{"id":119345,"date":"2025-01-21T14:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T19:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=119345"},"modified":"2025-01-21T13:04:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T18:04:33","slug":"3-bold-and-fun-nba-trade-scenarios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/21\/3-bold-and-fun-nba-trade-scenarios\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Bold and Fun NBA Trade Scenarios That Just Might Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/21\/kyle-kuzma-trade-destinations\/\" target=\"_self\">2025 NBA trade deadline<\/a> is quickly approaching and things have been relatively quiet so far. With the new CBA making it harder than ever to take on larger contracts, stars may not be on the move as NBA fans have gotten used to. That being said, at the trade deadline, anything can happen. Let\u2019s look at a few far-fetched <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/21\/teams-that-might-make-financial-trade\/\" target=\"_self\">NBA trade possibilities<\/a>, and see the most fun NBA trade scenarios that could occur in the next few weeks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>3 Bold and Fun NBA Trade Scenarios That Just Might Happen<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>A De\u2019Aaron Fox Rockets Trade<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Houston Rockets have been one of the most exciting young teams this season. They are currently the second seed in the Western Conference and may not have even reached their full potential. They are largely led on offense by <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a>. However, they don\u2019t seem to have a go-to scorer on a night-to-night basis. They have eight different players averaging at least 10 points per game. Getting a star to lead their offense may be the last piece of Houston\u2019s puzzle to becoming NBA champions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The player that best fits Houston\u2019s needs is <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/foxde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/a>. A Fox Rockets trade would not only give the Rockets an upgrade at the point guard as far as scoring and distributing, but it would give them the closer they will need to contend in the Western Conference playoffs. Fox hasn\u2019t asked out of Sacramento yet. However, if he ever does, Houston should be waiting with a large package of picks and assets to get him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>A Jimmy Butler Bucks Trade<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/butleji01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Butler<\/a> has been linked to half the league in different NBA trade scenarios at this point. After asking out of Miami, there has been much conversation about whether the Heat will actually trade Butler. Another layer of this drama is that Butler is eligible for an extension this offseason, making teams that he won\u2019t re-sign with, wary of trading for him. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6063464\/2025\/01\/15\/bulls-zach-lavine-nikola-vucevic-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sam Amick reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the Bucks have not been told that Butler doesn\u2019t want to play there. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Butler re-signs in Milwaukee, trading for him could be the all-in move that pushes the Bucks back into title contention. A big three of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a>, and Butler would put the Celtics and the Cavaliers on notice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Zion Williamson to the Spurs\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is no secret that the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/20\/new-report-provides-clarity-pelicans-trade-rumors\/\" target=\"_self\">Pelicans are sellers<\/a> at this NBA trade deadline. One of the most fun NBA trade scenarios includes the Pelicans cutting bait with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willizi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zion Williamson<\/a>. Zion and the Pelicans have been at odds multiple times since his being drafted, and many believe that it could be time for Zion to get a fresh start outside of New Orleans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most fun destination for Zion is without question the San Antonio Spurs. A pairing of Zion and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wembavi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Wembanyama<\/a> has the potential to dominate the league for years to come. If they both can stay healthy, Zion\u2019s explosive offensive game with Wembanyama\u2019s defensive dominance could bring the Spurs back to title contention sooner than anticipated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 NBA trade deadline is quickly approaching and things have been relatively quiet so far. With the new CBA making it harder than ever to take on larger contracts, stars may not be on the move as NBA fans have gotten used to. That being said, at the trade deadline, anything can happen. Let\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":119358,"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":[1608,2,31,15,62,34,4721],"tags":[187,664,3256,142,4669,1684],"class_list":["post-119345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-rockets","category-bucks","category-nba","category-spurs","category-trade-rumors","tag-damian-lillard","tag-deaaron-fox","tag-jalen-green","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-victor-wembanyama","tag-zion-williamson"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119345","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\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119359,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119345\/revisions\/119359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}