The NBA trade deadline takes place on Feb. 5, which gives front offices just over two months to settle into the standings and evaluate all their options. We've already heard countless big names pop up in the rumor mill: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, LaMelo Ball. It feels like we could be in for an active and transformative deadline.
That said, not every NBA star that should get traded actually has the market appeal to be traded. For one reason or another, these five players — while very talented and probably available — won't be going anywhere soon.
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
Trae Young hasn't played since late October due to a sprained MCL. He's due to return sooner than later, but he left the Atlanta Hawks with a 2-3 record. Without him, Atlanta is 12-8. That's a small and extremely noisy sample, but Young was averaging 17.8 points and 7.8 assists on abysmal .371/.192/.821 splits. Atlanta has looked for more imposing in his absence.
Now, is Young suddenly a 19 percent 3-point shooter? Of course not. He's due for positive regression once he gets his sea legs back, and Atlanta should be able to sustain its present momentum once Young returns. But he is also a complicated figure — a ball-dominant point guard who necessitates a certain style of play. Atlanta has found something in Jalen Johnson, who is essentially operating as the Hawks' primary engine in Young's absence.
Atlanta is a far more balanced and defensively-oriented team without Young. That's not to say the Hawks are outright better — it's probably too soon to write that in stone — but today's NBA typically rewards positional size and offensive optionality. Bending your entire offense to the will of a 6-foot-2, 164-pound point guard (who's probably, like, 5-foot-11) is less in vogue than it was even eights years ago, when the Hawks made Young the fifth overall pick.
Young's slow start, recent injury history and offputting archetype probably limits the trade interest. He can still help a team, to be clear, but is any team going to match Atlanta's asking price? Do the Hawks have the necessary leverage in negotiations? Probably not.
Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
Ja Morant has only appeared in 12 games this season and is still out due to a calf injury. The 26-year-old hasn't exactly dominated when on the court, averaging 17.9 points and 7.6 assists on .359/.167/.942 splits in 28.8 minutes.
A dominant stretch from Zach Edey has brought the Memphis Grizzlies back from the brink, but it's unclear if Morant's eventual return will actually help things. Morant has become a more outsized defensive negative over the years, while is dreadful efficiency continues a years-long downward trend. Morant is due for a bit of positive regression, but for a 6-foot-2, 174-pound guard so reliant on outlier quick-twitch athleticism, even the slightest decline in burst qualifies as a bright red flag.
Edey has given Memphis a new path forward offensively, not to mention Cedric Coward's rookie breakout on the wing. Edey and Morant were never all that aligned stylistically. If Morant's up-tempo approach continues to yield diminishing returns, there's little incentive to keep him around.
The only issue is... who wants this guy? Morant has consistently shown poor off-court judgement. He has been the source of locker room tension in Memphis. And, under contract through 2028 and north of $40 million annually, he's just not a very good player right now. That's not to say Morant is incapable of righting the ship — he's still a unique athlete and rim-pressure machine — but his value has bottomed out and there isn't a clear fit elsewhere. Odds are the market just doesn't materialize for Memphis.
Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings
A partially torn meniscus knocked Domantas Sabonis out for a few weeks as the Sacramento Kings' downward spiral picks up steam. Sabonis has begun the season on an off note, averaging 17.2 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists on 56.4 percent true shooting — an almost nine point drop from where it sat last season. His assists are way down, too, despite Sacramento's thinning guard depth.
You can blame any number of factors, from scheme to the unique, geometrically complex presence of Russell Westbrook. But Sabonis is off to a poor start and the Kings finally appear ready to reset the clock. Sabonis is their best player and their best trade asset, but also, he's an extremely singular player — the sort who doesn't necessarily fit hand-in-glove with any established contenders.
Sabonis' postseason struggles are well documented, which muddies the market. He's a definite floor-raiser in the regular season and the potential best player on a Play-In team, but can he adequately impact winning as the second- or third-best player on a top-four seed? Sabonis doesn't protect the rim or space the floor, limiting his fit in a lot of situations. He's a dominant rebounder, a thundering screen-setter and a marvelous playmaking hub at the elbow, but his bully-ball scoring tends to get snuffed out against more athletic frontcourts. Especially in the playoffs.
It's hard to imagine the Kings, a team that has committed to the pursuit of acceptable mediocrity for so long, trading Sabonis for pennies on the dollar. It's unclear which contenders, if any, are ready to pay sticker price in a trade. Boston? Toronto? Golden State? Point me to a team where Sabonis makes complete and unquestionable sense, and I'll show you the Fountain of Youth.
Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
Zion Williamson is expected to miss "extended time" with a right abductor injury. Same as it ever was. The story never changes for Zion and the New Orleans Pelicans, who currently own the NBA's top lottery odds with a 3-22 record. Oh, and their first-round pick belongs to Atlanta, unprotected, due to the Derik Queen trade. So yeah, any and all tanking efforts are futile. This team is just bad. Shoutout to Joe Dumars. Great hire.
Of course the Pelicans should attempt to trade Zion. At this point, I'd imagine the Pelicans don't even want much of anything back. But the former No. 1 pick is under contract through 2027-28 at north of $40 million AAV. An NBA trade is a classic 'takes two to tango' arrangement, and I'm not sure the Pelicans could pay another team to absorb Zion's contract right now, even with its built-in injury provisions.
There is still a world in which Zion finds his second wind and contributes meaningfully to another team down the line, but it's time to massively scale back expectations. He's the greatest what-if in modern NBA history — a top-five talent who could never stay on the floor long enough to realize his MVP potential. But now, it's time to start thinking about Zion as a helpful ancillary piece with upside, rather than a team's foundation.
I'm not sure any team will accept Zion on those terms until his contract expires, and even then, there's risk involved. The Pels will put out feelers and receive absolutely zero interest leading up to the deadline. It was written.
James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are 6-18. If the lottery went chalk tomorrow, they'd owe the No. 3 overall pick to Oklahoma City, which is a terrifying proposition for 29 other teams. There are several NBA teams stuck between a rock and a hard place this season when it comes to their draft rights, but L.A. takes the cake. The bottom has fallen out on this ancient core and the Clippers don't own their first-round pick outright until 2030.
James Harden's trade value is muted as a 36-year-old point guard with documented deficiencies, particularly as a defender, but he played 79 games last season on heavy usage and has appeared in 23 of 24 games for L.A. this season. Harden has authored a much better post-prime chapter than most folks expected. He's no longer the bulldozing rim finisher and relentless iso scorer of yore, but Harden remains a brilliant table-setter. He patiently probes the defense out of pick-and-rolls and can still leverage his strength to create scoring angles at the rim. His evolution as a spot-up shooter and connector has also extended his NBA lifespan.
Not much has gone right for the Clippers this season, but Harden is captaining a sinking ship as best he can, averaging 26.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 8.3 assists on .443/.367/.899 splits. He'd help a lot of teams. He's still a workhorse, and yet he's less more adaptable and less suffocating for those in his orbit. Harden's ball dominance used to work at an extremely high level, to be clear — we can venture down a whole rabbit hole on why he belongs much higher on folks' GOAT rankings — but he has made critical adjustments and sacrifices with age. Plus his contract is a bargain, as he took an explicit discount to help the Clippers build out the roster (oh, well...).
Los Angeles should try to see what value it can receive for Harden, but he might be too old, for lack of a better term. I'm just unsure of which contender is sacrificing real assets to take on Harden and potentially compress their competitive timeline. Plus, Steve Ballmer has never been in the 'blow it up' business, so the Clippers' current exercise in futility will probably drag on.