SPORT NEWS: Blockbuster NBA Trade Ideas: Potential Deals for Zach LaVine, Jimmy Butler, and More.giang

‘Tis the season for blockbuster NBA trade ideas. Fa la la, la la la, la, la, la, la.

The unofficial start of trade season officially tipped off with a medium-sized bang when the Golden State Warriors acquired Dennis Schröder. Because we’re all sickos, though, we are waiting on larger-scale bangs.

And we just may get them.

Jimmy Butler has entered the rumor mill. Zach LaVine never left it. We also have a handful of teams that might as well have “inevitable sellers” tattooed across their foreheads.

This latest batch of trade ideas caters to those news-worthy realities. But it’s also not bound to the usual suspects. There is at least one curveball to come.

Chicago Bulls Receive: Zeke Nnaji, Michael Porter Jr.

Denver Nuggets Receive: Zach LaVine

In a somewhat stunning twist, Zach LaVine currently tops the list of Denver Nuggets trade targets, according to The Athletic’s Tony Jones and Sam Amick. A package built around Porter is the only framework to propose, since neither Aaron Gordon nor Jamal Murray can be flipped after signing extensions.

Chicago won’t be thrilled about taking on the balance of Nnaji’s contract (three years, $23.2 million) when he can’t jump a 36-year-old DeAndre Jordan in Denver’s rotation. But he’s just 24 and, conceptually, someone who can stretch the floor and move his feet on defense.

Porter is owed a pretty penny himself (two years, $79.1 million). His price point is only uncomfortable if you think he won’t stay healthy. It is otherwise fair-weather money for a deadeye 6’10” shooter who is three years younger than LaVine and, at his peak, has demonstrated the capacity to lock in defensively and crash the glass.

Going from Porter to LaVine may cost the Nuggets on the less glamorous end. But the 29-year-old is more engaged this season navigating screens and checking individual assignments. Plus, most of his appeal is rooted in shot-making.

Denver doesn’t lose anything, really, in off-ball scoring as part of this deal while gaining on-ball dynamism. LaVine delivers more rim pressure and foul-drawing, and way more of his baskets (50.8 percent) go unassisted compared to Porter (16.7 percent). His fit alongside Nikola Jokić should be divine, and equally important, he stands a puncher’s chance of beefing up the Nuggets’ minutes without their MVP.

Chicago Bulls Receive: Simone Fontecchio, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jaden Ivey

Detroit Pistons Receive: Torrey Craig, Zach LaVine

The Pistons (should) loom as yet another intriguing LaVine suitor. They poked around his availability last year, and that interest should persist if the Bulls are lowering their asking price.

Surrendering Ivey is harder in theory than practice. He can’t be viewed through the lens of a top-five pick anymore—at least not in Detroit.

Despite a material change in the way he plays, Ivey just isn’t a fit for the Pistons. The offense has not peaked when he’s next to Cade Cunningham and implodes when he’s on his own. LaVine is not only the comfier shot-making threat alongside Detroit’s best player, but he’s more equipped to keep the machine humming during solo stints.

Taking a flier on Ivey when Lonzo Ball, Ayo Dosunmu, Josh Giddey and Coby White are already on the roster may not be super appealing to the Bulls. But Ivey blurs the line between off-guard and lead-guard material, and neither Lonzo nor Giddey (restricted) are guaranteed to be around long term with forays into free agency on the horizon.

Chicago is also saving a boatload of money. This deal cuts around $14 million from this season’s payroll, $27.6 million off next year’s bottom line and, potentially, $49 million from the 2026-27 ledger (LaVine’s player option season).

Chicago Bulls Receive: Keldon Johnson, Blake Wesley, 2025 first-round pick (Chicago’s own), Charlotte’s 2025 first-round pick (lottery protection; turns into 2026 and 2027 seconds if not conveyed), 2025 second-round pick (Chicago’s own), Atlanta’s 2027 first-round pick, Cleveland’s 2030 second-round pick

San Antonio Spurs Receive: Jevon Carter, Coby White

Dealing the 24-year-old Coby White is not a popular concept among Bulls fans. And I get it. But his value will never be higher than it is right now, when he’s on a cheapo contract that runs through next season.

Keeping him would be one thing if there was a shot in hell he’d extend off his current deal. He won’t. And when he’s up for a big-money deal in 2026 free agency, Chicago won’t be nearly good enough to warrant bankrolling it.

Cashing out now makes the most sense. Especially if you’re regaining control of this year’s first-rounder. As it stands, the Bulls may outperform the top-10 protection. Even if you think that changes, the current obligation to San Antonio runs through 2027, with looser top-eight protection.

That Atlanta first-rounder also remains among the hottest draft-pick commodities floating around the market. Tack on a combo-perimeter player making reasonable money in Johnson, a speed-demon flier on Wesley, a bunch of seconds and the chance to get out from under Carter’s 2025-26 player option, and this package is a viable starting point at worst.

San Antonio is not the type of team to go for broke on the trade market. This isn’t that. It lies somewhere in between. White is young enough to fit the Victor Wembanyama timeline, good enough to help the Spurs win now and experienced enough off ball to play alongside Stephon Castle, Chris Paul and/or Tre Jones.

Detroit Pistons Receive: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Los Angeles Clippers’ 2025 second-round pick (via Lakers)

Miami Heat Receive: Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent, Toronto’s 2025 second-round pick (top-55 protection, via Detroit), Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick (top-four protection; turns into 2030 second if not conveyed), Lakers’ 2031 first-round pick (top-five protection; turns into 2031 second-round pick if not conveyed)

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Jimmy Butler

According to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, the Lakers are “expected to be one of the more active buyers leading into the Feb. 6 trade deadline as they try to maximize the final seasons of the LeBron James–Anthony Davis partnership.” Acquiring Butler certainly fits that bill.

Forking over your last, best trade chips is akin to quintupling-down on the present. That’s the point. If they aren’t willing to give up Hachimura and two firsts for a power wing who elevates their product at both ends of the floor, why even keep Davis and James?

Miami seems to be getting ready to ship out Butler ahead of his entry into 2025 free agency (player option). This package isn’t the glitziest at first glance. But the Heat can’t expect much, if any, more when suitors have to worry about paying or losing Butler in a few months’ time.

Hachimura can come in and soak up minutes on the wing while providing a complementary scoring punch. Russell replaces some of Butler’s initiation in the interim before coming off the books this summer. Vincent’s contract has not aged well, but he’ll be an expiring deal over the offseason, and head coach Erik Spoelstra knows how to use him.

Getting two loosely protected firsts that post-date the Lakers’ window with Butler, AD and LeBron would be a borderline coup for Miami. Los Angeles can try to get a deal done with only a single pick, but that’ll likely require subbing out Vincent for Austin Reaves or, less likely, Max Christie. Detroit shouldn’t have a problem scooping up a second-rounder to sponge up a half-season of Hood-Schifino.

Golden State Warriors Receive: Anthony Davis

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Jonathan Kuminga, Kevon Looney, Andrew Wiggins, 2025 first-round pick, 2026 first-round swap, 2027 first-round pick, 2028 first-round swap, 2030 first-round pick (protected Nos. 21 to 30)

Buha notes that the Lakers “almost certainly” will not trade LeBron or AD unless one asks out. Well, if the team doesn’t do anything substantial to improve its immediate chances, Davis should absolutely ask out.

Sticking around might make sense for LeBron. He’s about to turn 40. He’s won four titles. Bronny James, his son, is on the team. But Davis is 31 going on 32. He has officially entered that weird space where he’s fully in his prime yet the clock is ticking. He should want to play for a contender.

Landing AD makes the Warriors a contender. He can play in the frontcourt with or without Draymond Green and has the skills necessary to be used outside a traditional pick-and-roll offense. His self-creation isn’t quite on the level of propping up the show without Stephen Curry on the floor, but Golden State should be able to generate enough buckets during those stretches when pairing him with Dennis Schröder.

Giving up three first-rounders, two swaps, Kuminga and Wiggins will sting. The Warriors’ wing depth, in particular, will be tested. Head coach Steve Kerr will have no choice other than to actually play Moses Moody (I think). You make this deal anyway.

Haggle over the number of swaps if you please. Golden State is effectively trying to create its own trade market by targeting a player not readily available. And Kuminga isn’t a star prospect in hiding when he’s slated for restricted free agency. Pick obligations are the draw if the Lakers offload AD and start over.