Feb 5, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) looks on during the third quarter against the Orlando Magic at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Feb 5, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) looks on during the third quarter against the Orlando Magic at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
The huge moves of the NBA offseason are pretty much done by now. We are already in September, most teams have finished the heavy lifting, and after a pretty crazy summer, there really isn’t that much left to completely revamp a roster.
That doesn’t mean the offseason is dead, though. There are still a few dominoes waiting to fall, and after the Bennedict Mathurin signing helped trigger another Pelicans trade yesterday, while Jalen Duren’s contract situation is still unresolved, I definitely wouldn’t say everything is settled around the league just yet.
There are also some players who maybe don’t make as much sense on their teams anymore after recent moves, others who have been sitting in trade rumors for weeks, and a few cases where moving somebody could simply give a front office more flexibility before the season starts.
So yeah, there is still some stuff to watch. Without dragging it out too much, here are five players I think could realistically get moved before Opening Night next month.
1. Domantas Sabonis
A week ago, I probably would’ve saved Domantas Sabonis for a “players to watch before the deadline” article. Now I’m not so sure, because Jake Fischer dropped a pretty big update this week, saying Sabonis wants out of Sacramento, pointed to his summer agent change as part of the story, and specifically mentioned that he wants another extension.
Fischer also named the Hornets as a team to watch while noting that the Raptors had more advanced talks with the Kings around last season’s deadline. That’s way more specific than the usual September “teams are monitoring” stuff, as the Hornets look to be firmly in the race after a crazy offseason of their own.
Sacramento’s side should be thrilled to move their former All-Star center, as they went 22-60, and Sabonis is already 30, so paying him $45.5 million this season and $48.6 million in 2027-28 while discussing another extension is definitely not the move for a rebuilding franchise.
His 2025-26 numbers also need context because he only got through 19 games before a torn left meniscus ended his season, but he still put up 15.8 points and 11.4 rebounds while remaining one of the league’s best passing big men.
Charlotte is what makes me think something could actually happen before the season. The Hornets aren’t some completely random team being thrown into a trade machine, since adding Sabonis would give them a very different offensive creator after losing their franchise playmaker in LaMelo Ball. With Naz Reid, Kon Knueppel, and Brandon Miller, there’s not a huge passing presence to connect the scorers, and Sabonis would be huge in that role again.
Sacramento obviously isn’t going to give away a three-time All-Star just because he would like another team, but once the player wants out, wants another contract, and the franchise is coming off 22 wins and a pretty hectic summer, forcing him to stay until February feels a bit pointless if there’s an offer right now.
Out of these five, he’s easily the one I would be least surprised to wake up to an actual Shams trade bomb before camp is over.
2. Deuce McBride
The Miles McBride stuff is much weirder because nobody is saying the Knicks don’t want him. Actually, his problem might be that he’s become one of the easiest players on the entire roster to sell to another team.
Stefan Bondy reported on September 3 that McBride still hadn’t signed an extension, and that is a result of the Knicks preferring to keep him tradable for now instead of locking him into a new deal that would result in his unavailability. McBride is one of the few cheap contracts on the roster that other teams would want, so New York has a reason to keep that option open.
Basically, the Knicks don’t look desperate to trade him, but they also don’t seem in a rush to extend him. With McBride entering the final year of his deal, that leaves the door pretty open if the right trade shows up before the season.
And yeah, of course teams would call about him. McBride just scored 12.0 points per game for the champions while hitting 41.3% from three on 6.6 attempts per game, with a 56.2% eFG and only 33 turnovers in 1,080 minutes. He’s 26, can guard both backcourt spots, doesn’t shoot himself out of games, and will make roughly $4.0 million in the final season of his deal. You almost never get that combination of shooting, defense, age, and tiny salary from somebody who’s already this much playoff-proven.
McBride becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer, and any big raise complicates his immediate trade eligibility depending on how an extension is structured. That’s why the lack of a deal this late in the offseason is worth watching after Karl-Anthony Towns also missed out on a max extension. New York also continues poking around the market for another frontcourt piece, with Ian Begley reporting recently that Drew Eubanks and John Konchar were among veterans on its radar, so there is clearly still some roster tweaking going on.
I wouldn’t dump Deuce for picks. That would be stupid for a team trying to repeat. But if the Knicks find a big man or bigger wing they actually want, and the other front office says, “fine, but McBride has to be in it,” that’s where things get uncomfortable.
3. Dalton Knecht
Once the No. 17 pick for the Lakers two years ago, Dalton Knecht’s rookie year made it pretty easy to imagine him becoming a long-term piece for them. He scored 9.1 points in only 19.2 minutes and knocked down 37.6% from three on 4.4 attempts, which is basically exactly what Los Angeles needed next to its stars at the time. The defense wasn’t great, but nobody was panicking because he could shoot and had already shown he could randomly explode for 20-plus.
But in Year 2, Knecht fell to 10.2 minutes, 4.2 points, and only one start across 54 games, while his three-point percentage dropped to 34.2%. He still shot 45.5% from the field, so he wasn’t chucking bricks every night, he just stopped giving JJ Redick enough extra stuff to survive when the shot wasn’t there. He produced only 0.4 assists and 0.2 steals per game, and a shooter with limited defense and almost no secondary creation is going to have a very tiny margin for error.
And after the Lakers missed on Jonathan Kuminga, they are still exploring upgrades to their wing and forward rotation, and both Knecht and Jarred Vanderbilt could feature in a deal. We’ve been hearing the rumors since February last season, so definitely nobody will be surprised if he gets traded.
Knecht also makes only around $4.2 million, which means he probably isn’t the main salary in a meaningful trade anyway. He is the sweetener. Another team can look at the rookie tape, remember the 37.6% from three, and convince itself that more consistent minutes could bring that version back, while the Lakers can attach him to a bigger salary and reach the 15-man threshold for Opening Night.
Two years ago he was a first-round prospect, but right now he feels dangerously close to becoming the Lakers’ “young guy we can put in the deal” to add one last piece to their puzzle.
4. Daniel Gafford
We’ve been hearing Daniel Gafford’s name in trade stuff for months, and he’s still just sitting there on the Mavericks roster. Previous reporting has put the Mavericks’ desired return around first-round value, and that explains pretty perfectly why nothing has happened yet. Dallas is willing to trade him, but apparently not willing to turn a good center into two seconds just because the depth chart got crowded.
And Gafford is still good enough that I understand the stance. He gave Dallas 9.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in only 21.7 minutes last season, shot 65.5% from the field, and finished with an 18.8 PER. Give him 30 minutes and his per-36 production jumps to 15.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, and more than 2.0 blocks. He’s not creating offense on his own, obviously, but as a screen, roll, dunk, rebound, protect-the-rim big man, there isn’t much mystery about what you’re buying.
Dallas just has a numbers issue up front. Dereck Lively II remains the younger center the Mavericks would obviously rather build around, Morez Johnson Jr. arrived through the Draft, and Gafford is starting a three-year, $54.4 million extension. If Lively is healthy, paying Gafford starter-ish money to play 20 minutes becomes a luxury for a team coming off 26 wins.
The Lively health part is probably why Gafford is still there. Trading away your safest center in September and then watching Lively’s foot act up again would be an absolute nightmare. If Lively looks good once camp opens, though, I would immediately start watching Gafford’s market again.
5. Jarred Vanderbilt
Jarred Vanderbilt is different from Knecht because I don’t think his name is floating around because he’s suddenly become a player that a contender would want. He’s here because his contract gives the Lakers something they badly need if they want to make another move.
Vanderbilt will make roughly $12.4 million this season and has a $13.3 million player option for 2027-28, so pair that salary with Knecht’s rookie deal, and Los Angeles can get into a much more interesting matching range. Previous reports earlier this month said that Los Angeles had shopped Vanderbilt and Knecht without finding the right deal, and they still need to trim their roster.
There is still a basketball reason another team could like Vanderbilt, as injury-prone as he’s been. He grabbed 4.5 rebounds in only 17.9 minutes last season, including 1.9 on the offensive glass, and he can still guard wings and create hustle plays that don’t show up in scoring numbers. The issue hasn’t changed at all, though, because 4.4 points and 29.3% from three make lineups way harder to build offensively, especially when you’re already trying to maximize Luka’s space.
What’s funny is that his Lakers future could still go either direction: Walker Kessler’s rim protection might actually make Vanderbilt easier to use defensively because he can be more aggressive away from the basket, so there is a path where Redick finds 10 or 12 minutes for him. The other idea is Grimes, Mamu, and the rest of the new rotation taking those minutes immediately, and then Vanderbilt becomes a $12.4 million contract sitting around waiting for the next trade call.