Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Portland Trail Blazers
As mentioned before, while CJ McCollum has been great over the years, he will never be an NBA All-Star next to Lillard 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 a solid role player in Al Horford and multiple first-round picks in 2021 could be very beneficial as this team looks to contend moving forward.
Besides Jusef Nurkic, the Portland Trail Blazers have virtually no depth in their frontcourt and with Nurkic now being out indefinitely with a broken wrist, Horford could be a big time addition to this team. Sure, losing McCollum’s scoring production definitely hurts, but this team has some valuable wing players who could take on bigger roles and see an uptick in production.
Robert Covington, Derrick Jones Jr., and Gary Trent Jr. are all talented players who have the potential to be great offensive players, but with Dame and CJ controlling things on the offensive end of the court, these guys do not get many opportunities to showcase what they can do. Opening up this offense a little more and numerous double-digit scorers could be what Portland needs to be a better overall team in the Western Conference. They also have a guy named Carmelo Anthony who is more than capable of stepping up and being Damian Lillard’s “right-hand man.”
The best part of this trade for Portland though are the two draft picks in next year’s draft they get. As it looks right now, the Golden State pick will likely fall anywhere from 10-20 and Oklahoma City’s pick could very well end up in the lottery. This could give Portland two potential lottery picks in the 2021 NBA Draft, giving them the ability to either draft two very skilled young players to build with moving forward, or the ability to pull off another blockbuster trade.
The Blazers could potentially move C.J. McCollum to bring in one or two other high-level talents to pair with Damian Lillard, especially given that they would have two first-round picks in 2021. Luguentz Dort is also a really solid young player Portland could feel comfortable pairing with Lillard on the court.
Both Dort and Gary Trent Jr. are similar two-way minded players and with them both being young players with a lot of potential, Portland could end up being one of the younger and better teams in the league, especially with Lillard still calling the shots.
It may not seem ideal to trade away CJ McCollum, but Portland needs to be asking themselves if they truly have a chance to win a title with Lillard and McCollum together and if the answer is no, they need to try and acquire as many young assets and draft picks as they can. A team like the OKC Thunder would certainly be an ideal trade partner.
