In the midst of the Zach discussion yesterday somebody asked for a rundown of the possibilities for trades. I've gone through the entire NBA looking for options. Obviously it's impossible to list them all since the permutations for multi-team, multi-player deals are virtually endless. I mostly limited myself to trades involving one or two players per team and only two teams. You can mix and match some of these if you want to start creating your own multi-team deals. I tried to make only broad allowances for realism. Obviously a Zach for LeBron deal is out (even if the salaries matched) so you won't see anything like that. Neither will you see complete junk coming our way. But I tried to run the gamut of ups and downs. I was pretty scrupulous in making sure salaries match and the trades are all realistic in that way. These guys for the most part don't have trade kickers or BYC designations to make things complicated either. Almost every exchange on here you can run through the trade checker as-is and it will go through successfully. As I said, that doesn't mean that either team would necessarily pull the trigger so don't come back at me with, "I can't believe you listed that!" You want to know the range of what's available in June, 2007 for Zach? This is it.
Quick note: This isn't exactly the ideal time to do this as a lot of guys have options to exercise before they can be traded. Also everyone's salary will change in July. Suffice it to say things could look different at the end of the summer. Most of these should still be in the ballpark though.
Where appropriate I made a few comments on the trade.
Atlanta
Zach for Joe Johnson-- This trade works and fills needs for both teams but given what Atlanta gave up for JJ it's hard for me to see them moving him for anything less than a sure thing.
Boston
Zach and Martell for Paul Pierce-- The C's might be ready to move Pierce. I almost think they could get more for him and I almost think we'd need him to be younger but he'd sure make a splash. I don't really find this realistic but Ainge is such a wild card...who knows?
Zach for Theo Ratliff and Brian Scalabrine OR
Zach for Wally Szczerbiak and Brian Scalabrine-- Both of these work if you want them. They'd be a total dump either way. Ratliff would provide more cap relief, Wally more usable skill. Yuck.
Charlotte
They don't have any big contracts to make a realistic move.
Chicago
Zach for a re-signed Andres Nocioni and Chris Duhon-- This is one of the few trades you can't run through a checker because Nocioni isn't signed. There's a fair amount of offensive talent there but my sense is this would be more likely as part of a three way than straight up. I do mention it because it's in people's consciousness.
Cleveland
Zach for Larry Hughes-- I don't think Hughes shoots well enough for our needs in the backcourt and I don't think Cleveland needs Zach and Drew Gooden but the salaries work.
Dallas
Zach and Martell for Dirk Nowitzki-- Ha ha ha ha ha! Good luck.
Denver
Zach for Nene Hilario and Reggie Evans-- Not sure Denver would do it. You could also trade Zach for Kenyon Martin and change if you were stupid enough to do that.
Detroit
Zach for Sheed works straight up.
Golden State
Zach and Joel for Jason Richardson and Adonal Foyle-- This might actually be one of the more intriguing trades if Monta Ellis steps up for Golden State and if we could move Brandon to the point.
Houston
Only T-Mac and Yao are in the salary ballpark. As we said with Dirk... Ha ha ha ha ha! Good luck.
Indiana
Zach and Joel for Jermaine O'Neal-- I don't see Indiana doing this one.
Zach and Joel for Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy-- They might do this though.
Los Angeles Clippers
The presence of Elton Brand snuffs every possible trade with them. They wouldn't trade Brand for Zach and they wouldn't want Zach with Brand still on the team.
Los Angeles Lakers
Zach for Lamar Odom and Maurice Evans-- Odom is necessary for the salaries to work and they're not giving up Odom and Bynum for Zach so this is it.
Memphis
Zach for Pau Gasol works but I don't think either team would do it.
Miami
Zach for Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem-- Meh.
Milwaukee
Zach and Martell for Michael Redd-- Would be nice for us but fat chance.
Zach for Bobby Simmons and Dan Gadzuric-- They might consider this if they figure Bogut will never be a dominant offensive force in the post.
Minnesota
Zach, Lamarcus, Martell, and Jarrett Jack for Kevin Garnett-- Throw in next year's first rounder and...they still wouldn't do it.
New Jersey
For some change you can have Jason Kidd for Zach. He's too old.
If you can re-sign Vince Carter for a matching salary you can have him for Zach. He's old and also fading.
Zach for Richard Jefferson works straight up, as-is. Discuss away.
New Orleans
Zach for Tyson Chandler and Rasual Butler-- They love Chandler, so no. But if we drafted Durant instead of Oden we might take a longing look at this kind of trade.
New York
You could trade some combination of Zach plus Joel or Martell or a re-signed Travis for either Stephon Marbury or Steve Francis. But if you want to I'm going to ban you from this site on general principle.
Orlando
They have no salaries to make it match. Can you believe some teams pay nobody in double digits?
Philadelphia
Zach for Samuel Delambert and Kyle Korver-- I don't know why this doesn't intrigue me one bit, but it doesn't.
Phoenix
Zach and Martell for Shawn Marion-- If Phoenix were willing we'd at least have to look.
Sacramento
Zach for Ron Artest and Shareef Abdur-Rahim-- We'd sure solve our small forward problem. It's just a guess, but I'd say Artest might not fit KP's culture.
San Antonio
We complete the Texas trifecta by saying: Ha ha ha ha ha! Good luck! We just can't touch anybody in the Lone Star state.
Seattle
Zach for a re-signed Rashard Lewis is the hot item of the month.
Zach for Chris Wilcox and Earl Watson works also.
Toronto
Another tight-wallet team who doesn't pay anybody anything. Must be nice.
Utah
Zach for Andre Kirilenko works straight up. I don't see how Zach and Boozer fit together so it'd probably have to involve somebody else. Also Kirilenko's contract is worse than Zach's and his production is a lot lower.
Washington
Zach and Joel for Antawn Jamison-- If you were so inclined I think the Wizards might go for this. I'm not so inclined.
Zach for Caron Butler and Etan Thomas-- With the season Butler had...I don't know.
That's a pretty good sampling. As has always been the case, trades that involve the right salaries and the right amount of talent are pretty rare. This is one reason to watch what you pay people, because if you cross a certain line they're yours for life. I don't think Zach is that way necessarily but it's a good lesson anyway. I'm looking at you, Isiah.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)