Nobody's accusing NBA general managers of bad-faith negotiating, but it's not the worst tactic to act like every asset a rival executive shows interest in is too valuable to even consider trading.

In reality, most organizations only have one truly untouchable player. And that's if they're lucky.

Here, we'll lay out which players would prompt the quickest hangup on a trade call. Not every team actually has someone of that caliber, so we'll get as close as we can with the more threadbare rosters.

Performance, age, contract status and value to the team's identity are all factors. In cases where the untouchable player is so obvious that it makes you wonder why we're spilling any digital ink on him, remember: Two of the past four MVPs, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, have been traded multiple times since winning those awards.

This is the NBA. You're only untouchable until you're not.

Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young

Trae Young averaged 28.4 points and 9.7 assists per game in his age-23 season while producing a positive offensive rating swing of 9.9 points per 100 possessions for the Atlanta Hawks.

He became the first player in a half-century to lead the NBA in total points and assists.

Though Young's deep pull-up shooting shows up most in highlight reels, his work in the lane deserves just as much praise. An elite foul-drawer who has removed "just be physical with the little guy" from opposing defenses' options, Young has also perfected a floater that is basically indistinguishable from a pinpoint lob pass. Defenses can try to play one and surrender the other, but they rarely guess right, and Young is an expert improviser.

If we accept the idea that high-volume, efficient shot creation is the most valuable skill in today's NBA, there aren't many players you'd rather have headlining your roster. 

Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum

Every player we cover here is going to be good—really, really good in most cases. What distinguishes Jayson Tatum from many of them is his ability to consistently get better.

The three-time All-Star has upped his true shooting percentage and usage rate for four years running. Not every aspect of his game has improved year over year, with the occasional dip in three-point shooting or slippage in conversion rate near the rim cropping up. But Tatum's overall impact in both volume and efficiency continues to trend steadily upward.

With ideal combo-forward size and a willingness to compete defensively, Tatum is one of the rare top offensive options who can't be easily attacked on the other end. That makes him matchup-proof in a playoff scenario.

Speaking of which, coming into this season, Tatum had already logged 50 postseason contests. That's the kind of early-career high-stakes experience that can forge greatness.

Brooklyn Nets: Kevin Durant

Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid belonged in their own exclusive section of the 2021-22 MVP discussion. Those three had better regular seasons than anyone else and deserved to be the only serious candidates.

But if you were drafting one player to win you a do-or-die game, Kevin Durant might still come off the board ahead of those three.

That fact is partly an acknowledgement that there's a difference between MVP and "best player", but it's also a nod to Durant's singular skill. His length and shot-making prowess are unmatched. There is no defender who can do more than try his best and hope KD settles for a difficult attempt. Stopping him is out of the question.

Durant is the only player to average at least 27.0 points for his career with a true shooting percentage north of 61.0 percent. There are lots of ways to encapsulate his offensive brilliance, but that might be the simplest. Nobody has ever scored so efficiently on such high volume.

Still at the peak of his powers at age 33 and likely to age extremely well because of his shooting ability and size, Durant is the kind of player who'll never be traded—unless he asks to be.

Charlotte Hornets: LaMelo Ball

LaMelo Ball is a departure from the previous three entries because so much of his value is still based on his potential. We know what Young, Tatum and Durant can be because, well…they've already reached or come close to their final forms. (Heaven help us if Tatum or Young has another level of development ahead…)

Ball, though, is still feeling his way through life as an NBA player. Things have gone well so far, as last year's Rookie of the Year honor and this season's All-Star nod indicate, but we may someday look back on those accolades as quaint. Barring some unforeseeable stagnation in his development, the Charlotte Hornets point guard is in line for bigger things.

Ball joined Luka Doncic and LeBron James in an exclusive class of 20-year-olds to average at least 20.0 points, 7.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds in a season, and he's well ahead of those two in his progress as a shooter. After hitting 35.2 percent of his 261 long-range attempts as a rookie (which was more than anyone anticipated from a supposedly suspect shooter), Ball drilled 38.9 percent of the 565 deep shots he took this past season.

That's to say nothing of his creativity, flair and innate court sense. As good as Ball looks now, the real reason Charlotte would never move him is because of how much better he'll be in a few years.