NBA Trade Rumors: The Portland Trail Blazers are open to moving Josh Hart and Jusuf Nurkic ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline.
After a somewhat surprising quick start to the season, the Portland Trail Blazers have struggled as of late. And their recent struggles have left many to question what may lie ahead for this franchise.
And it could add an interesting wrinkle to what is already expected to be an active next couple of weeks in the trade rumor mill. The Blazers may need a roster shake-up and they may not wait until the offseason to make it happen. And there are two players on the Blazers to keep an eye on.
According to a recent report, as the NBA Trade Deadline quickly approaches, the Blazers are increasingly open to moving Jusuf Nurkic and/or Josh Hart. Two players that could emerge as interesting trade candidates in the next couple of weeks.
The Portland Trail Blazers likely need another retooling around Damian Lillard
Even if the Blazers plan on re-signing Jerami Grant, who will be a free agent after this season, which this report indicates, it’s clear that the team needs to reshuffle some of the roster around Lillard and Grant.
Over the last few weeks, the Blazers have fallen off quite a bit in the Western Conference standings. They’re currently outside the top 10 and it seems more and more unlikely that the team is going to be able to climb into the playoffs this season. Even less so if they trade Hard and/or Nurkic.
It seems that heading into the offseason, this is a team that needs to restructure the team in an attempt to find the right mixture that could produce a contender. While there are many that are bullish on the idea that the Blazers could emerge as a contender in the next 2-3 seasons, this is a front office that is going to try.
Until, of course, the Lillard window closes. It’s the least that they can do in response to the loyalty that Lillard has shown the team in the last few seasons.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what the Blazers ultimately decide to do at the NBA Trade Deadline and moving forward. The deadline will likely give us a strong impression of what we can expect from the team during the offseason.