The 2023 NBA draft is loaded with talent, especially at the top, with Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller likely to be selected.
And with all the talent in the lottery, you can bet a lot of teams are at least considering what it would take to get into that top 14.
Realistic deals involving most of these picks can be found below, and the description at the start of that sentence excludes any Wembanyama deal.
It’s fun to imagine one potential deal involving the No. 1 pick, but there’s no way the San Antonio Spurs will miss out on the French phenom.
Of course, that doesn’t rule out movement through the rest of the lottery.
The agreement: Houston Rockets send No. 4 and No. 20 to Charlotte Hornets for No. 2
With the Charlotte Hornets already on the waiting list for LaMelo Ball, there’s a chance they might not be keen on point guard Scoot Henderson, who has been the consensus No. 2 pick for much of the pre-draft process.
If they move back a few spots, they could still get a wing with a ton of potential to play alongside Ball.
Of course, they could just do that by taking Brandon Miller second overall, a move like many of the recent ones fake drafts forecasts. But this potential deal gives them the chance to take someone like Amen Thompson at No. 4 while also getting another roll of the dice in the 20s.
For a team that really only has one surefire talent on the roster, more chances to land another one is crucial.
For the Rockets, they already have a number of exciting prospects, including Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr. and the Alpine Şengün. Even Kevin Porter Jr. has shown some upside as a starting 1, but Henderson has superstar potential.
And adding him to the Rockets core would almost certainly raise the ceiling.
The agreement: Portland Trail Blazers send Anfernee Simons, No. 3 and a top-five protected 2028 first-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns
If the Blazers remain in the Damian Lillard business this season, they will likely have to trade No. 3 in a win-now move.
And that’s exactly what this deal is.
Adding Karl-Anthony Towns would give Portland one of the league’s most offensively dynamic guard-big combos. Re-signing Jerami Grant would certainly help as well.
And with Towns in place, the Blazers might flip Jusuf Nurkić to a wing.
For the Timberwolves, this solves the mismatched frontcourt of KAT and Rudy Gobert while regaining some of the assets they gave up in the Gobert deal.
And while this isn’t quite the move the Utah Jazz got for Gobert or the Brooklyn Nets for Kevin Durant, Anfernee Simons just turned 24 and is coming off a season in which he averaged 21.1 points and 3.4 threes while shot 37.7 percent from deep. The No. 3 pick could land Minnesota Henderson or Miller. And a future committee sweetens the deal.
If the Wolves showed up with a lineup of Conley, Anthony Edwards, Miller, Jaden McDaniels and Gobert, they would also be in solid shape in the short term.
The agreement: Detroit Pistons trade Bojan Bogdanović, James Wiseman and No. 5 pick to Phoenix Suns for Deandre Ayton
Like Houston, the Detroit Pistons already have a decent amount of young talent in place. Years in the lottery have given them plenty of playmaking from Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Killian Hayes.
What they could use now is a finisher to convert looks from the creators, and Deandre Ayton is a finisher with 20-10 upside.
He is also only 24 years old (until the end of July) and already has finals experience. He’s not on the exact timeline of 21-year-old Cunningham, but he’s close enough.
The sun, meanwhile, needs bodies. The Durant trade destroyed their depth, and this deal potentially gives them three rotation players. Bogdanović, of course, would play a big role right away. With Ayton gone, so can Wiseman (and he’d get plenty of open dunks playing with Durant and Devin Booker). And picking in the top five would give Phoenix an outside chance to find someone NBA-ready.
The agreement: Utah Jazz send No. 9 and No. 16 to Orlando Magic for No. 6
The Gobert and Donovan Mitchell trades that Danny Ainge swung last summer gave the Utah Jazz a treasure trove of assets. And they are now looking at a 2023 draft where they have three first-round picks (No. 9, No. 16 and No. 28).
Ainge has shown plenty of aggression in the past, and packing two or three picks to move up in the talented 2023 draft makes a lot of sense. There could be a prospect that can help Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler in the top five or six, and Utah has the ammunition to get there.
Orlando, meanwhile, already has a number of potential (or already borderline) stars in Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr.
The Magic may be more in the market for depth, and this deal allows them to get out of the first round with an extra player.
The agreement: The Dallas Mavericks send Dāvis Bertāns and No. 10 to the Atlanta Hawks for John Collins
It feels like selling short on John Collins. It probably is, and Atlanta may be able to talk Dallas into sending Tim Hardaway Jr. instead of Bertān’s.
But just before the 2023 deadline, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported that the Hawks’ asking price for Collins had “dropped significantly.” According to Amick, they didn’t even insist on a first-rounder.
This deal, of course, gives them one. It also opens up frontcourt playing time for all of Onyeka Okongwu, Jalen Johnson and Saddiq Bey.
And while he hasn’t shown it much in recent years, Bertāns can still be a floor-wringing shooter. In a lineup with Young, he would likely get plenty of catch-and-shoot opportunities.
The No. 10 pick would also give Atlanta a chance to get help on a rookie-scale contract (something that will be far more important under the new collective bargaining agreement).
The advantage for the Mavericks, on the other hand, is obvious.
If Kyrie Irving is re-signed, Dallas will have more than enough perimeter firepower. What they need is someone who can rim-run, catch lobs and be part of a potentially switch-heavy defensive scheme.
Feeding the playmaking of Irving and Luka Dončić would give Collins plenty of opportunities to shine.
The agreement: Oklahoma City Thunder send Luguentz Dort, Ousmane Dieng, No. 12, No. 50 and two 2024 first-round picks to Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby and No. 13
Back at the trade deadline, multiple reports suggested that Toronto was after (and could receive) a fairly significant return for Anunoby.
Action Networks Matt Moore wrote that offers from multiple teams included “multiple draft picks.”
Longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein wrote that “The Raptors have expressed confidence to some inquiring teams that they can acquire three future first-round picks for Anunoby,” though he also expressed some skepticism that they could get more than two.
This deal sort of splits the difference. It only gives Toronto one first, but it moves the Raptors up a spot in the lottery. Plus, talent can be found with the 50th pick, and Ousmane Dieng offers some upside as well.
Trading Anunoby for Dort also gives Toronto a wing under contract for two years (and possibly three, depending on what Anunoby does with his player option) longer.
The easier explanation is the one for Thunder.
They were already knocking on the door of the postseason with first-team All-NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Adding Anunoby’s shooting and defense to lineups with SGA, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren would give OKC one of the league’s most versatile and potentially explosive five-man units.