The Trail Blazers are expected to aggressively pursue an additional star-level player to put alongside Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
Kyler writes that Portland may be a dark horse in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes. The team has a bounty of players on mid-sized deals and the franchise owns all of its future first-rounders.
It’s unclear what exactly the Pelicans are looking for potential trades but I’d speculate that Jusuf Nurkic would certainly be in any Blazers’ deal for Davis. Nurkic re-signed with the team on a four-year. $48MM deal and with the big man thriving this season, his team-friendly contract makes him an attractive trade chip.
Nurkic, Harkless, Swanigan, Simons, Collins, 2019 and 2020 1st
And have who, exactly, left on the bench?!
Plus Hornets are at 15 players on the roster, would have to take a few back as well
Unless they have extra first rounders, that violates the Stepien Rule
Other than Collins that a group of crap
Nurkic, Turner, 4 1sts?
They should go after Harrison Barnes he’s not a superstar but he’ll be a reliable third option and a massive upgrade over the sf combination they have now.
And they could probably get him for turner and a first
I don’t have much faith in olshey actually going after AD. Maybe Gasol but he doesn’t have the assets for a AD deal
gasol makes more sense
I don’t know if they have the young assets to get a deal done for Davis. I could see them trying to pick up Randle or Mirotic as an upgrade at PF though
I agree. Randle would be perfect for that team too.
AD in Portland would be the best thing for the league. Feel like they can’t compete packagewise but Nurkic, McCollum, and a Pick or 2 for AD and like Miller, Moore, Randle or Mirotic for salary sounds alright to me if Lakers or Celtics low ball them.
They are trying to get a 3rd star, not trade McCollum for one.
I swear some people just do not read these articles lol
I’m simply prefacing a scenario in which AD could go to Portland. I can’t see it happening otherwise because another team would definitely beat out any other Blazer offer. It’s also not far fetched as the Blazers have been known to shop McCollumn in the past.
I swear people do not understand how these trades work. Kawhi for DeRozan is an outlier. Toronto went from a Top-30 player to a Top-3 and had no tradable assets and likely weren’t keen on giving up multi-year 1st rounders.
Lillard and McCollum will Not be part of the deal.
Giannis wont be part of a Bucks deal.
Simmons and Embiid won’t be part of a Sixers deal.
Jokic or Murray wont be part of a Nuggets deal.
Lakers will make anyone but LBJ available for AD.
The only teams that would trade their best player or 2nd best player are ones where that guy is questionable. Aaron Gordon would 100% be on the table. Drummond. Clippers would trade Harris or Gallinari. etc..
Best believe McCollum would be moved in the right deal. He’s not a franchise guy, and it’s clearly a tier below a lot of other #2 guys. His skillset is far less valuable when he’s in a backcourt with someone who is better than him in all facets.
Why is it an outlier though? I feel you have a identical situation in Portand. McCollum is comparable skills and value wise to Derozen and Portland like Toronto have no young assets to nab a to 5 player.
Dynamite Adams has it exactly right. Davis is the kind of player you trade CJ for.
Lmao this makes no sense lakers offer would be much better than anything portland could offer….
Ball kuzma and ingram are very overrated lmao. Unless lakers are throwing like 4 picks prob not
Bet Pels GM Demps would like to freeze the Lakers.
Yeah I don’t see how they’d beat other offers without offering all four first round picks (plus first swaps every other year in between) in addition to Nurkic/Collins, Harkless and Simons.
Swaps are ulesless. Portland would be a contender and NO would have top picks every year. Four late first round picks isn’t that valuable to a rebuilding team.
It does say that Portland wants another star, so CJ would not be included.
Gasol makes no sense to me, I don’t see how he’s a true upgrade over Nurk now. 3,4 years ago, sure, but I don’t see how he moves the needle today.
As it has been forever, Lakers youth is being overrated. Ball has big red flags, and Ingram is a poor man’s Derozan.
If they’re not putting McCollum on the table, then they’re not “aggressively pursuing”.
Another asset a team can offer is to take Solomon Hill. Davis & Hill = $37.686MM. 125% + or – is $30.15 to $47.1MM. Mccollum makes $25.76, Nurkic $11.11, Jake Layman $1.5.
Exactly McCollum is literally the only way they bring AD in and it’s going to take more than just him, he is the start of a package. Now I believe they could get Gasol fairly easily, and I actually think he would be a solid upgrade for a couple years with his award winning defense.