Portland Trail Blazers
Seeing the Trail Blazers on this list may come as a surprise to some, but this is a team that desperately needs some help. Injuries have plagued this team over the years, especially in their frontcourt and this season nothing has changed.
Zach Collins underwent ankle surgery again and is out indefinitely, as he may not return during the regular season, Jusef Nurkic suffered a broken wrist a few games back and will miss about 8 weeks, and Robert Covington has dealt with some injuries on-and-off and is now in concussion protocol.
Not to mention, Damian Lillard’s “right-hand-man” C.J. McCollum is out with a broken foot and will not return to play until late-February at the earliest. For a team that was picked to contend with the Lakers for the top spot in the West, the Blazers are just 9-7 and could really use a reliable center moving forward.
When healthy, Jusef Nurkic is great, but that is the thing… he is rarely fully healthy. He played in just 8 games last year after suffering a gruesome leg injury in 2019 and has played in just 12 games so far this year before breaking his wrist.
Cutting ties with Nurkic and getting Andre Drummond would be a massive upgrade for the Trail Blazers and give them a monster of a frontcourt player, something they have not really had with Dame and McCollum.
The Trail Blazers currently ranks 19th in the league in rebounding and are dead-last in points in the paint this season. The addition of Drummond in the frontcourt would definitely make Portland’s all-around offense better, but it would also give them that third reliable option they need.
Carmelo Anthony has stepped up in that role for the Trail Blazers at times, but this late in his career, he is not the “security blanket” he once was and is nothing more than a role player at this point. With the talent the Blazers have on their roster and with the possible addition of Andre Drummond, there is no reason why this team would not be in title contention.
