NBA Trade Rumors: 3 landing spots for OG Anunoby

OG Anunoby team #2: Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers have been one of the most talked-about teams in the offseason, looking to improve its roster aggressively to build around star point guard Damian Lillard. They made tons of moves at the trade deadline in an attempt to create cap space for this free-agent class, moving on from players such as CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, and Robert Covington.

In trading McCollum to the Pelicans, Portland created a traded-player exception worth just over $20 million – a number that Anunoby would fit into perfectly. An Anunoby-#7 overall pick swap makes some sense for both sides, especially if OG is unhappy with his situation.

Toronto and Masai Ujiri have a history of drafting and developing talent extremely well, most notably selecting Scottie Barnes with the #4 pick over consensus selection Jalen Suggs just last year. If the Raptors are sitting on draft night and like someone who’s still available at number seven, don’t be surprised if they pull the trigger.

On a new Trail Blazers team, Anunoby would succeed in helping hide Portland’s small backcourt on the defensive side of the ball. Lillard and the emergence of Anfernee Simons have to play together and are both negative defenders. Anunoby can act as a better Robert Covington, as one of the best on-ball defenders in the entire association.

A potential lineup of Dame, Simons, Josh Hart, OG, and either Jusuf Nurkic or another center acquired in free agency would be a competitive lineup that could compete in the playoff picture.