As the NBA trade deadline approaches, here are 3 deals worth making

As the NBA trade deadline approaches on February 6, teams and players are preparing for the possibility of changes.

Trade goals can often be divided into three categories.

Some players are generally considered available in trade discussions, such as Nikola Vučević, who is playing some of the best basketball of his career with the Chicago Bulls.

Then there are players who are undoubtedly available, such as Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat.

(In general, when a player’s own team issues a statement that basically says, “Yeah, we’re buying this guy,” the follow-up assumption should certainly be that it’s trying everything in its power to move him.)

Finally, there are players not mentioned in trade talk who could be traded out of nowhere, which seems to happen on a regular basis.

Let’s take a look at a trade from each category:

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Heats Jimmy Butler and Alec Burks to San Antonio Spurs for Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins and Tre Jones

Okay, so let’s get into this before Heat fans rush to the bathroom to revisit their lunch.

Miami is in trouble. Full stop. The organization needs to make the playoffs this season to avoid throwing away an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

If the Heat make the postseason this year, they will only be giving up this season’s pick, meaning a pick that falls outside the lottery.

The Heat could choose to keep Butler to optimize their playoff chances, but should they fail — and should Butler leave in the summer as an unrestricted free agent (he has a player option in place that he can decline) — Miami could end up had to give up a high election in 2026, which they certainly do not want to do.

Johnson, Collins and Jones are modest returns, yes, but they keep Miami competitive this season, to the point where they could help the franchise make the postseason.

Jones’ contract is expiring, meaning the Heat can re-sign him or take a pay cut, whichever they prefer.

Johnson’s contract is declining in value. That drops from $19 million to $17.5 million over the last two years, meaning he’s not just a decent trade chip, but he’s also producing at a level above his compensation.

As for Collins, he’s had a rough season, but history shows he’s better than his current level. Miami could add him for depth purposes up front and enter the 2025-26 season with him as an expiring contract. There’s a decent chance his value is restored so the Heat can get a solid return for him later.

Look, this isn’t a super exciting return. We all understand why Heat fans would feel frustrated with such a trade. But here’s the thing: Given Butler’s contractual complexities, his apparent desire not to play in Miami anymore, and the aforementioned draft pick situation, the Heat have very, very little leverage here in a trade conversation.

The Spurs might be persuaded to add some sort of draft compensation — a second-round pick or two — but the idea of ​​giving up a first-round pick for a disgruntled 35-year-old who could opt out after this season , seems too aggressive.

For the Spurs, the logic is pretty simple: They’re playing on the upside this season, and if Butler isn’t a good fit, they’ll let him leave in the summer or flip him as an expiring deal (if he unexpectedly picks up his option).

San Antonio doesn’t badly need either Collins or Jones, and it has enough picks and money to replace Johnson. The Spurs will be fine either way.

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Bulls’ Nikola Vučević to New York Knicks for Precious Achiuwa and Mitchell Robinson

The Knicks have one of the best and most potent starting lineups in the NBA. They have an All-Star center and point guard combo in Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson that most teams envy and role players that fit well.

Yet they lack depth. Particularly great man depth that can produce offensively.

Achiuwa is a perfectly solid defensive power forward, but his modest offensive output suggests that Towns will be overburdened in the playoffs.

As for Robinson, he’s a real asset as a high-impact defender, rebounder and rim-runner. Unfortunately, he’s also prone to missing large chunks of pretty much every season, meaning he’s also a risk to miss the playoffs.

The Knicks could roll the dice and just hope that Achiuwa becomes a better scorer and that Robinson returns and stays healthy.

Or they could be proactive and engage the Bulls in a conversation about trading big men.

Vučević is playing highly effective offense this season, scoring 20.2 points per game. game and converted on 55.7% of his shots, including 42.9% of his 3-pointers.

He also grabs 10.1 rebounds per game. game, which would go a long way in replacing the rebounding that would be lost after Robinson’s departure.

Sure, some might point to the idea that Vučević wouldn’t start and he’d be a bench player making $20 million. But that is an oversimplification.

Vučević is fully capable of playing big minutes, and Towns, who spent two years next to Rudy Gobert in Minnesota, could spend time in the frontcourt at the four alongside Vučević.

The idea would not be to pair them, but simply let them overlap for about a quarter of an hour each. game. Every minute Towns does not play on the five should go to Vučević, and at the end of a game, the 34-year-old center should sit on close to 30 minutes per game.

Vučević adds a legitimate floor-spacing component from the bench unit that the Knicks currently lack. He will help New York’s starters facilitate their scoring and keep their legs fresh for what the organization hopes will be a deep playoff run.

For Chicago, it’s all about the Benjamins.

Vučević’s deal runs for another year after this season, but Achiuwa will be off the books after this campaign. Robinson’s deal, which is the same length as Vučević’s, decreases in value, meaning the Bulls save even more money and can enter the summer of 2025 with more financial flexibility.

The Bulls can ask for draft compensation in this frame. But they failed to squeeze a single additional asset out of Oklahoma City when they sent Alex Caruso there for Josh Giddey, so who knows if they’re good enough tradesmen to extract additional value?

Regardless, the Knicks get better and the Bulls save money. This is very much in line with how every single organization is run these days.

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Bulls’ Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu to Spurs for Zach Collins, Malaki Branham, Chicago’s 2025 pick and an unprotected 2027 first-round pick via Atlanta Hawks

That’s right. Despite warnings to the contrary, we are crossing streams and recycling players in other potential deals.

This one may seem out of left field, but it makes sense.

White and the Bulls are in a bit of a bind: Because of the 140% extension cap, the Bulls can’t realistically extend White’s contract until he hits unrestricted free agency in 2026, as he’ll only make $12.8 million next season.

With the Bulls firmly in the middle, odds are decent that White will be open to a new landscape by then. If a winning team offers him the same money as the Bulls, why would he stay?

(The same general principle applies to Dosunmu, whose contract also expires in 2026.)

Here, the Bulls get in front of the problem by shipping out two players who remain extremely underpaid — $19 million total this season and just over $20 million combined next year.

Basically, the Bulls are saying to the Spurs, “You get two players that fit Victor Wembanyama’s timeline, and they’re drastically underpaid for two potential playoff years until they get paid.”

That’s a strong sales pitch, especially since White and Dosunmu space the floor, handle the ball, make plays and defend the guards at a decent level. These are exactly the type of guards needed for Wembanyama.

The Spurs know Chris Paul won’t be around forever, so adding two guards of that caliber should be interesting.

Of course, San Antonio has to pay for it. Not through outside players, as Collins and Branham don’t have large roles, but in the form of draft compensation.

Chicago regains full control of its 2025 pick this season, which is otherwise top-10 protected, and it gets Atlanta’s unprotected 2027 pick, which is currently in San Antonio’s possession.

Chicago could even ask for a future pick swap, albeit protected, and the deal would still have legs.

This would be a deal that comes out of nowhere, but where both teams make progress in the directions they need to go.

(Of course, the Bulls may want to stay competitive, in which case this would go nowhere, but that would be the wrong direction to choose.)

The Spurs also benefit from this trade: With White and Dosunmu making just over $20 million combined next season, they won’t even destroy San Antonio’s financial flexibility over the summer.