A whole host of clubs could be chasing Ben Simmons’ services during the upcoming NBA trade period. Photo: Getty Images

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! A time of wonder, a time of giving, a time for a swapping of gifts – a ‘trade’, if you will.

That’s right, folks. December 15 (US time) marks the unofficial start of NBA trade season. It’s the date that all the free agency signings form the off-season become trade eligible, making a little over 80 per cent of NBA rosters potentially movable.

Whilst most deals won’t eventuate until much closer to the February 10 trade deadline, there will be deals done in the meantime.

With big-name players Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, Domantas Sabonis and Damian Lillard very much a part of the rumour mill – all for vastly different reasons – this trade period could be one of the most explosive in memory.

Let’s take a look at some of the potential trades, both seismic and subtle, that could go down between now and the trade deadline.

Let’s kick things off with a three-team blockbuster …

Sixers receive: Jaylen Brown and Torrey Craig
Pacers receive: Ben Simmons and Isaiah Joe
Celtics receive: Domantas Sabonis and Justin Holiday

Let’s get the small print out of the way: Craig, Joe and Holiday are all handy players that can help their new teams, but they’re not the story here. Let’s focus on the stars involved in this swap.

Boston’s tentpole stars seem to live in an uneasy truce. They’re both big wings who want to dominate the ball which, to this point, hasn’t really worked.

Jayson Tatum is certainly the better thought of, and probably better overall, player. That makes Brown the more expendable of the two.

Sabonis gives the Celtics an unselfish offensive hub who can ping passes all over the floor from the elbow, sparking some much-needed ball movement into Boston’s sluggish offense. He’ll also get to learn at the feet of veteran Al Horford, a player whose style (at least offensively) is almost a perfect match to Sabonis’.

Speaking of uneasy truces, Pacers centre Myles Turner has bristled at his reduced role in the offence to cater for Sabonis’ unique gifts. Until recently he’s kept his concerns in-house, but now that he’s gone on the record, surely the Pacers will have to make a call on their unconventional frontcourt pairing.

Whilst Simmons isn’t the scorer that Sabonis is, he’s by far the better playmaker and gives Indiana an open floor orchestrator that it hasn’t had in years. He’s known as a point guard but it’s worth remembering that Simmons only started to play the one on a full-time basis once he joined the pros.

This move would see him return to his natural power forward position which, when combined with Turner’s shooting prowess, should alleviate Simmons’ own lack of shooting by allowing the Australian to operate closer to the basket.

For all that Tobias Harris can give the Sixers on his best nights, he’s not quite the offensive player that Brown is and he’s miles away from Brown’s impact on the defensive end. He could go some way to replacing the impact that Simmons had defensively, whilst giving the Sixers a much-needed boost in halfcourt offence.

Blazers receive: Kristaps Porzingis
Mavericks receive: CJ McCollum

Credit to ESPN’s Zach Lowe for this gem of a challenge trade. It’s worth noting that this trade would require Portland to move on from Jusuf Nurkic to allow ‘KP’ to play the five, but it’s a most interesting challenge trade, all the same.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd has prioritised making Porzingis a featured player this season. To this point it’s worked well for the Latvian big man, but hasn’t benefited the Mavericks as a whole. You can’t help but wonder if this change is at least in part to rehabilitate Porzingis’ trade value?

‘KP’ would give Portland a genuine stretch big who can protect the rim. He would become the best pick-and-roll partner that Lillard has ever played with.

Moving Norman Powell into his natural shooting guard position would give Portland some modicum of defence in the backcourt for the first time in a decade. The ultimate benefit to the team, however, would probably come through what the Blazers could get back for Nurkic.

McCollum would be the best backcourt running mate that Luka Doncic has enjoyed in his short career. He would give Dallas better play making than Jalen Brunson and better shooting than Tim Hardaway Jr, potentially turning one of them into trade pieces.

With Dallas’ small army of centres – all better suited stylistically to playing alongside Doncic – they shouldn’t miss Porzingis too much.

Jazz receive: Marcus Smart
Celtics receive: Jordan Clarkson

(Some housekeeping: This trade can’t happen until January 25 due to Smart’s recent contract extension)

This is a trade where both teams offload something they have in abundance for something desperately needed.

For Boston, bench scoring has been an issue over the past few seasons. Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith – none of them get hearts racing. Clarkson certainly has his flaws but he guarantees scoring, averaging 15.2 points per game through his career.

Utah’s glaring weakness – the one thing holding them back from genuine title contention – is its porous perimeter defence. Whilst Clarkson’s electric scoring outbursts will be missed, Utah’s record-setting offence would be able to absorb his absence.

Smart might be the single best defensive guard in the league. Royce O’Neal is willing but not quick enough to stay with the genuine speedsters. Smart can do that as well as move up the positional spectrum due to his underrated strength.

Jazz receive: Jerami Grant
Pistons receive: Bogdan Bogdanovic

In a similar vein to the prior trade, this would allow Utah to stiffen its perimeter defence, though this time with the focus on the bigger wings that are dotted throughout the Western Conference.

Grant bet on himself a couple of years back in joining Detroit to be the main man, turning down identical money to stay in Denver. To his credit he’s proven many – this writer included – wrong by playing above his contract.

He’s a decent shooter (34 per cent career from deep) though isn’t near Bogdanovic’s class (40 per cent on far greater volume).

The Jazz’s phalanx of shooters could cover for Grant, whilst he would give the Jazz a genuine shot blocker on the wing (Grant averages over a block per game, whereas ‘Bogey’ has 43 blocks in 601 career games – both men stand 6’8”).

A model professional, Bogdanovic would provide a low-maintenance stretch option that the Pistons don’t have, in turn opening up space for the Pistons’ young building blocks in Cade Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart and Killian Hayes.

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Pelicans receive: Ben Simmons
Sixers receive: Brandon Ingram

On the assumption that Zion Williamson is out indefinitely, this trade makes complete sense for the Pellies.

Ingram has shown that he’s not good enough to hold an offence together as a No.1 option and he doesn’t provide enough defensively to compensate.

Simmons, for all his flaws, is a skeleton key on defence and – when Joel Embiid has been injured, at least – has demonstrated that he can lead a successful up-tempo offence.

Ingram would be an ideal addition to the Sixers. He could play off of Embiid as a shooter or as a pick-and-roll partner, whilst taking over the offence when Embiid sits in a way that Tobias Harris is simply not able to.

With Embiid, Matisse Thybulle and Danny Green around him, Ingram’s defensive deficiencies are not a huge concern.

This is a trade that would depend greatly on how the Pelicans think Simmons would work alongside Williamson. Given their offensive games overlap so much, if this trade happens, what does that say about Zion’s future prospects?

Blazers receive: Ben Simmons
Sixers receive: CJ McCollum, Nassir Little and two first-round draft picks

The trade that has been talked about since Simmons’ rather unsavoury finish to last season’s playoffs, it’s understandable that the Sixers are holding out for more than just McCollum – fine player he undoubtedly is – for their 25-year-old All-Star.

What else would the Blazers have to throw into the deal in order to get the trade done?

Philadelphia would surely look to add to their wing stocks and Little fits the bill. The 21-year-old isn’t a shooter but is an athletic 6’5” wing who can guard up and down the positional spectrum, centres aside.

Even that, though, wouldn’t be enough. Would a pair of future first-rounders do the job? Has Simmons damaged his own standing so much that those picks don’t even come into the equation?

Blazers receive: Jaylen Brown, Dennis Schroeder, Juancho Hernangomez and a first-round draft pick
Celtics receive: Damian Lillard

This would see Brad Stevens swinging for the fences in the same way that predecessor and mentor Danny Ainge did for Kevin Garnett all those years ago.

That ‘all-in’ move produced a championship and came awfully close to a second. Could this move have a similar impact? The 2007 trade (alongside the acquisition of Ray Allen) gave the Cs three complimentary superstars in a way that the Warriors emulated with great success years later.

Paul Pierce as the go-to scorer, Garnett as the defensive lynchpin and emotional leader, and Allen in the Klay Thompson role.

Lillard and Tatum are both heavy-usage primary scoring types. Whilst combining the pair would certainly make Boston a better team, this writer isn’t sure it would elevate the Cs into genuine title contention.

From a Blazer perspective, this would mark the beginning of the teardown: In Brown, Portland would have an ascendant young two-way wing to build around; Juancho remains a stretch big with untapped potential; and Schroeder is a fine stopgap at the point guard position.

If the Schroeder-Juancho combination doesn’t float Paul Cronin’s (or whoever ends up running the Portland front office) boat, then he could perhaps ask for the younger, but less proven, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith.

Pacers receive: Brook Lopez, Donte Divincenzo and two first-round draft picks
Bucks receive: Myles Turner

Similar to the Bucks’ successful trade for Jrue Holiday last season (you can quibble over the price, but winning the championship makes that trade a win), this would be a move made with the playoffs in mind.

With Lopez unsighted since opening night with a back complaint and Divincenzo out since late last season after ankle surgery, the Bucks are really not trading anything except for the pair of picks (given the picks the Bucks traded out for Holiday, these would fall in 2022 and 2028 – for the sake of the argument, let’s assume they’re both lottery protected).

Turner would give Milwaukee a younger, and frankly better, version of Lopez. Whilst Divincenzo is a genuinely good player for a contender, he has been replaced somewhat by Pat Connaughton’s growth and by Grayson Allen, brought in from Memphis in the off-season.

From the Pacers’ perspective, Divincenzo is a quality add, especially given TJ Warren’s continued injury concerns.

Once healthy, Lopez would likely start but given his age (34 when the playoffs start), he would come in as a mentor and placeholder for young big man Goga Bitadze.

In addition, it would also allow the Pacers to separate their talented, but cumbersome, Sabonis-Turner frontcourt.

Lastly, we get into the #FreeThadYoung part of the article.

The dependable veteran should be one of the most ‘Spursy’ players in the NBA, but given the rebuild happening in San Antonio, the off-season addition has been buried on the bench, his 14 minutes per game the only time he’s averaged less than 20 throughout his 15-year career.

You can bet your bottom dollar that literally every contender would love to have Young on their roster come playoff time.

Here are a few potential trades …

Spurs receive: Dario Saric, Jalen Smith and a first-round draft pick
Suns receive: Thaddeus Young

A cinder-block power forward who plays solid defence, can facilitate the offence and hit the occasional three pointer? Yes, please!

Young gives Phoenix the option to play a genuine small ball line-up or the ability to spare its slightly-built defensive ace Mikal Bridges from the pounding he’d receive against the West’s bigger wings.

San Antonio gets an intriguing young talent in Smith and an offensively versatile stretch five in Saric, as well as the pick.

Spurs receive: Eric Bledsoe, a first-round draft pick and a second-round draft pick
Clippers receive: Thaddeus Young

Though he’s still a defensive monster, Bledsoe’s offensive struggles make him an overall liability come playoff time.

Young would give LA another five-out option to pit against Phoenix, Utah or Denver, who is frankly better than Marcus Morris Sr, though the two could conceivably play together, as well.

The first-rounder wouldn’t arrive until 2027 thanks to the Clips’ Paul George trade from a few seasons back and the most enticing second-rounder they have is Detroit’s 2025 pick.

Given San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is nearing the end of his career you could legitimately question if the Spurs would want those picks.

Spurs receive: Kemba Walker, Kevin Knox and a first-round draft pick
Knicks receive: Thaddeus Young

It’s so sad that Kemba’s career has come to this: a mid-season salary dump.

Whilst he would be a fantastic mentor for Dejounte Murray (remember, Walker couldn’t shoot when he entered the league, either) and the Spurs’ other young guards, he’s just not a viable NBA player anymore.

Kevin Knox has regressed every season he’s been a pro and has to be considered a bust, but the Spurs have made NBA players out of lesser talents.

Knox is an athletic wing with good size and a nice outside stroke. His basketball IQ is an insult to the term ‘IQ’ but if there is a staff in the NBA that can turn Knox into a long-term rotation piece, it’s the Spurs.

Given the Knicks currently sit outside the NBA play-in, let alone playoffs, the draft pick would be most welcome in San Antonio.

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