The Portland Trail Blazers made their plans for the future clear at the NBA trade deadline. They traded multiple parts of their rotation in CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., Norman Powell, and Robert Covington. Many people thought that was a precursor to Damian Lillard also being moved, but that isn’t in the cards right now.
Instead, the Trail Blazers are planning to rebuild the roster around Lillard this offseason. They could end up with two top-10 selections in the 2022 NBA Draft. Couple that with the salary cap space they created and some sizable upgrades can probably be made.
However, that is an easier said than done plan. Portland has never been a destination for free agents as their best players in recent memory have all been selected via the draft. This year’s free-agent class also isn’t a very strong one.
The biggest draw that the Trail Blazers have is Lillard himself. If they want to create a better roster around him, he will likely have to hit the recruiting trail hard to convince players to team up because this is a roster that needs a lot of help before being considered contenders.
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There is still a chance that Lillard requests a trade himself as well. It would be hard to imagine that he wasn’t involved in the decision-making process ahead of the deadline, but starting from essentially square one isn’t ideal.
Wherever Lillard ends up playing, we could see a totally different player on the court. Lillard had an operation to fix an abdominal issue. It was something he has been dealing with for years and recently admitted that he didn’t know just how seriously injured he was.
We have seen some incredible performances from Lillard in recent seasons as he carried the team to the postseason for eight consecutive years. If he was hampered more than he or anyone was aware of, we could be in store for some truly special performances in the years to come.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: 3 Intriguing Offseason Targets To Get Damian Lillard More Help
This season the injury seemed to be impacting him negatively, as Lillard was in the midst of the worst shooting season of his career. the Portland Trail Blazers, or whichever team trades for him should he ask for it, would be excited to see what a healthy Damian Lillard can do on the court.
