How This Trade Impacts Portland Trail Blazers

This is a big offseason for the Portland Trail Blazers. They have committed to rebuilding around a soon-to-be 32-year-old point guard in Damian Lillard, who played in only 29 games last season.

Some would suggest the Trail Blazers pull the plug on him and go into a complete rebuild, but that isn’t the path they seem like they will travel.

So, with that in mind, Portland swings a pretty big trade with the Indiana Pacers in this hypothetical. Trading the No. 7 overall pick is a must in this retooling, as it can bring in veterans to play alongside Lillard to start winning some games.

Myles Turner is an excellent fit and fills a huge need if Jusuf Nurkic decides to sign elsewhere in free agency. He will slide into the traded player exception created by the CJ McCollum deal and is a good fit as a floor-spacing big offensively and elite rim protector on defense.

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Malcolm Brogdon is a good fit alongside Lillard and Anfernee Simons, a restricted free agent. But, Brogdon is not a wing player.

Portland tried the three-guard lineup and had varying success. Brogdon is bigger than McCollum and Norman Powell, so it could work a little better, but he doesn’t have the defensive acumen of someone such as Jerami Grant, another player linked to Portland.

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The package can be tweaked, but the biggest takeaway is that the Trail Blazers know they have to use the 7th overall pick to add talent. Doing so for multiple rotation players, such as in this scenario, does make some sense.