Grading the Portland Trail Blazers’ Return
On the other side of things, the Portland Trail Blazers may have been taken advantage of a little bit in this deal. They are definitely not getting fair value for Robert Covington and Norman Powell given their effectiveness on the floor compared to what they got back from the LA Clippers, but they probably were not going to get “face value” for Powell and Covington at the deadline this season.
The Trail Blazers overall value has decreased this season and teams across the NBA knew that interim GM Joe Cronin was going to be looking to get this team under the tax line this year. Not to mention, the Blazers also have been impressed with the emergence of fourth-year guard Anfernee Simons and are prepared to extend him on a long-term deal in the offseason.
As much as they would have liked to get a first-round pick for either player they sent to Los Angeles, this will actually turn out to be a good trade long-term for the Portland Trail Blazers. It should allow them to continue growing with Anfernee Simons, as well as open up the opportunity for the Trail Blazers to add another high-level talent next to Lillard and McCollum next season.
Keon Johnson is a young, athletic guard that the team can continue to develop and mold how they would like and while Eric Bledsoe is under contract next season, his contract is only partially-guaranteed for $3.9 million, allowing Portland to possibly waive him in the offseason with a very small cap hit penalty.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Clippers Pull Off Big Trade With Blazers For Powell, Covington
From the looks of things, it does appear that Portland has turned Gary Trent Jr. and two first-round picks into Eric Bledsoe and a second-round pick over the last year or so, but the team gets out of paying Powell long-term, they add a future asset in Johnson and Portland creates a $6.5M trade exception for themselves that will be good for a whole year.
This really is not as bad of a trade as it may seem for the Portland Trail Blazers, but they definitely did not make out as well as the LA Clippers in this trade. We are probably looking at a solid B-grade for the Blazers in this trade.
