NBA Trade Deadline 2020: One trade every team should make

Charlotte Hornets: Bismack Biyombo, Marvin Williams and top-8 protected 2020 first-rounder for the Philadelphia 76ers’ Al Horford and Jonah Bolden

Reason for Charlotte: The Hornets have a surprising amount of fun, young talent in Devonte’ Graham, PJ Washington and Miles Bridges. They don’t have anything resembling a star, unfortunately, unless you want to count Graham. Enter Al Horford. The Hornets get a big who can make the defense work, fit alongside anyone, spread the floor and act as an offensive hub on the elbows. He would be effective alongside Washington or Bridges as frontcourt partners. Charlotte would become a much, much better team. Yes, the Hornets would lose cap flexibilit, but they’re not getting anyone better than Horford with that money in free agency. First-rounders probably won’t end up as good as Horford is. He would aid in the development of Graham, which should probably be Charlotte’s main priority at this point. If they make the playoffs this year, all the better.

Reason for Philadelphia: Horford simply isn’t working in Philadelphia. The team has its stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and even if they don’t fit together perfectly, Philly doesn’t need to be perfect to win a championship; it just needs to be better than anyone else. Embiid is good enough that even a flawed Philadelphia could do that. Horford has been reduced to a backup for Embiid when the latter isn’t on the floor, and Biyombo could do that well enough without demanding more touches on the other end. Williams is a good shooter at the power forward position, and he’s a consummate pro. He would fit in well on a team with big designs. The 76ers get two expiring contracts in exchange for Horford, who is probably overpaid, and certainly on too long of a contract at four years. Two good players, cap relief and a pick could be quite valuable and represents a great haul for a player who seems like a bad signing and doesn’t fit into the team perfectly.