We're at T-minus nine days until the 2024 NBA trade deadline, and things have been suspiciously quiet since Miami's acquisition of Terry Rozier a week ago. Many of the biggest moves of the deadline came early, such as the blockbuster moves involving James Harden, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam, but that doesn't mean we're out of deals. No, we still have plenty of trades to make, so let's take a look at the rumor mill this morning and see what we can take away as the deadline approaches.
Warriors open to moving Chris Paul, Klay Thompson?
According to The Athletic's Shams Charania on FanDuel TV's Run it Back, "everyone is on the table except for Stephen Curry." He also noted that the Warriors view Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski as players the Warriors "view as part of their core moving forward," while noting that the are "gonna take calls on Andrew Wiggins, Chris Paul" and potentially even Klay Thompson.
The basketball implications here are obviously significant. This is tantamount to hanging an "open for business" sign outside of the Chase Center. Paul and Thompson combine to represent over $70 million in matching salary, so Golden State could theoretically afford to trade for basically anyone from a financial perspective. Wiggins is also pricey, but is on a lengthy extension, so his appeal would have to lie on the court. For Golden State to land a meaningful talent upgrade, though, they'd have to give up better long-term assets. They have tradable first-round picks in 2026 and 2028, but even if the Warriors view them as core pieces, the assets other teams will likely want most are Kuminga and Podziemski.
Further complicating all of this are Golden State's long-term finances. The Warriors are already above next season's projected salary cap before even accounting for a new Thompson deal or possibly retaining Paul's guaranteed money. With both, they'd likely be a deep luxury-tax team again, and with the new CBA imposing strict rules for teams above the second apron, the Warriors might not have the financial flexibility to make a big trade swing after this season. It might be now or never, so the Warriors are right to explore every last non-Curry opportunity available to them.
Quin Snyder pushing to keep Dejounte Murray?
Dejounte Murray has been arguably the most rumored high-level player on the market this deadline cycle. The Lakers have been heavily linked to him, but several other teams have seemingly checked in on Atlanta's former All-Star point guard as well. Of course, there's a reason he's so coveted: he's a very good player. So good, in fact, that Marc Stein is reporting that Hawks coach Quin Snyder is pushing the front office to keep him.
The basketball question here is... what is Atlanta's actual long-term plan if they keep Murray? They're extremely limited on draft assets thanks to the first Murray trade and are headed for the luxury tax next year with all of the long-term salary they've accumulated. That would be acceptable if the Hawks were winning with the Murray-Trae Young pairing, but Atlanta is 19-27 this season. They don't appear close to contending, so some change is clearly needed. If it's not Murray, who is it?
That isn't clear, but digging a bit deeper, it's worth interrogating the front office dynamics at play here a bit. The Hawks fired former general manager Travis Schlenk last season and replaced him with Landry Fields, who is relatively inexperienced in his role. Snyder, on the other hand, was hired soon thereafter and was in very in-demand. Typically in such situations, the veteran coach can ask for some degree of personnel power, but it isn't clear who's calling the shots here. Also in the picture? Nick Ressler, son of owner Tony Ressler, whom reports have suggested now wields quite a bit of power in the front office. In other words, we don't know how much power Snyder actually has to prevent Murray from being traded, and it's equally unclear who exactly is dictating Atlanta's long-term vision.
How does hoarding affect the market?
This is less a rumor than it is a fact impacting the market right now. ESPN's Bobby Marks noted that only 11 teams control 75% of all tradable first-round picks right now. Those teams are the Thunder, Spurs, Jazz, Knicks, Nets, Pelicans, Magic, Raptors, Rockets, Grizzlies and Blazers. Notably, the Magic and Grizzlies are listed here only because of the discipline they've shown in retaining their own picks. Neither own picks from other teams. So really, it's the nine other teams hoarding all of the picks on the market.
We've never seen such a wide disparity between the teams with assets and the teams without them at the trade deadline. This reality puts a number of contends in the awkward position of trying to add win-now help without having first-round picks to trade, which in turn affects what the sellers can ask for out of their win-now veterans. Ironically, this may even make it easier for the asset-rich teams to make moves. The have less feasible competition... except from one another.
This situation is largely unprecedented outside of the past few deadlines. Both buyers and sellers are adjusting to it, and creative executives will always be able to find ways to generate value in ways we aren't seeing. Still, life has never looked harder for the 19 teams not on Marks' list. Either you have the tools to trade for whoever you want or you're going to struggle to add anyone of note.
