Top 5 players that need to be traded

The NBA is an ever-changing landscape. The incredible level of competition between teams and players means every franchise is always looking for that extra edge to give them the advantage in pursuing those coveted NBA titles. 

This competition can be absolutely ruthless. It is often remarked by NBA athletes and journalists that players are sometimes treated more like assets than players. You can be a role-player in Miami having a great time in South Beach, and suddenly you’re shipped off to Portland with no warning.

Every year there are always some blockbuster trades; moves that have the whole league talking. These usually come with a lot of drama. Big-name players that are traded have usually clashed with someone in their team or tried to force a move by back-door channels.

Agents sneaking around the country, making deals behind close doors, this is how business should be done.

Even with only 10 games played by each team or so, we already have a good idea of some of the big trades that can happen this season. The writing is all on the wall for some athletes, so here are my top 5 players that will be traded very soon.

5. Andre Drummond

Andre Drummond is a curious player. If you look at his averages he’s incredible; 18 points, 15 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks is an amazing average stat-line for a Center, but yet somehow Drummond isn’t thought of as a hot commodity in the NBA. 

He is in the last year of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers and given that the Cavs are looking to rebuild, I can’t see Drummond being in their plans going forward. Trading him now for some smaller expiring contracts and some draft picks makes sense for Cleveland right now.

Drummond is an amazing athlete who combines size, strength and dexterity unlike anyone else in the NBA. He would be worth a lot to a team that is struggling to rebound like Washington or Toronto.

4. Kemba Walker

The Boston Celtics are undeniably Jayson Tatum’s team. The small forward out of Duke is averaging 27 points and 7 rebounds on a shooting line of 47.4/43.8/88.9 through 10 games. The Celtics will be looking to build around Tatum going forward, and that means they should part ways with Kemba Walker.

Walker is being paid $34 million this season and has 2 years left in his contract with the 2nd being a player option. Kemba isn’t going to get any better, he’s only going to get worse. Offloading his huge contract would be a great way to free up cap space for the Cs to add some great role-players for Tatum to work with.

Tatum has a chance to be an all-time great Celtics player and Kemba won’t be getting in the way of that.

3. Karl-Anthony Towns

I feel incredibly sorry for big KAT. He lost 6 family members to COVID 19, including his mother. Even with all this off-the-court emotional toil, he is still playing hard for the struggling Minnesota Timberwolves who are currently the worst team in the Western Conference.

It is time for KAT to get out of Minnesota any way he can. He’s given a lot to that franchise and doesn’t owe them anything. They have consistently failed to put good pieces around him for them to succeed as a franchise and it’s time KAT left.

He still has 3 full years on his contract, so a trade would bring some serious assets Minnesota’s way. It would be mutually beneficial if both sides realised the current situation wasn’t working and parted ways to give everyone a fresh start.

2. Bradley Beal

Speaking of star players on terrible teams….

Bradley Beal is currently leading the NBA in scoring at 35 PPG whilst shooting 49% from the field, 38.6% from 3 and 87.2% from the free-throw line, and the Wizards have the worst record in the NBA.

The Wizards traded John Wall in the offseason, and it’s now time to let Beal go as well. The good thing about this is that Beal’s trade value has skyrocketed over the past few weeks, so many teams will be looking to acquire the shooting guard who has only just come into his prime.

1. James Harden

I can’t believe this one hasn’t happened already.

There have been multiple reports that Harden wants out of Houston, and given that the Rockets acquired John Wall in the summer, it would make sense to cash-out on their other ball-dominant guard given how valuable he is.

Trading Harden for a lot of good pieces will put the Rockets in a good position going forward. The emergence of Christain Wood means acquiring some good shooters and defender will really compliment Wall and have the Rockets heading down the right path to staying competitive.