NBA trade deadline

The NBA trade deadline is here and time is running out for teams who want to bolster their roster for the final stretch of the regular season.

The Wizards are trying to close the gap to make the playoffs. They have just a few more days to strike a trade.

Jeff Pratt breaks down potential landing spots, return packages and more for the top NBA players on the trade block ahead of Thursday's deadline.

The West is wide open, and neither Memphis nor New Orleans wants to let one of their biggest rivals acquire a young star like Anunoby. That being said, if a team approaches Toronto with a fantastic offer, they should be open to moving him. VanVleet is heading towards unrestricted free agency this offseason, and his contract ($21.5 million) isn’t too inflated to scare off potential trade partners. With Onyeka Okongwu in the midst of a career-best campaign, Atlanta could theoretically move on from Collins and still have enough frontcourt depth. However, the 26-year-old has since picked up his level of play, and Minnesota is now back in the playoff race partially thanks to him. Kuzma has been fantastic for the Wizards, averaging a career-high 21.3 points per game this year along with 7.6 rebounds. With Al Horford resting on the second night of back-to-backs and Rob Williams’ injury history, Boston would certainly like to add another starting caliber center to the mix as insurance. The Spurs have been adamant that they would like to keep him but if the right deal comes around, they’re open to moving on. However, we all know his abilities are still there in that department, and he has taken a significant step forward on the boards, averaging 8.2 rebounds per game. Denver is in prime position to contend for a spot in the NBA Finals this year, and Hyland simply doesn’t fit their timeline. At 22 years old, Bones is in the midst of a productive sophomore campaign, averaging 12.1 points and 3.0 assists in just 19.5 minutes per game. While Irving was admittedly the biggest name being floated in conversations around the league, there are still plenty of other valuable trade candidates who could be moved prior to Thursday’s deadline.

HoopsHype ranks the 10 players who have appeared most often in trade rumors since Sunday, led by Kevin Durant and Pascal Siakam.

Thybulle could be a huge difference-maker on either of those teams, as his impact on defense goes far beyond the stat sheet. From talking to executives around the league, they don’t believe he’s going to be traded, unless you overpay and blow Toronto away with a crazy offer. At the top of the conference, the Celtics are looking for upgrades at center and wing. without adding sweetener to the deal. as a player the team would like to move. Though a strong offensive contributor when in a shooting rhythm, Hardaway’s contract is viewed as a long-term investment that doesn’t justify his streaky production while limits the Mavericks’ future financial flexibility. Multiple league insiders told The Times-Picayune that the Raptors’ preference is to get back young players in any deal for Anunoby as opposed to picks. …. Even with all that said, I’ve gathered that it’s not a given that the Pistons part with Bey. Yet whether or not Durant wants to remain in Brooklyn with Irving – the only other star on the roster – out of town is unclear. But a rival front office executive told SCNG that Westbrook, who is averaging 15.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists this season, still likely requires significant draft compensation to be moved, likely at least one unprotected first-round pick and maybe more. 1 in our last trade rumor rankings piece was Kyrie Irving, who is now a Dallas Maverick, so finishing high up on this list is at times a good indicator of a player who might get traded soon. As such, we’re back with another edition of our trade rumors rankings series, where we’ll rank the 10 players who have appeared most often in trade rumors since Sunday, as judged by appearances on our

Having to balance their long-term outlook and luxury-tax concerns with the potential of a deep playoff run will make this a tricky few days for the Sixers ...

Then again, they could always decide to go all-in on this year's title run and deal with the consequences this summer, even if it means losing some of their free agents for nothing. They have Early Bird rights on Niang, so they can offer him a contract with a starting salary that's 105 percent of the average salary for this season. [Jake Fischer](https://sports.yahoo.com/lakers-still-exploring-ways-to-improve-with-potential-russell-westbrook-deal-174912465.html) of Yahoo Sports mentioned Utah Jazz big man Jarred Vanderbilt as a possible target, although Utah's price for him may be out of the Sixers' range, according to [Paul Hudrick](https://twitter.com/paulhudrick/status/1621984632123146245) of Liberty Ballers. If Harden is either willing to pick up his player option or re-sign for far less than his maximum salary, it could enable the Sixers to re-sign some combination of Milton, Thybulle, Niang and Reed without dipping too far into the tax. 6 overall pick in 2013, per [James Edwards III](https://theathletic.com/4155722/2023/02/05/nba-trade-deadline-pistons/) of The Athletic. Furkan Korkmaz is their only other option beyond House at that spot, and he's been relegated to mop-up duty for most of the season. The Sixers aren't likely to find a taker for Harris, who's being paid $37.6 million this year and is owed $39.3 million next year. The Sixers signed Tucker and House this past offseason to round out their wing/forward depth, but neither has panned out quite as expected so far. [more punitive repeater tax](https://www.libertyballers.com/2023/1/17/23506715/repeater-tax-could-affect-how-sixers-approach-trade-deadline-daryl-morey-josh-harris) next season if they stay above the tax line this year, too. Team president Daryl Morey [recently hinted](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryantoporek/2023/01/27/sixers-president-daryl-morey-hints-at-a-relatively-quiet-nba-trade-deadline/) that the Sixers are eyeing more marginal upgrades ahead of this year's deadline rather than another blockbuster. Ideally, the Sixers would find a trade that improves their playoff rotation while allowing them to dip below the tax line. [has adjusted well](https://www.libertyballers.com/2023/1/19/23562177/tyrese-maxeys-sixers-starting-lineup-experiment-doc-rivers) to his new role as a sixth man, while Tobias Harris has adapted his game to fit well alongside the Sixers' other stars.

This season Korkmaz has played in only 25 games and produced the lowest averages in scoring and minutes since his rookie year.

But this isn’t the first time that Korkmaz requested to be traded because of a lack of playing time. He’s making $5 million this season and is in line to make $5.37 million next season. Now, he’s in the second year of the three-year, $15 million contract he signed on Aug. He also asked to be moved during the 2018-19 season. “I want to be on the court. But sources have said Korkmaz was informed that Morey will try to package him in a deal.

Days before the NBA trade deadline, Sixers wing Furkan Korkmaz has added to the names of players requesting to be moved.

The 26th overall pick from the 2016 NBA Draft wound up re-signing with Philly that summer and signed another deal with the team in 2021. “You are getting the message.” He explained that he will go about his business as usual but is eager to get back onto the court. He finds himself playing just 10.2 minutes per game, the lowest since his rookie season, as he struggles to find playing time on a deeper team.

While some players may get through the February 9 trade deadline unscathed, that doesn't mean they'll finish the season on their current squads.

That said, the team may want to hold on to him, just in case his salary is needed for a trade past this season. The waiver deadline to be eligible for non-free agents is March 1. If so, he may become a free agent when the dust settles. The Charlotte Hornets should have every reason to find a trade for Plumlee. A deal could come in the next week, but if not, Crowder could end up stuck in Phoenix. The Lakers aren't buying him out, but they may trade him. If the team doesn't trade him, Wall is a buyout candidate. Last year, Ibaka split time with the Bucks and Clippers, contributing 16.2 minutes a game. Not because the team wants to punish Crowder but to teams who refused to meet their matching price in trade. Given his ties to Klutch Sports, could he end up with the Los Angeles Lakers? Instead of Wall, the Clippers have relied on Terance Mann and Reggie Jackson, leaving Wall as trade bait going into the deadline. Several quality veterans may be found on the buyout market.

The Trade Machine Killjoy is back for another installation of my annual “all your trade ideas are bad” column. Let's sort through dozens of trade proposals ...

And now that Kyrie Irving is a member of the Mavericks, maybe the Lakers become desperate enough to leave those picks fully unprotected. Offensively, it would be a massive win for New Orleans either way, and the Raptors getting Daniels and a mid-round first is solid, if unspectacular. For Toronto, this is pretty straightforward as a year-plus look at Nwora, the option to re-up Saric with Bird rights if he fits, and a couple of interesting draft assets. Would it surprise you if they love Trent’s swagger and scoring ability and are willing to overpay to make a push to avoid the play-in? They gave up Saric, Crowder, Craig, two firsts, and a second for Anunoby and filler pieces in Koreen’s scenario, and here they give up Saric, Crowder, a first, and a pick swap for Trent and a pair of veteran bench fliers. It might be a bit on the high end, but we’ve heard rumblings the Bucks will throw salaries and seconds around to land Crowder. The main takeaway here should probably be that if the Pelicans were engaged on Anunoby, they have a lot of different frameworks and assets to get a deal done. Portland is also in a weird position for dealing picks, as they’d need to remove lottery protection on their 2023 first-rounder (owed to Chicago), something they may not be willing to do while on the fringes of the playoffs. I’d prefer the boatload of picks to the package of Shamet (an inexpensive and useful bench piece) and Johnson (a plug-and-play spacing wing who is older than Anunoby and a pending free agent). I don’t think a win-now move is particularly in the cards for the Thunder, however, they and the Pacers are the Anunoby landing spots where you could see an offseason extension making sense, thus adding Anunoby to the long-term core in a way that isn’t really win-now. It’s the 2025 pick from Phoenix, if unprotected, that stands out most to me: If new Suns ownership goes all-in to make a splash and capitalize on the last of the Chris Paul window, this team could be in a tough spot sooner than later. The harder part might be selling the Grizzlies on dealing with a pair of picks to upgrade from Clarke to Anunoby.

Toronto is in a slump and has some players it can deal.

The Clippers are in the market for a point guard and could use VanVleet, while the The three players in focus for Toronto are Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. Toronto was a solid playoff team last year with a 48-34 record and had a rising star in Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.

But is this the time for Memphis to push their proverbial chips to the middle of the table? NBA: Memphis Grizzlies at Toronto Raptors Dan Hamilton ...

Is this the time for one of the youngest rosters in the NBA to make that choice? They also have a glut of draft capital thanks to their deals for Anthony Davis with the But the present could be much more luminescent if either franchise is willing to outbid the other for Anunoby. It’d likely come at the expense of future draft flexibility - the kind of movement that the Grizzlies and their GM Zach Kleiman have come to thrive in over the last few years. A team perhaps a bit closer to the “all-in” edge, at least in terms of precedent, is the [NBA Draft](https://www.sbnation.com/nba-draft) every year Kleiman has been at the helm of the Grizzlies franchise. But the way this team has been built would be altered for the remainder of the Ja Morant Era. Unsurprisingly, the currently play-in bound Pelicans also would love to acquire the services of a great defender who can score the ball at 6’7” in Anunoby .. Anunoby get discussed - who theoretically would be perfectly aligned with the likes of the Grizzlies - it isn’t just Memphis who is mentioned. Even for the 23-year-old that has been a professional for the better part of a decade, that work load is unsustainable. There are reasons for this - injury, especially to the surprisingly important Steven Adams, for example - but a large enough sample has accumulated to start reasonably saying something is wrong in Memphis. [Dallas Mavericks](https://www.mavsmoneyball.com) officially kicked off [NBA Trade Deadline](http://www.sbnation.com/nba-trade-rumors) week with the first major deal of the “season” in Kyrie Irving, the reality of the time of year is kicking in.