Portland Trail Blazers

Earlier in the offseason, the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks were rumored trade partners. Portland was dangling the No. 7 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft in trade talks and the Hawks were one of the teams linked to them.

Ultimately, the Trail Blazers held onto the selection and used it to pick Shaedon Sharpe. While that asset is no longer going to be used as a trade piece, the two teams could still re-engage in trade negotiations.

Portland has done a good job revamping their roster this offseason. They acquired Jerami Grant in a trade from the Detroit Pistons and signed Gary Payton II away from the Golden State Warriors.

Jusuf Nurkic and Anfernee Simons were re-signed as well, giving them a solid core for Chauncey Billups to rely on this upcoming season.

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But, depth could be an issue at a few spots. One of those spots could be the frontcourt, as the team will be relying heavily on Nurkic and Grant to do the heavy lifting. To take a little pressure off of them, they could look to bring John Collins aboard again.

Collins would provide some versatility in the Portland Trail Blazers’ frontcourt, as he could also soak up minutes at the center spot, where Drew Eubanks is the only backup on the roster to Nurkic.

Pushing Grant to the small forward spot would help strengthen the bench as well as some combination of Josh Hart, Simons and Payton would be leading the second unit.

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The Wake Forest product has experience playing off of a ball-dominant star, so it should be a seamless fit playing alongside Damian Lillard. The Portland Trail Blazers are improved but they are not yet contenders. Acquiring Collins would get them closer and help set the foundation for the future as well.