Portland Trail Blazers.
With the NBA Draft lottery finally in the rearview mirror and the Portland Trail Blazers landing with the third overall pick, I’m gonna throw out a few wild ideas as to what Portland could and should do with that pick.
Before making any trade suggestions, let’s go over a few rules. Ones aside from NBA general managers aren’t suckers. Then we can move on to potential deals.
Rule #1- Both teams must gain positional value in a trade
I see quite a few trade ideas where teams often send a player to a team that already has good talent at that position. An example would be trade ideas that send a player like Zach Lavine to Portland when the Blazers already have Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe battling for minutes at shooting guard.
Simons and Sharpe are also much cheaper options than Levine. Trade ideas like this make little sense.
Rule #2- Expect to outbid other teams’ offers
I often see Portland Trail Blazers trade ideas from fans that scheme the most “fair offer” possible. “Fair offers” go out the window when seeking a highly coveted, now-available player. The goal is no longer to provide the fairest offer, it becomes whether or not you can outbid all rival teams’ fair offers.
An example might be Mikal Bridges, for the #3 pick, which might sound fair on the surface to Portland Trail Blazers fans. If another team offers the Nets, say, the 4th pick, along with other assets… like two future 1st round picks.. that 3rd overall pick doesn’t look like the best offer presented anymore.
Other teams will be making bids for the same players Portland might be trying to nab. Those front offices, media, and fanbases are having the same conversations about their teams that are going in Rip City right now.
Portland has to not only contend with the value being sent back for whatever team they are trading with, but they need to one-up their opponents. The Blazers wouldn’t take back less value if more was offered. Why would we expect the opposite to happen?
Rule #3 – Realize that there is a reason a player is on the trading block
NBA fans often like to exaggerate the value and upside of a player when trying to pawn them off on another team. Some will even scoff at trading for a player who is now available from their current team due to a bad fit, a bad playoff series, or an expensive or risky expiring contract.
Players are available for a reason. Fans sound like used car salesmen when trying to sell you their overpriced player while simultaneously explaining to you why you’re player trade-in has low to zero value.
Now that my mini-lecture is over and the rules to consider before presenting trades, we can start.
Part 1: Pay off Debt
The first idea is to send the pick that the Portland Trail Blazers acquired in the Josh Hart trade from New York (23rd overall) to the Chicago Bulls, to gain back its future pick owed to Chicago. That opens up all future 1st-round pick options to use in potential trades.
Part 2: Trading future picks, starting with a three-team trade
The Portland Blazers send Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic to Phoenix Suns for Deandre Ayton and Cameron Payne.
Phoenix gets Jusuf Nurkic to take over at starting center and Anfernee Simons to either immediately be Chris Paul‘s replacement, or create valuable depth on a team lacking it.
It’s an overpay for Ayton, but the difference between Ayton and Nurkic is Ayton was the starting center on a finals team in 2021, the team with the best record in all of basketball in 2022. He’s still only 24 years old. A roll of the dice on his potential with a new coach and teammates would be worth it.
Portland then sends their 2023 first round pick (3rd overall), a 2025 first round pick, Cameron Payne, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson, to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby.
The Raptors fill in some of their potential loss of depth if Van Fleet and Trent Jr. walk. With young players and picks, they can build their timeline around Scottie Barnes and the #3 pick.
It’s also an overpay for Anunoby. But adding his defensive impact to the Portland Trai Blazers starting squad of Damian Lillard, Sharpe, Jerami Grant, and Ayton would completely change their team’s defensive abilities overnight while also adding some pop to the offense.
Best of all, the Portland Trail Blazers keep most of its future draft capital for deals down the road.
This three-team trade idea will irritate some Rip City fans who want to scream that the Blazers are making huge overpayments. Ayton looked horrible against Jokic in these recent playoffs. But that’s why he’s available.
They forget that two years ago in the playoffs, then 22-year-old Ayton did a pretty solid job against Jokic. Phoenix swept Denver, the same Nuggets team that beat the Portland Trail Blazers in Round 1.
I’d also argue that overpaying for Anunoby brings in the best perimeter defender this team has seen this century. He’s the closest thing to a Draymond Green-like enforcer on defense.
Like Ayton, Anunoby is also young at 25 years old. Both players have also made long playoff runs in the past. OG has an NBA Championship ring as a bench player for Toronto, and Ayton has been to the finals.
Of course, I’d prefer to have Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid, but not only are they very unlikely to be available, but the Portland Trail Blazers would be forced to cash out Shaedon Sharpe. He’s the emergency backup plan if everything blows up and Dame wants out.
From now through draft night and into free agency, Portland Trail Blazers fans will be flooded with absurd and irrational trade ideas. Before jumping on it, they should keep my three rules above in mind when considering them.
Think long and hard about where the team’s direction should go if they completely strike out on everybody in the next few months while trying to seek out “fair” trades.
Thanks for reading, and tell us what you think the Portland Trail Blazers should do with the #3 pick.