NBA trades preview: Ten players most likely to be traded during 2024-25 season including Ingram, Kuzma

We may have already seen the season’s biggest trade: Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Two contenders swapping big men and a key rotation wing is going to be hard to top.

However, it will not be the last trade. Maybe far from it. With a very crowded West packed with quality teams, and teams looking for an edge in the East, plus a handful of potential sellers looking to get worse and chase Cooper Flagg (and company), things are set up for a flurry of in-season trades.

Here are 10 players most likely to be traded this season, broken down into a couple of categories.

BIGGEST NAMES ON THE BOARD

The three names in this “big names” section were all in trade rumors this summer and in each case the market was much cooler for them than they or their current teams hoped.

Brandon Ingram

Ingram is a quality wing who can get a team buckets, he averaged 20.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists a game last season. However, the former All-Star is seen around the league more as a floor raiser than a guy teams want as a key piece of a contender. Those concerns lead to the bigger issue: This is the last year of Ingram’s contract and he’s looking for a four-year, $208 max contract extension (or a max contract next summer). Teams don’t want to pay it. Add in that no team is willing to rent him as a floor raiser in a season where it will pay to be at the top of the draft, and the market for Ingram dried up quickly.

After Paul George chose Philadelphia, the market did heat up around Ingram for a time, with Sacramento, Golden State and Cleveland all mentioned as having interest. All three went in another direction.

The market could bounce back. Teams’ self-evaluations will change once the games begin, there will be injuries, and the market for Ingram could open up again. The Pelicans may not be able to get the quality center they want in a trade, but there should be options.

Zach LaVine

LaVine has been available in a trade for a year-and-a-half and that’s not changing. LaVine is a former All-Star and an elite isolation scorer who averaged 19.5 points a game last season and is a career 38.2% shooter from…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-trades-preview-ten-players-172552386.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-07 17:25:52

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