The 2025-26 NBA season has reached the quarter mark and buzz around the league is beginning to heat up.
From 12-time All-Stars leaving their current teams to franchise stars weighing their future options, this season is already delivering the drama … and we haven’t even hit Christmas Day! What happens in the days and weeks before the Feb. 5 trade deadline remains to be seen. What do we know? It’ll get only hotter from here.
Stay tuned for all the latest trade buzz, news and reactions from our ESPN NBA insiders.
Dec. 12
The trade season expanding on Dec. 15 was a primary topic on Brian Windhorst’s The Hoop Collective podcast on Friday. Will there be any action in December?
«I don’t think there’s going to be trades happening next week,» Windhorst said. «But it coincides with the point in the season where teams start to make some decisions about the ineptitude or … some of the weaknesses of their rosters. And that’s when things start to get going.»
ESPN’s Bobby Marks shared Windhorst’s sentiment.
«Eighty-two players starting on Monday are eligible. December is relatively somewhat of a quiet month, tradewise,» Marks said. «Certainly we start hearing more rumors, but we had a trade last year on the first day players were eligible and Dennis Schroder was traded from Brooklyn to Golden State.
«And I think going into Monday we’ll have eyes on Chris Paul as far as to figure out … if it eventually gets resolved here. But I think the total number is 90% of the NBA is trade-eligible as of Monday.»
Dec. 10
Dereck Lively II, Dallas’ starting center, will undergo season-ending surgery to address lingering discomfort in his right foot, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday. The news comes after Lively had surgery in July to clean out bone spurs in the same foot.
He played in only seven games this season.
Several teams are expected to be interested in trading for Anthony Davis, including the Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Dallas is open to exploring trades for Davis as well as veteran guards Klay Thompson and D’Angelo Russell, per sources.
The Mavericks are currently 10-16 and holding on to the last play-in spot in the Western Conference.
The Warriors will be open to discussing trades for Jonathan Kuminga when he is eligible to be moved on Jan. 15, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. Golden State hopes to improve the roster and Kuminga’s $22.5 million salary could lead to a larger trade haul.
Sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that the Pacers are in the market for a center after losing Myles Turner to the Milwaukee Bucks during the offseason.
The Kings and first-year general manager Scott Perry are open to trade talks throughout the roster, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. Teams around the league are keeping their eyes on veterans Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, as well as 25-year-old guard Keon Ellis.
Dec. 5
On the Hoop Collective podcast, host Brian Windhorst described the difficult trade landscape for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
«What I’m telling you is that when I talk to executives and these executives are not in trade talks with the Bucks or another for a star player right now, the mood in the NBA right now is not to give up four first-round picks for anybody,» Windhorst said. «This is how teams are thinking right now. They’re a little freaked about the aprons. There ain’t going to be no five first-round pick trades. I know that we saw those for a while. That’s just not going to happen.»
The trade market has dried up compared to former seasons, according to Windhorst.
«I can hear somebody out there listening to this podcast saying, ‘What are you talking about? This is Giannis. Giannis will go for two star players and six firsts,» Windhorst added. Maybe that will happen. I am just telling you, I talk to the guys who make these trades every day, all day long, and the appetite is just different.
«Everybody is feeling a certain way. I’m just telling you I could end up being wrong. I’m just reporting back.»
Dec. 3
Sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that Giannis Antetokounmpo and his agent Alex Saratsis are discussing whether Antetokounmpo’s best fit is still with the Bucks or elsewhere.
San Antonio Spurs but was averaging 14.3 minutes and 2.9 points per game this season in L.A. The Clippers can’t officially trade Paul until Dec. 15.
Trae Young, LaMelo Ball and Ja Morant have all had turbulent starts to the 2025-26 season and one league source told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that the trio «might all have negative value» ahead of this season’s trade deadline.
Young’s defensive limitations have hurt his ceiling as a franchise’s centerpiece, with one East scout saying: «He’s just small and doesn’t play any defense.»
As for Ball, it’s his in-game decision-making that has left some scouts and front offices wanting more. «Can I trust LaMelo in the playoffs and games that matter late in the season?» an East executive said. «We just don’t know.»
The off-court issues for Morant remain the biggest concern about his future with Memphis or potentially beyond. «The combination of pain in the ass, injury-prone, not that good anymore, and big contract is a bad one,» said an East executive.
Dec. 1
The Chicago Bulls have started the season 9-11 and currently sit in 10th in the Eastern Conference. The early season struggles have led to the front office to explore the idea of adding a difference-maker, including the Dallas Mavericks’ Anthony Davis, per ESPN’s Jamal Collier.
The franchise does remain committed to keeping its young core — Josh Giddey, Coby White and Matas Buzelis — and wouldn’t trade any of those players to get a deal done, per Collier.
