Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers bottomed out during the 2021-22 season to set themselves up as well as possible to make some major changes this offseason. They already made one big acquisition, acquiring Jerami Grant from the Detroit Pistons ahead of the 2022 NBA Draft.
That was just the first step in building the roster back up, as there is still some work to be done. Armed with some more assets, the Trail Blazers should make a push to add Durant, who would combine with Damian Lillard in Portland to be arguably the best duo in the NBA.
Having Grant as a third option is very strong and the team is expected to re-sign Jusuf Nurkic as well. Add Josh Hart as the last member of that starting five and the Portland Trail Blazers have something cooking.
Anfernee Simons is expected to re-sign with the Trail Blazers as well, but he could be used as part of a sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets to land Durant. Only 23 years old, Simons is the exact kind of player the Nets should be targeting in a return package as he showcased at the end of last season what he is capable of when given the reins of the offense.
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The Portland Trail Blazers can offer Brooklyn a combination of some young players, a little bit of draft capital and cap space. Cap space is gold for a rebuilding team, especially one bereft of draft capital as the Nets because they can absorb contracts other teams don’t want with picks being the incentive.
