Damian Lillard to Minnesota Timberwolves
An idea that was floated by Bill Simmons is something that I had to include and discuss. It comes with one big caveat – it’s that the Portland Trail Blazers have to be open to the idea of acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns in lieu of multiple future first-round picks. Quite frankly, I’m not sure that’s a deal or structure of a deal that the Blazers would want to jump at. The idea behind a rebuild is trying to give yourself the best and most possible chances at landing special talent. It’s more of a volume game; thus, the desire for multiple first-round picks. This deal doesn’t give the Blazers that opportunity.
Nevertheless, you can also see how adding a proven player like KAT could also be intriguing for the Blazers with a young core of Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe already in place. Not to mention Jerami Grant, who’d be a great fit with KAT, as well. The Blazers would also get an intriguing young talent in Leonard Miller in this deal. The Wolves could throw in a couple of second-round picks but have no tradable first-round picks to include.
This is an interesting structure and while I’m not sure the Blazers would be interested, it’s certainly something they could consider. For the Wolves, they’d create the best backcourt duo in the NBA with Lillard and Anthony Edwards, while also still having Rudy Gobert to handle the frontcourt.