NBA trade season began on December 15th and will last until February 6th. While there are plenty of big names floating around in trade rumors, the new CBA makes it difficult to trade for high-salary players. This is why, over the next few seasons, we might see more of small, around-the-edge moves.<\/p>\n
Until teams learn the ins and outs of the new CBA and apron rules, salaries from previous Collective Bargaining Agreements will be hard to match. Let\u2019s take a look at a couple of under-the-radar players who can be valuable trade targets,\u00a0particularly\u00a0for contending teams.<\/p>\n
Teams need All-Stars to compete for a championship, but they also need depth. Last year, the Boston Celtics were one of the deepest teams in the league, with three players averaging 20+ points and two more capable of going off at any given night. The players we are looking at today will not average 20+ points. But they will provide solid 15 to 20 minutes of rotation quality minutes, hit some shots, and contribute to winning. Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n
Jordan Hawkins<\/a> is only 22 years old. Yet, the Pelicans do not view him as a long-term solution. According to the latest rumors<\/a>, he is not between the three names that the Pelicans consider untouchable. Hawkins is a quality shooting guard, averaging 13.1 points on 38% shooting from the floor and 35% from three-point range.<\/p>\n Because he is on a low contract, teams will have a hard time to get him. Only time will tell if the Pelicans move off Hawkins, who was a lottery pick in 2023. At the very least, they can trade him for cap flexibility because they are currently a little bit over the luxury tax threshold<\/a> set at $170 million. Notably, the Pelicans have never paid the luxury tax in their franchise history, and at 5-25, they will be looking to sell at the deadline.<\/p>\n The Atlanta Hawks will be one of the more interesting teams during this NBA trade season. They can go in different directions, and Larry Nance Jr<\/a>. will determine which way they go. He is one of their two expiring big men alongside Clint Capela<\/a>. The Hawks are under the luxury tax threshold, and they are playing well so far.<\/p>\n Hawks rumors<\/a> will continue to float around, with Trae Young<\/a>\u2019s name at the forefront. However, given their success this season, it’s unlikely they will move off Young. But do not sleep on Nance. He is a solid big who is averaging 3.4 3-point attempts this year and converts 53% of them. It is a small sample size, but it seems like he is turning into a reliable shooter who can stretch the floor when needed.<\/p>\n Casual fans might not know much about Cody Martin<\/a>. Stuck in Charlotte, a team few people watch, Martin is averaging 8.8 points on 44.8% shooting from the floor. The Hornets are at a crossroads, playing their veterans to get some wins. But they also want to give more time to the young players and develop them. Cody doesn\u2019t fit their timeline, and the small forward can bring a pick back. Or they can package him in a bigger deal<\/a>. He has only $8 million left this year and $8.6 next year.<\/p>\n Malik Beasley<\/a> is the third-leading scorer on the Detroit Pistons. Pistons’ young stars<\/a>\u00a0 Cade Cunningham<\/a> and Jaden Ivey<\/a> are the only two players ahead of him. At 28, Beasley is not part of Detroit\u2019s future, and he has an expiring contract at $6 million.<\/p>\n There are no reports of the Pistons interested in resigning him this summer, so they are better off flipping him for something during the NBA trade season<\/a>. There will be some contending teams who cannot afford big names and might look at Beasley, who is averaging 16.4 points on 41.3% shooting from behind the arc.<\/p>\n T.J. McConnell<\/a> is on a team-friendly contract, paying him between $10 and $12 million up to the 2028-29 season. He has a team option for the last year when he will be 36 years old.<\/p>\n The Indiana Pacers<\/a> have a logjam at the guard positions, and they certainly need some help elsewhere. After making the NBA Cup Finals last year, the Pacers have regressed<\/a> this season. They are fighting for a play-in position right now but are only two losses away from the sixth spot.\u00a0McConnell might not get traded, and the Pacers would love to have him. Yet, teams looking for a quality backup point guard might sniff around.<\/p>\n Duncan Robinson<\/a> is 30 years old and is slowly moving to the bench for the Miami Heat. He started only 36 games last year, and this season, he has started in 14 of 25 games for Miami.<\/p>\n He has two years left on his contract, but only $29 million guaranteed. With Miami deciding<\/a> what to do with Jimmy Butler<\/a>, their next move might be to get rid of other veterans<\/a> for some assets, financial flexibility or try to do a package deal for a star. In any case, Duncan Robinson looks available, and he is still averaging double-digit points on a respectable 37% from behind the arc.<\/p>\n Trey Lyles<\/a> is on another swing team of the NBA trade season, the Sacramento Kings. There are reports that they might trade<\/a> their franchise player, De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/a>. With the Kings currently out of the play-in spot, it looks like they will have plenty of decisions at the deadline.<\/p>\n Lyles is on an expiring contract at $8 million. He is a respectable big who can shoot at a solid rate and provide 15 minutes of solid action. While he might not be a player who will move the needle, the Kings might package his expiring contract for something. Last year, he was the team\u2019s second-oldest rotation player behind Harrison Barnes<\/a>. This year, he is behind DeMar DeRozan<\/a>. Whether he fits in Sacramento\u2019s timeline, time will tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NBA trade season began on December 15th and will last until February 6th. While there are plenty of big names floating around in trade rumors, the new CBA makes it difficult to trade for high-salary players. This is why, over the next few seasons, we might see more of small, around-the-edge moves. Until teams learn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":113699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,4,7,10,11,16,62,33,29,4721],"tags":[49781,2803,142,4756,526,293,3147,1349,2154],"class_list":["post-113664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hawks","category-hornets","category-pistons","category-pacers","category-heat","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-kings","category-trade-rumors","tag-cody-martin","tag-duncan-robinson","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-jordan-hawkins","tag-larry-nance-jr","tag-malik-beasley","tag-tj-mcconnell","tag-trae-young","tag-trey-lyles"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113700,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113664\/revisions\/113700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Larry Nance Jr.<\/h3>\n
Cody Martin<\/h3>\n
Malik Beasley<\/h3>\n
T.J. McConnell<\/h3>\n
Duncan Robinson<\/h3>\n
Trey Lyles<\/h3>\n