Here are the best players on the NBA trade market.
The NBA trade deadline isn’t until Feb. 6, but the deal zone has officially open. Recently signed free agents are now eligible to be traded, meaning all the deals one might concoct on their local trade machine can now theoretically actually go through.
The NBA already has a pretty clear picture of buyers and sellers at this point in the season, but whether teams can actually agree on trades under this new CBA is a different story. The CBA’s restrictions on teams over the first and second apron makes it harder to form an agreement, and it feels like players with gigantic contracts are more undesirable than ever. The CBA has seemingly clogged the trade market, but the Golden State Warriors’ recent acquisition of Dennis Schröder from the Nets shows there are still deals to be made.
Here are the nine best players reported to be available ahead of the 2025 NBA trade deadline.
Sexton is having a solid year for the Jazz, averaging 16.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game on above-average 60.3 percent true shooting. He only turns 26 years old in Jan., and seems to be learning how to pick his spots a little better as a scorer. Sexton is not a good defender, but he now has 2.5 seasons as a 40 percent three-point shooter, and is still shifty enough to attack the rim. If anyone wants him, it feels like the Jazz would be happy to offload him as they try to maximize their own lottery odds.
The five-year, $160 million deal Grant and the Blazers agreed to in 2023 scanned as a strange decision from the team even before Damian Lillard requested a trade days later. Grant never fit Portland’s timeline for contention, but it did give him the shot opportunities he was looking for to this point. Grant has had a really tough start to the season this season, posting his worst scoring efficiency since his second year in the league, and averaging his fewest points (16.1 per game) since he left the Nuggets after the bubble. He’s shooting the three ball at a 38 percent clip on good volume, but his two-point scoring efficiency has plummeted. Grant still has three years and more than $102 million remaining on his contract after this season if he picks up his option. He’s going to have to play better than this for someone to really think he’s their missing piece.
Lauri Markkanen isn’t eligible to be traded, but it feels like pretty much anyone else on the Jazz is fair game as they chase their Cooper Flagg dreams. Collins and teammate Collin Sexton feel like the two most likely candidates to go for a variety of reasons, including because they’re both going to be expiring contracts after next season. Collins, who just turned 27 (!), is having a phenomenal year, posting 18.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and two stocks per game on amazing 64.6 percent true shooting. His three-point shot is falling in at a ridiculous 45.3 percent rate on his first 75 shots, which amounts to a little more than three attempts per game. John Collins is No. 12 in the league in three-point percentage! He also has the best dunk of the season according to the NBA’s dunk metric. He’s always been undesirable on the trade market, but if there was ever a year to go for him, it’s this one.
Finney-Smith is an easy fit on most teams as a low usage offensive player who can space the floor, hit three-pointers, and hold his own defensively at the other end. He’s having an incredible year shooting the ball, hitting 44.8 percent of his threes on 5.6 attempts per game. He might a touch less effective defensively than he was earlier in his career, but he still has the length and strength to be fine on that end. Finney-Smith should have a wide market as a plug-and-play fit and a potential expiring contract with a $15.3 million player option for next season.
Vucevic was one of the worst high volume shooters in the NBA last season. This year, he’s somehow a 47.4 percent three-point shooter on 4.6 attempts per game, and he’s also converting two-point field goals at an unfathomable 64.2 percent clip. Vuc is having a career-year at age-34, and he’ll have one season left on his deal at $21.4 million after this year. The big man is still a high IQ passer who can clean the defensive glass, but he’s lost a step defensively, where he was never that good to begin with. Vuc is on the verge of costing the Bulls a third first-round pick if he keeps playing like this and the team keeps winning. Chicago reportedly wants a first-round pick back for him, but they would be wiser to get off him as quickly as possible and let their own record sink.
Johnson is having what might be the best season of his career on the Nets. The 6’9 forward is posting a scorching 65 percent true shooting while averaging the most points per game (18.5) of his career. Johnson is a knockdown shooter (43.1 percent from three) and suddenly looks more capable of finishing inside the arc while also showing he can compete defensively. He’s under contract for two more seasons after this one at about $44 million, which feels like a team-friendly deal if he keeps playing like this. Johnson could help almost any contender, but the Nets need to a holdout for the best deal they can get as they fully descend into their rebuild. It feels like this could be the best player moved by the Feb. deadline.
The Pelicans appear to want to keep Ingram, but they just don’t want to give him a max contract. Ingram is going to have a hard time finding max money in this free agent climate, where only the Nets have that type of cap space. He might have to settle for a little less money, but his best bet could be re-signing with New Orleans while continuing to keep his name on the trade market as the Pelicans figure out their next step. Ingram doesn’t turn 28 years old until Sept., and he’s been shooting the three ball both more frequently (6.4 attempts per game) and more accurately (37.4 percent) this year. It seems possible that sub-All-Stars like Ingram, LaVine, and Julius Randle could get squeezed under this CBA but teams avoid putting huge numbers on their books.
The Bulls have been eager to get off LaVine’s deal for more than a year now, and they don’t appear to be any closer to finding a market. LaVine has had a fantastic year for Chicago — 21.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game on sparkling 63 percent true shooting — in a season when they would rather be tanking with a top-10 protected draft pick owed to the Spurs. LaVine only has two years on his contract after this season. If any team is willing to stomach the roughly $95 million he’s owed, he’s both the best scorer and best shooter available. LaVine was always miscast as a No. 1 option, but his off-ball scoring could theoretically be really dynamic next to a true engine. Any team offering a first-round pick or a decent young player in return should be able to land him.
Butler is the most talked about name on the trade market right now. He holds a $52.4 million player option for next season that he’s reportedly promising to turn down as he seeks a long-term deal. The Heat are reportedly willing to trade him, and Butler already has his own list of teams he’d like to go to. Only one problem: it’s basically impossible to make a deal with the Mavericks and Suns, leaving the Warriors and maybe the Rockets as the only suitable destinations. Miami does have a lottery-protected draft pick out the door that they could try to keep by trading Butler, but for now the team appears too competent to tank like that in the East. The Heat usually aren’t known for blowing it up early with trades, so I’ll believe it when I see it in terms of Butler actually getting traded.
