Portland Trail Blazers: 4 good trades Neil Olshey can make before the deadline
Chip Clark
Trade: 3-way between Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Portland gets C Andre Drummond (Cle. 1-yr, $28.7M) and PG Matthew Dellavedova (Cle, 1-yr, $2.1M)
Houston gets PF Zach Collins (Por, 1-yr, $5.4M), G/F Rodney Hood (Por, 2-yrs, $10M)
Cleveland gets C Jusuf Nurkic (Por, 2-yrs, 12.8M), PF P.J. Tucker (Hou, 1yr, $7.9M), SF Danuel House (Hou, 2yrs, $3.7M)
What’s in it for Portland
The Portland Trail Blazers trade for one of the most fierce rebounders in the NBA and a 17+ points-per-game scorer, Andre Drummond. It’s a risk because he’s a pending restricted free agent, but Drummond could put Portland over the top. Dellavadova gets bought out.
What’s in it for Cleveland
The Cavs get rid of a guy who desperately wants to leave without getting hosed by the return. Nurkic has another year on his contract after this one. So Cleveland buys time to find or draft their next center.
Tucker and House don’t amount to much, but Tucker should pick up a little bit of the slack in the rebounding column. House, like, Dellavadova is a throw-in to make the deal work. He’s easily dealt or bought out next year.
What’s in it for Houston
In a word, space. Let’s face it; the Rockets aren’t giving up anything worth value for an outside shot at someone who may have value. Houston is a rebuilding team. Hood’s contract isn’t guaranteed for 2021-22. That’s $10M off the top. The Rockets also get to audition Collins. If they like him, he should be easy to resign on a team-friendly contract. If not, he’s gone, and the Rockets have more space. It’s a win/win.