Thaddeus Young – San Antonio Spurs
Coming over to the Spurs as part of the sign-and-trade deal that sent DeMar DeRozan to the Chicago Bulls, Thaddeus Young is a veteran player that San Antonio is looking to move at some point this season.
Now with Jakob Poeltl in health and safety protocols, the Spurs may actually look to see what they have in Thaddeus Young in their frontcourt, but he is not a long-term piece to their rebuilding puzzle.
Young put together a really solid season in Chicago last year and while he is 33-years-old and on the back-end of his career, he ended up averaging 12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.1 steals and he shot 55.9% from the floor with the Bulls during the 2020-21 season.
Now in the final year of his contract and owed $14.1M, Thaddeus Young finds himself as a key trade target for several teams around the league. Could the Portland Trail Blazers be a team interested in the veteran big man?
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Not only could he play the power forward position in place of Robert Covington, who has struggled to begin the year, but Thaddeus Young could also slide over the center for some smaller rotations, giving Portland a chance to have more shooters on the floor.
With Young’s abilities to be a facilitator either on the perimeter or in the low-post, he is definitely a key rotational forward who could play a big role on this Trail Blazers team.
Lillard and McCollum are two of the best guard scorers in the league and Portland does not necessarily need more elite-level scorers right now.
Adding this kind of player would definitely help, but their biggest problem right now is moving the ball and getting consistent play from their frontcourt. Portland currently ranks 21st in the league in assists per game and outside of Nurkic, they do not really have any other reliable rebounders.
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Trading for Thaddeus Young not only gives the Blazers a big man who can pass, as he averaged a career-high 4.3 assists per game last season with the Bulls, but they would be adding another reliable rebounder on both ends of the floor.
If the Blazers are alright with the idea of moving on from guys like Covington, Little, and a draft pick, they could easily swing a deal with the Spurs to acquire Thaddeus Young.
