When Ben Simmons was pushing for a trade out of Philadelphia prior to the 2021 season, multiple reports indicated that Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey was holding out for a deal that netted his team a star.
The thinking was that even if no team was willing to proactively shake up its roster in the fall by trading an All-Star player for Simmons, it would only be a matter of time before a player of that caliber became disgruntled with his current situation and asked for a trade. When that happened, Morey and the 76ers wanted to be ready to pounce.
While Morey faced some criticism at the time for his stance, it was a defensible one — in recent years, the NBA generally hasn’t made it more than a few months before a star player shakes loose. Sure enough, in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, whispers of James Harden‘s discontent in Brooklyn grew louder and louder, culminating in the deadline-day blockbuster that sent Harden to the Sixers and Simmons to the Nets.
The Simmons and Harden situations are just the latest examples of the superstar wanderlust that has dominated the NBA for at least the last half-decade. Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook (twice), Paul George (twice), and Harden (twice) are among the players who have requested – or demanded – trades to new teams within the last five years.
Taking into account the NBA’s recent history, it’s probably safe to assume that another star player will be angling for a trade before the end of 2022, whether that takes the form of a private request to the team or an ugly public standoff.
As Howard Beck of SI.com writes in his article on the subject, speculation among team executives has focused on players like Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, and Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard.
All of those players have said the right things publicly, but a June report claimed that Williamson’s family wanted him out of New Orleans, and there has been plenty of chatter about Mitchell’s relationship with teammate Rudy Gobert being a warning sign in Utah. Lillard, meanwhile, seriously considered his future last summer and remains committed to Portland for now, but with the team in retooling mode, it’s possible he’ll eventually try to win a title elsewhere.
Those aren’t the only stars worth keeping an eye on. Wizards guard Bradley Beal can be a free agent this summer, and Washington isn’t exactly close to championship contention. Irving can also reach free agency in 2022 and his union with the Nets seems less stable than it did a year ago, in part due to his inconsistent availability due to his vaccination status. Even Lakers star LeBron James has raised eyebrows lately with comments about his future and his apparent frustration with L.A.’s deadline inactivity.
It sometimes only takes one down year, one short-lived postseason run, or one bad relationship to convince a star player to ask out, so it’s certainly possible that other players we haven’t mentioned could become unhappy with their current situations in the coming months — at this time last year, we certainly didn’t expect Harden to be seeking another trade so soon.
With all that in mind, we want to know what you think. Which star(s) will be the next to push for a trade? How soon will it happen, and how many stars might we see change teams this summer?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
There was some tension 2 years ago between Mitchell and Gobert over the Covid thing, but nothing since.
Some sportswriters make stuff up for a story.
I think some execs and markets covet players they would like to pry away from other teams. Mitchell is a classic case…the New York and LA crowd believe he cannot possibly be happy in Utah. Danny Ainge could/should offer his unique experiences while in Boston…now that he is in Utah.
New York Knicks set up nicely. With these players timelines. Dame, Mitchell, Beal, and Zion all make sense on the Knicks. Will come down to moving Evan F contract. Excited to see it
Knicks fans been saying this for years lmao. Whenever LeBron hits the market or Durant or Kawhi the past few years.
Bro no one is signing or demanding a trade to the sorry Knicks.
Amare Stoudemire doesn’t count lol
Even he’s on the Nets as a coach!
Community Shootaround: Let’s take an article that was written half-heartedly (typical of SI) and researched with less vigor than a TMZ sports post (typical of Howard Beck) and start a conversation based on those parameters.
Zion & Larry Nance Jr to Atl for John Collins, Skylar Mays & Atl’s unprotected 2023 & 2025 1sts this summer
No one is trading real assets for Zion until he can get back on the court. NO should be more worried about his medicals then him being disgruntled.
Every team in the league would trade for Zion if/when he becomes available. I swear y’all have the shortest memories smh. And him being disgruntled is far more concerning to NOP than any injury concerns he may have. If he wasn’t disgruntled & was on the team he wanted to be on instead of the team that “won” the lottery and drafted him he’d most likely be playing rn. He never wanted to play in New Orleans & has made that clear since even before the draft. Since that point he endured 2 frustrating seasons in which he was extremely dominant but has still yet to play in any playoff games. A second surgery would definitely help him long-term I’m sure but if he wanted to be playing rn he’d be playing rn.
Completely agreed Sankara. People were saying all this about Embiid and he played far less games, now he’s gonna be MVP.
Zion will be fine and when he gets traded we will see him available and dominant per usual, I’m hoping in a Knicks uni with Rj and Cam.
I do think an interesting name is Mitchell, could see asking to get moved this offseason if Utah gets bounced early.
Donovan Mitchell is a guy that HIGHLY values loyalty. If you’ve seen the movie High Flying Bird you know what I mean. He prides himself on that even moreso than guys like Dame or Duncan. It’s possible he could ask out of Utah but it would have to be something really egregious & beyond anything involving Rudy… As far as Zion & Embiid that’s a perfect comparison. I’m sure most of these guys that currently hate on Zion so much have totally forgotten how they did the same to Embiid when he had early injury problems & to Steph when he had his ankle issues & on & on. These guys just have an inherent hatred for a certain type of person (Black) & it makes me wonder why they even pay attention to basketball tbh
noone gonna trade picks for fatZion
Nah. Nobody’s trading for him until we see him play again.
Kawhi hadn’t played in months and was coming off of a serious injury & was traded with numerous teams wanting him even tho he was on an expiring deal. John Wall hadn’t played in almost 2yrs bc of a serious injury when he was traded. I’ma guess you forgot about that or something. Teams know how good Zion is dude, they don’t need to see him again to know that they want him on their team. NOP would never trade him unless he demanded a trade but if/when he does he will obviously have multiple teams interested whether he has a 2nd surgery or not
Exactly Sankara! Folks here just don’t pay attention, look at Ben Simmons this year, sooo many guys saying he must play to show himself before he can be traded?!?!?
Why on earth Ben needs to play, right? If after all the years he has beasted the league FO’s don’t know who he is or they need to see him play… well all those FO’s need to be fired ipso facto!
You don’t need to see a player play to trade for him & you can very well & happily trade for an injured player, no worries there, mate! & believe me I would trade the farm & more for Zion!!!
That’s probably not quite enough for Zion and anyway I don’t think the Pelicans are in any hurry to trade Zion. They’ve still got next year and his rookie extension. He doesn’t strike me as one to try the route Simmons did.
We could always add Jalen Johnson to our offer to get the deal done but I would rather not do that unless absolutely necessary. Jalen is gonna be a BEAST in the NBA. I think Skylar Mays would be a nice piece for NOP as a combo bench guard alongside Jose Alvarado & Kira Lewis. John Collins is a borderline all-star just approaching his prime signed to a reasonable long term contract who they don’t have to worry about demanding a trade any time soon. And the 2 unprotected 1sts speak for themselves as far as being extremely valuable. Obviously NOP would never be in a hurry to trade a guy as ridiculously talented as Zion. They also weren’t in a hurry to trade ADavis or CPaul but when a guy demands a trade you’re put in a corner & they’d obv have to trade him as soon as possible before all leverage is lost. If Zion demands a trade & says he won’t sign any extension then NOP wont have nearly as much time as you think. And bro Zion is already going the Ben Simmons route lol how many games you seen either one of those guys play this season? Ben sat out with mental illness while Zion sat out with physical injury. Potato, potato no? If you read bw the lines just a lil bit it’s clear to see that neither guy wanted to be in the situation he was in. Ben was the 1st to use mental health as leverage & it predictably made alot of noise. Zion’s doing it a lil bit quieter but the result will most likely be the same
whoever offers this for zion should be fired.
Why
dear goodness I just want to enjoy our new superstar tandem in peace
Sounds like it’s going to be Lebron next.
Last two months
Harden plays the best 3 games against Title contenders Lakers and Clippers
All triple double
Morey was “holding out” I guess. He was also throwing garbage packages around. In the end Philly gave up a lot. It wasn’t Simmons for Harden straight up. Think this gets lost in the narrative.
did anyone think that was ever going to happen anyways?
Bradley Beal and/or Donovan Mitchell. Beal controls his own destiny though he can opt out of his contract.
Little overboard insinuating that all of those players were leading the charge to get them out of town no? I mean the last two names listed were Harden and PG and those were very different situations both times they happened.
Different how? George asked Indiana to trade him, then asked Oklahoma City to trade him. Harden did the same with Houston and Brooklyn.
My money is on either Donovan Mitchell or Luka. I can see either being really upset and want changes if either of their teams lose in the first round this season.
I guess this will become the way in which stars move teams. Sign a contract extension, then ignore it and force a trade. Eliminates the injury risk of short remaining contract term, gives them the home team contract numbers (great work by those small market owners in getting themselves that super max), and alleviates concerns about what teams have, and don’t have, cap space. Only problem is a sports league is only an association held together by a system of contracts, starting with the CBA. This behavior can’t be part of that system without further changes in it.
mt. zion is slow playing his career until he gets his next contract and desired destination. superstars dont play for chubby change.
I saw Harden
in half(magician) or portions(cannibal)?
I don’t know how Dame hasn’t asked for a trade.I actually kinda wonder if he hasn’t because he didn’t wanna end up going to the 6ers in a Simmons deal.Read last summer that he wanted to see what they did with the team 1st,and I’m not really seeing what they’ve done to make him feel his chip chances have gotten any better.Maybe if they can create space to get Beal or Lavine.
Yawn …… all noise.
Bron and AD should remind everyone. Be careful what you wish for.
Bradley Beal to opt out in FA and Celtics to get him on a sign and trade for Jaylen Brown.
Donovan, seems like the media have a want to get him out of Utah and to a bigger market. He had a fall out with Gobert but that was in the past. Can’t see it happened unless he demands it and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be this offseason.
Dame, I wouldn’t be surprised if he demands out. They trade away his mate CJ, they have gone young and are actually playing better now than with Dame and CJ. Makes a lot of sense for Portland too. Get a solid return and go full rebuild.
In which case Knicks will be really aggressive. If he hits FA I could see him teaming up with LBJ.
As for Zion, I think Pelicans should move off him. Knicks will be aggressive and you could land Randle (who gives you 70% of what Zion does and doesn’t miss the games), plus some role players and picks. Hawks would also be aggressive, Hornets should try, rockets should try.