NBA Trade Season Has Arrived: Six Teams That Could Buy or Sell at the Deadline

Between Detroit’s title push, Milwaukee’s uncertainty around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Dallas’s need to tear it down, the trade market is already taking shape.

Is it time for the Mavericks to trade Anthony Davis? / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Congratulations, NBA fans—we have reached the unofficial beginning of trade season. 

On Dec. 15, dozens of players who signed contracts last summer became eligible to be traded. Many of those players will not be traded. But teams are now capable of including pretty much every player on their rosters in trades. 

Last year set an impossible standard on the in-season trade front. It’s quite possible we will never, ever see a trade on a similar level to the Luka Dončić shocker, much less in the middle of the season. However, with rumors already swirling that Giannis Antetokounmpo may be looking to leave Milwaukee and the Kings’ anticipated fire sale that could include Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine, there should be plenty of action around this year’s deadline. 

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But rumors often are as fleeting as the wind and offer about as much substance. Which makes evaluating the potential trade landscape tricky at times. It can be easier and more concrete to instead examine the teams that will be most incentivized to make a move, whether as buyers searching for the final piece en route to championship contention or sellers trying to acquire as many assets as possible to build for the future. 

As trade season commences, let’s take a look at who should be the notable buyers and sellers at this season’s deadline. 

Buyers
Detroit Pistons 

The Pistons find themselves at a rare intersection of means, motive and opportunity. 

Detroit has held the top spot in the Eastern Conference for weeks after going on a dominant winning streak that spanned 13 games. It was no fluke, either. Cade Cunningham is earning MVP consideration for his play and is flanked by a complementary, physical roster that doesn’t relax, even for a moment. An elite defense paired with a high-quality shotmaker who can carry an offense is a proven formula to contend for a title. And with the conference lacking a true favorite at this stage, it feels as though the East crown is Detroit’s for the taking. 

Thus, it feels appropriate that general manager Trajan Langdon act like it and go hunting at the deadline for players who can alleviate the Pistons’ weak points. He has a few tradeable contracts in Caris LeVert and Tobias Harris, a young player in Jaden Ivey who could draw interest and all of his future first-round picks. If he did go sniffing around the trade market, Detroit could use more shooting. Which, to be fair, so does every team. But the Pistons really need some help there. They rank above only the Kings and Pelicans in three-pointers made per game. Worse: Their best shooter by a wide margin, Duncan Robinson, is also their worst defender by a wide margin. 

The Pistons have the assets to make a deal, a wide-open runway to the NBA Finals in a weakened East and are enjoying their best season in a long time. They should be looking to upgrade however they can. 

Buyers (but might be Sellers)
Boston Celtics 

The Celtics are, shockingly, good. This was not supposed to be the case after Boston lost Jayson Tatum for most of the season (at least) to a torn Achilles and watched major contributors Kristaps Porziņģis, Al Horford, Jrue Holiday and Luke Kornet collectively leave town. President Brad Stevens didn’t really try to replace any of those players and instead handed the keys to Jaylen Brown to run the team while Tatum was sidelined, trusting coach Joe Mazzulla to get the most out of a roster largely made up of anonymous names outside of Brown, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard. 

It has gone better than expected and as a result the Celtics should be looking to buy at the deadline. Boston ranks in the top 10 in net rating despite being the worst defensive rebounding team in the league, an issue exacerbated by a lack of an NBA-caliber big man behind starter Neemias Queta. Mazzulla has leaned heavily on small-ball lineups with his center on the bench. It’s a scrappy bunch that can hang with most teams in the league due to hustle, ludicrous shotmaking from Brown, a strong scheme from Mazzulla and in-your-face defense on every possession. 

While there’s no move out there that would elevate the Celtics from scrappy to dominant, they’re likely to be active at the deadline. Their record and statistics suggest they should hunt for an upgrade but no matter what Stevens is going to look for opportunities to move Anfernee Simons and his $27.6 million expiring deal, just to get under the first apron, if nothing else. Sam Hauser could also be on the market for similar reasons. Ideally moving one or both players would bring back a center but regardless the Celtics figure to be active, and should be buyers even if they have financial goals in mind as well. 

Buyers
Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers are incredibly dangerous offensively and remarkably subpar defensively. The juxtaposition of those two facts every night could inspire president Rob Pelinka to make a move. 

The three-headed monster of Dončić, Austin Reaves and LeBron James is good enough to outscore anybody most nights. Reaves, in particular, has shined to an unexpected degree and could earn his first All-Star nod. But all three tend to give just as many points back defensively. The book is out on Reaves and Dončić as vulnerable defenders and James is simply too old to elevate the defense by himself at this stage. The front office attempted to address this issue by signing Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia and Deandre Ayton in free agency but a combination of injuries and inconsistency has resulted in a defensive rating that ranks in the bottom third of the NBA. 

If the Lakers can even put forth an average defensive effort they can hang with the contenders that dot the Western Conference. As of now, a lot has to go right to see that result each night. To increase the margin for error and stiffen up that end of the court Pelinka is likely to go shopping given the team’s ability to rain fire from the heavens and score points in bunches is tantalizing enough to believe in a puncher’s chance against the defending champion Thunder. 

The primary issue is that the Lakers don’t have much to offer. They cannot trade their 2026 or ’28 picks this season so the best they can do is a ’30 first-rounder as a starting point. As far as money and on-court contributions go, Rui Hachimura is the most attractive asset the franchise has and teams aren’t lining up to acquire him. Nevertheless Los Angeles should be and likely will be searching for upgrades on the margins defensively that can be acquired for the low price of second-round picks and filler contracts. 

Unless another gift like Dončić falls into their laps, of course. 

Sellers
Dallas Mavericks 

The Mavericks suffered through a truly brutal start to the season but found their balance of late. Cooper Flagg is really settling in and Anthony Davis is starting to see the floor more consistently. Paired with the emergence of Ryan Nembhard and this season isn’t quite as lost as it was made out to be one month ago. 

But that does not mean Dallas should do anything but sell at the deadline. The franchise must pivot to a Flagg-focused future after firing Nico Harrison, which means trading every player with value who doesn’t align with his timeline—like Davis. Kyrie Irving is still injured but if he ends up close to returning by the deadline the Mavs must look into moving him as well. It’s unlikely D’Angelo Russell or Klay Thompson will bring back anything notable, but Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington should. 

The Mavericks should not necessarily endeavor to put as poor a team around Flagg as possible or ditch any veteran who could help off the court; that’s not always a positive environment for a rookie to grow their game in. But Dallas will not compete this season. After 2026 the franchise doesn’t own full control of its own first-round pick until ’30. It needs to restock the cabinet and the best way to do that is to blow up the team Harrison built, first for Dončić and then for the Davis-Irving duo. 

Starting with Davis, the Mavs need to offload the older players and massive salaries on the books as quickly as possible to ensure they clear the cap sheet and get more bites at the draft to find Flagg’s future co-stars. 

Sellers
Utah Jazz

The last few seasons have played out pretty much the same way in Utah. Coach Will Hardy and former All-Star Lauri Markkanen end up winning more games than the franchise would prefer given their primary objective is to tank for high picks and find game-changing talent in the draft lottery. To rectify that the Jazz become big sellers at the deadline, shipping out any and all non-core pieces to interested teams before tanking their merry way to the top of the draft lottery. Just last season Utah was involved in three separate trades before the deadline and went 5–28 over the rest of the season.

This season looks to be the same. The Jazz are not nearly good enough to compete for even the play-in tournament in the West but aren’t nearly bad enough (right now) to finish with decent odds for the No. 1 pick in a loaded 2026 draft. Thus, barring a shocking and unexpected shift in direction from the front office, an active trade deadline as sellers seems fated. 

Maybe this will finally be the year Markkanen gets traded. The Finnish 7-footer has long been rumored as a trade target who could shift a title race with his unusual combination of skills and build. But Utah has always asked for the moon in exchange for the 28-year-old and probably isn’t going to settle in a midseason transaction. Otherwise, Keyonte George seems untouchable thanks to a breakout campaign this season. Ace Bailey is likely safe as well given he was just picked fifth in the 2025 draft and was considered a blue-chip talent as a prospect. 

Everyone else? Utah will be open for business. Kyle Anderson, Svi Mykhailiuk and Jusuf Nurkić seem gettable for any team looking for a veteran presence. There may be teams out there who are willing to part with assets to give underperforming young guys like Taylor Hendricks or Cody Williams a change in scenery. The Jazz will not hesitate to gut the roster if the right offers come along. 

Both
Milwaukee Bucks 

The Bucks are in a precarious situation that could change at a moment’s notice as the deadline approaches. 

For now, they are buyers. As reported by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, Milwaukee is not engaging in Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talks and instead are “diligently working to find ways to upgrade its roster” around the Greek superstar. Which shouldn’t be a shocker. While the rumors swirling around Antetokounmpo are juicy, the Bucks are not going to entertain the idea of a trade until he directly requests one. Such is the nature of having a superstar in a smaller market. While it might make sense on paper to be proactive on an Antetokounmpo trade, reality often plays out differently. He’s the face of the franchise, and they will not be hasty to send him packing. 

There aren’t many options, though. Mannix notes Milwaukee could try to get a talented perimeter player out of Sacramento given how poorly the Kings’ season is going. Otherwise there’s not much recourse given the Bucks’ draft pick situation (they don’t own their own pick until 2031) and lack of easily tradeable contracts (only four players, including Antetokounmpo, make over $10 million). 

But if Antetokounmpo asks out, suddenly the Bucks become the most popular team at the deadline. Not only would an Antetokounmpo sweepstakes enrapture the NBA and dominate headlines for weeks, it would precipitate trade talks for everyone else in the rotation. Myles Turner, Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis would definitely spark interest from any number of teams. And if Milwaukee really wanted to tear it down to the studs, Ryan Rollins is the sort of diamond in the rough every organization is looking for in an extremely tight cap environment thanks to the CBA. 

Which way will the Bucks go? We can only wait and see. But both paths will result in an active trade deadline for Milwaukee. 

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