Much like the holidays, trade season sneaks up on us. But we’re nearly at the midpoint of the NBA season already, and there are fewer than 30 days left before the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 6. Sure, the bulk of the action will likely take place in the final 48 hours, but everyone is back from the holidays and burning up the phones.
With that, it’s time to focus on key players at the upcoming deadline. Or, shall I say, the low-key players? Of course, you have the big trade deadline names everyone is talking about: Jimmy Butler, Brandon Ingram, De’Aaron Fox, Zach LaVine … each will be mentioned repeatedly over the next month, and for good reason. A deal involving any of them is franchise-level news.
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What I want to focus on, however, is a few guys you probably haven’t thought much about, but who seem much more likely to change teams before the deadline. While the stars I mentioned above could be traded by Feb. 6, there is nothing in particular compelling their teams to do so ahead of the offseason.
That’s not the case with most of the players below. Cap gymnastics of one sort or another make each of them strong candidates to change teams between now and the deadline, with one exception that I included to highlight a missed opportunity.
So, let’s go to it: The trade deadline guys you maybe hadn’t considered — my Low-Key All-Trade Deadline Team for 2025.
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Jaden Springer, Celtics
Boston’s team is both very good and very expensive, and the Celtics will probably spend the trade deadline focusing more on the second part than the first.
That’s true for two reasons. First, it’s hard to see whom they could acquire who would be more impactful in their top nine than the players they already have, especially since they can’t aggregate salaries or take back more money than they send out because of being over the collective bargaining agreement’s second apron.
I’m sure the Celtics will sniff around for cheap backup center options, and this front office has proven very skillful at working around the edges. That said, completing virtually any realistic deal will be a major challenge.
On the other hand, Boston can save nearly $20 million by airdropping the little-used Springer’s $4 million deal on another roster, likely at the cost of a second-round pick. It would require a trade partner with either cap room (Detroit is the only one at the moment) or a small trade exception. Even for a win-now team, the benefits here are likely too great to ignore, especially as it would also open Boston’s 14th roster spot for a more impactful roster addition ahead of the playoffs.
Jordan Hawkins, Pelicans
I can’t guarantee the Pelicans will trade Hawkins or Ingram or Zion Williamson. What I can guarantee you is that the Pelicans will trade somebody, because New Orleans is $2.1 million over the luxury tax line. This franchise has been among the league’s most frugal even in good times; bet your beignets they aren’t going to splurge on a luxury tax check for a team that entered Friday 7-31.
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Ingram’s expiring contract and potential utility for a contender still makes him a candidate, even if the return isn’t quite what the Pels might have initially hoped. Another angle is CJ McCollum, whose cap-crippling extension pays him $31 million next year. Even with that, he might be tradeable — to the right team, for the right price — since he’s healthy and recently hung a 50-burger on the Washington Wizards.
(Fun question: Would the Pels include their 2026 first-round pick just to move off him for expiring money, given how he ties up their money again in 2025-26? They’ll harrumph and say, “Of course not!” today, but you might get a different answer around noon on Feb. 6.)
However, also keep an eye on Hawkins. The second-year pro has struggled to break into the Pels’ rotation despite their myriad injuries but could tempt teams in need of shooting, especially if the price is lowered to “virtually nothing” — a top-55 protected second-rounder, let’s say.
Why Hawkins? He makes $4.5 million, allowing the Pels to skirt the tax while leaving open the option of either re-signing or sign-and-trading Ingram in the offseason. Trading Hawkins also removes $4.7 million in salary from another tricky luxury tax dance for New Orleans in 2025-26. However, a receiving team would need a trade exception (or, in Detroit’s case, cap room) to acquire him.
If all that fails, the Pels could use a 2030 second-round pick as bait to offload two of Javonte Green, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Daniel Theis, and get under the tax line that way. Because all three are on minimum deals, the receiving team would not need to have cap space or an exception to take them in; with no money coming back, the Pels won’t violate any rules on aggregating minimum salaries.
Mitchell Robinson, Knicks
Not hard to see this one coming. Robinson has been out all year with an injury and still has another year left on his deal for $12 million, but on the right team, that could be a feature, not a bug.
The Knicks are mere pennies below the second apron but could still aggregate Robinson, Precious Achiuwa’s expiring $6 million deal and whatever amount of second-round picks is appropriate in exchange for a rotation-caliber wing to fortify their paper-thin bench. On the receiving side, it’s pretty easy to see how a team like New Orleans or Sacramento could talk itself into Robinson fitting into their 2025-26 payroll as inexpensive frontcourt depth, especially if the medical reports on his ankle check out.
New York can’t do anything with first-round picks, except for a protected Wizards pick that seems near-certain to turn into two seconds. That limits the Knicks’ hunting ability a bit. However, their second-round inventory overflows: The Knicks have 11 they can trade, including those two from Washington that would convey in 2026 and 2027 if the Wizards stay in the top eight of the 2026 draft.
It’s possible the Knicks stand still at the deadline, of course. But if they don’t, virtually anything of substance they could possibly do would seemingly have to involve Robinson.
Kevin Huerter fires up a 3 against the Jazz. )Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)
Kevin Huerter, Kings
Hey, how about Robinson for Huerter? OK, maybe not, but the Kings’ forward has become somewhat lost in Sacramento’s wing mix over the past two years and still has another year left on his deal at $18 million.
Where that fits in is pretty obvious if you look at the reported trade talks the Kings have been having. Trading for players such as Brooklyn’s Cam Johnson, for instance, who make in the $20 million range, would all but require having Huerter in the deal as matching salary. Most deals for a significant player, in fact, would need to include him not just for matching purposes but to keep the Kings below the luxury tax; they’re just $3.2 million over and have never been eager to pay it.
The odds of Huerter being a part of an outbound package seem high. I should point out that the expiring $8 million salary of Trey Lyles could also be part of many potential deal formulations, but he’s what passes for frontcourt depth in Sacramento right now. Thus, unless a deal requires both Lyles and Huerter to be in it for matching purposes, Huerter is the more likely one to go. Even if you think Huerter is better in a vacuum, the specific value to the team is a different question; one suspects the Kings would rather hang on to Lyles for the rest of the season than Huerter.
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P.J. Tucker, Clippers
Steve Ballmer doesn’t need the money, but getting under the tax line and avoiding repeater status is probably enough of an incentive to drop the mere $2.5 million in salary the Clippers would need in order to skirt the tax. Bones Hyland’s $4.2 million deal is another candidate, but Tucker has been away from the team all season.
Of course, the Clips have been just successful enough this year that they could go the opposite way and try to package Tucker and Hyland for a decent player with a middle-class contract that runs into next season.
LA has limited draft assets to play with (may I interest you in a 2031 second-rounder?), especially if they don’t want to throw any more firsts at this era. It seems like the sweet spot is swapping Tucker and either Kobe Brown or that 2031 second for an $8 million to $10 million contract that is at least marginally useful. A deal like that for Toronto’s Chris Boucher, for instance, would be doable that way.
K.J. Martin, Sixers
Despite the Sixers’ struggles thus far, I don’t see Philadelphia salary dumping itself out of the luxury tax. They’d have to cut into bone to get all the way under, plus they have too much tied up in the Paul George-Tyrese Maxey-Joel Embiid triumvirate that they’ve hardly seen play together.
Upgrading the supporting cast, on the other hand, seems plausible. And given that the Sixers signed Martin to an $8 million deal this summer just so he could be a walking trade exception this winter, he’s by far the most likely piece in a Sixers trade puzzle. Philly still has tradeable draft capital thanks to the proceeds from the James Harden trade with the Clippers; in a deal of this scale, the likely 29th or 30th pick in the draft from Oklahoma City is an interesting chip with which to chase an upgrade at power forward.
The bigger issue is who else needs to be in the deal to create a salary match; any realistic trade would leave Philly above the CBA’s first apron and thus prevent them from taking in more than they send out. Martin’s non-guaranteed deal in 2025-26 effectively operates as an expiring contract, but the other meaningful money the Sixers could aggregate (such as Kelly Oubre or Andre Drummond) comes with player options in 2026-27 that could turn off a trade partner.
Luke Kennard, Grizzlies
We already know the Grizzlies’ preferred matching salary for any roster upgrades now that the Dorian Finney-Smith negotiations leaked; Kennard and Jon Konchar can fetch them a middle-class salary in return.
Kennard is the bigger salary and the only expiring one, making him the more necessary of the two in deal formulations. He’s lost in Memphis’ deep guard rotation and has struggled to stay in the lineup. On the other hand, he could help another team with his deep shooting and secondary playmaking, as a career 43.9 percent shooter from 3 who is on an expiring deal for $9.25 million. That could make him a factor even in trades with non-tanking teams or in three-team deals. (The Clippers, above, could throw a Tucker-Kennard trade into a multi-team mix that sends Tucker elsewhere and brings Memphis help, for instance.)
The bigger picture idea here is that the Grizzlies are pushing for second place in the West, and with the Ja Morant-Jaren Jackson Jr.-Desmond Bane core in its prime, is likely shopping for upgrades around them. Memphis can offer its 2025 first-round pick and, if it’s feeling spicy and the prey is worth it, throw in multiple future picks and swaps on top of it. The Grizzlies have been choosy about their targets and could opt to stand pat, but if they pounce, I’d expect Kennard to be a big chunk of the outbound money.
Jeff Green elevates for a jumper as the Spurs’ Harrison Ingram defends in November. (Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)
Jeff Green, Rockets
Par for the course, right? Jeff Green has played for 11 teams in 12 cities, including Houston twice. He’s been traded in-season four times (I was only personally involved in two of them).
Don’t be surprised if we get No. 5, given that Green’s contract was designed for the express purpose of being included in a trade later. That’s also true of center Jock Landale, but Green’s deal expires this season and thus is more likely to be part of a trade package. (Realistically, it’s probably both; the Green-Landale combined $16 million in salary has to be part of a salary match for a lot of players on Houston’s shopping list; Steven Adams’ expiring $12.6 million deal can also be useful for more expensive targets.)
With Houston pushing to stay in the West’s upper crust, the Rockets are known to be shopping. Carefully, perhaps, given how young the roster is, but if the right player becomes available, Houston has the contracts and assets — both young players and picks — to pounce.
With an $8 million deal that can bring back up to $15.5 million in returning salary (Houston is far enough under the tax line to pull this off, too), Green could also be part of something slightly less sexy. Consider, say, a deal that attached Green to two seconds for an upgrade at backup center or backup point guard, or to get one more threatening shooter in the mix.
Jerami Grant, Trail Blazers
Consider this a placeholder for the question of, “What exactly is the Blazers’ strategy here?” Despite being in the early stages of a clear rebuild situation, Portland employs several tradeable veterans but hasn’t moved on from any of them, with the exception of including Malcolm Brogdon as a matching salary in the Deni Avdija deal.
Otherwise, it’s a “Wait, you’re still here?” All-Star team: Grant, Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams, Matisse Thybulle and Anfernee Simons. The net effect of those veterans has been to leave the Blazers just competent enough to halve their odds of winning the draft lottery, while first-round pick Donovan Clingan plays 15.8 minutes a night and spends the rest of his evening watching Ayton sort-of try.
Has Portland already missed its moment with Grant? He turns 31 in March, is shooting just 38.2 percent this year (overall, not just on 3s) and makes $103 million over the three seasons after this one.
Remember, the motivation for another team to acquire Grant is as a win-now overpay, but Grant’s case that he helps the “win-now” part isn’t terribly convincing at the moment. It was a mistake to agree to re-sign him for four years and $133 million mere hours before Damian Lillard’s trade demand, but a bigger error may have been not taking whatever they could get for him at either the 2024 trade deadline or the 2024 offseason.
The Blazers are in an uncommon spot for a rebuild, because the tax impedes a lot of their trade possibilities. Contracts like those of Grant, Ayton, Thybulle and Simmons leave them just $3.7 million from the tax line, so they aren’t going to be taking back a bunch of money from another team and getting bought off with draft capital. Instead, they need to do this the hard way.
Zeke Nnaji, Nuggets
One of the interesting subplots of any Denver Nuggets trade scenario is figuring out how to dispense with one of the worst rookie-contract extensions in league history. Nnaji’s deal just started a few months ago and isn’t even for that much money ($32 million over four years), but he’s proven completely unplayable on a team that is desperate for even halfway-decent minutes behind Nikola Jokić.
The Nuggets are hard-capped at the second apron as a result of lighting $10 million on fire to sign Dario Šarić with their midlevel exception. However, they can still make potentially impactful moves with the contract of Michael Porter Jr., who carries a $35.9 million cap number and is signed for two years after this one.
It virtually has to be Porter, given his large salary and the lack of any remaining draft assets for the Nuggets to put into a deal, but I put Nnaji in here for a reason: Look for the Nuggets to try to shoehorn him into any trade they make, whether now or this summer, to get all that dead money off their books.
One imagines GM Calvin Booth coughing “and Nnaji” into the phone after bringing up Porter’s name to rival execs; their combined salary of $44 million is a big gulp if no draft capital is involved.
On the other hand, with so many other big salaries out there on the trade market garnering light demand — such as the four names at the top of this story — you can’t rule out the Nuggets pulling it off in a your-problem-for-my-problem type of trade that would reshuffle the decks for both teams.
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(Photo of Jerami Grant: Soobum Im / Getty Images)
