With the 2024-25 NBA season fast approaching, league executives will start to take closer looks at their rosters and rotations to see how they fit, what they lack, what they have in excess and how realistically they can compete for the postseason and beyond.
We're still more than four months from the Feb. 6 trade deadline, but there are already star-level names that will come up throughout the season as trade candidates.
With that in mind, we identified seven players -- a list that could have included Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle before they were traded for each other -- who are most likely to find their names in those conversations and where they would potentially fit if dealt.
Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls
The Bulls guard, 29, is an effortless scorer at times, averaging 24.9 points on solid shooting efficiency over his past five seasons. It's well understood the Bulls, in the midst of a rebuild, would like to deal LaVine to turn the page. Yet there are multiple challenges involved in doing so.