The Feb. 15 NBA trade deadline is close at hand and yet the rumor mill is oddly quiet. Plenty of high-profile names have at least heard their names mentioned — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, Bam Adebayo, etc. — but it's unclear how much movement we can actually expect.
With such a strong upcoming NBA Draft class, however, there is ample incentive for teams at the bottom to tank hard. Cam Boozer. Darryn Peterson. AJ Dybantsa. These are potentially franchise-changing talents. As such, here are a few helpful trade suggestions to help those in the NBA's basement stay there.
Kings send Malik Monk to Magic
The Sacramento Kings should embrace a "price is right" attitude over the next few weeks. It should not take much to pry Domantas Sabonis or Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan out of Sactown, although it remains to be seen if other teams are truthfully willing to engage given the contract demands each star entails. DeRozan is the most likely to move at this point, but if the Kings dealt all three and leaned full-body into a tank job, it would be the wisest decision that organization has made in years.
Beyond the stars, Malik Monk is a far more palatable target for most contenders. His role has shrunk this season after a breakout 2024-25 campaign, but the former lottery pick out of Kentucky is still hitting 42.7 percent of his 3s and giving Sacramento valuable secondary creation off the bench. You can blame Russell Westbrook for Monk's decline in minutes and production, more so than any meaningful regression.
The Orlando Magic need shooting desperately. The Desmond Bane trade was not the fix-all Orlando expected, with the Franz Wagner injury and Paolo Banchero's sluggish development only complicating their offensive outlook. Monk is a deadeye shooter from the top of the key, with downhill burst to beat closeouts and either attack the rim (where he's finishing a career-high 72 percent of his attempts) or snake into a mid-range pull-up.
Both aesthetically and statistically, Monk is a fun, impactful combo guard. He'd go a long way toward breaking Orlando out of its season-long funk. Sacramento gets a recent first-round pick in Jase Richardson, who operates in a similar mode to Monk, along with Jonathan Isaac's salary (for matching purposes) and a couple second-round picks for their trouble.
Nets send Michael Porter Jr. to Pistons
Michael Porter Jr. has put up All-Star caliber numbers in his first season with the Brooklyn Nets. When Porter arrived in Brooklyn this past summer, he was effectively a salary dump. The Nuggets preferred Cam Johnson and were willing to part with a valuable future first-round pick in order to push a deal through and remove Porter's contract from their books. The Nets look pretty, pretty smart in hindsight.
Once the top recruit in his high school class, Porter has always been regarded as a major talent. He won a championship in Denver and gave the Nuggets a lot of good years, but concerns over waning defensive effort and subpar offensive decision-making led them to seek a divorce. Porter embraced the move to Brooklyn as a chance to take on a more central role — to lead his team, essentially. He has stepped up to the plate.
Now it's time for the Nets to spin it forward and recoup even more value with a Porter trade. Of all the possible landing spots, none sound better than the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. It's fair to question whether or not Porter really wants to return to a supporting role, where he's asked to defer to a heliocentric star in Cade Cunningham. But he has played with such purpose and decisiveness in Brooklyn all season, and his skill set maps perfectly onto the Pistons' needs.
Detroit could use essentially a better version of Tobias Harris on the wing — a big forward who can bomb 3s, attack closeouts, and provide some resistance on defense. Porter has massively improved his defensive footprint this season, he's cleaning the glass like a vacuum, and he's one of the most dynamic shooters in the NBA at his size. He'd still get to free style a bit as the second option in Detroit, and he'd find himself in a far better position to regularly contribute to winning. Perhaps it can be veiwed as a chance to show Denver what it's missing in a more successful context.
Pelicans send Zion Williamson to Bulls
The New Orleans Pelicans technically cannot tank, as their pick belongs to the Atlanta Hawks. Even so, the Pelicans can tank in spirit, as it's time to give this roster a proper teardown. Really, that just means it's time to move on from Zion Williamson. The dream felt alive as recently as last year, but no matter how well he plays, the fear of that next injury is irrepressible.
All that said, Zion continues to produce in the way that Zion does, which means some desperate middle-of-the-road team can probably talk itself into a low-stakes trade. The Chicago Bulls have three suitable expiring contracts to send New Orleans in Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter and Dalen Terry. Collins and Huerter can both contribute this season as the Pels reorient around Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears. If the Bulls are willing to throw in their 2026 first-round pick (with protections, of course), it's hard to imagine New Orleans saying no to a financial reset like this.
Williamson's contract is unique in that injuries have rendered it non-guaranteed, meaning the Bulls can pull the plug quickly if the experience turns sour. Moreover, for a Bulls team stuck in the middle, the front office needs to pick a direction. Either really go for it and swing a big trade, or finally commit to a rebuild and drain the top of your roster.
Josh Giddey and Zion Williamson is not my favorite fit in the world, but Zion's ceiling stretches so much higher than any non-Giannis player even potentially available at the deadline. Williamson can still put two feet in the paint at will and warp a defense with his relentless, hyper-efficient rim attacks. He's a 6-foot-6, 280-point point guard essentially. Even without a jumper, even without much of a defensive impact, Zion can elevate a team when he's on the floor. Chicago's up-tempo play style should match Williamson extremely well, too.
Hornets send LaMelo Ball to Heat
Tyler Herro has put up numbers this season, but the Miami Heat offense is 7.2 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor. Some of that is noisy, but Erik Spoelstra's new-look scheme has alienated Herro a bit. Miami has found other ways to generate offense. Herro has always been a talented scorer, but he may not be good enough in the ancillary categories to justify an imminent contract extension.
Enter the Charlotte Hornets, who probably need to look for the exit ramp with LaMelo Ball. The Hornets are the best of the "bad" teams in the East this season, with Kon Knueppel emerging as a Rookie of the Year frontrunner and new franchise cornerstone. Ball continues to produce well enough, and just being (relatively) healthy is a step in the right direction. But there is a chance for two division rivals to help each other out.
Herro is a more efficient three-level scorer than Ball. He's also on a shorter contract, which means Charlotte can test drive him for a year or two, then make a determination on his future. Kasparas Jakučionis has not played much since landing in South Beach as the 20th pick in last year's draft, but he's a savvy pick-and-roll guard with size and a smooth pull-up jumper. He can help supplement the loss of Ball's playmaking.
Miami gets a more balanced and all-encompassing offensive engine in Ball, who doesn't need traditional pick-and-roll structures to get the offense rolling. He loves to push the tempo in transition, and Ball is often at his best when he's functioning more as a connector than a primary initiator. He's a great spot-up shooter and he always keeps a mental map of the court, making him a tier-one improviser. The culture and stability in Miami could really help LaMelo, as would the chance to play with Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware in the frontcourt.
Mavericks send Anthony Davis to Hawks
The odds of an Anthony Davis trade are declining after his latest injury, but he's expected back before the end of the regular season and he still has an additional two years on his contract. No team has been more connected to AD than the Hawks, who cannot tank since San Antonio owns the unprotected right to swap picks. There is still a world in which Atlanta tries to double down after the Trae Young trade and refashion this roster around a frontcourt of Davis and Jalen Johnson.
It's hard to evaluate Davis' precise trade value at this point. He's still an excellent defensive anchor and a strong complementary star on offense, where his interior dominance buoys a less efficient perimeter game. But he's also 32 years old and constantly injured. Health tends to get worse, not better, for 7-footers over time.
Does Atlanta really want to take on three years of max-level financial commitment to Davis? There's a strong case against it, but then again, this roster is built to win now. The Hawks are so much closer to something special than folks realize. Johnson has taken a full-blown star leap. Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker is one of the most smothering defensive backcourts in the NBA. CJ McCollum is little more than a stopgap, but he's a nice on-paper fit with this Hawks roster.
If Atlanta is willing to absorb Davis' contract and sacrifice a future first-round pick — not to mention three quality rotation cogs in Porzingis, Risacher and Kennard — it shouldn't be impossible to work another quality piece, such as Max Christie, into their return. Christie is a 45.5 percent 3-point shooter this season. He came to the Dallas Mavericks with AD in the Dončić trade, now he can blossom in Atlanta as their upgrade over Risacher on the wing.
The Mavs get real short-term value in return, but most importantly a couple long-term assets in Risacher and a pick, as well as the financial relief of Porzingis' expiring contract. The Hawks form a hellacious defensive roster with, hopefully, enough offensive juice to start climbing the Eastern Conference standings.