With the NBA trade deadline roughly two weeks away, teams are gathering intel on who is and isn’t available and figuring out their realistic options. Last season proved that there were more buyers than sellers thanks to the newly implemented play-in tournament, and that trend might only grow stronger this season.
The success of the Phoenix Suns has motivated teams into remaining competitive with the belief that they can become contenders swiftly with the rights moves. The Chicago Bulls are the biggest recent example of that when they went ahead and traded Wendell Carter Jr. and two first-round picks for Nikola Vucevic in what was the biggest trade of last year’s trade deadline. They followed that up with the acquisitions of DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball and have looked like a contender when fully healthy.
Another factor that could increase activity this season is more flexibility. Last year there were a handful of teams that were hard-capped and up against the apron that were limited in making trades. At the same time, a lot of those franchises are now deep into the luxury tax and could look to reduce payroll and save money. We could see some financially motivated trades since this NBA season is set to have the highest luxury tax distribution in NBA history.
Here is a breakdown of each team’s situation ahead of the trade deadline and whether we can expect them to be active or not.