As we hit the thick of the holiday season, the NBA trade machine is starting to heat up a bit, making it a good time to check in with another Trade Rumor Rankings piece, in which we rank the five players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week. Today is a point-guard-heavy edition, including the headliner, as well as one filled with star names.
Below, check out the five players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the past seven days.
5. LaMelo Ball (Charlotte)
The Charlotte Hornets are 4-8 and don’t look in much of a position, roster-wise, to compete for a playoff spot this season, although stranger things have happened. Regardless, much discussion this year has centered around LaMelo Ball and his ability to lead a team to even playoff contention. And some of the talk has even shifted towards the viability of a Ball trade, and what his market might look like.
According to ESPN, out of Ball, Trae Young and Ja Morant, Ball might have the strongest trade market, per one anonymous executive:
As for LaMelo Ball… “If you’re asking me if Trae, Ja and LaMelo all came onto the trade market tomorrow, I think LaMelo would have the best market,” one executive said. “But that’s all hypothetical right now.”
However, according to another scout, Ball’s market suffers from the fact that it’s unclear how seriously the talented point guard takes basketball:
“Yes, he’s talented, but he doesn’t take basketball seriously enough,” another West scout said. “It’s hard to build a winner with him because of how he plays, and the liberties he takes for himself when he plays. “Would someone take a flier on him? For sure. But Charlotte isn’t taking a flier price for him.”
Ball is averaging 23.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 9.8 assists this season, to go with 1.7 steals, albeit while shooting a paltry 43 percent from the floor, and while turning it over 3.7 times per game. He’s also under contract through 2028-29, when he’ll be owed $46.4 million, a daunting number, especially for a player with poor injury history and an inability to impact winning.
For more LaMelo Ball rumors and salary info, click here.
4. Zion Williamson (New Orleans)
With injuries once again slowing 2019 No. 1 pick Zion Williamson in this, his seventh year as a pro, an ESPN article this week discussed the possibility of the explosive big man being traded. According to anonymous league execs, the time isn’t right for the New Orleans Pelicans to trade the former Duke standout:
Stated simply, even with his unusual non-guaranteed contract over the next two years that offers the franchise protection, Zion Williamson’s trade value isn’t super high. “To be honest, their move might be a win-now trade, not a Zion trade,” a rival executive said. “His trade value isn’t there and they are facing some pressure to win.”
Before going down this season, Williamson wasn’t exactly lighting things up, as the Pelicans forward was averaging 22.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists on 48.7 percent shooting from the floor. And with him missing time after injuring his hamstring yet again, and with the Pelicans at 2-10, things look awfully hairy for New Orleans. Even so, we think it is far more likely that it’s head coach Willy Green who sees the chopping block before Williamson.
Who would even risk trading for the big man after his injury luck over recent years, especially with his extremely complicated – and expensive – contract? Despite the non-guarantees on his deal, the fact that Williamson could be owed $44.9 million in 2027-28 surely won’t attract many trade suitors for him right now.
For more Zion Williamson rumors and salary info, click here.
3. Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento)
There’s no doubt that Domantas Sabonis is one of the most talented big men in the NBA, and one of the most productive. Over the last three seasons, only Sabonis and three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic can say they have averaged at least 18 points, 12 rebounds and six assists per game.
And yet, Sacramento looks primed to miss the playoffs for the third year in a row. Making matters worse, Sabonis is making the Kings 20.0 points per 100 possessions worse during his time on the floor, an almost hard-to-fathom number considering Sabonis’ productivity.
We know Sabonis isn’t much of a defender, but can he be that much of a sieve that he’s making Sacramento that much worse when he’s in the game? We doubt it.
Regardless, the Kings struggling this much has the trade winds howling around Sabonis. According to NBA reporter Sam Amick, teams would still be interested in the Lithuanian big man, and the two years (and $94.1 million) left on his contract, even despite his recent poor impact:
Sam Amick: “The reason they were comfortable doing the Keegan Murray contract is because — partly at least — they not only valued him within their program, but they learned that he’s got a lot of value around the league. So, as it relates to Sabonis, my understanding is there are at least a few teams that have raised their hand to say, ‘Yeah, he’s somebody we’d want to talk about.’ I’ve said it on your show before — I don’t have that sort of information about Zach [LaVine].”
According to another report this week, there’s a chance the Golden State Warriors might be interested in the 29-year-old big man:
So when you’re trying to trade for Sabonis, there’s a team out there — and I heard about a team not too far down the road that could be interested. And when I say ‘down the road,’ I mean down the freeway — that team could look at a Domantas Sabonis. But again, he’s not going to live up to that $40-whatever-million AAV there. He’s probably not going to do it anywhere. That team might be better with him, but he won’t be producing at that contract level.
For now, this looks purely like distant future speculation, but even so, this is a situation that needs to be monitored, as the Kings seem to be getting worse as a team, and that could lead to major change this very year.
For more Domantas Sabonis rumors and salary info, click here.
2. Anthony Davis (Dallas)
The star big man of another struggling Western Conference team, Anthony Davis, likewise could very well see himself traded this year, as he’s missed time due to injury, while his Dallas Mavericks sit at 3-10.
An anonymous league exec told ESPN this week that Dallas’ best path involves trading both Davis and Kyrie Irving, and starting over:
The belief, from sources I spoke to, is that the Mavs moving on from at least Davis, if not both stars, was the optimal strategy. Those moves would help maximize the 2026 first-round pick in a loaded 2026 draft class — the only selection Dallas controls the rest of this decade — to reposition the franchise around 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg. “Absolutely,” an Eastern Conference executive said when asked whether trading the two veteran stars was the right path for Dallas.
According to veteran NBA scribe Marc Stein, Davis and his camp will work with Dallas to figure out over the coming months whether the two sides should part ways as we get closer to the 2025-26 trade deadline:
It’s believed the Mavericks will work with Davis’ camp over the next two-plus months as they decide whether to pursue an in-season trade. Davis’ agent Rich Paul and Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont have established a relationship that features regular contact since they were introduced at the Mavericks’ Play-In Tournament victory in Sacramento in April. The parties are thus expected to work in concert to some degree on next steps.
Things get dicey when you consider the fact Davis has an injured calf at the moment, a scary injury with NBA players’ recent history of tearing their Achilles after coming back from calf strains. The Mavericks are no doubt going to keep Davis out until he’s 100 percent from his issue, and the longer that takes, the trickier a Davis trade gets, especially when you factor in the $58.5 million he’s owed the rest of this season, and the $58.5 million he’ll be owed in ‘27.
Expensive deal, aging superstar, tricky injury, struggling team – things could not get much worse for the Mavericks right now as far as extracting maximum value in a potential Davis trade.
Also worth noting, fellow former Kentucky star and No. 1 pick, John Wall, said this week that there’s scuttle regarding Davis and his hometown Chicago Bulls:
A Davis hometown return would be a fun storyline, though we’re not sure how concrete that scuttle is.
For more Anthony Davis rumors and salary info, click here.
1. Ja Morant (Memphis)
Two-time All-Star Ja Morant has endured a brutal season thus far, averaging 18.9 points per game (the second-lowest mark of his career) on 35.2 percent shooting from the floor and 16.7 percent from three. Morant has been suspended this season by the Memphis Grizzlies after an ugly and awkward exchange with head coach Tuomas Iisalo, which led to Morant missing one game for Memphis.
Naturally, that, along with the Grizzlies’ 4-9 record, has led to a lot of speculation surrounding Morant and his future with the franchise.
According to Stein, the Grizzlies’ future might no longer revolve around Morant, and rival teams have taken heed of that fact:
The inevitable talk of rival teams now monitoring the situation is a no-duh way to describe the sudden vibe in Memphis — since rival teams are always poised to pounce on proven All-Stars who might (or might not) be unhappy in their current surroundings — but the truth is that Morant’s future has been must-monitor going back to the June draft and the buildup to it. That is when rumbles started to circulate in earnest that the contract extension Morant was eligible for this past offseason would not be offered … and that this team might no longer revolve around him.
For what it’s worth, Stein later reported that there isn’t concrete evidence yet that the Grizzlies are ready to go through with a potential Morant trade. More recently, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that he had not heard that Morant was available for trade right now.
One report has attached the point guard-needy Kings with Morant, while another has downplayed the possibility of the Houston Rockets pursuing, even despite their need for steadier point guard play with Fred VanVleet out for the season.
The biggest report on the matter came from The Athletic, which reported that the Minnesota Timberwolves, surprisingly, have checked in with Memphis regarding a potential Morant deal:
According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, the Minnesota Timberwolves is one team that has reached out to Memphis regarding their disgruntled point guard. Appearing on SiriusXM NBA Radio over the weekend, Krawczynski highlighted the Wolves’ need for a court general. “There’s no real point guard on the roster,” Krawczynski said of the Timberwolves. “They’re asking Anthony Edwards to do it. They’re asking Julius Randle to do a lot of point forward stuff. They certainly have checked in with Memphis on Ja.”
We’ll see how this saga plays out, but until Morant starts playing more like his usual self, the smoke around this situation is not going to dissipate.
For more Ja Morant rumors and salary info, click here.