Sports
Young NBA Stars Under 25 Who Already Need a Trade – Bleacher Report
Nothing captures the excitement of NBA fans quite like an under-25 star. Given their age, ability and upward trajectory, the possibilities feel endless for their future.
That’s how it should feel, at least. With the following five players, though, frustration might be the most defining emotion of their young careers.
Whether they’re surrounded by ill-fitting teammates, stranded on a stagnating squad or simply in need of a fresh start elsewhere, all five could use a relocation to get some of that initial excitement back.
In three seasons, LaMelo Ball has established himself among the NBA’s most productive point guards. He is one of only five players averaging at least 19 points, seven assists and 2.5 three-pointers since the 2020-21 campaign.
Over this same stretch, his Charlotte Hornets have sunk further into a playoff drought that dates back to 2016. In Ball’s first two seasons, they were steamrolled out of the play-in tournament, losing the two tilts by a combined 56 points.
Despite this lack of team success, Charlotte has largely failed to find other blue-chip prospects to put around Ball. James Bouknight and Kai Jones, both of whom were top-20 picks in 2021, look like possible busts. Mark Williams, the No. 15 pick in 2022, moderately impressed as a rookie but logged fewer than 900 minutes.
The Hornets hope their luck changed in this past draft, where they used the No. 2 pick on swingman Brandon Miller and the No. 27 selection on Nick Smith Jr. It’s too early to tell what type of careers they’ll have, but there weren’t many evaluators who ranked Miller above Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 pick. And Smith, a decorated high school recruit, fell that far due to both injuries and inefficiency at Arkansas. Neither of these new arrivals are sure things, in other words.
If Ball already has questions about his ability to win big in Buzz City, who could blame him? What have the Hornets done to prove they can construct a quality contender around him? How many of his teammates does he confidently feel will still be at his side three years from now?
His vision, live-ball passing and selflessness are the kinds of things that should be capable of elevating his teammates. Charlotte simply hasn’t provided him many to elevate, and he could have a hard time believing the team ever will.
The Toronto Raptors had a golden opportunity to reset their roster over the last calendar year around 2021-22 Rookie of the Year winner Scottie Barnes. Instead, they passed that up to…uh, well, actually, I’m not sure what they’ve been doing.
On one hand, they pushed for maximum competitiveness at the trade deadline by coughing up a future first-round pick and two second-rounders to land Jakob Poeltl. On the other, they let Fred VanVleet, a former All-Star who led them in assists and ranked second in points per game this past season, leave for nothing in free agency.
They were already woefully short on shooting, and they have even less of it after replacing VanVleet (a career 37.3 percent three-point shooter) with Dennis Schröder (33.7). Schröder and Pascal Siakam are inconsistent shooters at best. Poeltl rarely looks at the rim when he’s outside the restricted area. Those could be three of the players whom Barnes sees the most action with in the upcoming season.
Toronto also has few players on Barnes’ developmental timeline. Poeltl’s 28th birthday will arrive before the season starts. Siakam’s 30th will come before it ends. Barnes just turned 22. O.G. Anunoby, who turned 26 in July, is close to the same timeline, but the 2024 free-agent-to-be has been labeled as a possible flight risk for over a year now.
Because Barnes plays a unique style—he’s a jumbo playmaker, limited shooter and incredibly versatile defender—he needs a unique supporting cast built around him. Frankly, it would look nothing like the one Toronto has in place.
The Raptors, who can’t seem to decide if they want to compete or start over, are doing nothing to position Barnes for success either in the short term or the long haul.
In April, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported the Dallas Mavericks have concern that Luka Dončić “could consider requesting a trade as soon as the summer of 2024 if Dallas doesn’t make significant progress by then.”
Dončić may not need that long to conclude that Dallas has not—and will not—raise its ceiling high enough to give him a realistic shot at winning it all.
The Mavericks had a busy summer—drafting Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper, re-signing Kyrie Irving, acquiring Richaun Holmes and adding Grant Williams, Seth Curry, Richaun Holmes and Dante Exum—but where’s the move that morphs them from a 44-loss team to a top-tier contender? Keeping Irving is the most significant transaction of the lot, yet Dallas nose-dived to a 9-18 finish once he debuted on Feb. 8.
Williams is a skilled stopper, but he can’t solve the problems facing the Mavs’ 25th-ranked defense on his own. Curry is an ignitable scorer, but it’s not like Dallas had a pressing need for an undersized scoring guard. Holmes has had a few solid stretches, but the Sacramento Kings didn’t deem him worthy of consistent playing time this past season. Exum is nothing more than a 28-year-old curiosity; he last logged NBA minutes in January 2021. Lively and Prosper are unproven rookies, so staking any championship hopes on their development would be awfully optimistic.
If the Mavs can’t contend with this group, how do they plan on raising their ceiling? Trading for an impact player is a possibility in theory, but they’re already down two first-round picks (top-10 protected in 2024 and unprotected in 2029, plus a 2030 pick swap) and aren’t swimming in high-end prospects, so what’s the centerpiece for this hypothetical exchange?
Dončić, a nightly source of 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.0 assists this past season, is good enough to lead a championship run. He just needs to find a roster capable of running along with him.
Remember when the hoops world collectively broke out in uncontrollable laughter upon hearing what the Minnesota Timberwolves gave up for Rudy Gobert last summer? I’ll go out on a limb and guess Anthony Edwards didn’t have the same reaction.
Minnesota effectively mortgaged its future—a future that should be solely focused on Edwards—on a then-30-year-old rim protector with severe offensive limitations. The results were, predictably, a mess. Minnesota won four fewer games than it did during the season prior to this all-in trade and was again knocked out of the opening round.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ injury issues, which limited him to 29 games, probably didn’t help. Then again, his presence only improved Minnesota by 1.4 points per 100 possessions, and his fit with Gobert was wonky at best. The Wolves likely needed a whole lot more than a healthy KAT to climb anywhere near championship contention.
One of the only bright spots in the Gopher State was the continued development of Edwards, who captured his first of what could be many All-Star selections. He upped his efficiency, improved his defensive consistency and generally looked like someone who could lead a playoff powerhouse—eventually.
Minnesota at least got that memo.
“I think pretty much every decision we’re going to make moving forward is going to be with Ant paramount,” Timberwolves president of operations Tim Connelly told reporters.
Had the Wolves reached that (rather obvious) conclusion sooner, maybe they could’ve salvaged things with Edwards. Instead, he’s staring at a future in which they’re severely lacking both upside-rich players with whom he can grow (beyond Jaden McDaniels) and the draft picks needed to acquire them.
Minnesota should have one of the league’s brightest futures by virtue of rostering Edwards alone. The fact it actually has one of the trickiest paths forward—trading Karl-Anthony Towns might not recoup half of what it gave up for Gobert—should be all the motivation Edwards needs to seek out a scenery change.
For someone possessing transcendent talent, Zion Williamson has had a frustratingly forgettable start to his career. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft has played only 114 regular-season games to date thanks to an apparently never-ending bout with the injury bug.
While you can’t pin his availability issues on the New Orleans Pelicans, you can wonder whether a fresh start might be exactly what he needs. Heck, New Orleans even mulled moving the bouncy big man this offseason for a chance to draft Scoot Henderson, according to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein.
That alone should’ve given Williamson pause. Henderson is an electric prospect, sure, but Williamson has actually starred on the NBA hardwood. His per-game averages from his last two healthy(ish) seasons have included 26.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists and a sky-high 61.0 field-goal percentage. He’s the only player in NBA history to have averaged 25 points on 60 percent shooting, five rebounds and four assists in a season.
His stats have substance, too. When he suffered what would be a season-ending hamstring injury on Jan. 2, he had powered the Pelicans to a 23-14 record that ranked third in the West and seventh leaguewide. For his career, New Orleans has fared 6.3 points better per 100 possessions with him than without.
This is what stardom looks like, and Williamson has lived it—when his body has allowed him to. His injury issues are obviously concerning, but given his massive talent, he still seems worth the effort.
Maybe New Orleans just isn’t the place for him.
He has seen his “overall approach” questioned and heard analysts describe his relationship with the franchise and his teammates as effectively nonexistent. He’s also seen the Pelicans put less than perfect fits alongside him.
The perfect center for Williamson offers more defensive versatility and a better outside shot than Jonas Valančiūnas. The perfect point guard to pair with Williamson is a stingier stopper than CJ McCollum. The perfect co-star for Williamson puts a higher priority on perimeter shooting than Brandon Ingram.
The Pelicans have clearly been thinking about life after Williamson. He has reasons to start thinking about his next chapter, too.
Statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.
