ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) has revealed his All-Trade Buzz team, made up of 10 players whom scouts and executives around the NBA are keeping a close eye on now that trade season has opened. According to Marks, Dennis Schröder would’ve been one of the headliners, but he was dealt just before the list was published. Jimmy Butler, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, D’Angelo Russell, Bobby Portis, and Zach LaVine are among the players who made the cut.
LaVine, who was also viewed as a trade candidate last season, has been healthier and more productive in 2024/25 and is one year closer to the end of his maximum-salary contract. However, the market for the Bulls star is still expected to be very limited due to his substantial cap hit and the restrictions imposed by the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, says Marks.
“If we were operating under the 2017 CBA and there were no apron rules, I could make a case to my owner on LaVine,” one team source told ESPN. “But his salary boxes you into a corner on how we can add to the roster.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Bryce Cotton hasn’t been on an NBA roster since 2016, but the 32-year-old guard has caught the attention of teams in the NBA, EuroLeague, and Asia with his recent play in Australia’s National Basketball League, sources tell Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. As a member of the Perth Wildcats, Cotton is averaging a league-leading 27.8 points per game on .507/.464/.855 shooting. He has scored at least 40 points in each of his past four outings, including an NBL-record 59 on November 30 vs. the New Zealand Breakers. According to Urbonas, Perth has offered Cotton an extension that would make him the highest-paid player in NBL history, but he could test his options in free agency in February or March after the current season ends.
- With the NBA in Las Vegas this week for the semifinals and final of the NBA Cup, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes that the city already feels like part of the league and explains why it seems inevitable that Vegas will get an expansion team. Meanwhile, Joe Vardon of The Athletic takes an in-depth look at the possibility of expansion to Mexico City, examining the potential complications and outlining why it’s still probably “many years off” from becoming a potential reality, in the words of commissioner Adam Silver.
- Former NBA swingman Miye Oni has signed with Badalona for the rest of the 2024/25 season, the Spanish team announced in a press release. Oni appeared in 80 NBA regular season games for Utah from 2019-22 and was in camp this fall with the Grizzlies before being waived at the end of the preseason.