2024 NBA trade deadline: Six big trades we want to see

The 2024 NBA trade deadline is fast approaching, and while some teams have already been active, there are still plenty of others who need to make moves.

With that in mind, we asked our experts to come up with trades they want to see at the Feb. 8 deadline, whether it’s a smaller deal to help a contender fill a hole, or a bigger move that could shake up the entire league.

They worked their magic in the ESPN Trade Machine and came up with six deals they want to see over the next 10 days — and yes, the Los Angeles Lakers are involved.

MORE: East trade guide | West trade guide

Sixers bolster the backcourt

Philadelphia 76ers get: Tyus Jones
Washington Wizards get: Robert Covington, Kenyon Martin Jr., two second-round picks

This deal accomplishes two things for the 76ers: it gets them a proven ball handler to operate the second unit (something this group desperately needs) and it could also help reduce Tyrese Maxey’s minutes load. Maxey, the favorite for most improved player, leads the NBA at 37.5 minutes per game — a big jump from the 33.6 per game he played last season. Jones has played in the postseason each of the past three seasons, has averaged less than a turnover per game every season of his career, and is shooting 41% from 3-point range — all things the 76ers need.

If the 76ers can make a couple of moves like this to deepen their rotation over the next couple of weeks, it would both give them a real chance to compete with the top teams in the East. It would also give Daryl Morey another option for the 76ers’ cap space aside from chasing a star player, which looks less likely to work by the day.

Washington, meanwhile, gets a couple of second-rounders for Jones, who doesn’t fit with the team’s long-term plans. This is the kind of move Washington will likely be making a few times before now and the deadline.

— Tim Bontemps

Knicks add another ball handler

New York Knicks get: Malcolm Brogdon
Portland Trail Blazers get: Evan Fournier, 2024 first-round pick and 2024 second-round pick

The Knicks, who own an NBA-best 11-2 mark and the league’s top defense since the calendar turned to 2024, have things rolling. OG Anunoby has been a perfect fit for the club, logging a plus-minus of +239 in January — by far the best in the association over that span.

Anunoby has been an absolute one-man wrecking crew defensively; particularly when he’s paired with the Knicks’ second unit, which often features Miles McBride, Quentin Grimes and Precious Achiuwa. The problem there, of course, is that there isn’t much ballhandling or shot creation within that group; that would present issues come playoff time. It’s fully understandable how the Knicks got here. They included last season’s runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year, Immanuel Quickley, as part of the deal with the Toronto Raptors in order to land Anunoby.

The lack of bench offense hasn’t mattered that much yet — and it certainly didn’t when the Knicks handed the defending champion Denver Nuggets a beatdown Thursday at the Garden — but it’s clear New York will need a reserve playmaking upgrade at some point without Quickley. Who better to do that than the person who managed to beat out Quickley for Sixth Man?

There are always going to be injury concerns with Brogdon, but when he’s available, he’s a steady scorer who can play comfortably with reserves and starters alike. And he has good knowledge of the Eastern Conference, considering he’s played in Boston and Milwaukee and played against the contending 76ers in last season’s playoffs.

The move would give rebuilding Portland meaningful draft capital, although the Trail Blazers may want more than this. Fournier would merely be an expiring salary, so Portland might request a young talent like Grimes. But with the trove of late firsts and second-round picks New York has, the Knicks would be smart to dress the deal up without having to include an actual rotation piece. After all, you never know when a hard-nosed, Tom Thibodeau-coached club will need the extra body.

— Chris Herring

Thunder add some size

Oklahoma City Thunder get: Andre Drummond
Chicago Bulls get: Aleksej Pokusevski, 2025 second-round pick (via PHI), two 2027 second-round picks (via PHI and MIN)

The Thunder are already battling for the top seed in the West, so the conservative option would be to observe their current roster in the playoffs and then look to address what is needed in the offseason. However, nothing is guaranteed in the future (just ask the 2012 Thunder), so while it’s incredibly likely OKC will be in this position again, and for years to come, the Thunder should still look to make improvements to the roster.

The addition of Drummond addresses one of the Thunder’s lone weaknesses, defensive rebounding. The Thunder rank 29th in defensive rebounding percentage and opponents have scored 15 second-chance points per game, second best among all teams.

Per Cleaning the Glass, Drummond ranks in the 100th percentile at his position in offensive and defensive rebounding. In only 15.9 minutes per game, he is averaging 8.4 rebounds. When he was pressed into starting duty when Nikola Vucevic was out, Drummond averaged 17.4 rebounds per game over seven games.

Giving away two second-round picks for a player like Drummond on an expiring contract appears to be too much of a risk, but Oklahoma City has a league-high 21 seconds available and Pokusevski is averaging a career low 6.1 minutes. He is a free agent in the offseason.

— Bobby Marks

Lakers land another star

Los Angeles Lakers get: Dejounte Murray
Atlanta Hawks get: Spencer Dinwiddie, 2029 first-round pick (via Lakers)
Brooklyn Nets get: D’Angelo Russell

The Murray-Lakers fit is a natural one. He’s a Klutch client who happens to be the best player the Lakers could reasonably add before the trade deadline. The big hang-up is the Lakers’ matching salary. Russell’s salary is virtually identical, but the Hawks wouldn’t want him to exercise an $18.7 million player option that could prevent them from re-signing restricted free agent Saddiq Bey without pushing into the luxury tax.

Enter the Nets, who could bring Russell home to prop up their ailing offense. Russell’s lone All-Star appearance came as part of a young Brooklyn team similar in many ways to the current group. With Dinwiddie slumping this season, Russell would be a massive offensive upgrade for the Nets, who can comfortably handle his 2024-25 player option. Dinwiddie is in the final season of his contract, allowing Atlanta to either re-sign him to a smaller deal using Bird rights or allow him to walk in unrestricted free agency.

— Kevin Pelton

Raptors continue the teardown

Oklahoma City Thunder get: Jakob Poeltl, Dennis Schroder
Toronto Raptors get: Davis Bertans, Aleksej Pokusevski, Tre Mann, Aaron Wiggins, two first-round picks, two second-round picks

The Thunder are ready to contend this season, and still have a raft of stockpiled draft picks in the bank. The Raptors have already traded away two of their starters for young talent and draft picks, signaling an intent to rebuild. This deal allows both teams to trade from areas of surplus in exchange for help in areas of need.

The Thunder field one of the best starting lineups in the league, but they don’t have a lot of experienced depth at either big man or point guard. With this deal, they get starter-level quality at both. While Chet Holmgren is one of the front-runners for Rookie of the Year while starting at center, he is still a rookie with a thin frame who missed all of last season while injured. Poeltl is a walking double-double threat with the girth (7-foot, 260 pounds) of a natural center. With Holmgren’s agility and excellent jump shot, he and Poeltl could play together as well.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an MVP candidate as the Thunder’s point guard, but he is more of a scoring lead guard than a true floor general. Josh Giddey, on the other hand, is more natural as a distributor, but his jumper is not always consistent. Schroder complements both, as a scoring point guard with size and a nice shooting stroke. Schroder, who played two seasons in OKC, has run teams in the playoffs, has experience as both a starter and a sixth man, could play in the same backcourt with either SGA or Giddey and would give the Thunder some insurance in case of injury.

In the past eight months, the Raptors have made a coaching change, let starting point guard Fred VanVleet leave in free agency, traded their lone All Star in Pascal Siakam and also moved on from another starter in defensive whiz OG Anunoby. The writing is on the wall: They are rebuilding, likely around 2021-22 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes plus new additions RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. Draft picks are the currency of choice for rebuilds and picking up four picks (two of them first-rounders) is solid compensation for a sixth man and a veteran big man. This move would finalize their rebuild efforts for this season and put them in position to either add a lot of young talent in the draft or else move the picks to try to bring in young players with upside to be part of their future nucleus.

— Andre’ Snellings

Bridges goes across the bridge

New York Knicks get: Mikal Bridges
Brooklyn Nets get: Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, 2024 first-round pick (from Dallas, top-10 protected), 2025 first-round pick (from Milwaukee, top-4 protected), 2025 first-round pick (from New York, unprotected), 2027 first-round pick (from New York, unprotected) and 2029 first-round pick (from New York, top-5 protected)

Bridges to New York is not going to happen. If you want proof, rewind the clock back to 1983. That was the last time the Knicks and Nets made a trade. (The Knicks sent a 1984 second-round pick to the Nets for Len Elmore.) During my 20-year tenure in New Jersey, there were no trade conversations between the two teams.

But this isn’t “trades we think will happen,” it’s “trades we want to see.”

So what happens if one morning Knicks president Leon Rose picks up the phone and calls Nets general manager Sean Marks to offer him an unprecedented five first-round picks and Quentin Grimes? That is two more firsts than the Cleveland Cavaliers sent to the Utah Jazz for All-Star Donovan Mitchell.

Would Marks politely decline, since the thoughts of Bridges in a Knicks uniform would be tough to stomach? Maybe he’d get bold and ask for even more: The Knicks can trade up to a total of eight firsts.