The NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone, and the NBA Draft is drawing near. We're only a little more than a month away to find out when and where the best prospects of this year's class will go.
As exciting as the draft is, this year's class is as underwhelming as it has been in a very long time. There is no clear No. 1 pick, and there just doesn't seem to be a ton of high-end talent in general.
With how weak this draft appears to be, trading picks for proven talent or even future assets is an appealing option, and should be what these five teams consider.
The Houston Rockets didn't win quite as big as the Atlanta Hawks did, but they moved from having the ninth-best odds to ending up with the No. 3 overall pick. They can thank the Brooklyn Nets for that.
The Rockets have made their stance abundantly clear. They're trying to win now. They made a run at Brooklyn's Mikal Bridges at the trade deadline to help them with that. They can pursue him again, or a different star player, by dangling No. 3 overall.
The Rockets have pieces at their disposal to try and win right now, with Alperin Sengun, Jalen Green, and Fred VanVleet leading the way. They have a ton of young talent as well, like Sengun, Green, Cam Whitmore, Amen Thompson, and Jabari Smith Jr., who can help them win now and in the future. Adding a high-end player in the middle of his prime for No. 3 overall and some more of their many draft picks can help the Rockets potentially become a surefire playoff team.
4) The 76ers should try to win now by trading their first-round pick
According to The Athletic's Sam Vecenie, the Philadelphia 76ers are one team that could be looking to move their first-round pick, which is slated to be at No. 16 overall.
"The 76ers are seen league-wide as a candidate to trade their pick," writes Vecenie. "Either they will need to move their pick for a star, or they’ll need to create enough cap space to add a star and more talent in free agency."
The 76ers shopping their pick for a star makes a whole lot of sense. They have the cap space to sign a star outright, but other than Paul George, who is there? Klay Thompson? George will presumably be Daryl Morey's first choice, but if he chooses to go elsewhere, the best path for them to get a star to pair alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey would be through trade.
If the 76ers don't have enough to get a star in a trade, they could still look to trade No. 16 for a high-level role player. With so many players on their roster set to hit free agency, the 76ers could use several key additions this offseason rather than a rookie who might not be ready to contribute in a big way right away.
The New York Knicks are in a great spot. Not only are they two wins away from their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since the 1999-2000 season, but they have two first-round picks in this year's draft thanks to the Kristaps Porzingis trade from what feels like decades ago.
The Knicks, as a team that hopes to compete for a championship, do not need two rookies. Not only are they trying to compete right now, but they have a roster full of depth. What they really need is another high-end piece to pair alongside Jalen Brunson. With that in mind, according to Vecenie, they could be another team looking to move their first-round pick(s).
"The Knicks are another team seen league-wide as a potential trade partner, as coach Tom Thibodeau is not likely to want multiple first-round rookies on his team," writes Vecenie. "Additionally, the Knicks have generally tried to add more assets for the future to create more potential avenues to complete trades involving future draft picks."
New York's first choice would presumably be to use those picks and other assets to help land them a star player, but who knows if that can happen. If that's not on the table, the Knicks could potentially kick the can down the road, by trading one or both of those picks for future assets. We've seen them do that before, and could easily see it again.
The fact of the matter is that whoever the Knicks would take at the end of the first round with their picks would almost certainly not play without injuries occurring. Rather than letting a first-round pick or two languish away on the bench or in the G-League, the Knicks would be better off dealing at least one if not both of their picks.
2) The Lakers trading their first-round pick could entice LeBron James to re-sign
The Los Angeles Lakers are another team with somewhat of an early pick in the first-round looking to win right now. Los Angeles is slated to pick at No. 17 overall assuming that the New Orleans Pelicans defer to next season to take the Lakers' pick.
The Lakers could take the best player available at No. 17 if they'd like. They could also take Bronny James to try and entice LeBron James to re-sign with the team. What they should do is trade the pick for a win-now asset.
The dream would be getting a star-level kind of player like Trae Young or Dejounte Murray for example, but beggars can't be choosers. If the Hawks stars aren't available, there are players who will be. If the Lakers are able to get a high-end talent to pair alongside Anthony Davis, that in itself should be enough to get LeBron to re-sign.
Even if they pass on Bronny at No. 17, they could still take him in the second round or explore a scenario in which they select him later in the first. There's no reason to reach as high as just three picks outside of the lottery to take him when they can really improve their team.
What a disastrous season the 2023-24 campaign was for the Memphis Grizzlies. Not only was Ja Morant suspended for a large chunk of the year, but just about every player on their roster dealt with injuries. Only two players on their team played in over 60 games. They had to use 33 players over the course of the season. That's unheard of for a league in which the active roster is only 15 players.
Yes, the Grizzlies went 27-55 this past season, but they had made the playoffs in three straight years before this one. They still have a team built to win now with players like Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. all there, assuming health.
One positive that came out of this disastrous season is that the Grizzlies now have ammo to add a high-end player to an already strong core. They have the No. 9 overall pick, which might not be as valuable as it is most of the time, but it can still get them a solid player.
The Grizzlies might have a top-ten pick, but are not rebuilding. Trading that pick could help them win now.
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