thelesterlee
The 2024 NBA Trade Deadline might be a little disappointing with no real stars changing teams but I think there are more than a few role players that could change cities and alter a team’s championship potential.
I’m also just obsessed with trades like, imagine opening up Twitter and finding out your job is sending you across the country for someone better and you have to move your family immediately in the middle of February and people are celebrating your company for acquiring a far more talented version of you.
Trades are insane.
Anyway, here are 4 of the most interesting teams heading into the 2024 NBA Trade Deadline:
1. Philadelphia 76ers
Last week, Jonathan Kuminga hit Joel Embiid’s knee with an elbow drop off the top rope. Embiid’s historic season might be over. He has been diagnosed with a displaced flap of the meniscus in his left knee. I don’t totally know what that means but it sounds like it would be difficult playing basketball, ya know, with a displaced flap and all.
The Sixers cannot win a championship without Embiid. They cannot make it out of the first round without him. On Saturday night, Philadelphia got dragged by the Brooklyn Nets. They were out-rebounded and Nic Claxton dominated the paint. Not great. Ben Simmons came back to their city and walked out with a W.
Sixers GM, Daryl Morey, genuinely enjoys making trades. That’s his shit. Man loves talking to other GMs on the phone. Chatty patty ass.
This season is lost.
But they still have Embiid in his prime so they wouldn’t be tanking or making trades for youth/future prospects. This is more of an opportunity to potentially trade some of their expiring contracts for guys who have years left and can help the team next season instead of going into the offseason and hoping to sign free agents when they’re competing against every other team with cap space and they end up just like, bringing back PJ Tucker or some shit.
The Brooklyn Nets are being cute about trading Mikal Bridges and wanting a bajillion draft picks but I’d replace Tobias Harris with Mikal Bridges in a second. I would trade Tobias Harris for an Auntie Anne’s pretzel.
Perhaps it’s redundant next to Tyrese Maxey but I want to see Devin Vassell play some meaningful basketball and Gregg Popovich’s bum ass isn’t leading the Spurs to the playoffs anytime soon.
Go replace Tobias Harris with a real long-term 3rd scoring option.
2. Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are not a good basketball club. At all. Not even a little bit. They’ve won 9 games. 1 against the Grizzlies while Ja Morant was suspended for being a weird alcoholic. They’ve beaten the Detroit Pistons twice and the Spurs once. Not an impressive victory in sight.
So when your team is awful, you look for future draft capital to give you multiple lotto tickets to scratch off and hopefully find some superstars. But there’s a problem. Most teams who would want a Tyus Jones or a Kyle Kuzma don’t have the first-round picks to send over to DC.
Teams have plenty of second-round picks to throw around but the Wizards don’t become a better basketball team from drafting a bunch of Tomáš Satoranský’s. I like Corey Kispert. He just dropped 26 on the Miami Heat on Friday. I think Bilal Coulibaly is the type of guy a playoff team needs to have in their rotation to win a championship.
Everyone else can go. Except for Jordan Poole. The streets need the memes.
But unfortunately, no good team can give them any good picks back. Tyus Jones is about to go to the Timberwolves for like, 19 2nd round picks and none of these players will be in the NBA longer than 3 seasons.
Not a great tanking year but go off.
3. New York Knicks
I feel like I write about the Knicks every day now but I guess it makes sense when they’re the best team in the NBA.
On Saturday night, the Knicks 9-game winning streak ended with a 105-113 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Quentin Grimes were out leaving the Knicks with Jalen Brunson, a couple of his old college roommates and some random concession workers they pulled from the chicken fingers stand.
It was brutal to witness. The Lakers started doubling Brunson in the 4th quarter and it became abundantly clear that a professional basketball team with playoff aspirations cannot play Josh Hart and Precious Achiuwa 42 minutes a night.
The Knicks need to turn Evan Fournier’s $19 million into a human capable of playing basketball. Whether it’s Malcolm Brogdon or Bruce Brown, the Knicks need another rotation player. There are too many guys who can’t dribble, pass or shoot. I don’t even understand why Precious Achiuwa even stands around the 3-point line when I have never seen him make a 3.
Personally, I don’t love any of the guys I’ve seen rumors about. I understand the Jordan Clarkson thing but the Knicks don’t need a selfish, shoot-first scorer off the bench. They also don’t need a guy who won’t play defense.
I actually love bringing in Markelle Fultz who is aggressive as hell in transition. I also don’t hate bringing Reggie Bullock back from Houston or Dennis Smith Jr from Brooklyn who will maintain the defensive intensity with the bench unit while also not being reluctant to chuck up shots.
4. Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are the worst team ever and the only move they made to improve was trading Marvin Bagley for Danilo Galinari. Ok.
I cannot figure out why Detroit hasn’t sent out Bojan Bogdanovic or Alec Burks or Joe Harris or Killian Hayes or honestly, Cade Cunningham. Reset the clock completely. Free Cade Cunningham from the misery of this perpetual rebuild. Ausar Thompson could be in the Rookie of the Year debate but head coach, Monty Williams, won’t even play him. The fuck is going on in Michigan??
The Pistons need to trade everyone on the payroll. Now. The 2024 NBA Trade Deadline cannot pass without Kevin Knox being sent elsewhere.
Who do you believe in the most interesting team going into the 2024 NBA Trade Deadline? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee. Let me know if you think the 2024 NBA trade deadline will be disappointing.
