Most likely player to be dealt from each team at the NBA trade deadline
By Duncan Smith
We’re on the threshold of the NBA trade deadline and still waiting for the move that will define it. Let’s go over the players most likely to be dealt.
After the craziest free agency period in NBA history this past summer, the coming trade deadline was projected to be a quiet one. Players like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul changed teams, and it seemed as though the league was entering a holding pattern where there were no more transactions to be made.
Few teams have any cap space, others are close to their competitive peak, and others simply have no clear moves to make either because they’ve already made them or they’re content to enter next summer with available cap space.
On the other hand, there is no super-juggernaut to overcome this season. The Milwaukee Bucks are spectacular, but are they as good as the peak Golden State Warriors? In this NBA landscape, contenders have to view the path to a title as clearer than it’s been in years, and the top tier of the league may strike suddenly in order to build up for a run.
Each team’s situation is different, so we’re going to run through all 30 teams and figure out the most likely player to be traded from each one at this year’s trade deadline. For some teams, there will be a high likelihood nobody will be dealt, but we’ll try to find even the slimmest of edges that make a player more likely to get moved than his teammates.
With no further ado, let’s get started.