Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Portland Trail Blazers

As mentioned before, while CJ McCollum has been great over the years, he is not an All-Star level talent and is nothing more than “Robin” to Lillard’s “Batman.” While he is great at being the “No. 2 guy” for the Trail Blazers, being able to get Victor Oladipo and Myles Turner, two guys who have All-Star level talent, could be very beneficial as this team looks to contend moving forward. 

Over the course of his career, Victor Oladipo has proven to be an elite level scorer and defender, but he does have some big question marks about his injury history. In 2018, Victor Oladipo suffered a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee and after 371 days, finally was able to play again last season in January. 

After coming back and slowly easing his way back into things, Victor Oladipo looked like the Oladipo of old in the NBA Bubble. If Oladipo can stay healthy, he can be better for Portland than McCollum was and the addition of Myles Turner also helps tremendously. 

Besides Jusef Nurkic, the Portland Trail Blazers have virtually no depth in their frontcourt and adding a defensive superstar like Myles Turner could go a long way in their efforts to win a championship. Frontcourt depth hurt the Trail Blazers in the playoffs last year as Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside were the only healthy big men on the roster. 

In order for this team to take down a big team like the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, they will need to add a player like Myles Turner who can match up with and defend Anthony Davis. 

Not to mention, getting a first-round pick in next year’s draft could end up being extremely beneficial to the Trail Blazers as they look to bring in some young pieces to sustain the success of this franchise in the future.