NBA Trade Rumors: Exploring four teams that may have to scramble to reacquire some future draft capital ahead of the trade deadline.
As the NBA Trade Deadline quickly approaches, there are many teams looking to make a huge splash to improve their chances of winning the 2025 NBA Championship. But not every team should be looking to make player-for-player deals. In fact, there are some teams who should be interested in trying to reacquire some of their future draft capital. As the February 6 deadline looms, we explore four teams that would greatly benefit from trading for some of their future draft picks back.
Atlanta Hawks
Over the last few years, the Atlanta Hawks have been the exact definition of mediocrity in the NBA. It's not a great place that any franchise ever wants to be in the NBA. However, if the Hawks want to rebuild, they may have to wait a few years because of the state of their draft capital. The only way Atlanta can change that is by attempting to reacquire control of their draft picks by making a big move at the NBA Trade Deadline.
Why the Hawks should consider a trade with the future in mind: Because of previous trades, the Hawks don't have control of their next three first-round picks. This year's is unprotected and is going to San Antonio, next year's has the right to be swapped with the Spurs, and the following year is also unprotected and heading to San Antonio. In short, it's pretty safe to say that the trade for Dejounte Murray is the move that continues to hurt Atlanta. Perhaps that's a big reason why the Hawks refused to pivot toward a complete rebuild at the moment. It would make sense.
If the Hawks could, they should absolutely attempt to get some of those draft picks back. As long as this remains to be the case, it's going to be difficult for the Hawks to rebuild through the NBA Draft. Atlanta is almost certainly going to lose a lottery selection in a deep 2025 draft class. That would be extremely unfortunate for a team that has done a good job in re-establishing a young core over the last couple of seasons. Even if the Hawks wanted to fully embrace a rebuild, it would be quite difficult for the team to do so without control of their draft capital.