The 2024 NBA offseason is here.
With the Boston Celtics’ coronation as champions of the 2023-24 campaign, all 30 franchises can shift fully into offseason mode.
Since most organizations have been there for a while—months for the lottery teams and play-in tournament losers—the market is already buzzing.
So, we’re combining that buzz with some tea-leaf reading to populate a list of the 10 best players who are or reasonably could become available this summer.
We’ll rank them based on perceived trade value and potential impact, then find new trade ideas to send them through hypothetical scenery changes.
One quick note before we start: With the word out of Cleveland consistently suggesting Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland—respectively, the second- and third-ranked players on our last big board—are unavailable, they have been dropped from the list.
With that out of the way, let the theoretical wheeling and dealing commence.
The trade: Collin Sexton to the Miami Heat for Duncan Robinson, the No. 15 pick and a 2026 second-round pick (via LAL)
There is “a belief from rival executives” that the Jazz could make Sexton available this offseason, per HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.
That passes the smell test, since the ideal backcourt mate for Keyonte George is bigger, better off the ball and more versatile defensively than the 2018 No. 8 overall pick.
Still, Sexton could steal a few eyeballs in South Beach, where the Heat could use more perimeter punch and downhill force. His perpetually full-throttle motor would be an easy #culture fit, and he could provide the second team with the scoring boost it lost upon Tyler Herro’s promotion to the opening lineup.
While Utah’s interest in this package would revolve around the draft assets, Robinson could be more than a salary-filler.
The Jazz need more players who can space the floor for George and Lauri Markkanen to attack, and Robinson’s gravitational pull is powerful.
Since 2019-20—his first season as a rotation regular—the 30-year-old ranks seventh overall with 1,002 triples, and he has converted those long-range looks at a 40 percent clip.
The trade: Jarace Walker, Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, the No. 36 pick, a 2028 first-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges
It felt like the Pacers had time on their side when they spent last year’s No. 8 pick on Walker, but life naturally moves fast in the Circle City.
Indiana’s midseason acquisition of Pascal Siakam upped the franchise’s urgency—and blocked Walker’s natural power forward position.
Just like that, executives are now wondering whether the Houston product “could become a trade candidate” this offseason, per Scotto.
The Pacers surely won’t be in a rush to move Walker, but it’s a different story if he could serve as part of the package that finally pries Bridges out of Brooklyn.
Indiana, which just made its first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in a decade, could be an impact, two-way wing away from cracking the contending ranks. Bridges, who has more glue in his game than Elmer’s, might be the last push to get the Pacers over the hump.
While the Nets don’t seem interested in dealing Bridges (more on that later), there is surely an offer that makes them reconsider that stance, and maybe this is it.
Walker is 20 years old with a sky-high ceiling on both ends, Mathurin is a walking bucket with defensive tools, and Jackson pairs pogo-stick bounce with a 7’2″ wingspan.
Tack on a pair of future unprotected firsts—from a non-destination franchise, mind you—and an early second, and perhaps this is the rebuilding kit that gets Brooklyn to bite.
The trade: Trae Young to the Brooklyn Nets for Ben Simmons, Dariq Whitehead, a 2025 first-round pick (via PHO), a 2027 first-round pick (top-eight protected, via PHI) and a 2029 first-round pick (via DAL)
While the primary talking point around Atlanta has been which star guard the Hawks would keep—Young or Dejounte Murray—the latest buzz suggests the answer might be neither.
“The thing I keep hearing from people is that if it was an over of one on FanDuel, Trae and Murray get traded and the over’s one and you could bet under, push, or over, that some people seem to think both of those guys are getting traded is a thing I’ve heard,” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons said on The Bill Simmons Podcast (h/t Sports Talk ATL).
Young has his limitations—namely, anything connected to defense—but the Nets could be desperate enough for offense and star power to look past them.
If the idea is to win something of substance during Mikal Bridges’ prime, then the talent base must expand fast. Getting Young, who rattles off 25-point, 10-dime double-doubles in his sleep, would go a long way toward that expansion.
The Hawks, meanwhile, could consider taking a blowtorch to their roster and resetting around Jalen Johnson, the No. 1 pick and whichever 2025 draft prospect they could tank their way to adding (if they can reacquire their pick from the San Antonio Spurs).
Simmons is an unreliable as they come, and Whitehead feels like a long-shot mystery box, but getting three first-round picks for Young would be big given his one-way play style and colossal contract.
The trade: Alex Caruso, Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter to the Sacramento Kings for Kevin Huerter, Davion Mitchell, the No. 13 pick and a 2027 first-round pick (top-three protected)
The Bulls remain disinterested in dealing Caruso.
Per CHGO’s Will Gottlieb, Chicago “received offers from multiple teams, consisting of multiple protected first-round picks” with one featuring “a pick in the top 10 of the 2024 draft,” but it has continued to decline those overtures.
The phone figures to keep ringing, though, since Caruso’s glue-guy skills would carry more impact on a club closer to championship contention.
Now, the Kings aren’t exactly bearing down on a title run, but they could convince themselves they’re close to making something happen. This was a 48-win No. 3 seed just last season, and its top-three players—De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray—are all on upward trajectories.
Sacramento could use a perimeter stopper, and Caruso is one of the stingiest around. He’s also a seemingly tireless hustler and a smart enough off-ball mover to thrive alongside stars. The Kings might also see an opening for Craig to fill a three-and-D role. And if they need Mitchell to get this deal done, Carter could arrive as a capable defense-first replacement.
Chicago keeps signaling that it doesn’t want to bottom out, and while it would miss Caruso’s presence, it would also gain Huerter’s shotmaking and Mitchell’s point-of-attack defense.
The biggest draw, though, would be the incoming picks, which the Bulls could keep for themselves (the preferrable option) or flip for additional plug-and-play contributors.
The trade: Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2028 first-round pick to the Utah Jazz for Lauri Markkanen
The Warriors need to find a co-star for Stephen Curry. Fast.
That’s why Kuminga is “pretty much” untouchable but not necessarily totally off-limits. If Golden State needed to let him go to land an elite, he might be on the next flight out of town.
Markkanen is that type of talent. And while he’d effectively erase Golden State’s asset collection—pick swaps could be needed to get this done—it might be worth it to give Curry another shot at the crown. An offense featuring those two with Draymond Green connecting the dots feels impossible to stop. Plus, Markkanen, 27, is young enough that if he stuck around, he could help form the foundation of the franchise’s post-Curry era.
The Warriors would need to jump through financial hoops to make this mesh with the collective bargaining agreement, but given their stated desire of cutting costs, that shouldn’t be much of an obstacle.
Jazz fans will hate this, as they probably will with anything sending the skilled 7-footer out of Salt Lake City. That’s fine. This front office has spent the past two deadlines showing a willingness to take one step back for the hope of multiple forward steps in the future.
This would obviously be a harder reset, but there are worse ways to rebuild than with a mountain of draft picks and a prospect collection featuring Kuminga, Podziemski, Moody, Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks and Walker Kessler.
The trade: Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 27 pick and the No. 37 pick to the Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant
Towns’ name made a recent appearance on the rumor mill. And while it was only to say the New York Knicks “never engaged in serious trade negotiations” for him, per Fred Katz of The Athletic, that just goes to show he still has some trade buzz despite Minnesota’s wildly successful season.
This speculation seems unlikely to go away given the financial hurdles facing this franchise.
Would Minnesota opt for the challenge trade route? Durant is even more expensive now, but he wouldn’t carry the same long-term costs. He’s also far more proven on basketball’s biggest stage, not to mention more versatile on defense and better equipped to handle shot-creation duties.
And it’s hard to imagine soaring Wolves star Anthony Edwards would mind suiting up alongside his “favorite player of all time.”
As for the Suns, they might already feel stuck with the Durant-Devin Booker-Bradley Beal trio, and this would help create a little wiggle room. They’d have additional assets to help flesh out the roster, a tall task as currently constructed since they’re over the second apron.
They might also widen their window by swapping out the 35-year-old Durant for 28-year-old Towns, who has talked about reuniting with former Kentucky teammate Booker.
The trade: Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance Jr. and the No. 21 pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Dejounte Murray and Clint Capela
Ingram is 26 years old, a former All-Star and Most Improved Player award-winner and riding a five-year wave of averaging at least 20 points and four assists.
The Duke product is a really good player, but not a max-contract-caliber one in the eyes of the Pelicans, per NOLA.com’s Christian Clark. And that could grease the gears for a big trade, because he is eligible to extend at that level this offseason.
New Orleans may not want to pay Ingram, but maybe Atlanta would.
The Hawks have needed an impact wing for a while, and maybe they see him as a better fit with Trae Young than Murray was. Plus, they’d be getting a serviceable backup big man in Nance and the No. 21 pick to add an additional prospect or flip in a separate swap.
The Pelicans, meanwhile, might see Murray as their missing table-setter.
The last time the 27-year-old operated as a primary playmaker, he averaged 21.1 points and 9.2 assists against 2.6 turnovers while earning his first All-Star nod.
New Orleans could also see Capela’s length and ability to play above the rim as better on-court complements for Zion Williamson than it has had at the center spot.
The trade: Dejounte Murray to the San Antonio Spurs for Tre Jones, the No. 8 pick and a 2025 first-round pick (Atlanta’s own)
If the Hawks part with both Murray and Trae Young, they have to find a way to get their 2025 first-round pick back from the Spurs.
Since San Antonio needs a dynamic playmaker to put around Victor Wembanyama, and Atlanta happens to have one who is already familiar with the Alamo City, this feels doable.
The Spurs were mostly atrocious this season, but when Wembanyama played with an actual point guard, they competed. In the 1,288 minutes he logged with Jones, San Antonio outscored the opposition by 4.3 points per 100 possessions. For context, that figure would’ve ranked as this season’s seventh-best net rating.
If the 20-year-old was that good with Jones, what kind of damage could he do with Murray? The answer is intriguing enough for the Spurs to take the plunge.
The Hawks would do this deal for the picks, primarily that unprotected first in a 2025 draft that could have multiple franchise-level prospects at the top.
Jones could be a sneaky-good get, too, though. If Atlanta wanted to let the kids run wild for a season, it might still covet an offensive caretaker who makes sure things don’t go totally off track.
The trade: Mikal Bridges to the Orlando Magic for Anthony Black, the No. 18 pick, a 2028 first-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick
The Nets are doing whatever they can to keep Bridges out of discussions like this.
They have shown “zero interest in trading Bridges,” per The Athletic’s Fred Katz, and reportedly see him “as a costar to whichever big name it can trade for down the line.”
Still, these attempts could continue as folks can’t help but notice the disconnect between the 27-year-old’s readiness to win and this roster’s lack thereof.
Orlando could justify making an offer so aggressive that it gets Brooklyn’s attention. The Magic have a window to add a difference-maker before Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner inevitably sign for major money.
Bridges could team with Wagner to fill costarring roles with Banchero, addressing Orlando’s need for shooting and support scoring while somehow making this group even longer and harder to deal with defensively.
As for Brooklyn, this is about abandoning a so-far-fruitless star search and pivoting toward a future loaded with possibilities.
No, the Nets wouldn’t reap the immediate rewards of a reset, because they don’t control their upcoming draft picks, but they would get the asset collection rolling with Black, last summer’s No. 6 pick, and three first-round picks, including two distant-future firsts from a franchise with three playoff trips to show for the last decade-plus.
The trade: Kevin Durant to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride, the No. 24 pick, a 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected, via WAS) and a 2028 first-round pick
If a megastar gets moved this summer—and that’s always a massive if—Durant seems like the most realistic possibility.
While there aren’t rumors suggesting it will happen, dealing the four-time scoring champion might be the only way for the Suns to unstick themselves from the thorny world that is the second apron.
They need assets if they want to adjust this roster at all, and this type of trade might be their only means of finding them.
The Suns would still have a star at the forward spot with Randle, would gain an above-the-rim interior presence with Robinson and would fill the functional-floor-general void with McBride. They’d also add three first-round picks to their depleted draft stash, giving them enough flexibility to go looking for even more on the trade market.
The Knicks would finally have Durant and immediately count on him to provide the offensive support Jalen Brunson often went without during their playoff run.
The 14-time All-Star will be 36 before the season tips, and injuries have become a much more common theme at this stage of his career, so there would be some risk.
Think about that reward, though: Brunson and Durant wreaking havoc on their own or in two-man actions with the other, while what’s arguably the Association’s deepest roster routinely finds ways to enhance anything and everything the stars do.