The NBA can be a very exciting sport to watch. Great basketball games feature godlike players doing superhuman feats, often at the end of a nail-biting fourth quarter. Such are the moments that drive fan passion for this sport.
Then again, the NBA can also be downright predictable sometimes. Major stars can get locked up in contracts for four to five years. Also, even if 16 teams make the playoffs, how many times do the Finals come down to the same teams year in and year out? The Lakers and Celtics together account for nearly as many championships as the other 28 franchises.
Still, things can change at any time. Fans and analysts are always looking for blockbuster trades that can alter the landscape of the league during the offseason. The league has already had the draft, and free agency is mostly done. Yet, training camp has yet to start, so there’s not much else to do except dream of teams making swaps that would change the whole upcoming season.
There are two players that most people are watching that could be on the move and would send ripples throughout the Association. Ben Simmons of Philadelphia is one of those names. His fit with Joel Embiid has been questionable from the start, but his playoff performance at the end of last season was dismal. Coach Doc Rivers is one of the few men on the sidelines who has won a championship heading up a team, and he decided to bench Simmons late in the game because of poor free-throw shooting. Simmons is expected to be traded quickly. He seems to prefer any California team, but it might be Minnesota that has the best resources and assets available.
A second name to watch is Damian Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers. While he has yet to demand a trade, his unhappiness with the franchise’s playoff exits did result in the coach being replaced. It might not be long into the season before he asks to be moved, and if he joins other superstars, his new team could be a juggernaut.
Last season changed dramatically when Houston traded James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, which was certainly the blockbuster trade of that campaign. The Nets are heavily favored to win the East this coming year.