The Best Holiday Gifts For All 30 NBA Teams
One wish-list item to fix every NBA team.
The holidays are here and so is the start of NBA trade season. You know what that means: Everybody be shopping. Here’s what is on each team’s wish list this holiday season.
Atlanta Hawks: A pro-Trae Young story
While John Collins remains sheltered-in-place on the trade block and the team struggles to make 3s, the fallout from the Trae Young-Nate McMillan drama is Atlanta’s top story. The Hawks need something to feel good about. A story about Young lifting up a struggling teammate, sacrificing for the greater good of the team or having his coach’s back would go a long way in quelling concerns in Atlanta.
Boston Celtics: A hype man
Not much has gone wrong for the Celtics so far this season, except for a drubbing in their Finals rematch against the Warriors. Though it can’t be said that this shook their confidence, this is a group that has shown some susceptibility to head games in the past. Few teams are as talented as the Celtics, and their biggest enemy may end up being themselves. They just need to keep that confidence up.
Brooklyn Nets: Someone big who cares about rebounding
Believe it or not, the Nets rank in the top half of the league in offensive and defensive rating. With shot-makers up and down the roster and a renewed energy on defense, the main drag on this team is on the glass. The Nets rank 29th in offensive and defensive rebounding rates. Getting a player who can rebound at a high level will help end defensive possessions and create second-chance opportunities, potentially lifting the Nets into the top 10 in both offense and defense.
Charlotte Hornets: April
This season can’t end soon enough.
Chicago Bulls: Humility
When everyone is telling you that you have a problem, you might have a problem. Anyone paying attention can tell that the Bulls need to scrap it and start over. Make trades, tear it down and start scouting the top of a loaded draft class. The only problem is that the Bulls front office just recently assembled this core and might be reluctant to admit defeat.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Playoff experience
There’s a lot to like about the Cavs, who have the league’s best defense and second-best net rating. If there’s any reason not to believe in them as legit contenders, it’s the lack of playoff experience. Donovan Mitchell has seen many of playoff series, but the same can’t be said about Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The Cavs should be taken seriously, but we’ve also seen inexperienced teams come up short in the postseason enough times to warrant skepticism.
Dallas Mavericks: Derrick Rose
It’s no secret that the Mavs need another ball-handler next to Luka Doncic. Derrick Rose isn’t a long-term solution, but would be more helpful today than Kemba Walker and potentially wouldn’t cost too much.
Denver Nuggets: Defense
Fun fact: The Nuggets are the only team with a bottom-seven defense maintaining a positive net rating. That’s a testament to their high-powered offense, but it’s also a problem. The Nuggets have the 28th-ranked defense and it’s hard to see them advancing in the playoffs if that doesn’t get fixed.
Detroit Pistons: John Collins
Bojan Bogdanovic has had a great season for the Pistons but doesn’t figure to be part of the team’s future. It’s unclear what Detroit is looking for on the trade market, but getting a young big like John Collins to play with Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duran would be a good way to flip that investment. For the Hawks, Bogdanovic would be a valuable floor-spacer and adult in the room.
Golden State Warriors: Alex Caruso
Alex Caruso for James Wiseman works in the trade machine. If the Warriors can swallow their pride and admit that Wiseman isn’t a fit there, adding Caruso would help stabilize a bench that has been among the most inconsistent in the league. (Update: It would also provide point guard depth with Steph Curry expected to miss a few weeks with a shoulder injury.)
Houston Rockets: The No. 1 pick
Sure, you’d like to see development from Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun and others, but the No. 1 goal of this season is getting the top pick and drafting Victor Wembanyama.
Indiana Pacers: A Lakers pick
With Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard, the Pacers might have the best three-man combination of young guards in the league. Without ever needing to fully go in the tank and rebuilt, they’ve identified their core and only need resources to build around them. Trading Buddy Hield, for instance, to the Lakers for a valuable pick would only give them more resources to do so.
LA Clippers: Health
This is easy enough. If the Clippers can get a healthy Kawhi Leonard (who looked great the other night against the Celtics) and Paul George for the postseason, they have the capability to beat anyone in the West.
Los Angeles Lakers: A 3-point shooter
The Lakers have managed to make headway by moving Russell Westbrook to the bench and playing hard on defense, but no amount of rotation changes and elbow grease will replace the need for shooting around LeBron and Anthony Davis.
Memphis Grizzlies: One more guy
The Grizzlies might already be the best team in the West. They have the best record, after all, and legitimately go at least 11 deep. Imagine if they had one veteran to absorb those John Konchar/David Roddy minutes.
Miami Heat: A new bench
The Heat are still trying to find their footing this season, and while the revamped starting unit has been quite good the bench has been a pit. If they could somehow turn the likes of Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Dewayne Dedmon into a couple of immediate contributors, the Heat could finally rise in the standings.
Milwaukee Bucks: Jae Crowder
The Bucks have been involved in Crowder rumors all season and it makes sense why. Crowder would be an ideal fit to fill out the frontcourt rotation. Someone who can play alongside any of Giannis, Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Leadership
The Timberwolves are a mess. The Rudy Gobert trade hasn’t worked out. Teammates are taking veiled shots at each other through the media. The team lacks belief in the process. What they need is someone who can make them believe.
New Orleans Pelicans: A 3-point shooter
The Pelicans rank near the bottom of the league in 3-pointers made and attempted per game. Putting up a few more good looks from distance will only help Zion Williamson. The problem is that they lack the 3-point specialist to make it happen. This player might not be an every-night-kind-of guy, but having a sniper on the bench for emergencies would be useful.
New York Knicks: Moving on from Julius Randle
Julius Randle is complex: Big and athletic enough to create mismatches but too erratic to consistently take advantage of them.
Because of this, Randle is often the Knicks’ go-to option in crunch time. The Knicks are 6-6 in crunch-time games and that makes sense. Randle and Co. are perfectly average — good enough to hang around the play-in tournament, not bad enough to tank. The Knicks signed Jalen Brunson last summer hoping he could elevate everyone around him, but he and Randle haven’t struck the right chemistry. Randle doesn’t have much utility without the ball — he doesn’t space the floor, he’s not a great defender and isn’t an especially great playmaker despite his early-career flashes. Moving on from him at some point seems necessary if the Knicks are going to move on from mediocrity.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Recognition
The story of the Thunder’s season has been the leap from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has blossomed into a legitimate top-15 player. He should be honored in some way — Most Improved, an All-NBA team, being in “the MVP conversation.” Add that to the eventual inclusion of Chet Holmgren and another lottery pick and the future in Oklahoma City is bright.
Orlando Magic: The No. 1 pick
Victor Wembanyama and Bol Bol????
Philadelphia 76ers: Gel
If James Harden and Joel Embiid can figure out how to smooth out some of the kinks on both ends of the court, then they might be able to make an extended postseason run. But it starts with them.
Phoenix Suns: Anything for Jae Crowder
The Suns currently have a $10 million player not playing for them. Turning that roster spot into another contributor — preferably an experienced ball-handler who can take some of the strain off Chris Paul and Devin Booker — would be ideal for a team with championship aspirations.
Portland Trail Blazers: A mitten
Gary Payton II should be making his season debut in the next couple of weeks and not a moment too soon. The Trail Blazers, currently 22nd in defense, can use him.
Sacramento Kings: Patience
An impressive record, a good coach, a promising rookie and developing chemistry between De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis is enough for Kings fans to feel good about. Just, you know, don’t screw it up.
San Antonio Spurs: The No. 1 pick
With the days of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili long gone, the Spurs want a chance to draft the next face of the franchise.
Toronto Raptors: Accepting a hard truth
In 2018, the Raptors made the bold decision to trade franchise cornerstone DeMar DeRozan for one year of Kawhi Leonard. It worked out — the Raptors won the 2019 championship — but it was risky. Anything less than a championship could have turned the fanbase against the franchise, but rings validate most decisions. Three years later, the Raptors could face another crossroads. Fred VanVleet — a big part of that championship team and one-time All-Star — is having his worst season since becoming a starter. He’s shooting 37.2% overall and averaging fewer assists and rebounds. He’s also 28, which isn’t especially old for the NBA but also seven years older than Scottie Barnes. Which window are the Raptors trying to maximize? If the answer is building around the younger players, then the Raptors may want to see what they can get for FanVleet.
Utah Jazz: Well-timed injuries
A lot of the discourse around the Jazz has centered around a binary response to a single question: Should the Jazz trade away players and tank, or let the good times roll? But what about a third option that would allow the team to lose games and improve their draft position, while also keeping the young players they acquired in the Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell trades? Let’s say a core player such as Lauri Markkanen suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him for a month. Then the same happened to Jordan Clarkson. Then the same happened to Jarred Vanderbilt and Kelly Olynyk. That could be enough to sink the Jazz in the standings without having to trade away good players they could build around.
Washington Wizards: An offer they can’t refuse
Bradley Beal and the Wizards is the definition of a dead-end relationship. Will any team get desperate enough to offer a Gobert-type package for Beal (who holds a no-trade clause)? From now until next December, that could be the only thing that resembles a life raft to this franchise.