklyn’s going to get really good really fast next year.
Why on earth would Julius Randle make or break AD staying?
Julius is only 23 and could very well average in the 20s in scoring this coming year, him and Davis could be a force together as they both are very versatile bigs who can run the floor and finish through traffic as well as run the fast break and cause severe mismatches.
I think Boston is a good point in this article, if Kyrie stays healthy which is unlikely as he has only been in 3/7 seasons, but if he does might be hard on Rozier/Smart minutes wise. The same with Hayward’s come back that could affect the minutes that JB & JT enjoy & with Horford playing at the 4 too, who knows. I find funny when people say this year adding a Kyrie/Hayward Boston is all that much better than last year, but only 5 play at a time & is more important to keep players happy & keep developing young ones than people might think, obviously can be done, but adding 2 heavyweights to the team that last year got to the ECF doesn’t make them automatically better, though they should still get there & then is a 50/50 if they got to the Finals.
If Fultz and Turner make the strides I’m expecting Philly or Indiana might take them out.
Im with you on this, no body is giving Indiana any credit. They’ll make the ECF and my candidate for the Playoffs
I think ECF will be indiana and toronto
People sleeping on indiana
I’d love to see it,. but Indiana has trouble with Detroit and Toronto. It’ll be Boston and Golden State.
Well if Indiana makes the ECF then they already made the playoffs.
Anyway. Everything went right for them last year, so it’s more likely they level off. Turner should improve but he shares PT.
Also I’m voting Turner as the best player to be traded midyear. (Maybe for Knox)
Somebody can’t take it because Boston is so much better than Philadelphia, and it showed in the polls last week. People have to face up sometimes. Kyrie had a lot to do with the problems Cleveland had this past season. Hayward would have given Boston the outside shooting along with Kyrie that Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier didn’t have in the playoffs. Hayward would affect Browns minutes, not Tatums. Horford will be center, and Tatum power forward. And Brad Stevens is one of the top coaches in the NBA. I think Stevens is more concerned with Toronto than Philadelphia.
Ainge is one of the best GM’s in the league now. He has said the Celtics are all about championships and will pay the money to be competitive. Horford will opt in after next year. They’ll re sign Kyrie and Marcus Morris. They may let Rozier go. Ainge says he usually doesn’t offer extensions. They have up to 4 1st round picks next year too, including Sacramento’s. when it comes to trades you always hear Boston is in the best shape. everybody wants their players and picks. Ainge wouldn’t offer any starters for Kawhi or Paul George.
Dont think kyrie is coming back to boston bud
I trust Ainge. Kyrie loves Boston and he loves Brad Stevens. There is nowhere else he can go and have a better situation. They’ll give him the max. You are hearing the media talking, not Kyrie. Look how far off the media was with Kawhi.
Kyrie is as good as gone.
What possible evidence does anyone have of Kyrie leaving? I know he believes the earth is flat and thus could fall off the edge, but saying he’s gone is just hyperbole.
All I know is that it won’t be Lillard. He’s not going anywhere.
Blake Griffin or Kawhi Leonard