2021 NBA Trade Deadline: 5 fire sales that should happen

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The NBA trade deadline is nearing and the league’s standings are beginning to coalesce. The best teams in the league have set themselves apart, and there is a huge middle tier (especially in the Eastern Conference) of teams that fancy themselves a move away from making a run in the playoffs.

Then there is the NBA’s basement, the teams that don’t even have a puncher’s chance at a playoff berth in the East. These teams need to strip their rosters down to the studs and start over, with perhaps an exceptional player or two saved for the future bounce-back to relevance.

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5 NBA trade deadline fire sales that must happen

Mind you, not every team that is at the bottom of the league’s standings can position themselves to sell everything. For example, the Minnesota Timberwolves should hang on to Karl-Anthony Towns for dear life because he’s irreplaceable. Anthony Edwards was the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, and while he hasn’t been particularly good so far, you don’t move a player like that.

On the flip side, D’Angelo Russell has no trade value, at least not for any serious organizations. So trying to move him is a nonstarter.

The cupboard isn’t completely bare in Minnesota, but it’s close enough. Ricky Rubio has a hefty two years left on his contract, and while Malik Beasley has been fantastic this season he does have character issues that have led to his current 12-game suspension.

The Timberwolves don’t fit the classic archetype of a fire-sale-ready organization, because they can’t part with the pieces other teams want, and they don’t have much that other teams would desire. However, these teams do. Let’s take a look at five teams in need of a fire sale.