Portland Trail Blazers
If the Portland Trail Blazers don’t end up making a move for a star early on during the offseason, there’s a non-zero chance that Damian Lillard could end up asking for a trade away from the franchise. Or at least that seems to be what the scenario is for the Blazers heading into the summer. Whether that ends up being true or not remains to be seen, but I think it’s fairly safe to say that the Blazers are going to at least pursue a move for a big name.
And if Deandre Ayton is available, the Blazers should at least sniff around to see if a deal is feasible. I wonder if a package that includes Jusuf Nurkic, a couple of fillers, and a protected future first-round pick would be enough. It’s difficult to gauge Nurkic’s trade value at the moment but perhaps the Suns would rather prefer him at this point. Kevin Knox and Nassir Little are two other pieces that could perhaps be rotation players for the team next season. At the very least, they’d be out from under Ayton’s big salary number.
The Blazers have to make a move this offseason. And a trio of Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, and Ayton could be interesting next season.