NBA Offseason Grades: 76ers, Thunder soar; Lakers, Heat get failing marks

Portland Trail Blazers

Grade: C+

To be perfectly honest, I didn't love what the Portland Trail Blazers did this offseason. To open the summer, the Blazers traded Malcolm Brogdon to the Washington Wizards for Deni Avdija. It's not a bad trade but it does leave much to be desired. But that wasn't the biggest issue I had with the Blazers. It was when they selected Donovan Clingan with their No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Taking Clingan with that high of a pick when they already have Deandre Ayton seemed odd. Either they feel Clingan was too good to pass up at No. 7 or they're already checked out on the Ayton experience.

Considering this was a "down" year for the NBA Draft, I can't imagine the answer to that is the former. That means, there's a good chance the Blazers have already come to the realization that making Ayton one of the primary parts of the Damian Lillard trade was a mistake.

In addition to the odd move of taking Clingan in the NBA Draft, the Blazers still have Jerami Grant on the roster and need to desperately find a resolution on that front soon. It's almost as if Portland sat on its hands all offseason long. And this is not a team that had that luxury heading into the summer.