2018 NBA trade value rankings, Part 3: The top 20
9. Kristaps Porzingis
8. Karl-Anthony Towns
It feels like the KAT/KP debate will go down as one of the great same-draft comparisons in NBA lore. As close as they seem right now, if history is any indication, two things seem to be a certainty: one will end up notably ahead of the other when all is said and done, and whatever your opinion is, it’s likely to change.
Let’s take a quick walk down memory lane…
In the summer of 2000, Grant Hill was viewed as the free agent that would put the Magic back on the map following Shaq’s departure. Hill had made the All-NBA First or Second Team in each of the previous five seasons, on his way to what everyone figured would be a transcendent career. Jason Kidd had made a couple All-NBA teams himself, but was a year away from being traded to his third team…not exactly the sure thing Hill was thought to be.
Now Kidd is considered the greatest point guard of his generation while Hill is remembered more for what he wasn’t than what he was. It wouldn’t be the last time stars from the same draft class would trade places in the public’s mind.
Five years into their careers, fresh off facing one another in the Finals, Allen Iverson had the clear edge on Kobe Bryant. Sure, Bryant won a chip, but as second fiddle to Shaq, whereas Iverson carried a team of role players to the brink of a ring on his 165-pound frame. Individually, Iverson’s two All-NBA First Team selections and one Second Team topped Kobe’s two Second Team and one Third Team selections.
A decade and a half later, we consider Bryant a top 10 all-timer and A.I. a phenomenon for his size but nowhere near a pantheon-level player.
The list doesn’t stop there. After Dwyane Wade was sitting with a Finals MVP in one arm and the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the other in the summer of 2006, the LeBron/Wade conversation was, like…a thing. Even in 2010, there were some who seriously thought James would be Scottie Pippen to Wade’s Jordan (and not just for chanting purposes).
In that same summer of 2010, Deron Williams was coming off a season that netted him his second All-NBA Second Team appearance in three years and a playoffs where the Jazz won their fourth playoff series in as many years. Chris Paul missed half the 2009-10 season after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and had exactly one playoff series victory to his credit.
Today, Chris Paul is getting ready for a playoff run while it’s more likely that Deron Williams is sitting home reading this than he is preparing to play basketball.
Last, but certainly not least, it’s worth pointing out that in 2011, there was no Russell Westbrook/Derrick Rose conversation, because while Russ was a really good second banana on a Finals team, Rose was the youngest damn MVP in league history. How’d that one turn out?
So no, we have no idea which of these two seven-foot, 3-point shooting monsters with guard skills and limitless potential is going to end up on top. Towns had the early edge until Porzingis was all the rage earlier this year, and now the Wolves star has shot back in front. Only time will tell who ends up on top.
This much we can be certain of: Somewhere in the heart of Brooklyn, a single tear runs down Jahlil Okafor‘s face.