In the first half of 2023 alone, we saw the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Ramsey, DJ Moore, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis and Kevin Durant all switch teams via trade.
Indeed, no shortage of thrilling blockbuster trades in the sporting world. And if sports fans get their way, several clubs will do the right thing and trade away their star player for maximum value while the opportunity is there.
With that said, let’s dive into 10 sports stars who need to be traded ASAP.
Mike Trout
Could you imagine if Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux never won a championship in their legendary sports careers?
Neither could we. Los Angeles Angels’ superstar Mike Trout has put himself in that upper echelon of all-time great legendary athletes. Literally the only thing missing now is a World Series championship.
The Angels have had more than a decade to build a contender around Trout. Not only have they failed continuously, but the organization has made the postseason ONCE with Trout. And that culminated in a sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals in 2014.
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In other words, the Angels literally haven’t won a playoff game since Trout’s official 2012 rookie year. Think about that for an instant.
Trout may have signed a record-setting 12-year extension worth $426.5 million with the Angels in 2019, but by no means does it mean he should finish his career here. It’s long overdue for Trout to seek a trade and play for a contender.
It’s not just that the entire baseball world wants to see Trout win a championship. It’s also the fact that this is the best possible move for the Angels. They can’t build a winner around him, but imagine the massive haul they’d receive for his services?
One man can’t single-handedly win a title for a team. But the Angels could get three to six ultra-useful pieces in a Trout trade to accelerate their rebuild. And maybe, just maybe, the organization finds a way to return to relevance from there.
But forcing Trout to waste all of his prime years in LA here is a mistake that’s gone on for far too long. For the love of baseball and Mr. Trout, please trade him soon.
Zion Williamson
The New Orleans Pelicans were the lucky winners of the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery — allowing them to take generational prospect and Duke standout Zion Williamson with the No. 1 overall selection.
On the court, Williamson has looked every bit like the superstar we all projected. The problem? Williamson is barely on the court. He missed the entire 2021-22 season with a foot injury and was limited to 114 total games in his rookie, sophomore and fourth NBA campaigns.
Even with Williamson barely on the court, the Pelicans remain competitive enough, and they’ve built a solid foundation around CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III.
Williamson has been the subject of many trade rumors in recent years. Those talks especially picked up ahead of the draft — including whispers that the Pelicans would move him for a top 2023 draft pick in order to secure Scoot Henderson.
And you know what? The Pelicans should just trade Williamson now. The two parties don’t seem to have the happiest of relationships, and the Pelicans shouldn’t just continue to cross their fingers and hope he’ll magically get healthy. They should let his injury-proneness become someone else’s concern.
The Pelicans are competitive as is. Imagine if they traded Williamson for a massive haul that would surely include another All-Star caliber player? Then you’d be talking about a team ready to contend in the wild, wild Western Conference.
It just makes too much sense for the Pelicans to perform a real “basketball trade” and deal Williamson for other assets that can help them take that next step.
Sidney Crosby
Hard as it is to believe, that massive 12-year extension Crosby signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2012 only has two seasons remaining on it.
The Penguins only have one good reason to keep Crosby: PR purposes. Obviously, trading him would crush the fanbase and lead to a brief decline in ticket sales, TV ratings and merchandise sales.
But pure logic suggests that the Penguins need to forget about the “loyalty” thing and trade Crosby.
Think about it. They aren’t a contender anymore. He’s in his mid-30s and only has so many productive years left. And as loyal as he may wish to be, isn’t it better to chase additional Stanley Cup championships elsewhere?
The Pens have zero rising young stars or elite prospects in their system. Trading Crosby changes that in a heartbeat. It sets them up to tank for a few years, too. And maybe then they’ll find their next Crosby.
Or, y’know, there’s another option: The Pens can keep Crosby, stay in the “mushy middle” and put off the inevitable rebuild and add more years of suckage down the line.
To us, the choice seems easy. Do the Penguins’ owners and Crosby himself have the guts to go with the logical choice, though? Or will sentiments once again dictate everything?
Mike Evans
Evans has been everything the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could have wanted – and more – since they drafted him seventh overall back in 2014.
All Evans has done is record seven straight 1,000-yard seasons to begin his career, an NFL record. Oh, and he helped the Bucs to a Super Bowl 55 championship in the 2020 season — the first of the short-and-sweet Tom Brady era.
But with Brady retiring for good in 2023, the time has come for the Bucs to commence a tear-it-all-down rebuild. And that starts with dealing the future Hall of Famer — given that Evans is entering his age-30 season as well as his contract year.
Evans has several good years left, but would he really sign on for a rebuild in Tampa? Unlikely. And the Bucs should prioritize draft picks over ageing veterans who only help them in the short-term.
How fun would it be to see Evans pursue ring No. 2 with an elite QB like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers, for instance? We already saw the Bucs waste the first six seasons of Evans’ career via mediocre quarterback play.
Can we please pair up Evans with an elite QB for the final stretch of his career? As Bill Lumbergh from Office Space would say…. “That would be grrrrreaaaaaat.”
Pascal Siakam
The Toronto Raptors won it all back in 2019 behind the Pascal Siakam-Kyle Lowry-Fred VanVleet-Kawhi Leonard-led core. All but Siakam are gone from that championship squad now.
In other words, a rebuild has been overdue in Toronto for a while. Yet they’re trying to retool on the fly, which means being good enough to contend for a playoff spot but not good enough to contend for a championship hence not bad enough to win the draft lottery.
It’s not the spot to be in, and Masai Ujiri needs to accept this soon enough.
In a painful development, the Raptors lost VanVleet for nothing in 2023 free agency. Total mismanagement on their end. Moot point now, but also too bad they couldn’t get a sign-and-trade deal for Leonard back in 2019, either.
Can’t afford to watch Siakam potentially leave for nothing, either. His contract is up in 2024, and you gotta think Siakam will want to chase a championship on one of the many NBA superteams rather than sign on for a rebuild in “The Six.”
Los Angeles Lakers. Miami Heat. New York Knicks. Los Angeles Clippers. Denver Nuggets. Lots of teams here that could use Siakam’s services.
So if you’re the Raptors, how about trading him for a plethora of valuable future assets that you can use to build around Scottie Barnes and Gary Trent Jr. long-term? Not to mention the Raptors would be in good position to tank for a couple of years and potentially land a future franchise cornerstone or two.
Just sayin’.
Juuse Saros
Nashville Predators’ GM Barry Trotz wasted no time leaving his mark on the organization after replacing David Poile. Trotz moved on from Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen immediately after taking over the GM chair.
The rebuild is slowly but surely coming together in Music City. Up next, Trotz should be keen to trade away arguably the game’s best goalie in Juuse Saros — who single-handedly kept Nashville in playoff contention throughout 2022-23.
There are only a handful of truly-elite goaltenders in the NHL right now. Saros is one of them, and the Preds would score a massive return for him if they were to place the superstar netminder on the trade block.
Keeping Saros means Nashville stays in the mushy middle. No team should be happy there. You should either be full-scale rebuilding or in all-in mode. The Preds have some nice pieces in place but need to keep an eye on the long-term future.
That means trading Saros for several young assets that will accelerate the rebuild and make them relevant again.
DeForest Buckner
The Indianapolis Colts have gotten excellent value out of the star defensive tackle since landing him from the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a 2020 first-round pick.
Through three years as a Colt, the 6-foot-7 defensive tackle racked up 24.5 sacks, nine pass defenses and four forced fumbles. But with the Colts officially in rebuilding mode, this feels like the right time to trade Buckner.
The Colts used the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft on Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson. He’s going to take some time to develop under rookie head coach Shane Steichen, and the Colts simply can’t expect to realistically contend in the short-term.
So why keep Buckner around when you can get valuable draft picks for a game-wrecker of his caliber? GM Chris Ballard is one of the NFL’s best at the draft table, and he could find one or two big-time playmakers with any draft picks he lands in a Buckner trade.
And just about any contender would love Buckner. So if you’re the Colts, may as well commence a bidding war and get those extra resources you need to speed up the rebuild.
Ben Simmons
Suffice to say, the James Harden-for Ben Simmons blockbuster was a lopsided victory for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Harden was the first domino to fall for the failed superteam that was the Brooklyn Nets. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant both followed Harden out the door a year later.
With Harden and Irving gone, the Nets’ championship window officially closed. Now they’re left with Simmons and handful of B to C+-level players who keep the club competitive…but not exactly close to title contention.
The No. 1 pick of the 2016 draft did not at all look like a fit for Brooklyn in the 42 games he saw last season. That means the Nets oughta trade Simmons while he has some trade value, plus it would set up the organization’s need to commit to a full-scale rebuild.
Lots of teams would have interest in the All-Star point guard and defensive stalwart. The Nets would be looking at a return of multiple first-round picks and a useful roster player or two.
That’s better than keeping an unreliable Simmons around while the Nets try to move on from the short-and-not-at-all-sweet Irving/Harden/Durant era, no?
Pete Alonso
Steve Cohen’s decision to run a ridiculous payroll for the New York Mets in 2023 has backfired just about everywhere possible. It’s official: Mets fans can’t have nice things after all.
Do the Mets have to tear it all down and start from scratch? Not exactly easy with veterans like Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Edwin Diaz, Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte signed to lucrative contracts.
What the Mets can do though is retool and still try to build around this star-studded core. And that could mean dealing away franchise star Pete Alonso, who’s currently eligible to enter free agency in 2025.
Alonso would land the Mets a giant haul that could help turn this thing around quickly: Several elite prospects and certainly another near-all-star-level player, and possibly more.
And the Mets could always flip some of those prospects in an Alonso trade to a separate team for another star player?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Alonso is by no means the problem for the Mets, but any form of a roster shake-up might help this team go from annual disappointment to annual playoff contender.
And that, folks, is why they should trade Alonso in return for several key pieces that can help make things righteous again in New York.
Derrick Henry
The two-time rushing champion has one year left on his contract with the Tennessee Titans. He’ll also be 30 in early 2024 — a popular age for running backs to slow down.
Henry still has some good football left in him, but the Titans would be wise to not invest in an ageing asset long-term. They’d also be wise to trade Henry rather than watch the likely future Hall of Famer leave for nothing in 2024 free agency.
Just look at all the contenders who could use Henry: The Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys et al. Henry would be a fit just about anywhere, and the Titans could get some decent value for the 2020 Offensive Player of the Year.
Don’t sign Henry long-term. And don’t lose him for nothing next year. The Titans’ only logical choice is to trade King Henry while his value is high. Not to mention that the entire NFL world would surely love to see him on a legitimate contender again…
Which other sports stars need to be traded ASAP?
