Does this trade make sense for the Portland Trail Blazers?
Damian Lillard has not requested a trade from Portland and therefore, they are not even going to think about trading him at this time. He is the face of the Portland Trail Blazers and without him, the Blazers would be facing a long and grueling rebuild process.
However, even with him, they may still be facing this same fate. The Blazers are terrible defensively, they have no assets moving forward and no cap space for years to come, so what moves can this team really make to get better?
They have expended all of their resources over the last several years to build the “championship contender” they have today and unfortunately, the moves they have made did not pay off and will not pay off.
Norman Powell, Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic are all really solid players in their own rights, but none of these three guys are the difference in Portland advancing far in the playoffs. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum both carry that “it” factor for this team, but nobody else does and in a Western Conference where the Warriors and Suns have the two best records in the entire NBA, the Blazers chances of making the Western Conference Finals are close to none.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard Growing ‘Frustrated’ With Trail Blazers’ Play
Trading CJ McCollum is something we could very well see this front-office do in the coming weeks, but we could also see them just explode everything and trade Lillard ahead of the trade deadline in order to capitalize on his value.
While he has struggled this season, the Trail Blazers can still get a ton of value from trading Damian Lillard right now, which is what they would get in this deal. Maybe they would not want Al Horford and Dennis Schroder, two guys who could be traded somewhere else for draft assets, but Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith and three first-round picks build a great looking future for this team.
Pritchard played at the University of Oregon and would be a fan-favorite for this team, Nesmith possesses the potential to be an impactful “3-and-D” player on the wing and three first-round picks over the next several years gives the Blazers the ability to continue adding young talents to this team.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard Growing ‘Frustrated’ With Trail Blazers’ Play
Along with Anfernee Simons (22), Nassir Little (21) and Greg Brown (20), the Portland Trail Blazers would suddenly have a very young and dynamic core of youthful talent. At this point, this is what this organization needs to do, but this trade with the Celtics may not be the best deal they can get.
This is not to say that the Portland Trail Blazers should not make this trade with the Boston Celtics, but they could probably get a lot more future value from other teams in the league. Should Portland make Lillard available ahead of the trade deadline, expect them to field multiple offers from every team in the league and draw their decision out until the last minute.
