Now that the Oklahoma City Thunder have rendered every Russell Westbrook trade rumor meaningless (at least until February), are there any All-Star-caliber players who we can reasonably expect to be traded at some point this season?

A player on Westbrook’s level is traded about once every Presidential term, but Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez is at least one inferior-but-still-pretty-good commodity who’s ripe to be dealt.

Why? The Nets won 21 games last season. They will not be good this year, next year, or the year after that. With no lottery picks until 2019, the only way they can better themselves is via the trade market and free agency—in a marketplace where cap space is more necessary than special. They need to start over around a young nucleus, something Brooklyn’s incoming front office/coaching staff understands, which is why they traded Thaddeus Young to the Indiana Pacers for the 20th overall pick in last June’s draft. 

It only makes sense for Lopez to follow him out the door. He’s a 28-year-old seven-footer who was one of seven players in the entire league to average at least 20 points, seven rebounds and two assists last season. He’s not bad. But even though that sentence would ostensibly make him the one player on Brooklyn’s roster who can jumpstart its rebuild, a variety of factors that we’ll soon cover may have him chained in place.

Lopez’s strengths don’t align with what a majority of NBA teams need from the center position: rebounding, rim protection, rim runs, flexible pick-and-roll defense, body-crushing screens, magnetic dives to the rim, and, for all intents and purposes, acceptance of the major sacrifice that comes with performing all these responsibilities each and every night. 

The modern center’s duty is thankless, soggy and taxing. Lopez doesn’t check off enough boxes. He exists in a previous generation, when offensive sets all but ended with an entry pass into the post. No player attempted more shots in the non-restricted-area of the paint last season, and only two players (LeBron James and Karl-Anthony Towns) converted more two-point baskets.

But it’s not right to cross Lopez off as a relic just because it’s hard to imagine him closing games against the Golden State Warriors, defending more than one position and shooting threes. Health is a reasonable concern—Lopez has undergone multiple surgeries on his right foot since he first suffered a stress fracture in his fifth metatarsal about five years ago—but things have been fine since his first metatarsal osteotomy in 2014. 

Lopez has only missed 19 games over the past two seasons. Last year, he finished 20th in points per game, 20th in usage percentage, and 18th in PER. As the best player on a team that lost over 60 games, Brooklyn’s net rating was -3.7 points per 100 possessions with Lopez on the floor, and an apocalyptic -13.8 when he wasn’t.  

He’s a crafty finisher who makes floaters from an uncomfortable distance look easier than blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

His range stretches farther than that, and he’s dependable as a pick-and-pop threat who often finds himself wide open because opposing big men have zero interest venturing all the way out to contest his shot. He knocked down a respectable 45.8 percent of his 327 open long twos last season.

These traits still have value, but only in a very specific situation. Thanks to the league’s 100-meter sprint towards position-less chameleons who defend multiple positions and space the floor, Lopez sits atop an undesirable category, highlighted by the likes of Nikola Vucevic, Greg Monroe, Jahlil Okafor and Al Jefferson—lead-footed bigs with impressive raw stats who, um, maybe don’t help teams win? There’s value in being an efficient post scorer, but sirens flash when it doubles as your most notable asset. No player posted up more than Lopez last season.

But that doesn’t mean some team shouldn’t try and trade for him. Let’s break all 29 suitors down into a few tiers, to help get a closer look at why Lopez is still on a team that doesn’t need him.

Tier 1: Thanks but no thanks

It’s hard to move Lopez’s $21.1 million contract right now because a majority of the free agents who just signed a new deal can’t be traded until December 15th. That shouldn’t matter for over a third of the league: Right off the bat are 22 teams that already have a starting center who’s either equal, better, or more cost effective than Lopez.

Inhale:

The Atlanta Hawks have Dwight Howard, the Boston Celtics have Al Horford, the Chicago Bulls have Robin Lopez, the Denver Nuggets have Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic, the Detroit Pistons have Andre Drummond, the Los Angeles Clippers have DeAndre Jordan, the Indiana Pacers have Myles Turner, the Los Angeles Lakers have Timofey Mozgov (stop laughing), the Memphis Grizzlies have Marc Gasol, the Miami Heat have Hassan Whiteside, the Minnesota Timberwolves have Karl-Anthony Towns, the New York Knicks have Joakim Noah and Kristaps Porzingis, the Oklahoma City Thunder have Steven Adams, the Orlando Magic have Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo, the Philadelphia 76ers have Okafor, Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid, the Phoenix Suns have Tyson Chandler and Alex Len, the Portland Trail Blazers have Mason Plumlee and Festus Ezeli, the Sacramento Kings have DeMarcus Cousins, the San Antonio Spurs have Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Toronto Raptors have Jonas Valanciunas, the Utah Jazz have Rudy Gobert, and the Washington Wizards have Marcin Gortat and (for some reason) Ian Mahinmi.

Exhale. 

Generally speaking, all these teams are better off leaving Lopez alone and holding onto the players and assets they already have. (Lopez is better than Mozgov and Noah, but both are on contracts Brooklyn wants no part of, and it doesn’t make sense for the Knicks or Lakers to have that much salary tied up in one position.) 

A few—Portland, Phoenix and Washington—may feel like upgrading to boost their short-term timeline. They’d like to win now and Lopez is better than what they have. The Spurs were a super-interesting destination before they signed Gasol.

Tier 2: Could they use Lopez? Sure! Do they need him? Not really: Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors 

If the Cavaliers and Warriors don’t square off in a third straight Finals, something bad happened. They share the three best players in the world and know how to utilize small-ball lineups better than anyone else.

Their success is why players like Lopez are nearing extinction. That said, neither has a reliable low-post scorer who can settle things down by drawing a quick foul. But against just about every opponent in the league, they don’t need one.

Tier 3: Slightly interested teams that dont have workable trade assets: Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Charlotte Hornets 

Lopez is an awkward fit with James Harden, a guard who’s most effective when bestowed with a runway towards the basket. Is Lopez’s set-shot scary enough to pull an opposing center out of the paint? Even more pressing, how many of Houston’s possessions would drizzle from Harden drives to Lopez post-ups? How bad would the Rockets’ defense be with Harden, Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon and Brook Lopez on the floor at the same time?

But even if Daryl Morey decided Lopez could fit in as a dependable secondary source of individual offense, Clint Capela’s presence as the cheaper, more fashionable option—who happened to shoot 73.8 percent last season whenever Harden passed him the ball—is plenty appropriate. Lopez is a better player, but Capela is a better fit, especially on the defensive end.

The Pelicans should play Anthony Davis at center as often as possible. The benefit of doing so on both ends is obvious, but there’s risk in not using a larger body to handle some of the more physical responsibilities handcuffed to life in the paint. 

New Orleans didn’t light the world on fire with Davis at center last season, but in nearly 1000 minutes with him at power forward they were atrocious, in part because Omer Asik might be the worst player in the league. Lopez isn’t the ideal co-pilot beside Davis, particularly in a system that prefers to attack early in the shot clock—and it’s hard to see New Orleans surrender Buddy Hield or a draft pick right now—but he’s an undeniable talent upgrade for an organization that badly wants to make the postseason. 

In Dallas, Lopez would be surrounded by accurate spot-up three-point shooters who can create pretty good looks on their own. But, with Andrew Bogut already serving as a decent placeholder, Dallas wouldn’t fork over anything Brooklyn actually wants. Justin Anderson? Harrison Barnes? (Someone the Nets could’ve signed as a free agent if they wanted him that badly.) A first-round pick in 2018? Nope.

The Hornets can push for the Eastern Conference Finals with Lopez as their starting center, but lopsided contracts make a realistic proposal unlikely. If a third team got involved, would the Nets be interested in a package centered around Frank Kaminsky, Cody Zeller, and a first-round pick? Perhaps. 

Tier 4: We may be onto something (but probably not)!: Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks make a little bit of sense relative to every other team because of Monroe—basically a shorter, younger, worse version of Lopez—who can be paired with Rashad Vaughn or a lottery-protected 2017 first-round pick. 

Assuming Monroe opts out of his contract—Lopez’s deal is fully guaranteed over the next two years—next summer, Brooklyn clears up some cap space and acquires a helpful trade asset/player. It’s not the greatest haul in the world, which partially defeats the purpose of trading Lopez at all. And that brings us to this thread’s frustrating end.

The Nets should trade Lopez. They’re awful and need to collect as many long-term assets as they can. The assumption that they can get any by selling Lopez to the highest bidder may be false. He’s a pretty good player, but right now an obvious trade partner doesn’t exist.