Trail Blazers forward Robert Covington is drawing trade interest from the Jazz, league sources tell veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein.
Utah, known to be on the lookout for a defensive upgrade on the wing, has been linked to Jerami Grant, who is the team’s “preferred target,” according to Stein. However, the Pistons aren’t expected to be interested in a Jazz offer consisting of Joe Ingles‘ expiring contract and a future first-round pick.
Like Grant, Covington is a solid, versatile defender with the size to match up against bigger wings and forwards, but he’s not a dynamic offensive player and he’s in the final year of his contract with the Blazers, so he’s unlikely to cost as much in a trade as Grant would.
That makes Covington a more realistic target for the Jazz, whose trade assets are limited — they don’t really have the sort of promising young prospects who would generate major trade interest, and they’ve already parted with a pair of future first-round picks. Their conditional 2026 first-rounder is the earliest one they could put on the table.
Since arriving in Portland, Covington is averaging just 8.2 PPG in 113 games (30.9 MPG), which would be his lowest scoring average since his rookie year in 2013/14. He’s still contributing in plenty of other ways though, knocking down 37.1% of his threes, grabbing 6.2 rebounds per game, and providing 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per contest.
Covington is expected to be on the trade block in the coming weeks, since the 20-26 Blazers – who will be without Damian Lillard for at least several more weeks – are motivated to shake up their roster and will perhaps try to sneak below the luxury tax line. For what it’s worth, any swap involving only Covington, Ingles, and draft assets wouldn’t get them closer to that second goal, since Ingles’ cap hit ($13.04MM) is slightly higher than Covington’s ($12.98MM).
Bulls should get involved and trade DJJ, and a second or two, and use their exception to take on Ingles…
That’s if the Bulls cannot just acquire Covington themselves by possibly offering the Blazers own 1st Rounder back and DJJ..
Either way, Bulls need another 4, they cannot continue having a black hole at the 4 spot, being filled by primarily G-leaguers..Quality ones, but still they’re getting BARELY ANY production from their starting 4 and their backup bigs…!!!
Ummmmmm, RoCo is not worth one of the bulls only 1sts and DJJ. More Like Tony Bradley and a second
Blazers pick is top 15 protected … Bulls should go @ Nets for Milsapp or @Toronto for Boucher
Please explain to me why the Blazers would trade Covington’s expiring contract for DJJ who we traded to Chicago???
Trade value
Covington = Joe Ingles + 16th pick from 2022
Horton Tucker is the next big thing
Blazers would demand 2027 Lakers First + salary matching Tucker
How does Covington equal Ingles and a 1st. Ingles is a little off on 3’s this year but normally a better shooter, better playmaker and slightly worse defender. If anything they’d be a wash. If you trade Ingles for RoCo it would also cause a hole in the rotation and mess with continuity. A protected 1st would be more than enough for RoCo.
Well you need salary matching which is why Ingles would be included. Can’t trade just a pick for RoCo otherwise Blazers would do that in a heartbeat if they didnt have to take on Ingles salary for rest of year.
I know about salary matching, I just don’t think RoCo would be an upgrade over Ingles. Clarkson, a protected 1st for RoCo and a 2nd.
RoCo is an expiring contract. Portland would trade him for an asset, not someone who makes the same amount as him and has 2 additional years on contract. So they may look at trading for Ingles since he’s coming off books too and a draft asset. They wouldnt be trading for Ingles to actually help them win games. Portland trading RoCo and Nurkic is an effort to get below the luxury line and try to get a asset in return. Clarkson keeps them above the luxury and handicaps them the next two years.
CHI isn’t looking for a PF. That’s the only spot where DDR can match up defensively, and that’s pretty much how they planned to align (even when PW was healthy) and how they have ended up aligning.
Guys like Grant or even Covington can help due to their flexibility defensively, but that’s as much to cover bigger wings and as match up at the big spots.