Minnesota Timberwolves Receive: G Damian Lillard, G Ben McLemore
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: G D’Angelo Russell, F Taurean Prince, MIN 2024 1st Round Pick (Unprotected), MIN 2025 1st Round Pick (Swap, More Favorable to POR; Top-1 Protected), MIN 2026 1st Round Pick (Top-3 Protected, then Unprotected in 2027 if not conveyed), MIN 2028 1st Round Pick (two years after previous pick conveys, Top-3 Protected; becomes unprotected in 2029).
In order to have a shot at getting Damian Lillard, Minnesota is going to have to be prepared to part ways with almost every single draft pick they have over the next several years. In this trade, they would be leveraging almost their entire draft capital through 2028, but at the same time, they would be adding one of the best pure talents in the entire league.
Should the picks in this trade convey when they are supposed to, Minnesota would be left with first-round picks in 2022, 2023, 2025 (from the swap) and 2027 (assuming 2026 gets traded).
The Minnesota Timberwolves are a young team right now that has been rebuilding for years, which is why it may not seem like a good idea to trade so much draft capital away, but at the same time, this team is in a position to take a huge step this season.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell have helped the Timberwolves have one of the highest scoring trios in the entire NBA this season, as the three All-Star-like players have combined to average 65.2 points per game, more than 57% of the team’s total scoring output on the year.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard Growing ‘Frustrated’ With Trail Blazers’ Play
By substituting Lillard in for Russell in this elite-level trio, the Timberwolves would not only have a better scoring trio, but arguably the best “Big 3” in the entire league.
Trying to stop Damian Lillard and Karl-Anthony Towns would be impossible and with a young, athletic and dynamic player in Anthony Edwards next to them, the Minnesota Timberwolves would be an elite-level offensive team.
This trade from Portland’s standpoint would signal a rebuild and they would have some really solid pieces to begin building the next chapter of their franchise’s history with. While he has been tossed around from team-to-team the last few seasons, D’Angelo Russell is still only 25-years-old and what many tend to forget is that he was an All-Star during the 2018-19 season.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard Growing ‘Frustrated’ With Trail Blazers’ Play
What happens with McCollum would be a mystery, but the Portland Trail Blazers would have a young backcourt duo of Russell and Anfernee Simons, plus they would still have Norman Powell on the wing and be getting a veteran in Taurean Prince who can hold his own this season and then open up cap space for Portland in the offseason since he is in the final year of his contract.
The Trail Blazers have very little resources when it comes to building for the future right now and this trade would give them an abundance of draft picks to find success moving forward in an era without both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
