Who's Really Untouchable for Every Team Ahead of 2025 NBA Trade Deadline?

The word "untouchable" gets thrown around a lot in NBA trade talks. It shouldn't.

Fans of specific teams tend to cast a wider net when determining which names are off-limits. And that's OK! Unchecked loyalty to the ninth guy in the rotation is part and parcel of fandom.

Similar application of untouchability is used by anonymous sources speaking with reporters. That's fine, too! Misdirection is an essential element of rumor-mill gamesmanship.

This exercise on which we're about to embark will dispense with these smoke-and-mirror rituals.

The bar for entry into untouchability is absurdly high. Teams may not be actively looking to move someone. That does not mean they won't listen if smitten suitors come calling with aggressive offers.

Granted, internal evaluations must also be taken into account. To juggle the duality of organizational agendas with the cold basketball-is-also-a-business reality, we'll lean on a guiding question as we compile each squad's list of untouchables: Assuming nobody has requested a trade, which players will be total non-starters ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline if and when rival front offices inquire about their availability, no matter how much is being offered for them?

• Jalen Johnson (poison pill)
• Zaccharie Risacher

The Atlanta Hawks will not enter the deadline looking to move Trae Young. He is a transcendent playmaker in his prime, but more to the point, San Antonio controls the team's next three first-rounders. There is little incentive to devalue Atlanta's win-now stock without a high lottery pick waiting for them.

At the same time, with Young's next deal on the horizon (2026-27 player option), the Hawks remain middling enough to consider all directions.

Risacher is the real non-starter after being selected first overall in June. Johnson is right there with him—in large part because his five-year, $150 million extension complicates the logistics of any deal, but also because he's 23 and the closest Atlanta comes to having a certified cornerstone after Young.

• Jaylen Brown
• Jayson Tatum (trade restriction lifts Jul. 6)

Props to those currently mustering intense concern for the reigning champion Boston Celtics. There is an increased fragility to their rotation, particularly on the defensive end. It nevertheless takes an impressive amount of pretzel-twisting to sound the alarm for a squad on pace to rack up almost 60 wins.

Second-apron realities will inevitably necessitate wholesale recalibration. It isn't—and shouldn't—be coming smack dab in the middle of a very-much-alive title defense.

So while Boston may be obligated to entertain aggressive overtures for anyone beyond The Jays, it's not required to seek out any significant changes.

• Nobody

Re-acquiring control of their next two first-rounders was an admission of many things by the Brooklyn Nets. Chief among them: an acknowledgement that they have no tent-pole prospect or star, and that they will stomach the losses necessary to draft one.

Romantics will insist that Brooklyn has no plans to move Cam Thomas, a restricted free agent in 2025, or the recently re-signed Nicolas Claxton. Some might say the same about rumor-mill staple Cam Johnson.

These people are kidding themselves. The Nets may wind up holding onto Claxton, Johnson and/or Thomas. That is not proof they are married to any of them.

Along with a select few other franchises, Brooklyn is the consummate everyone-is-on-the-table seller.

• LaMelo Ball
• Brandon Miller 

Many will quibble with the LaMelo Ball exclusion. But he is a 23-year-old All-Star under team control for another four seasons after this one. The Charlotte Hornets are not a franchise that can trade someone like him away on a whim. Not yet, anyway.

Miller has not quite made a sophomore leap, but he's working off a high bar from his rookie campaign. Incremental progression is evident in parts of his game, even if his efficiency from in-between ranges has dipped.

Nobody else comes close to deserving consideration. That includes Tidjane Salaun. He is only 19, and Charlotte just selected him 16th overall. But even during his best moments, the skeleton of his game doesn't scream "future centerpiece."

• Matas Buzelis

Matas Buzelis has a certain intrepidity to the way he plays but doesn't fit the typical untouchable criterion. His inclusion is more so a "The Chicago Bulls just drafted him in the lottery and don't have anyone else worth considering offs-limits" obligation.

But what about Coby White?!

I'm glad you asked.

Flipping a 24-year-old on a bargain-bin contract with secondary playmaking chops and ultra-scalable scoring chops seems counterintuitive. But White will be a free agent in 2026, and Chicago cannot offer more than a starting salary of around $18 million in any extension. He isn't signing that deal, and the Bulls won't be nearly good enough to justify bankrolling a megacontract for a non-superstar. They should move him now, when they will almost assuredly receive at least two first-rounders for his services.

• Jarrett Allen
• Darius Garland
• Donovan Mitchell
• Evan Mobley (poison pill)

Cobbling together a list of untouchables for the Cleveland Cavaliers errs on the side of pointless. They remain on pace for over 70 wins, so far have one of the 10 best net ratings of all time and are, perhaps, the team with the least motivation to make a trade.

Knowing this, it's best to include the Fantabulous Four and never look back.

Allen's inclusion is the most arguable. He signed an extension that seemed, from the outside, like it was timed to keep him trade-eligible for this season. And maybe that was a factor back in July. It doesn't matter now.

The Cavs are too good to entertain any offers, however lucrative, for any of their top-four players.

• Luka Dončić
• Dereck Lively II

Other lists will stop at Luka Dončić and then move on. That is fair. But Dereck Lively II verges on irreplaceable. So few 20-year-olds are capable of anchoring top-tier defensive play when on the floor, and there is no way for the Dallas Mavericks to upgrade from him without significantly increasing their salary commitments at the 5 spot.

Leaving off Kyrie Irving is a chuh-oice. But remember, this is not tantamount for advocating that Dallas should shop him. This is more about him going on 33 years old (in March), with the ability to explore free agency over the summer (player option).

• Aaron Gordon (trade restriction lifts Apr. 21)
• Nikola Jokić
• Jamal Murray (trade restriction lifts Mar. 11)

Trade restrictions demand the Denver Nuggets' hands-off clique include at least three players. In reality, it is a list of one: Nikola Jokić.

Pearl-clutching youngsters like Christian Braun, Peyton Watson and, to a lesser extent, Julian Strawther is not an analog for true untouchability. If Denver didn't give a flying-you-know-what about present and future tax bills, general manager Calvin Booth might have even flipped one of them already as part of a package for better, more complete alternatives.

Regardless, we shouldn't expect fireworks from the Nuggets before the Feb. 6 deadline. Depending on how this season ends, though, they will be a team to watch with hawk-like obsession over the summer.

• Cade Cunningham
• Paul Reed (trade restriction lifts Mar. 16)

Cade Cunningham is tracking toward his first All-Star appearances and genuine, deserved All-NBA consideration. His max extension always ensured the Detroit Pistons wouldn't look to move him. His play since has guaranteed they wouldn't even if they could.

Stretching this beyond Paul Reed's trade restriction and traveling into Ron Holland II territory makes some sense. The Pistons selected him at No. 5 in June, and he's this front office regime's first draft swing.

And yet, roping off unproven prospects is mostly reserved for teams taking a stab-in-the-dark approach. Detroit has found its No. 1 of the future and is contending for an Eastern Conference playoff spot. This isn't cause for short-circuiting internal development but it does mean they have graduated from the "Any youngster who might be good cannot be had!" ranks.

• Stephen Curry 
• Draymond Green

Stephen Curry is the quintessential "Not available unless he asks to be" candidate. Draymond Green's value on the court...may no longer warrant that designation. But four titles and over a decade's worth of generational defense buys stability. He is, for now, among the Golden State Warriors' primary building blocks.

Including anyone else is a farce.

Certain Dubs fans will clamor for Jonathan Kuminga...until he shoots 4-of-15 from the floor again. Moses Moody is subject to the poison pill provision following his extension but his outgoing number can fit into a team's non-taxpayer mid-level exception. Brandin Podziemski had a case this time last year. If he still has one, it's because Golden State has no desire to consider moving him at his nadir.

Not that any of this matters. It sounds like Green and Curry are on board with the Warriors standing pat post-Dennis Schröder trade. Unless that changes, relative idleness should be the expectation.

• Jalen Green (poison pill)
• Alperen Şengün (poison pill)
• Amen Thompson

Alperen Şengün would headline the Houston Rockets' untouchables even without his poison pill. Jalen Green is having his most complete season but gets the "No way" designation predominantly because of his own. (He counts as $12.5 million in outgoing salary but as $29.5 million of inbound money for other teams.)

Amen Thompson is another easy inclusion, for many reasons. But especially because he may be the next non-big to win Defensive Player of the Year.

Opening up this list to include Reed Sheppard is tempting. He may be everything the Rockets need. He just isn't that this season. And it doesn't appear as if he'll get the chance to disprove it.

That should change after this year. But I have a tough time imagining Houston would keep him—as well as Jabari Smith Jr., Cam Whitmore and Tari Eason—out of trade talks if the right name* ambles onto its radar.

(*That name is not Jimmy Butler.)

• Tyrese Haliburton
• T.J. McConnell (trade restriction lifts Mar. 2)
• Andrew Nembhard
• Pascal Siakam

Having two All-Stars locked down for the foreseeable future is not a luxury from which the Indiana Pacers can afford to walk away. Sticklers can argue that Pascal Siakam isn't top-end enough to fit the bill, but that stance devalues how good he's been this season and, most critically, seemingly ignores that's a No. 2 rather than a No. 1.

Andrew Nembhard is not untouchable in a vacuum. His on-off splits are bonkers, and he is the Pacers' most valuable defender. But he's not a star.

Including him has more to do with his salary. His three-year, $58.7 million extension doesn't kick in until next season, and Indiana will never maximize his outgoing value at a $2 million price point.

Full disclosure: I might be overthinking this. Another team could shower the Pacers in so many picks or ascribe enough standalone value to Nembhard that they accept him plus filler salary in exchange for a player who's much better in the short and, potentially, medium term. But the specificity of such a scenario lends itself to just keeping Nembhard in the untouchable pool.

• James Harden
• Kawhi Leonard
• Ivica Zubac (trade restriction lifts Mar. 2)

I would love to administer truth serum to the Los Angeles Clippers front office and then ask whether they view anyone on the roster as untouchable (independent of trade restrictions).

Most will see Kawhi Leonard's contract as underwater (two years, $100.3 million remaining after this season), and a 35-year-old James Harden isn't anyone's long-term polestar. Absent another present or future All-NBA candidate, should the Clippers be opposed to moving anyone?

Future draft-pick obligations suggest they must.

Los Angeles doesn't control its own first-rounder until 2030. Unless Oklahoma City is prepared to re-gift the Clippers' own picks in a Leonard or Harden trade, this team's timeline is so irrevocably urgent that you could make the case Norman Powell belongs here, too.

• Anthony Davis
• LeBron James

Special thanks to the Los Angeles Lakers for making this so easy.

Anthony Davis and LeBron James (no-trade clause) will remain untouchable unless they decide to push for relocation. After them, the Lakers employ absolutely no one they shouldn't consider moving if they get bowled over by an offer or have the opportunity to acquire someone who reopens their title window.

Branches on the Knecht and Reaves family trees may feel differently. And the messaging from the organization in the lead-up to Feb. 6 won't convey this same sentiment. Rest assured, though, nobody aside from LeBron and AD is actually ungettable.

• Desmond Bane
• Jaren Jackson Jr.
• Ja Morant

Standout depth will compel many to expand the Memphis Grizzlies' list of untouchables. That's understandable. It also veers too far from reality.

Let's say the Grizzlies have the opportunity to acquire someone they view as the missing championship piece. They are not going to let the potential or play or cost-controlled contracts of Zach Edey, Jaylen Wells, Scottie Pippen Jr. (trade-eligible Jan. 15), Jay Huff (trade-eligible Jan. 28) et al. stand in the way. (Their proximity to the luxury tax is a different story.)

Defaulting to Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant is the only call. With that said, this list could be interesting to revisit over the summer if Memphis doesn't make it past the first round of the playoffs.

• Bam Adebayo
• Keshad Johnson (trade restriction lifts Mar. 26)

At least we know that Jimmy Butler is not among the Miami Heat's untouchables, right? And if they're going to jettison him, you can make the case that nobody should be off-limits.

Tossing in Bam Adebayo goes too far for yours truly. He signed his three-year, $165.3 million extension early enough to be trade-eligible, but Miami is out two future first-round picks—both of which become unprotected if they don't make the 2025 playoffs. Sending out a perennial Defensive Player of the Year contender without recouping those selections would border on franchise malpractice.

Listening to offers for everyone else is not. That includes Tyler Herro.

Miami's draft obligations allow for another debate here. Herro has a not-insignificant chance of making an All-Star roster. But with Butler on his way out, the Heat can't afford to gloss over prospective kitchen-sink offers for anyone who's not routinely on the All-NBA periphery.

• Giannis Antetokounmpo
• Damian Lillard

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the quintessential "Untouchable until he decides he's not" superstar. The Milwaukee Bucks' options arguably begin and end with him. And they most certainly don't journey beyond Damian Lillard.

Rolling with the latter isn't a given. Lillard is 35, with two years and $112.6 million left on his deal. If the Bucks have a chance to upgrade from him or get the sense he'll bounce after next season (2026-27 player option), they will be inclined to work the phones.

For the time being, though, he is too instrumental to their offensive livelihood. Khris Middleton cannot be counted on to remain healthy, and Milwaukee has no other primary playmakers at its disposal. There could be scenarios in which the Bucks can trade Lillard for a better star but don't actually improve because said player doesn't provide the same from-scratch shot-making and facilitation.

• Anthony Edwards
• Rudy Gobert (trade restriction lifts Apr. 23)

Raise your hand if you would pay obscene amounts of money to be a fly on the wall inside the room in which the Minnesota Timberwolves field trade inquiries for Anthony Edwards.

No one else would appear on this list if not for Rudy Gobert's post-extension restriction. There will be a smattering of outrage for excluding Jaden McDaniels, but his individual offense remains much too shaky for this label. And while there might be scattershot calls for Rob Dillingham after Minnesota forked over a 2030 swap and 2031 unprotected first to get him, a team (presumably) thinking in immediate terms has no business vetoing aggressive pitches for a sparingly used (and currently injured) rookie.

Naz Reid's exclusion pains me the most. But only because he's an institution in Minnesota. As a player, he's unique and valuable and not nearly impactful enough or under contract for long enough (2025-26 player option) to receive a "Hands Off" trophy.

• Trey Murphy (poison pill)

Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported back in December that the New Orleans Pelicans are open to moving "pretty much" anyone on the roster aside from Trey Murphy, rookie Yves Missi and Herb Jones. This a testament to the utility of the aforementioned three—and, with all due respect, completely absurd.

If New Orleans is preparing to field offers for Zion Williamson, no one else aside from Murphy deserves the untouchable label.

Throwing Missi into this equation is honestly just hilarious, even if he's on track to make an All-Rookie team. Jones is more understandable. Though he's sidelined indefinitely with a shoulder injury, he has expanded his offensive armory and provides all-world defense while being owed under $29 million over the next two seasons.

Still, listening on Zion implies the Pelicans are open to revisiting Square One. Jones can be part of a more accelerated turnaround, but we're fooling ourselves if we think there isn't a package of picks and prospects that could get a suddenly rebuilding New Orleans franchise to part with a non-star.

• OG Anunoby
• Mikal Bridges
• Jalen Brunson
• Landry Shamet (trade restriction lifts Mar. 23)
• Karl-Anthony Towns

Building a top-heavy roster while exhausting most of their draft-pick stores necessitates a more extensive list of untouchables for the New York Knicks.

Jalen Brunson remains indispensable. His contract is too damn good, and the Knicks do not have another player who can consistently shoulder his ball-handling workload versus premier lineups. Karl-Anthony Towns is mission-critical to the five-out spacing New York wants to embody. His contract will invite unease—three years and $171.2 million remain after this one—but he's the toughest component of all-out spacing to replace.

From there, if you're going to rope off Brunson and Towns, you cannot afford to move on from Anunoby. His penchant for gambling can leave teammates out to dry, but he's among the league's best overall defenders and beyond necessary given the limitations of the Knicks' two best players.

Bridges has improved following an early-season malaise. You can still make the case he's not untouchable. Then again, good luck matching the value you sent out to get him. And he, too, is paramount to constructing a viable defense around KAT and JB.

Excluding Josh Hart may even be a reach. He is this team's motor on so many nights. But while the likelihood of his getting moved is virtually zero, the bar for untouchability has to be higher.

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Alex Caruso (trade restriction lifts Jun. 22)
• Chet Holmgren
• Jalen Williams

Hot-take artists may argue the Oklahoma City Thunder's true list of untouchables stops at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Chet Holmgren has barely played in 45 percent of the regular-season games for which he's been eligible since entering the league, and Jalen Williams is not yet equipped to manage the offense independent of SGA.

Should the Thunder really be married to a pair of Big Three members who don't have an All-Star berth under their belts?

Um, yes.

Both project as eventual All-Stars, and Oklahoma City has enough assets to acquire just about anyone without including either of them. And frankly, the Thunder wouldn't get top-notch value for Holmgren when he's missed so much time even if they wanted to move him.

• Paolo Banchero
• Wendell Carter Jr. (trade restriction lifts Apr. 6)
• Jalen Suggs (poison pill)
• Franz Wagner (poison pill)

This list will winnow down by at least one player in the coming months. Wendell Carter Jr. is highly useful, when healthy, but not untouchable material.

Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are flat-out no-gos. The Orlando Magic will hang up the phone if another front office calls about them.

Jalen Suggs is in the same boat—for now. His extension makes moving him in-season too complicated.

Will the Magic feel the same way after this year? That's a separate matter. The goal isn't to get rid of Suggs. But if they trust their defensive infrastructure without him and have the chance to pounce on a star floor general who fits alongside Banchero and Wagner, he will be mentioned among their most valuable assets and forms of matching salary.

• Joel Embiid (trade restriction lifts Mar. 20)
• Tyrese Maxey 

In an ideal world, the Philadelphia 76ers would have four untouchable players: Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Jared McCain. In reality, they are closer to zero.

George has not played well enough—or been healthy enough—to fit the bill. McCain was proving to be the mother of all draft-day steals before a left knee injury ended his season, but you can't consider him a non-starter unless you're prepared to burn everything down and start over.

Which brings us to Embiid.

Injuries are once again piling up, and he has yet to eclipse 15 appearances for the season. If not for the trade restriction attached to his three-year, $192.9 million extension, we'd likely be wondering whether team president Daryl Morey has the stones (and leverage) to move off him and George and begin anew with Maxey—and, potentially, McCain.

• Devin Booker
• Kevin Durant

A huge part of me believes the Phoenix Suns have zero untouchable players. Kevin Durant is 36, has one year left on his deal and is forever a flight risk. The Suns are far enough away from the inner circle of title contenders that they could consider capitalizing on his current trade value. And at that point, they'd have no choice other than to gauge Devin Booker's market.

Championing that logic is ultimately too nuclear.

Phoenix does not control its own first-round pick until 2031. It's obligated to continue doubling- and tripling- and quadrupling-down on this window until it can't anymore.

Failing a trade request from KD or Booker themselves, they are the Suns' lone untouchables. Everyone else, along with the team's 2031 pick, is merely a potential vehicle through which Phoenix can continue improving around them.

• Scoot Henderson
• Shaedon Sharpe

The Portland Trail Blazers remain in search of their guiding light for the future. That is...not ideal when they have a trio of recent top-seven picks on the roster.

This puts the Blazers in a position of cornering anyone with an outside shot of checking that box. Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe are it. There may be some push-back on Scoot. A lack of other options, coupled with an offensive environment ill-suited to his strengths, keeps his mystery-box appeal alive.

Forcing Donovan Clingan into this group misses the mark. His prototype usually doesn't anchor really good teams on its own. He becomes more valuable when you already have that player in tow.

Campaigning for Deni Avdija or Toumani Camara are equally trying stretches. Once more: These are not players the Blazers should move. But they're not top-end talents who can be treated as intractable fixtures, either.

• Jae Crowder (cannot be traded until Feb. 7)
• Keegan Murray

Churning out better results under interim head coach Doug Christie has quieted much of the speculation dogging the Sacramento Kings. But this recent stretch is not a panacea for reality.

De'Aaron Fox has just one year left on his deal. The Kings must decide whether they're prepared to bankroll a mega extension for him over the summer. Assuming they are, they then need assurances that he's committed to them long term.

The latter seemed unclear to start the New Year. So while Sacramento shouldn't want to trade Fox, it must at least be prepared to field offers. And if it's required to listen on him, well, then Keegan Murray is its only actual untouchable.

There will be those who think even that goes too far. Murray is extension-eligible this summer and not a primary offensive option. But his defensive versatility is not readily replaceable, and you can easily envision him broadening his offensive horizons on a team without so many ball-dominant players.

• Devin Vassell 
• Victor Wembanyama

Victor Wembanyama is included for obvious reasons. I'm not saying it's aliens. But it's aliens.

Whether anyone else deserves inclusion is debatable. Stephon Castle, Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell are the primary candidates. Castle is the easiest to include, because the San Antonio Spurs just drafted him. But this team must assess itself against the future of Wembanyama. If they don't have someone capable of growing into the No. 2 on a contender headlined by him, we needn't force the issue.

Sochan has carved out an offensive niche for himself, and Castle has impressed with some of his on-ball floor navigation. Neither profiles as a second option or even the primary driver of offense for others.

Vassell might not, either. But he's shown the capacity to get off and convert tough shots, and after CP3 and Wemby, he remains the Spurs player most likely to draw multiple defenders to the ball.

• Scottie Barnes (poison pill)

Posting the league's worst net rating since Dec. 5 to go along with a 2-16 record is a good way to get people clamoring for the Toronto Raptors to detach from everyone and start over. It's not happening.

Scottie Barnes' extension is prohibitive to moving him midseason, and despite failing to follow up last year's performance with another caps-lock LEAP, he has the dynamic skill set at both ends to continue being treated as the primary figure of the future.

Viewed through the lens of spotting a No. 2 for the long term, these same sentiments do not apply to anyone else. RJ Barrett or Gradey Dick comes closest, but neither has pieced together the high-end consistency required to bat away prospective suitors.

To be sure, Toronto shouldn't be in the market for another teardown. Injuries have limited the Barnes-Barrett-Dick-Immanuel Quickley to fewer than 150 possessions. There is much more information to glean from the aggregate product. But the intel that the Raptors do have isn't nearly glitzy enough to demand this core remain intact.

• Keyonte George
• Lauri Markkanen (cannot be traded until Feb. 7)

The Utah Jazz come closer to being the Brooklyn Nets, just with Lauri Markkanen's trade restriction on the books. They almost assuredly do not have the face of their rebuild on the roster.

Looping in George is somewhat of a diplomatic decision. Brooklyn is content to act like a mercenary in Year 1 of the rebuild. This is Year 3 for Utah. It has already brought in and is actively developing a smorgasbord of first-round prospects.

Still, George has flashed enough on-ball gravity and passing creation for the Jazz to hold out hope and continue giving him more time. Especially if his recent success from three-point range sustains.

This list has to end with him, though. Even the hottest version of Brice Sensabaugh isn't worthy of untouchability, recent draftees Cody Williams and Isaiah Collier certainly haven't shown enough to get the nod, and Walker Kessler isn't dynamic enough on offense to demand inclusion.

• Bilal Coulibaly
• Alex Sarr

Nobody on the Washington Wizards is technically good enough to deserve the hands-off label.

Bilal Coulibaly started the season strong, at both ends, but has since cooled off on offense. Alex Sarr has turned in plenty of impact defensive moments and is finding an offensive groove—41.7 percent from three on 4.5 attempts per game since Dec. 1, on top of 78.4 shooting in the restricted area—but not spearheading outsized team success.

That is...about right. The Wizards aren't set up to compete, which can convolute our external evaluations. And neither Sarr nor Coulibaly is even 21 years old.

In the absence of a certified franchise pillar, Washington's most important players are those with the best crack at one day becoming one. That is still Coulibaly and Sarr—and them alone.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.

Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass. Salary information via Spotrac. Draft-pick obligations via RealGM.