Post-2016 NBA Free-Agency Blockbuster Trade Ideas

Long live hypothetical NBA blockbuster trades—especially now that we’ve reached the “Dog Days of Summer” portion of the offseason.

Can we get the Los Angeles Clippers to turn Blake Griffin loose? Should the Oklahoma City Thunder deal Russell Westbrook in the wake of Kevin Durant’s departure? Is there another star we can move just for (sensible) giggles?

Before we start, bear in mind that players on expiring contracts, Griffin (early-termination option) and Westbrook included, will not command their usual returns. Trade packages can change if they promise to stick around their new digs beyond next season. For now, they are flight risks and will be viewed as such at our imaginary bargaining table. 

              

Atlanta and Denver Get Weirdly Sensible

Atlanta Hawks Receive: SF/PF Wilson Chandler, PF Kenneth Faried, SG Gary Harris

Denver Nuggets Receive: PF Paul Millsap, SG/SF Thabo Sefolosha

Earlier in the offseason, the Denver Nuggets had the Atlanta Hawks “biting on a package of picks and players, including Kenneth Faried,” for Paul Millsap, according to ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe. This was before Al Horford officially left for the Boston Celtics, but the framework still makes sense.

Dwight Howard and Faried pose plenty of frontcourt spacing issues—more than the Hawks would ever experience with a Horford-Howard or Howard-Millsap dyad. But head coach Mike Budenholzer can look to stagger their minutes after the opening tip or bring Faried off the bench from the jump.

Faried won’t make more than $13.8 million in a single season through 2018-19. That’s second-unit salary in the new cap climate. Wilson Chandler can come in as Atlanta’s stretch 4 and help salvage part of the dynamic the team is looking for from the Howard-Millsap tandem.

Though integrating Chandler and Faried may still force the Hawks to take a collective step back up front, Millsap isn’t a long-term solution on his own. He will be 32 when he hits free agency next summer, and it could cost more to keep him than the $24.9 million Atlanta would shell out for both Chandler and Faried in 2017-18.

Gary Harris is a huge pickup and helps the Hawks toe the line between rebuilding and competing. He won’t turn 22 until September, will earn the rookie scale through 2017-18 and doesn’t need a ton of touches to make an impact. As Rob Mahoney of SI.com explained:

His pick-and-roll game is nascent—functional in some cases but not yet fully natural or reliable. There will be more opportunity this season for Harris to test out that element of his game, but only because he’s subsidized his development with the strength of his work off the ball.

Harris made the ball see him, to borrow Malone’s phrasing, and found a lane to playing time and a starting spot. A no-frills cutter who shoots respectably (35.4% from three last season, up from 20.4% the season prior), rebounds competitively, and defends committedly is a difficult one to keep off the floor. 

A Kent Bazemore-Harris-Dennis Schroder troika is one around which the Hawks can build. They all complement each other on the court, and Bazemore, at 27, is the old head of the bunch.

Losing Harris and Chandler in a trade that returns an over-30 power forward on an expiring contract would normally be a no-go for the Nuggets. But 2016 first-round picks Malik Beasley and Jamal Murray give them more than enough depth in the backcourt, and they have the option of replacing Harris with Will Barton in the starting five.

Millsap is the ideal fit for a roster with too many weapons—a playmaking power forward who protects the rim, jumps passing lanes and can score on catch-and-shoot opportunities. Pairing him with Nikola Jokic drives up the appeal of Denver’s frontcourt defense and allows head coach Mike Malone to experiment with five-out lineups. 

This isn’t a deal the Nuggets pounce on if they don’t plan on paying Millsap next summer. Most rebuilding squads cannot justify slinging near-max money for an aging star, but Denver ranks as the exception.

More than they need to worry about developing youngsters, the Nuggets have to make sure there are enough minutes to go around for anyone worth playing. Turning a trio of assets into Millsap simplifies the rotation quite a bit without emptying their stable of basketball kiddies.

                  

Let Westbrook Be Westbrook…in Boston

Boston Celtics Receive: PG Russell Westbrook

Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: SF Jaylen Brown, SG Avery Bradley, SG R.J. Hunter, 2017 first-round pick (right to swap with Brooklyn Nets), 2019 …

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