NBA Season Preview 2018-19: 5 best asset collections

We know who the top squads are, but heading into the new season, which five teams are best primed to make a play for a superstar if one becomes available?

Even in the realm of preseason NBA best-of lists, “best asset collections” is about as amorphous as you can get.

What the hell counts as an NBA asset? Is it anyone that can be traded to improve a team? If that’s the case, then every player is an asset, because if history has shown us anything, it’s that no one in this league is untouchable. So do the best asset collections in the NBA belong to the Warriors, Celtics, Rockets, Sixers and Raptors?

Maybe…but who the hell wants to read that article?

Better idea: let’s come up with a feasible (if not completely and totally arbitrary) definition for “NBA asset” that makes this a slightly more interesting discussion. I workshopped this for a bit and came up with an asset as anything you’re likely to utilize to change your team, and in the process, increase your chances of winning in the immediate future.

This rules out good players on good teams and keeps the focus where it should be: young players, draft picks, expiring contracts and cap space. Then I started writing and ran into a problem: if a team has a young player they think is good, they’re not likely to want to give them up (see: the Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and – soon – Jimmy Butler trades). So now no one is an asset. Oops.

So to hell with good form, let’s go with a hypothetical: pretend the Bucks made Giannis Antetokounmpo available tomorrow. Who would put together the best trade package? It would have to be a package a team is actually willing to offer, and likewise, one Milwaukee would be likely to accept. This takes players, picks and expirings into account. As for cap space, we’ll bend the rules and factor it in our list, but everyone and their mother has money to blow this summer, so it’s not that big of a deal anyway.

By this metric, Golden State’s best asset isn’t one of their big five, but Jordan Bell. Philly’s is Markelle Fultz, probably. The Kings have their 2019 first-round pick Marvin Bagley’s hair. You get the gist.

Before we get to the top five, honorable mention shout-outs go to the Suns (Deandre Ayton seems more cornerstone than asset), Nuggets (if Jamal Murray is what they think, they’re not dealing him. If he’s not, well…then he’s not) and Clippers (massive cap space and great expiring contracts, but may not be able to trade a first rounder until 2022).

Keeping in mind the obvious vagaries involved in the task at hand, let’s get to the teams, starting with one that could have been much, much higher…