The 1 Player Every NBA Team Needs to Trade in 2021

Welcome to 2021! Congratulations on getting here. The trip was anything but smooth, because it absolutely sucked, but there is value in making it. Let's properly celebrate the new year with good ol' NBA trade speculation.

Insisting that teams need to deal anyone is, in many cases, hyperbole. No squad will implode in the near or short term for failing to ship out a certain someone. This is instead a look at which players teams should be looking to move first and foremost, if they intend to make any swaps at all.

Most names are selected with the 2021 trade deadline in mind, but we are working with an entire year. Certain picks will focus on the bigger picture and prospect of jettisoning someone over the offseason or, you know, prior to Jan. 1, 2022.

Every choice aims to strike a certain realistic balance. This is to say, some of the hottest takes must be left at the door, even if we truly believe them. Do I think the Dallas Mavericks should be open to moving Kristaps Porzingis once he's healthy? I do. But to suggest they need to or positively should shop him journeys outside the realm of plausibility.

This doesn't mean there won't be some ambitious, spicier or less obvious inclusions. There will be. But each player must have a feasible or likely path to the chopping block before this year ends.

Selections will also be made with the direction and needs of teams in mind. Ergo, the logic for each choice will vary. Embrace the variety, and most definitely don't mistake it for inconsistency. And finally, for anyone included who was signed over the offseason, the implication is they should be shopped once their trade restrictions lift—most of which will be on Feb. 5.

Let us now ring in the new year with some advice for which NBA front offices definitely didn't ask.

Higher-profile questions linger for the Atlanta Hawks. Tops among them: Do they consider moving John Collins in advance of restricted free agency? And do they look at dealing some combination of Kevin Huerter, De'Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish after adding Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kris Dunn and Danilo Gallinari over the offseason?

Injuries have so far allowed the Hawks to kick the can on these decisions. Collins doesn't overtax a 4-5 rotation that hasn't yet seen Gallinari, Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu healthy all at once. The wing carousel is similarly pliable after Dunn underwent surgery on his right foot and while Gallinari is banged up. Atlanta has played Solomon Hill more than anyone could have envisioned.

Singling out one of the core players will still take priority for others. The Hawks profile as ridiculously deep at full strength, and Collins, Huerter, Hunter and Reddish give them centerpieces for potential blockbusters. But not one of them makes enough money to bring back a sexy return on his own. Without a clear-cut odd man out, defaulting to the most logical salary anchor becomes the right call.

Tony Snell is virtually the only option from which to choose. He has yet to make his Hawks debut while dealing with a right foot injury, but he's the fourth-highest paid player on the cap sheet, and his contract comes off the books after this season. Pairing him with a collection of picks and prospects is Atlanta's most efficient path to completing a medium- to blockbuster-sized deal—unless the front office is already willing to pull the ripcord on Bogdanovic, Capela or Gallinari.

Anyone on the prowl for flashier names isn't going to be pleased with the Boston Celtics' trade-asset situation. They continue to want for expendable bigger names and salary-matching fodder.

Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart are in play if they're discussing a James Harden deal, but they don't need to move them. Suggesting Kemba Walker is galaxy-brain logic on so many levels. The Celtics shouldn't be that out on him already, and even if they are, he needs to return from his left knee injury before the final three years and $108.1 million remaining on his deal can be deemed an asset.

Consideration can be given to any of Boston's bigs. Neither Daniel Theis nor Tristan Thompson is untouchable, and Robert Williams III isn't playing a huge role following the addition of the latter. Romeo Langford could work his way into this discussion, but the Celtics may need him to soak up wing minutes once he recovers from his right wrist injury.

Carsen Edwards is the lowest-hanging fruit, and in this case, the right choice. He has fallen firmly behind Payton Pritchard and Jeff Teague in the backcourt pecking order, racking up mostly DNPs to start the season. If he's not going to crack the rotation now, when Walker is on the sidelines, he probably won't ever be a factor.

Dangling his $1.5 million salary won't net the Celtics much, but they can move it just about anywhere, and he retains some appeal as a prospective marksman for teams in need of an offensive firecracker. In the event Boston decides to use all or part of the $28.5 million Gordon Hayward trade exception, Edwards is the player most likely to wind up elsewhere should the C's still need to create a roster spot.

Caris LeVert gets the nod for the Brooklyn Nets if you think they need to acquire James Harden. They don't. Their offense is already thermonuclear with a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Harden doesn't address what figures to be their biggest issue down the line: bigger wing defenders.

Putting Jarrett Allen on the auction block might help resolve that need and allows Brooklyn to capitalize on his departure rather than risk losing him in restricted free agency or matching an over-the-top offer after already paying DeAndre Jordan. But big-for-wing deals are incredibly rare. Even rarer are lucrative offer sheets for centers who don't space the floor or switch across every position. The Nets are doing a good enough job juggling minutes between Allen and Jordan that they needn't go into the 2021 trade deadline actively seeking to move the former. (Allen should still be playing more.)

Besides, they run into the same problem the Hawks do with John Collins: Allen doesn't earn enough money to bring back anyone significant on his own. He is most valuable when attached to a fatter salary as part of a larger deal in which he isn't the main dish.

Taurean Prince's $12.6 million price point meets that criteria. He can be the monetary anchor that helps Brooklyn orchestrate a smaller-scale, non-star deal. Think of this as the Prince-and-stuff framework. Can the Nets attach the sweeteners necessary to pry Aaron Gordon from the Orlando Magic, assuming they ever cool off? Or maybe use the Prince-and-stuff blueprint to snag P.J. Tucker (and stuff) from the Houston Rockets?

Surrendering one of their only two big wings (Durant) feels counterintuitive when looking at the Nets' roster. But Prince is barely playing at the moment and bricking threes when he does. Brooklyn is better off leaning more on the smaller, sweeter-shooting Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot—which both renders Prince eminently expendable and increases the number of assets the team must tether to him in prospective deals.

Malik Monk has yet to take the floor for the Charlotte Hornets this season, and he's not happy about it.

"This is the big one," Monk said of the importance ascribed to his fourth season, preceding restricted free agency, per the Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell. "A big step to show what I can do. With other teams, not only the Charlotte Hornets. To show other teams what I can do and how productive I can be. I can't do that if I'm not on the court, but I don't control that."

Missing part of training camp because of the coronavirus could be a factor in Monk's DNPs. That time away cost him valuable preparation. But he told Bonnell that nothing's preventing him from being on the floor now, which suggests he is just flat-out behind LaMelo Ball, Devonte' Graham, Caleb Martin, Cody Martin (who plays a lot of 3), Jalen McDaniels and Terry Rozier in the backcourt rotation.

Maybe this changes. Rotations are fluid, particularly amid a truncated schedule. But it doesn't bode well for Monk's future in Charlotte that he didn't see time during their Dec. 30 blowout victory over the Dallas Mavericks. The Hornets need defensive depth more than offensive firepower, and he doesn't offer it.

Shipping him out ahead of restricted free agency is best for both parties. He won't net Charlotte a ton, but he tantalized as an attacking scorer last year prior to his suspension for violating the NBA's anti-drug program. The Hornets should be able to get something, anything, in exchange for giving another team a partial-season look at him. Targeting a big—Nerlens Noel? Richaun Holmes? Khem Birch? Mo Bamba?—would be smart after signing only Bismack Biyombo in free agency and losing Cody Zeller to a fractured left hand.

Lauri Markkanen is on track to have his best season as a pro. He's averaging over 17 points per game while knocking down more than 52 percent of his twos and nearly 48 percent of his threes. His efficiency may not be entirely sustainable—an influx of corner triples is doing some of the lifting—but even slight regression would still have him scoring at a blistering clip.

This is both a great and complicated development for the Chicago Bulls. Everyone and their third cousin twice removed by divorce has been waiting for a Markkanen breakout, but contract-year explosions must always be taken with a few spoonfuls of skepticism.

If this does, in fact, represent his new normal, the Bulls will be on the hook for a wildly expensive contract over the offseason. The two sides were about $4 million apart per year in extension negotiations, according to NBC Sports' K.C. Johnson. Markkanen's asking price will only rise if he maintains this pace. His current output would put him in Davis Bertans (five years, $80 million) or Joe Harris (four years, $75 million) territory.

Chicago is too far away from contending for anything meaningful to throw that kind of money at someone who may settle in as its third option long term. That his best position overlaps with Patrick Williams' (power forward) only muddles his big-picture fit. The Bulls should be looking to move him in exchange for a prospect still on his rookie deal or first-round pick or as part of a larger deal in which he's affixed to a bigger contract.

Kevin Love will be the preferred selection for many, if not the vast majority. That's not a complete misread. The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing spunky basketball to start the season, but at 32, his timeline still doesn't align with the team's direction. Moving him should be the endgame.

That's much easier conceptually than practically. Love is currently sidelined with a right calf injury and hasn't done nearly enough to render the three years and $91.5 million left on his contract a net positive. The Cavs will have a better crack at moving him for actual value over the offseason, after he's had time to reboot his stock and plenty of teams will have flexible cap sheets.

Selecting Love would still fit the 2021 motif...if Cleveland didn't have Andre Drummond's $28.8 million expiring salary.

A cursory trip down Cavs Twitter Lane reveals a mounting affinity for the big man. Talk of re-signing him has taken on a more positive tone, and he's earned that optimism. Drummond has made a bunch of nifty defensive plays and seems more self-aware on offense. Bringing him back on a two- or three-year deal worth $15 to $20 million annually wouldn't be the worst decision in the world.

Then again, the Cavs, for all their friskiness, are rebuilding. Drummond's bloated salary represents an opportunity to acquire a longer-term deal that nets an asset or two. Such a trade must be available for them to make it, but sussing out the contract-dumping market should be priority numero uno. Re-signing him for semi-major money is a little too risky for a team that already has to start thinking about Collin Sexton's next deal (extension-eligible this summer).

James Johnson was originally penciled in for the Mavericks. His $16 million expiring salary is an ideal trade anchor, and he doesn't hold the same big-picture value as Tim Hardaway Jr., another soon-to-be free agent.

Yet, this presupposes Dallas has the assets to pounce on a blockbuster opportunity. It doesn't. Not really. The Mavericks owe their 2021 and 2023 (top-10 protection) first-round picks to the New York Knicks and don't have any blue-chip prospects to use as bait. Swinging a major trade this season will be too difficult without flipping distant draft selections.

Moving Dwight Powell does more for them. It is also substantially harder, even if he starts grabbing rebounds more than once in a blue moon. He has two years and $22.2 million left on his contract after this one, an Achilles injury in his rearview, pretty much stopped taking threes and failed to hold up against some of the more mobile big-man assignments.

Dallas likely needs a buffer or two to send Powell elsewhere. That shouldn't be a deal-breaker. Offloading his money gives the Mavericks an unimpeded path to re-signing Josh Richardson and carving out max space in free agency. Spending power has lost some of its shine following the surfeit of superstar extensions, but the 2021 offseason is still their last chance to broker a major addition before Luka Doncic's second contract takes effect.

It isn't quite clear what it'll take to move Powell. Dallas shouldn't be giving up a distant first-round pick, and its future seconds have little to no value. Using Jalen Brunson to grease the wheels feels steep but is far more palatable if the deal secures someone who can actually play. (Does something like Brunson, Powell, Wes Iwundu and a second for George Hill and Darius Miller pique Oklahoma City's attention?)

Will Barton or Gary Harris? That is the question here.

Harris' money allows the Denver Nuggets to aim bigger on their returns. That same salary is also part of the problem. He has gone cold, again, from three-point range to begin the season. Few teams will view his $19.6 million salary this year and $20.9 million salary in 2021-22 as a digestible asset.

That's fine. Denver can't afford to give up his defensive presence anyway. It ranks in the bottom five of points allowed per 100 possessions early on and doesn't have any concrete replacements for Harris after bidding farewell to Torrey Craig and Jerami Grant during free agency.

Barton isn't off to the cleanest start, but he's far more likely to be seen as the net-positive or -neutral asset. He was absurdly impactful last season prior to his right knee injury, and his $14.7 million player option for next year hardly breaks the bank.

The Nuggets will have an easier time moving on from him, even if he's more valuable than Harris in a vacuum. Michael Porter Jr.'s continued ascent mitigates the need for secondary scoring, and the rotation is hardly short on tertiary playmakers with Facundo Campazzo and Monte Morris in the fold.

What Denver can get for Barton alone is anyone's guess. A perimeter stopper should be the focus. The Nuggets can drum up their blockbuster bandwidth by partnering him with picks, more salary, Bol Bol or, much less likely, R.J. Hampton.

Cobbling together an offer for Victor Oladipo tantalizes if they don't think he'll disrupt the offensive chemistry between Porter, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Aaron Gordon is another intriguing fit if they can adequately expand their offering.

Derrick Rose is a worthwhile pick for the Detroit Pistons, but they're hard up for point guard depth even if Killian Hayes' sprained right ankle doesn't turn into a recurring issue. Using him to stabilize the rotation is more valuable unless a contender is offering a low-end first-round pick or prospect.

Shipping out Blake Griffin does more for the Pistons, both over the short and long hauls. Getting out from next year's $39 million player option is obviously helpful, but cleaning up the books doesn't do much for a team not angling for immediate contention. The wiggle room up front his departure would create is more impactful.

Saddiq Bey, Sekou Doumbouya, Jerami Grant and Josh Jackson should all be seeing time at power forward. Giving Griffin 30-plus minutes per game—or even 25—precludes Detroit from heavily experimenting with wing-heavy combinations across the 2-3-4 spots.

Trading him is off the table if the Pistons have to include another asset. Shopping Rose takes center stage in that scenario. But Griffin has shown enough on offense to get some teams thinking about his fit. While he's not getting to the rim nearly as much, he's averaging over 20 points per game while downing more than 38 percent of his threes. The manner in which he's currently scoring is perfectly suited to second- or third-option duty, and Detroit can glitz up any deal with an openness to taking on longer-term or less savory money.

Options abound in this exercise for the Golden State Warriors. More callous observers will insist they should trade Stephen Curry and hit the reset button. That's beyond unrealistic. Rolling with Draymond Green or Klay Thompson is similarly whimsical. The Warriors are trying to prolong the window of their three stars, not move one of them. (Green makes the most sense if you really want to choose one of their core three.)

Andrew Wiggins is a more realistic alternative. But Golden State isn't moving the final three years (including this one) and $94.7 million left on his contract without traveling down the all-in-blockbuster route. Maybe that's in play, but presuming it is goes too far. The Warriors need to see whether Green's return chisels out a feasible path to fringe contention before they think about mortgaging their future to kingdom come for the sake of maximizing this roster's window.

Settling on Kelly Oubre Jr. is the middle ground. His freezing-cold start (4.8 percent shooting from deep and crummier-than-usual finishing around the rim) is part of the calculus, but not the crux of it. He will improve.

Even the best version of himself, though, isn't a utopian fit for a roster that desperately needs proven shooters over downhill play-finishers. The Dubs should resign themselves to exploring his market regardless of the angle. His $14.4 million expiring salary is large enough to anchor win-now packages decorated with other assets, or they can write this season off as another quasi-gap year and try to move him for a cheaper contract that cuts down their tax bill and spares them from reinvesting in him during free agency.

P.J. Tucker took ownership of this spot over James Harden before Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes intervened. After sending him a long message in which I pointed out that Harden was still under contract through next season, and that the Rockets stood to lose Tucker for nothing when he inevitably leaves during free agency, he responded with a succinct smack upside the head:

"You're overthinking it by not saying Harden."

He was right.

Harden has asked to be moved, and his contract situation does nothing to assuage the unavoidable. The Rockets harm only their own future, hamstringing their capacity to move forward, by keeping him on the roster. The sooner they find him a new home, the sooner they can map out a more sustainable direction.

This is not to imply they must rush the process. Harden remains a top-five player. You don't trade him for the sake of trading him. But Houston cannot trick itself into believing the situation is salvageable. Trade demands are the ultimate form of finality...the relationship with Harden is irreparable.

Waiting for the right godfather offer—or to see whether the Philadelphia 76ers part with Ben Simmons—is the right call. Patience can also turn into self-sabotage. Holding onto Harden past this season's March 25 deadline only risks diminishing his market value over the summer, when he'll turn 32 in August and be less than one year away from free agency.

Sure, the Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday blockbusters proved teams will pony up for stars in contract years. That doesn't make them aspirational blueprints. The Harden saga has turned awkwardly ugly, and unlike Davis' trade request in 2019, the Rockets will have ample time to survey the market leading up to the deadline. Divorce is the only resolution, and it's on them to follow through with it before March 25.

Myles Turner would be the easy choice here. The Indiana Pacers have shown he can coexist with Domantas Sabonis—their offense ranks in the 67th percentile with both bigs on the court—but the most optimized version of this team still entails heavily staggering two of its four highest-paid players. That's not ideal.

Still, with free agency on the horizon, Victor Oladipo's future is more pressing. And it doesn't seem to include Indiana.

Though he denied a report from the Indianapolis Star's J. Michael that he angered teammates last season by openly asking rival players if he could join their squad, Oladipo has seldom seemed married to the Pacers over the past two years. From their success using Sabonis as the offensive hub to his flip-flopping on playing inside the Disney bubble, something has long felt...off.

One league exec went as far as telling The Athletic's Bob Kravitz: "He's gone. They'll move him [prior to the trade deadline]." Maybe Oladipo's early-season detonation is cause for keeping an open mind, particularly after T.J. Warren's left foot injury. Clearing 22 points per game while shooting better than 60 percent inside the arc and 55 percent from beyond it is a great way to endear yourself to the franchise's long-term outlook.

At the same time, the Pacers have more evidence that Oladipo is not the All-NBA candidate he became in 2017-18. The ruptured right quad he suffered the following season is no doubt at fault, but availability must be factored into any investment. They'll be on the hook for a lucrative, near-max contract if he finishes the season on his current tear or playing at a comparable level.

Shelling out so much money is too big of a dice roll for a team that has already paid Sabonis, Turner and Malcolm Brogdon and doesn't have a history of going into the tax. Indiana can move someone else to keep its finances under control—a la Turner—but that doesn't curb the risk incumbent of re-signing Oladipo. Shopping him now, while his value is crescendoing, is the more prudent gambit.

Instant buckets are important, and Lou Williams is nothing if not a microwave scorer. He'd be an indispensable bench contributor on most really good teams.

The Los Angeles Clippers are not most really good teams.

They no longer need his shot creation. Really, they've never needed it less. He lost his best pick-and-roll partner when Montrezl Harrell signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, and they have enough off-the-dribble scoring in Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and, when healthy, Marcus Morris Sr.

Defense and point guard play are bigger concerns. Williams doesn't fill either void as a non-traditional setup man who provides little to no resistance at the less glamorous end. His minutes have been slashed accordingly, and barring injuries that sideline multiple players indefinitely, he has no clear path into the team's most used closing lineup.

Packaging his expiring $8 million salary with other assets stands to do more for the Clippers' rotation. They don't have high-end picks or prospects to deal, but his money is a good starting point should they decide to go after someone along the lines of George Hill or Patty Mills.

Some will see this Montrezl Harrell selection as deliberately inflammatory. It's not supposed to be. He's just the most sensible pick.

Harrell's individual numbers continue to toe the line of divinity. He's a devastatingly efficient play-finisher and more at home putting the ball on the floor than many tend to realize. But his value to the Lakers' larger postseason ambitions is fuzzy.

Teams are already exploiting his vulnerability in space on the defensive end—see: Los Angeles' Dec. 28 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers—and he doesn't much elevate their offensive ceiling as a non-shooter. It's fair to wonder whether the Lakers would've even signed him had they known Marc Gasol was gettable.

Selecting Harrell turns into a no-brainer after contemplating the other options. Choosing Kyle Kuzma holds zero weight after he signed his extension (poison-pill provision), and the Lakers are similarly interested in locking down Dennis Schroder, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. After Anthony Davis and LeBron James, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the only other player who makes enough to be used as a money-matching anchor, and floor-spacing wings are inherently more valuable than pure bigs.

Parting with Harrell's contract ($9.7 million player option for next season) gives the Lakers a chance to make a moderate splash beyond the buyout market. Attaching him to another smaller salary or two significantly increases what they can take back in potential deals, and his offensive production is bound to catch the eye of any squad on the hunt for upgrades at center.

Losing Ja Morant for the next three to five weeks with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain officially alters the course of the Memphis Grizzlies' season. They were traveling down a slippery slope in the first place, with both Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee) and Justise Winslow (hip) yet to make their 2020-21 debuts. Any hope they had of treading water in the weaker-but-still-deep Western Conference disappeared with Morant.

Asset-collection mode should now be the Grizzlies' default. Don't call it tanking. Morant, Jackson and Winslow should all eventually play together. Hopefully. It is more so about embracing the 2021 draft and extracting value out of anyone who first and foremost has it and also doesn't profile as part of Memphis' finished product.

Dillon Brooks isn't going to solicit intriguing enough offers on his new deal (three years, $35 million). De'Anthony Melton is too important to the defense. Tyus Jones will be more valuable as an $8.4 million expiring salary over the offseason. Jonas Valanciunas is a good value at $15 and $14 million, respectively, this year and next, but the Grizzlies don't have the center juice to replace him. Jackson is too far away defensively to take on the role. Gorgui Dieng's $17.3 million expiring contract only has utility if Memphis is looking to enter a big-money venture.

That leaves Kyle Anderson and all of his functional idiosyncrasies. His playmaking and high-IQ defense make enough of an impact even when he's not spacing the floor. But, well, he's now spacing the floor. Shooting in the mid-30s from deep has real value when he's launching more than five looks per game from beyond the arc. Plenty of teams should show interest when he's on the books next season for under $10 million—and still just 27 years old.

Kendrick Nunn is quickly becoming inessential to the Miami Heat's plans. He has not played well enough to solidify a spot in the rotation, and it speaks volumes that Jimmy Butler's right ankle injury has resulted in only one game's worth of serious burn for the second-year guard.

Miami needs another perimeter shot-creator even at full strength. Nunn, a streaky scorer who can generate half-court looks, would seem to fit the bill. If the Heat aren't treating him as necessary now, when he actually could be, they probably never will.

Sticking him on the trade block won't fast-track a home run swing. He's earning under $1.7 million and slated for restricted free agency over the offseason. Miami cannot hope for much more than a highish-end second-rounder from a team that buys into his scoring onslaught from the first half of 2019-20.

And honestly, that should do the trick. Nunn doesn't have a direct line to consistent playing time if the Heat continue to prioritize Avery Bradley's on-ball defense. Goran Dragic and Tyler Herro are both also in front of him, and Butler can still sponge up minutes at the 2 in certain lineups. Miami might as well get something for his services rather than let him walk for nothing in free agency.

Who knows, the Heat might even be able to glitter up prospective trade packages by partnering him with a larger salary, like that of Meyers Leonard, Kelly Olynyk or Andre Iguodala. Nunn alone isn't completing a blockbuster or semi-significant return, but he is a fascinating enough scorer to tip the scales of a deal with teams looking to sell off middle-class impact players making money they'd rather not have on their ledger.

Bolder souls will single out Brook Lopez for the Milwaukee Bucks. He isn't guaranteed a spot in their most effective closing unit, at least during the playoffs, but should attract offers from contenders scouring the market for a floor-spacing 5 who mostly amplifies the interior defense.

Landing on him is tempting still when studying the Bucks' absence of dispensable salary filler. They aren't going to jettison Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday or Khris Middleton, and after them, Lopez is their next highest earner, at $12.7 million. They can use him to headline a more expensive return (provided they remain under the hard cap).

To what end, though? Lopez is drilling more than 36 percent of his threes and just earned an All-Defense selection. Milwaukee is unlikely to upgrade its rotation by getting rid of him. He is among the bigs that aren't easy to approximate on the cheap, and without receiving another center in return, his departure would culminate in a greater reliance on Bobby Portis, D.J. Wilson and Giannis-at-the-5 arrangements.

Donte DiVincenzo makes some sense. The Bucks are all-in on winning a title, and he was good enough to, er, sort of get them Bogdan Bogdanovic over the offseason. But he's their finishing touch—someone who makes a marquee name attainable if they have the more expensive salaries to pair with him. Moving him is an opportunistic proposition, not a rite of passage. Especially when he's flame-throwing from beyond the arc.

Which brings us to D.J. Augustin. Milwaukee just signed him, and he's burying more than 45 percent of his treys, but he's not what you would call necessary. His postseason viability is questionable, and the Bucks can extract enough secondary playmaking in bench-heavy units with Antetokounmpo, Holiday, Middleton and even DiVincenzo and Bryn Forbes.

Augustin's $6.7 million salary ranks fifth on the team. Roping him to DiVincenzo—and perhaps Pat Connaughton's travesty of a deal—is a way for Milwaukee to absorb more money from eventual sellers.

Poring over the Minnesota Timberwolves' roster fails to yield a "well, duh" candidate. They're not going to move Jarrett Culver, Anthony Edwards or D'Angelo Russell for just anyone, and postseason or play-in hopefuls shouldn't be actively seeking to unload useful players like Ricky Rubio or Josh Okogie without acquiring an obvious upgrade in the process.

Phrased another away: Minnesota is uniquely set up to pull off blockbusters as opposed to in-between deals. That's not a problem, per se, but authoring another major shakeup, following the Russell deal last season, only tracks if the inbound player assures entry into title contention. Going full bore after James Harden most likely does that, though not until Karl-Anthony Towns recovers from his left wrist injury, but other realistic targets like Bradley Beal or Victor Oladipo still leave them a notch short.

Juan Hernangomez is the closest the Timberwolves get to straddling the middle ground. Malik Beasley makes a hair too much and represents one of the team's primary avenues outside the three-point-shooting doldrums. Ed Davis is behind Naz Reid in the rotation, but his $5 million salary is a smidge too cheap. He's more useful as center insurance knowing that his money comes off the books this offseason.

Signing Hernangomez to a three-year, $21 million contract no longer looks so hot—insofar as it ever did. But the final season of that deal is fully non-guaranteed, and he's young enough, at 25, for other teams to believe they can tap into his outside shooting and floor game.

Minnesota's play-in stock noticeably improves if it can parlay his $6.5 million salary and other assets into a steadier presence at the 4. That Hernangomez isn't snagging more court time remains a red flag, but piecing together him, Davis, Jake Layman and a future first (2023 or later) could maybe, possibly, get them within range of Aaron Gordon. Maybe Houston is willing to do P.J. Tucker for Hernangomez straight up—or close to it. Perhaps he's a good starting point in hypothetical Rudy Gay talks, too.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is presented here without a shred of confidence. His playing time with the New Orleans Pelicans currently ranges from DNP to sparing as head coach Stan Van Gundy tightens up the rotation. He also lacks access to measurable expansion if they remain committed to Lonzo Ball, Eric Bledsoe and JJ Redick and don't want to roll him out at the 3.

Advising—urging?—the Pelicans to flip Bledsoe or Redick is the more reflexive (and probably popular) decision. Ball will even make his way to the top of certain lists, with restricted free agency and, presumably, a lucrative contract on the horizon. But Bledsoe's deal remains a burden given how he's shooting; he is making $35 million these next two seasons and has a $3.9 million guarantee on the final year. The Pelicans will have to include other assets in any trade that ships him out, and they're not yet good enough to think and act in win-now terms.

It will take no time at all to find Redick a new home. He's also much less expendable. New Orleans' half-court offense is strained for adequate creation and spacing, and he's mission-critical to the latter. Ball isn't someone the Pelicans need to trade. They can gauge his fit through this season and explore sign-and-trade scenarios over the summer if an indefinite partnership is a no-go. He's interesting enough to take the wait-and-see approach.

Shopping Alexander-Walker is more about capitalizing on what's fast becoming a distressed asset. He hasn't shown enough as a finisher or shooter to will a consistent role into existence, and leaving him on the bench only serves to diminish the intrigue he incited coming out of the 2019 summer league.

Another team should be open to giving the Pelicans a first-round pick or prospect—or viewing NAW as a mid-tier asset in a blockbuster—as of now. That may not be true later.

Julius Randle is operating on a different plane at the moment, and the Knicks should look to exploit that on the trade market.

There's something counterintuitive about dealing someone who has, quite undeniably, been their best player. But his value is transient. He isn't going to average around 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists while shooting—checks notes—nearly 70 percent from beyond the arc forever. Nor is he long for New York in general.

Only $4 million of his salary next season is guaranteed. The Knicks don't have to waive him. At this rate, they'd be certifiably stupid to pay him to leave. Is he on this team beyond 2021-22? Debatable to most definitely not.

Clearing the way for Obi Toppin—and maybe some Kevin Knox-at-the-4—is more conducive to the bigger picture. New York also, again, needs to bank on Randle's shooting regressing to the mean. And when it does, R.J. Barrett and Mitchell Robinson need to be surrounded by more dependable marksmen—preferably wings and 4s who defenses are actually inclined to guard.

The Knicks have alternatives galore if, for some reason, you think trying to get picks or a younger prospect for Randle is a bad idea. And as a long aside: I'll admit that identifying suitors for him is difficult. One-position 4s are tough fits almost anywhere. Maybe Minnesota likes him next to Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell. Or perhaps Orlando views him as a nice change of pace from Aaron Gordon.

Anyway, Frank Ntilikina (they should keep him) and Dennis Smith Jr. (he has no trade value) are approaching restricted free agency, and the vets New York signed this summer—Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton, Austin Rivers (when healthy)—should all be eminently available. Knox hasn't shown enough to be off-limits, either. Right now, though, Randle is on track to have more value than everyone else.

The Oklahoma City Thunder aren't yet bad enough to guarantee themselves prime placement in the 2021 draft lottery. They need to start dealing off some of their vets to ensure they're not, um, too good. (And even that might not be enough.)

George Hill beats out Trevor Ariza and Al Horford rather easily for this spot, mostly because he does the best job of blending actual value with urgency. Ariza is still away from the team and more likely a buyout candidate. Horford will be more tradeable over the offseason, when he'll have just one fully guaranteed year left on his deal.

Contenders will have more interest in Hill, who is shooting an absurd 60-plus percent inside the arc and around 50 percent from deep. Next year's $10 million price point is a tad steep for his age-35 season, but it's almost entirely non-guaranteed ($8.7 million). Acquiring teams can view him as an expiring contract, though his combination of backcourt defense and floor spacing may prove too valuable to waive.

Waiting out the market is probably the Thunder's smartest play. So many squads can currently talk themselves into cracking their conference finals if everything breaks right. At least one or two of them will come calling with another Sam Presti Special (a pick or prospect) by the trade deadline. Potential offers may top out even higher if Oklahoma City sops up more multiyear money.

Evan Fournier almost edged out Aaron Gordon. Seriously, it was close. He's scoring at an efficient clip to start the season, but the Magic will be hard-pressed to re-sign him over the summer without plunging into the tax after handing extensions to Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac.

Gordon invariably gets the nod for the same reason. He's slated for free agency in 2022, and his offensive fit beside Isaac is super awkward, if not completely untenable. Neither has made enough progress with his jumper or floor game to ensure it can work, and Orlando rated inside the 9th percentile of points scored per 100 possessions when they shared the court last season.

Fournier's outside shooting is more of a boon—especially with Fultz cannibalizing so many of the backcourt minutes—and moving Gordon should make it easier to retain him. The Magic may have already been thinking along these lines. They reportedly tried hard to trade Gordon before last year's deadline, according to Heavy's Sean Deveney.

Orlando's hot start should only embolden it to keep shopping him. Gordon has remained on a minutes cap to start the season while recovering from a left hamstring injury, and the offense has largely hummed during his stints on the bench.

Just to be clear: Dealing Gordon wouldn't be addition by subtraction. The Magic need to get something for him. He covers three positions on defense and flashed higher-level playmaking last season. He just isn't a comfy fit on a team that's now heavily vested in Isaac and has Chuma Okeke to develop as another resident combo forward.

Including Tobias Harris rings a little bit hollow. His contract isn't easy on the eyes, but coughing up the assets necessary to dump the three years and $113.9 million he has left after this one won't do much more than cushion the Sixers' long-term pockets.

They're not turning him into a collection of expiring contracts without over-sweetening packages, and max deals for Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons make it difficult to create serious cap space without gutting the rest of the roster even if they do.

Absent any worthwhile substitutes, Harris is still the pick. Philly doesn't need to give up on Matisse Thybulle so early into his career and can do only so much to jazz up Danny Green's expiring salary. Breaking up the Embiid-Simmons duo is the Sixers' right, but it's by no means essential.

Crafting plausible Harris trades demands a specific set of circumstances. Philly isn't emerging from negotiations unscathed; it'll take an asset of some kind to move him. The Sixers also have to warm up to the idea of accepting correspondingly unflattering money as compensation.

Would the Cavs do Kevin Love (two years, $60.2 million) for Harris and Thybulle? Do the Pistons bite on that deal in exchange for Blake Griffin (one year, $39 million)? What would it take for the Sacramento Kings to send out Harrison Barnes (two years, $38.6 million) or Buddy Hield (three years, $62.5 million)?

Philly would do well to find out.

I tried. I really did. I agonized over it. Tried talking myself into a few players. It didn't fly. The Phoenix Suns don't presently have anyone they need to shop.

Their dynamic with Chris Paul is still too new. They're not going to try relocating him unless the experiment flops, which it won't. Moving Devin Booker is out of the question. Maybe Deandre Ayton falls out of their plans, but he's defending too well and not griping about his offensive volume. Like Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, he shouldn't be available independent of another superstar trade—which the Suns, who currently own the league's best defense, don't need to chase.

Perhaps Jae Crowder, Dario Saric, Jalen Smith or, if he keeps bricking threes, Jevon Carter works his way into the discussion. They haven't yet. Phoenix might be concerned about what Cameron Payne will cost in 2021 free agency, but that's only because he's shooting so damn well. They're not replicating his value in a trade when he counts as only $1.9 million in outgoing salary.

Every other player is a non-starter. Damian Jones isn't someone you move to open up minutes for Frank Kaminsky. He's someone you cut. No verdict can be rendered on Abdel Nader until he actually suits up. The Suns have no reason to shop Langston Galloway or E'Twaun Moore, who are both on cheapo deals.

Again: Maybe one of Phoenix's players eventually enters must-trade contention. Emphasis on eventually.

Whatever goodwill Anfernee Simons built up exiting his rookie season, in 2018-19, has long since faded. He is working off a terribly inefficient sophomore campaign and doesn't have the point guard chops for the Blazers to bake him into the everyday rotation now. They might as well see what other teams are willing to give up for him.

Portland can go a variety of directions if it decides to make him available. His $2.3 million salary isn't enough to reel in an impact player on his own, but a rebuilding squad smitten by his unpolished shot-making might fork over a low-end first-round pick or prospect.

Failing that, the Blazers can go the pupu platter route: combine Simons with more expensive salaries and other assets in hopes of hooking a bigger fish. How they flesh out those packages depends on their prey, but they have plenty of middle-rung salaries—Robert Covington, Rodney Hood, Derrick Jones Jr.—to go along with Zach Collins, Nassir Little and, if they dare, Gary Trent Jr.

Other people might actually want the Blazers to spend more time shopping Collins (restricted) or Trent, both of whom will be free agents over the summer. That's kind of fine, but mostly eh. Collins has minimal value after undergoing a second left ankle surgery, and Portland cannot afford to be scared of Trent's next contract when he's so important to winning now. Simons is the only player who's at once expendable and can be spun as a diamond not yet mined.

Obligatory note: The Kings do not have to move Buddy Hield, who is under contract for another three years and not a decidedly net-positive asset at his price point. Thank you for your time.

Nemanja Bjelica and Richaun Holmes wind up dueling for the position. Both are entering free agency this summer, and Sacramento can't afford to back up the Brink's truck for either after paying Hield, Harrison Barnes and De'Aaron Fox. Chances are Bjelica and Holmes will find new homes before the 2021 deadline.

Holmes is more likely to fall within a happy-medium price range. Bigs who don't space the floor—though, Holmes did dabble in outside duty once upon a time—don't tend to receive gargantuan salaries when they're not All-Defense material. The Kings can wait out his market with a stronger hope of not getting completely burned (even if he is the more valuable player).

Suitors with space are far more prone to spending on shooters like Bjelica. He is a career 39.3 percent marksman from downtown, and other teams will inflate his volume from beyond the arc. Bjelica is also a sneaky physical presence around the basket, where he's currently finishing at an astronomically, laughably, unsustainably high 89 percent clip. Moving him shields the Kings against losing him for nothing or overpaying to keep him while opening up more minutes for Marvin Bagley III and Harrison Barnes-at-the-4 lineups.

Feel free to go with Bagley himself if you so please. He's shown very little this season, and his rookie-scale deal will pay him $11.3 million next season. I still see the outline of a really good offensive player, and it doesn't yet make sense to sell low when he's played in fewer than 20 games since his inaugural campaign. If the Kings have the opportunity to sell high, on the other hand, it's an altogether different story.

But what about LaMarcus Aldridge?!? And DeMar DeRozan?!?

Phew. Glad that's out of the way.

The San Antonio Spurs have four sizable expiring deals with Aldridge ($24 million), DeRozan ($27.7 million), Rudy Gay ($14.5 million) and Patty Mills ($13.5 million). All of them should be up for grabs, and any one of them can be plopped into this space.

Gay is the golden mean of the quartet. His salary is large enough to do something interesting, but not so big, like those of Aldridge and DeRozan, that deals will be harder to finagle.

Contrary to Aldridge and Mills, he's also clogging the pipeline. The Spurs are suddenly flush with players between 6'5" and 6'9". Opening even more time for their younger heads—Devin Vassell, please!—should be the top priority as they attempt to play faster and enter the next phase of San Antonio basketball without, it seems, fully starting over.

DeRozan falls under the same umbrella, but his $27.7 million is difficult to work around. And whatever you think of him, he provides more optionality to a Spurs team juggling two timelines. Gay gives you minutes at the 3 and 4. DeRozan can gobble up reps at the 2, 3 and 4 while being used as the de facto 1.

Whether San Antonio can get anyone or anything for Gay is a separate issue. He's 34 and, at this writing, shooting below 25 percent from three and under 36 percent on all jumpers. Unless the Spurs are willing to accept returns that knife into their 2021 cap space (possible!), they'll need him to rediscover his touch from the perimeter before brokering a deal.

To anyone clamoring for Terence Davis after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend: I hear you. But this isn't a "He should be traded" situation. It's a "Why is he still with the team?" or, if the worst is confirmed, "He should be cut" situation.

Zeroing in on a veritable Toronto Raptors candidate is exceedingly tough. They can't really move OG Anunoby and definitely don't need to offload Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam or Fred VanVleet unless they're getting James Harden. Lowry enters the discussion if the Raptors implode this year, but it's way too early for such a forecast.

Pretty much everyone else on the roster is overwhelmingly temporary. Anunoby, Siakam and VanVleet are the only players under guaranteed contract beyond next season. And Malachi Flynn is the only other player under guaranteed contract for 2021-22 itself.

Norman Powell lands here almost by default. He has a player option for next year that he may or may not decline. If he keeps playing like he is now, he'll exercise the crap out of it. But with so many teams projected to have cap space over the summer, even a roller-coaster wing player could have the opportunity to get paid.

Toronto's future is too ambiguous to consider Powell a core piece. It could stumble into a thorough rebuild after this season if team president Masai Ujiri is unable to make a huge dent on the trade or free-agency markets. Paying Powell, when the Raptors have already re-upped Anunoby, Siakam and VanVleet, doesn't mesh with a reset.

Beyond that, his $10.9 million salary is a solid trade chip. It can be used to take back a slightly more expensive player or paired with other money as part of a bigger deal. He won't be the main attraction in any package, but the prospect of paying him $11.6 million next season if he picks up his player option is digestible enough to render him almost universally inclusive.

Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder has settled into an eight-man rotation that spans the list of players the team won't be looking to move: Rudy Gobert (can't be traded for a year after his extension), Donovan Mitchell (poison pill), Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson, Mike Conley, Derrick Favors, Joe Ingles and Royce O'Neale.

Ingles or Favors is the choice if you're looking to go the steady rotation-player route. Favors has yet to stabilize the defense during Gobert-less minutes and isn't as integral after the two-time Defensive Player of the Year signed his extension. Ingles just turned 33 in October and has seemed more touch-and-go from beyond the arc since Utah's postseason push.

Either player's salary could prove valuable in possible trade scenarios. But neither is netting the Jazz a more athletic wing on his own. Their prospective sweeteners and add-ons are more important than the salary-anchor options.

Georges Niang stands out most—after future first-round picks (Utah owes its 2021 selection to Memphis). He is big enough to work exclusively at the 4, has shot 38.3 percent from deep for his career and seemed to hold up positionally on defense during the preseason. His $1.8 million expiring salary is not getting the Jazz a star, but if they're not going to make him a rotation staple, it's worth seeing if they can glue his deal to another (or two) in search of a stronger defensive presence on the wings.

Washington Wizards fans are no doubt (deservedly) tired of hearing Bradley Beal's name pop up in trade scenarios when all public signs point to just the opposite. He has not been shy about declaring his allegiance to the organization and city, and the Russell Westbrook acquisition aims to maximize the immediate window—which is to say, Beal's window—rather than portend a teardown.

Plans change, though. Beal has also made it no secret he wants to win. And while Westbrook elevates the Wizards' ceiling through force of will alone, he does not inoculate them against going belly up. They may spend the year chasing a play-in bid instead of an outright postseason berth. They could fare even worse than that depending on how the rest of the Eastern Conference shakes out. (Cleveland!)

Beal's future gets super interesting if Washington fails to register as a blip on the radar. Another down season coupled with the team's finite power to make seismic changes given the cost of both his and Westbrook's contracts could prompt him to ask for a change of scenery.

That is an ever-present danger. The Wizards will enter 2021 winless on the season. Things can always turn, but they've now dropped two games to the sad-sack Bulls, and they're neither built to get better on defense nor complete another trade that noticeably elevates their immediate ceiling.

Stubborn optimists are good to choose someone else. But this is, like, the eighth iteration of the Wizards over the past three seasons. Dealing Beal isn't akin to premature deconstruction. It's a reaction to a mushrooming amount of evidence that this organization should steer into a more gradual rebuild. And that begins by trading Beal to adequately stack their deck of future assets, if not this season then certainly over the summer.

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass and accurate entering games Dec. 31.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by B/R's Adam Fromal.