Every NBA player has ups and downs in his respective career of basketball. Sometimes it just takes time to heal an injury or recover mentally to get back on track, and that's the most usual case. But sometimes some players just cannot get back to the same level - either it's problems in staff or coaching, or it's something in their personal life that forced them to enter some kind of a slump. As a solution, I'm going to be putting up 5 NBA players that need to be traded in order to fix their situation and get the most out of their talent/potential somewhere elsewhere, whether those problems are caused by bad coaching, bad team chemistry or something else.
1. Ben Simmons (BKN)
(via nypost.com)
Ben Simmons was a young and phenomenal superstar in the making, until the playoffs of 2020-2021. It all started in the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals, game 7 against the Atlanta Hawks, when Simmons had the ball in his hand while driving to the rim and passed up an open layup/dunk. This was a questionable move by Ben and many fans had enough - they started making fun of him, mocking him and hating him, even fans of his own team. Simmons had to deal with a lot of stress, although he stated that he had back problems. Fast forward to today, Simmons is now a Brooklyn Net, averaging 5 points per game. The issue seems to be fear, or some sort of mental unconfidence. With Ben Simmons being quite the centre of chaos not only in Brooklyn, but in the whole league, it caused some problems, including a little downfall of the team's chemistry and success, and then much more happened - for example, Steve Nash got fired.
Many people, including NBA analysts, unknown executives and even fans are sure of one thing - something has to be done, and it's most likely going to include Simmons - a trade. A trade should be a start for the Brooklyn Nets to get back to competetive mode, as Simmons' absence of talents is irritating some Nets' players.
2. Russell Westbrook (LAL)
(via lapost.com)
The situation of Russell Westbrook is complicated, to say the least. Russell Westbrook looked like a man amongst boys in the 2020-2021 NBA season, as he was playing in Washington, together with Bradley Beal. The guard duo led their respective team to the playoffs - just to fall short against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. Everything was okay with Russ, until one day. The day of the 2021 NBA Draft. Russell Westbrook was traded in a blockbuster trade between Washington and LA Lakers. Westbrook, along with a couple future second round picks was headed to LA and the Wizards got Kuzma, Caldwell-Pope, Harrell and the 22th pick in the draft. The Lakers were starting to look like contenders again - but the expectations were somewhat too high for the team - the Lakers didn't even make the play-in, even though they had LeBron, Davis and Russ. Most people blamed Russell and started calling him 'Westbrick' and other names.
Today, the Lakers are doing pretty much the same, but they're on pace to go worse. But whose fault is it? Well, we all know that Russell Westbrook is a leader point guard, not a spot up shooter. He's not the guy to be waiting in the corner, ready to shoot when the ball comes to his hands. He was used wrongly - and it wasn't really all his fault. All he needs is a solid team with a solid supporting cast and good, supporting coaching and staff - if he's the leader of the team - he'll thrive and hopefully he'll get back to the good old version of Russell Westbrook. It's not too late.
3. Kyrie Irving (BKN)
(via kion546.com)
What is happening with Kyrie Irving right now? We all know Kyrie as the true magician on the court, the ultimate master of handles, the owner of all layup packages. Well, the story's little different right now. Kyrie was dominating the league so far, as usual. Although, playing for the most chaotic team in the league isn't the best situation to be put in. The ongoing Ben Simmons drama, the staff & coaching problems, the losing record, you name it. And as if it wasn't enough in terms of problems - Kyrie Irving recently promoted an antisemitic documentary on Twitter and initially refused to apologize for doing so. As a result, Kyrie was suspended by the Nets. I think we all know that Kyrie is the guy who usually gets involved in all sorts of religious conspiration theories and all that, when it comes to stuff like it.
But this is where us, fans, split up. Half of us think that Kyrie didn't do anything wrong, and the other half blames Irving for crossing the line. What do you think? Is a trade enough to calm down the storm of chaos?
4. Kendrick Nunn (LAL)
(via lakersnation.com)
The Kendrick Nunn problem - I'm sure you all remember Kendrick Nunn - he was the starting point guard for the Miami Heat from 2019 to 2021, and then later he joined the Lakers. But let's go back a little bit. Kendrick Nunn was responsible as the starting PG for Miami in the 2020 NBA Finals against the Lakers. He played okay - averaged 11, 4 and 2 in the finals but it was a pretty good effort nonetheless for a rookie on a finals team that was fighting against quite literally the best team at that time - the LeBron and AD led Lakers. After the season, Nunn played better - averaged 15, 3 and 3. The Heat, however, were swept by the revenge-seeking Bucks later on in the playoffs, following a safe-to-say scrappy performance by Nunn. After Kendrick joined LA, luck abandoned him as he was sidelined for the whole season due to a bone bruise in his right knee.
And so we're in the 2022-23 NBA season, as Nunn is averaging...5 points per game. Yeah, that's right. Earlier in the summer, Kendrick stated that he's fully healthy and ready to take action. Is he really, though? Who's here to blame? Has Nunn not recovered from his injury, or is it coaching issues? Who knows.
5. Myles Turner (IND)
(via consent.yahoo.com)
Now let's talk about Myles Turner. He's currently occupying an understandable role (starting center) whilst being the longest tenured Pacer. But is he really the franchise big man? Is he involved in Indiana's future plans? Well, it turns out that it's not only the GM who's responsible of taking care of this question as Myles makes a statement about his career in Indy. But let's rewind a little bit real quick: back in the day, when Domantas Sabonis was still a Pacer, the big man duo of Domas and Myles had a nickname - 'Turbonis'. These two skilled towers were both starting, with Sabonis playing at the 4 and Turner getting the center role - at least that was the usual plan. Some time later, the Pacers' staff realised that someone's got to go - either Sabonis or Turner. It was a tough decision, but as we all know now, the Pacers chose Turner as the main big man to keep, atleast for some time. This looked fair enough, as by the time Sabonis got traded the team had already drafted and traded for some young and promising bench bigs too - like Isaiah Jackson, Goga Bitadze and Jalen Smith. Currently, they're playing better and better by each day.
Anyways, on Halloween, Turner hinted his possible desire to leave the Pacers' organization by suggesting the Lakers to trade for him. There always was this rumor floating around that the Lakers are interested in trading for Buddy Hield and Myles Turner. Who knows, the rumor might just come true this time and the Pacers wouldn't be so hurt as they've already started developing their bench bigs while rebuilding.
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