Portland Trail Blazers open trade season with head-scratching move
Chris Phillips
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What is going on? The Portland Trail Blazers made a deal before the NBA trade deadline, and it’s a head-scratcher.
The Portland Trail Blazers made a deal before the upcoming NBA trade deadline. They traded away Robert Convington and Norman Powell to the Los Angeles Clippers for swingman Justise Winslow, combo guard Eric Bledsoe, G-League shooting guard Keon Johnson, and a 2025 second round draft pick (Detroit). This deal by itself sends varied signals to the rest of the league. The Clippers are gearing up for a playoff run, while the Portland Trail Blazers are in sell mode.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported the deal. He went on to say he believes both teams will make more moves. For the sake of Portland Trail Blazers fans, let’s hope so. Both Bledsoe and Winslow are on expiring contracts after the 2023 season. So, it’s not like the Blazers gained a huge amount of cap space or even freed up a starting spot that some of their younger players can compete for. Talking about you, Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little.
The Clippers are trading Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson and future second-round pick to the Trail Blazers for Norman Powell and Robert Covington, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 4, 2022
The Portland Trail Blazers dealt away the best player in the deal, Powell, for a couple of role players. And let’s be honest, Winslow and Bledsoe aren’t better than some of the current bench players on the Blazers.
Hard to understand
I have to ask one more time, what’s going on!? Interim GM Joe Cronin recently told Rip City fans to view the trade deadline action as a “big picture.” This trade makes it really hard to subscribe to the Bob Ross style of painting, “There are no mistakes. Only happy accidents.”
As of now, the projected starting lineup, when healthy, is Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, Larry Nance Jr., and who? Simons? Winslow? Bledsoe? That can’t be a lineup that gets Portland Trail Blazers fans excited. I’m also willing to bet that if this is Portland’s only trade, it definitely doesn’t make Lillard any happier either. Be on the lookout for some cryptic tweets.
So, again this deal is currently perplexing in and of itself. There has to be another deal or two that clears up this current muddy picture. As of now, it’s hard to see the “picture” Cronin is creating. However, that can be the case with any form of art if you view it at a certain stage or aren’t made privy to what the artist is making. The first domino for the Portland Trail Blazers has fallen. Now it’s time to see what the next one is.
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What do you think of the first post-Neil Olshey trade from the Portland Trail Blazers? Let us know in the comments below.