NBA Trade Season Is Officially Open For Business So Let's Get Nuts

Yesterday was a pretty big day on the NBA calendar that could help shape how the league will look for the rest of the season. December 15th officially marked the start of trade season, because now every free agent that signed a new deal this summer can be traded. That's important for a few reasons. Perhaps you're a team that fucking sucks and you need to shed salary and immediately regret some of those contracts you gave out this summer when you thought maybe you'd be decent (cough cough Knicks), but maybe you're a contender that wants to pull off a major blockbuster but you had to wait until yesterday because you needed that contract money in order to make a deal work. Well from now until February you should be bracing yourself for anything because with the league pretty wide open through a quarter of the season, this could be one of the more impactful trade seasons we've had in years.

You've heard the names like Kevin Love, D'Angelo Russell, Chris Paul etc in terms of big name players that could be on the move, but to trade for any of those players you are going to have to come up with a shit ton of money. The hard part is normally guys who make similar salaries are key components for a team which is why trades are tough. But that doesn't mean crazy shit can't happen and why this date is important. For example, what if there was a swap for Tobias Harris and either Chris Paul or DLo? Would the Sixers entertain that? The Chris Paul contract is actually worse and he's old so most likely not, but DLo would be an interesting option that could now technically happen. I'm not saying the SHOULD make a move like this, they are playing well, but if Elton Brand wants to address the point guard position for the future, he now has more chips at his disposal.

Take any of the Knicks PFs, Randle, Gibson, Mook, they all can now be moved for some extra draft collateral. Maybe you take on an extra year of someone for a good 1st round pick or something. If you're a contending team it's not crazy to want you want to bring in someone like Mook/Gibson for depth. The Spurs are certainly rebuilding, so there's now no need to pay Rudy Gay for two more seasons, you may as well try and get his $10M off the books. I hate to say it but the Lakers also just got themselves a $12M trade chip with KCP's contract. Maybe they try and flip that for another shooter or wing defender. Imagine Mook on that team?

Let's say the Blazers really want Kevin Love. The only real way they pull that off is if they trade Hassan Whiteside, and maybe they'd have to include someone like Mario Hezonja who is just 24 to help sweeten the deal. Since we're past December 15th, his $6.5M is now available. He doesn't have a ton of years on his deal (2) a is young enough where he fits the timeline of the Cavs roster. 

The point is this. With more teams than ever feeling like they are truly one or two pieces away from legit contending, we are going to see moves. If I were you I'd turn on your Woj/Shams/Leroy/Haynes/Stein notifications on because things are only going to heat up from here.