The NBA offseason brings opportunity, optimism and no shortage of pie-in-the-sky transactional dreaming. In that spirit, Bleacher Report's Dan Favale and Grant Hughes are here to suggest one trade acquisition that should occupy the top spot on each team's offseason vision board. Almost every player featured will be a little far-fetched, but that's kind of the point.
These are ambitious trade targets, players who could plausibly be acquired but not ones you'd ever deem likely. In reality, most teams will aim lower. But why adjust expectations downward now, just before the dawn of the offseason feeding frenzy? Buzzkills can wait.
For now, let's get aggressively imaginative. The Atlanta Hawks seem likely to bust up the Trae Young-Dejounte Murray backcourt, but it's unclear which of the two guards is likeliest to go. If it's Murray who winds up leaving via trade, Atlanta should focus on supporting Young with the best defensive running mate possible.
That sounds like Alex Caruso, an All-Defensive honoree in each of the last two seasons. Caruso's current team, the Chicago Bulls, already have Coby White in place as their point guard. That means a Murray-for-Caruso swap wouldn't make sense.
Atlanta could send Murray to a destination in greater need of his services and reroute some of the assets to the Bulls in a package for the star stopper. No guard who logged at least 25 games last season posted a higher Defensive Estimated Plus/Minus than Caruso, who rates as one of the rare backc.