Covington, McCollum Being Pursued In Portland
Damian Lillard could very well be shut down for the remainder of the season after having abdominal surgery and with the Trail Blazers dealing with a lot of other injuries to key secondary talents, many across the NBA are expecting interim GM Joe Cronin to pursue some moves that could result in the “interim” title being lifted from his name in Portland.
Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little have emerged as two young, high-level talents on this Blazers’ roster, but Little is now out for the season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, after suffering labral tear in his left shoulder.
At this point, rebuilding seems like one of the only options that has been presented to the Trail Blazers. With no cap space and no valuable draft picks, it does seem like the Blazers are willing to talk trades regarding everyone on their roster but Damian Lillard.
CJ McCollum remains the key trade asset on the Trail Blazers roster, but they have yet to receive offers from around the league that would highly interest them in moving their veteran shooting guard.
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Sources have told NBA Analysis Network that the Trail Blazers are open to trade talks surrounding Jusuf Nurkic, Robert Covington and Norman Powell, who recently signed a five-year, $90M deal with the Blazers in the offseason.
Since joining the Portland Trail Blazers at the trade deadline last season, Norman Powell has averaged 17.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and has shot 37.9% from three-point range, making him a really solid third option next to Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum for this team.
The Blazers are not actively looking to trade Powell at the moment, but with their position in the Western Conference right now and the fact that Damian Lillard could be done for the season, now is the best time for the Blazers to try and rebuild.
The same mindset applies to moving Nurkic and Covington ahead of the trade deadline, but they are both in the final year of their respective contracts. There is more interest around the league in Robert Covington than Jusuf Nurkic given his “3-and-D” mindset either on the wing or in the frontcourt, however, Nurkic’s recent play has really caught the attention of teams looking to upgrade talent at the center position.
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The Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks are two teams that have been searching for stability in the frontcourt dating back to the offseason and should the Pacers wind up moving Myles Turner, they too could possibly show some level of interest in Jusuf Nurkic for the rest of the season.
The Trail Blazers are at the center of attention this season in trade talks and it should not be surprising to see them “sell” a couple of players ahead of the trade deadline. They would need to receive a really strong offer of multiple first-round picks and young talents in order to trade CJ McCollum, but all of the Trail Blazers’ cards are on the table at this point and they know that it is time to reevaluate their future.
