NBA Players Players Reveal Top Teams on Their ‘No-Trade List’
There are only two NBA players with explicit, contractual no-trade clauses: LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) and Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers). But what if players across the league DID have a clause? What teams would be at the top of their "no-trade" list?
NBA players voted on the number one team on their "no-trade" list:
— NBA Base (@TheNBABase) May 18, 2026
• Memphis — 35.8%
• Washington — 11.7%
• Sacramento — 10.8%
• New Orleans — 6.7%
• Brooklyn — 5%
• Utah — 5%
• Charlotte — 4.2%
• Portland — 4.2%
• New York — 3.3%
• Detroit — 2.5%
• Indiana — 2.5%
•… pic.twitter.com/H19SvRVNYS
The Memphis Grizzlies topping the list might be a surprise to some. But one NBA player made a pretty honest assessment about why he voted them at the top of his virtual "no-trade" list:
"I'll play anywhere, honestly. But I would have to say Memphis is a place I don't want to live. So that would be the reason why I wouldn't want to play there."
“It has nothing to do with the team. It's the location of the team," said another.
Ouch.
LeBron James even recently suggested that the Grizzlies should move to Nashville, Tenn.
Washington and Sacramento are the next destinations that players want to avoid, likely because the teams have been perennially bad for so long.
As noted in The Athletic article about the Wizards, "The team has not won 50 games in a season or reached the Eastern Conference finals since 1978-79."
One myth that we can put to rest by the results of this poll is that NBA players do not want to play in Toronto. The Raptors weren't mentioned at all among the 19 other teams that drew votes.
Photo: © Petre Thomas-Imagn Images