The Portland Trail Blazers find themselves in a tough spot after their star player, Damian Lillard, asked to be traded. For years, they have tried to build around their best player but have been unsuccessful in building a championship contender. Now they are forced to make trade offers to the best player in their franchise history. While it seems clear that Lillard would prefer to join the Miami Heat, they have fewer commercial assets than many other interested teams, which complicates matters.
After all, the Blazers don’t seem interested in taking less just to please Lillard. Additionally, with at least three years remaining on his contract, he may be relatively powerless to prevent a trade to another team. That would open up opportunities for teams like San Antonio, Toronto and Brooklyn to try to get Lillard. In fact, both San Antonio and Brooklyn have been linked to Lillard, but the proposed deal would send Lillard to the Nets.
What would the Nets-Blazers deal look like?
Get the Trail Blazers
Ben Simmons
Nick Claxton
Royce O’Neill
3 picks from the first round
Nets Get
Damien Lillard
Joseph Nurkic
After selecting Scoot Henderson third in this year’s draft, and Shaedon Sharpe seventh overall in 2022, the Blazers are already in a surprisingly good position to rebuild. That makes the aforementioned proposed deal with the Nets even better for the Blazers.
After all, in addition to the move from Lillard, they’ll also be out from the contract of starting center Jusuf Nurkic. That would allow them to clear their books, apart from Anfernee Simons and his cheap contract and having just re-signed Jeremi Grant to a 5-year, $160 million deal.
Ridding themselves of bad contracts, including those of Lillard and Nurkic, would be a big first step for the Blazers, though they would handle the Simmons deal. That would be a small price to pay for three first-round draft picks and Claxton, who was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate last year at just 24 years old.
There’s also the possibility that Simmons could thrive in a smaller market, though that may not be all that realistic at this point. Fortunately, he only has two seasons left and he’ll have a huge contract expiring after next year. Plus, O’Neale could also be a business asset for the Blazers, potentially allowing them more selections.
The default starting lineup of Henderson, Simmons, Grant, Simmons and Claxton would be an entertaining, if flawed, lineup. That will be important because, while it could make them competitive, not so much that it would cause them to miss out on another high pick in the 2024 NBA draft.
For the Nets, they were going to transfer some of the assets received in the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving deals to Lillard. Returning to the realm of superstars after a brief flop with Durant, Irving, Harden, and later Simmons might seem risky for the Nets, but they already have Mikal Bridges.
He took a huge step forward after being traded from Phoenix to Brooklyn and could be an ideal co-star for Lillard due to his two-way ability. Plus, they’ll still have many assets left over from the Durant and Irving deals, allowing them to build more around Lillard and Bridges after the trade.
Ultimately, the Blazers could field stickers to try and get more from Miami, but aside from moving Tyler Herro to another team for more assets, they can only offer so much. This means another team can swoop in and get him at the last minute, including the net.
- Posted on 04/07/2023 at 12:00 PM
- Last updated on 04/07/2023 at 12:00 PM