5 players who've earned untouchable status in trade talks this NBA offseason

NBA free agency is almost here and with that comes trade season. Every team has players that they can't wait to get rid of whether it be they're overpaid, locker room cancer, or they just don't want to be there anymore. There are also a lot of players that teams refuse to trade.

Players need to earn the untouchable status when it comes to teams refusing to trade them. This can occur with a player having a long tenure with the team like Udonis Haslem with the Miami Heat, being one of the best players in the world like Nikola Jokic or filling a role perfectly where they're do good to be traded.

There are a lot of players this season who have earned untouchable status for this offseason. These are the top five names who will not be traded under no circumstances.

5. Jalen Green

The former second-overall pick by the Houston Rockets had himself a wonderful close to the season. He was so good that the Rockets must make him untouchable. In his rookie year, he was averaging 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. Then for his second year, his numbers went up, averaging 22.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. The only problem is that he had 42/34/79 shooting splits which isn't good for a guard who could be a primary creator.

For the first 62 games of the season, there was no change. He was averaging 18.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists, on 41/31/81 shooting splits. Then the Rockets went on a winning streak and during that winning streak, their star center Alperen Sengun got hurt, which gave the keys to Green. He averaged 30.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.2 steals on 50/45/74 shooting splits during the 11-game win streak.

In the Rockets' last 20 games of the season, Green averaged 24.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1 steal on 46/38/78 splits. This propelled the Rockets from being eight games under .500 to finishing the season at .500 and at one point just half a game from being in the Play-In Tournament.

The emergence of Jalen Green at the end of the season makes him untouchable in trade talks. He perfectly fits the timeline of where the Rockets are right now and is the exact same age as Alperen Sengun.

The Rockets potentially have a great one-two punch in Sengun and Green and can hopefully play a similar style of basketball as De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis or Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

4. TJ McConnell

The Indiana Pacers were one of the most shocking teams to start the season, making the In-Season Tournament Finals, beating the Bucks and Celtics before losing to the Lakers. Then the rest of the regular season they coasted, including when they traded for Pascal Siakam.

Indiana hit the jackpot in the playoffs. As a sixth seed, they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals with a little bit of injury luck to with the Bucks and a lot of injury luck with the Knicks. Despite all the injuries, their bench was a huge reason they made it as far as they did — specifically, the play of TJ McConnell.

There may not be a more valuable bench player in the NBA than McConnell right now. This season he averaged a career-high 10.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and one steal on 56/40/79 splits. Then in the postseason, he averaged 11.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists, on 49/27/87 splits.

Even though McConnell does not look like the best player or even bench player in the NBA, he has reached untouchable status. For one, he fits the Pacers' playstyle perfectly. He pushes the ball, he is a great passer, having a five-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio in just 18 minutes per game. He is great at finishing at the rim despite his size, which opens the 3-point shooting for the Pacers. TJ is also one of the team’s best perimeter defenders.

His play off the bench was vital for the success of the Pacers. They would not have gotten as far as they did without McConnell. He fits the mold of the team perfectly which makes him untouchable.

3. Julius Randle

This may come as a shocker to some Knick fans and maybe a no-doubter to others, but Julius Randle reached untouchable status this season. Before his season-ending injury, Randle was having arguably the best season of his career averaging 24 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists, on 47/31/78 splits. What made it his best is that he was attacking the rim far more, having 56 percent on his shots within 10 feet and making a majority of those.

At one point during the season, he had a 19-game streak of scoring at least 20 points. From the game that streak started until he got hurt, he was averaging 26.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists, on 51/33/83 splits. During those 31 games, the Knicks went 20-11.

Then the Knicks traded for OG Anunoby. When Randle, Jalen Brunson, and Anunoby all played, the Knicks went 12-1. Randle averaged 24.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, on 48/37/82 shooting splits during that stretch. This led the Knicks to going 14-2 in the month of January, which was the best month of basketball in franchise history.

With being one game away from making the Eastern Conference Finals, there are a lot of people who think the Knicks need to make a trade for a star. They don't realize is that they have it in Julius Randle. He is one of four players to put up his numbers, the other three being Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokic.

There is a reason the Knicks struggled without him, and it would be the smart decision to make him untouchable. This offseason the Knicks need to prioritize re-signing Isaiah Hartenstein and OG Anunoby and filling in the pieces around Randle and Brunson. They will become title contenders if that happens.  

2. Karl-Anthony Towns

This once again may come as a shocker, but Karl-Anthony Towns earned his stripes and has reached untouchable status for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Towns finally found his fit being the No. 2 option behind Anthony Edwards and there were promises that the Timberwolves may soon be hoisting a Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Being 7-feet tall, there are only a few other players are as talented as he is. This season, Towns averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.0 assists on 50/42/87 shooting splits. That's all nice but there were questions about his playoff performances.

In the first round of the playoffs, KAT was incredible putting up 19.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 53/53/89 splits. The only reason his numbers are down was because he was playing an average of 28.2 minutes per game. In the second round, KAT was putting up 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists on 51/39/79 shooting splits en route to beating the defending champs.

Then came his horrendous conference finals where he averaged 19.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists on 38/24/89 shooting splits. His performance in the conference finals is what makes him look tradeable, but it overshadows what he did really well in the first two rounds.

If Towns or Anthony Edwards played better in Games 1, 2, and 3, the Timberwolves very well could have been in the NBA Finals. Both players seemed to hit a wall, becoming very tired after an exhausting seven-game series against the defending champs.

Towns reached untouchable status because the Timberwolves need the big man lineup to compete against Denver. There is no one better than him on the market right now. He and Anthony Edwards will now train themselves to be less tired if they make a deep run again. The expectations on Edwards to be better, Towns decent playoff run proved he could be the number two option on a championship team.

1. Anthony Davis

This one may not be as much of a shock, but Anthony Davis has officially reached the untouchable status. For a while, he was considered tradeable because the three seasons before this one, he missed 44 percent of the Lakers games. That doesn't make for championship success, but he's overcome that.

Davis averaged 24.7 points, a career-high 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.3 blocks on 56/27/82 shooting splits. He was an All-Star, Second-Team All-NBA, First-Team All-Defense, and finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

The most impressive thing from AD this season was that he played in a career-high 76 of 82 games. Being an impressive feat by itself, he played through countless injuries. There were many times this season when he rolled an ankle that would usually keep him out for a significant time, but he kept powering through.

The vast improvement of his pain tolerance and staying miraculously healthy has made him untouchable but there is one more factor, LeBron James. James' career is reaching the final stretch. He will be entering free agency as an unrestricted free agent and will potentially be in the last contract of his career.

With the possibility of James either retiring in a few years or leaving this offseason, the Lakers need Anthony Davis to be the cornerstone of the franchise. Davis has proven he can lead a team to the playoffs and without LeBron, he must do it for the Lakers.