Potential destinations for Dame if our season should falter?

[Village Idiot]

While our team's strategy is ostensibly to be competitive now, pretty much no one believes this team is capable of being better than 3rd or 4th seed (if everything breaks our way) but will most likely be a lower playoff seed or play-in team.

Pre-season is pre-season but its really hard to be optimistic about the success of this team. I am hopeful that this team will play with more defensive effort than Stott's teams but I expect the result to be about the same.

Like many, I do have a lot of optimism for some of the younger guys on the rosters. Ant, Sharpe, Walker, Keon and Nas all are very intriguing young player and there is little doubt that the Blazers have done a great job of drafting and player development compared to a lot of other teams.

The widespread perception is that this year's draft has the best 1-2 since the Oden - Durant draft and both that Wembayama and Scoot are potential super-star level players.

Many on this board feel that a strategy change is in order. Dame's extension certainly complicates this but the salary cap is expected to increase massively soon make his numbers a lot less ominous.

This begs the question: assuming our season goes poorly and we have little hope of making the playoffs, what teams would be good destinations and what could we expect to get in return for Lillard?

Keep in mind that if we make the playoffs during the next three seasons Chicago gets our pick, otherwise it converts to 2 second rounders in 2027.

[Village Idiot]

Atlanta - Trae Young - no
Boston - maybe - they need an alpha
Brooklyn - probably not - they have Kyrie and few assets
Charlotte - probably not - with the Miles Bridges situation and Melo in place
Chicago - could be a great fit - they have our pick but still owe one to Orlando. Ayo, Caruso and Pat Williams all are intriguing
Cleveland - no
Dallas - sure - not sure how two ball-dominant players would coexist but it is intriguing to think about
Denver - yes - Dame and Joker would be awesome together. They have some interesting but injury ridden assets in Murray and MPJ
Detroit - no
Golden State - nope but I guess you could argue that Dame and Stef would be amazing together and they have a few interesting young players and all their picks
Houston - nope
Indiana - nope
Lakers - yes. Westbrook and all their picks has some appeal but I don't think any of us want to see Dame in purple and gold
Clippers - no young assets or pick
Memphis - no
Miami - yes but really only Bam appeals to me
Milwaukee - nothing to offer
Minnesota - maybe but they would have to part with one of Towns, Edwards or McDaniels
New York - sure but they just got Brunson
New Orleans - I guess but the CJ/Dame backcourt has been tried
not-Seattle - nope
Orlando - probably not, too early but lots of intriguing assets
Philadelphia - nope
Phoenix - yes, if CP3 is retiring
Sacramento - yes
San Antonio - nope
Toronto - I like Dame a lot more than FVV so maybe?
Utah - nope, rebuilding
Washington - Sure. Dame and Beal would be cool. Have all their picks and some decent young players

[Brandon-Clyde]

Lakers have only two firsts available and they are 5 and 7 years out and they have nothing else to offer that would entice me to trade Dame.

Denver still owes picks iirc and neither MJP ( currently a negative on his contract with his health) nor Murray ( health and with Simons and Sharpe already on the roster redundant to a certain extent)

[BlazersBroncos]

My hope would be GSW. They have young guys that I like and most of their future picks (I think). I doubt they have interest though.

I was open to salary ballast, Maxey and picks for Dame but the trajectory Maxey is showing makes it unlikely PHI pulls the trigger at this point IMO.

LAL isnt an option as 1) Its LAL and 2) The only picks they could offer are 5 and 7 years out. Not nearly enough.

Really dont see many decent options.

[monopoman]

I just can't see the Blazers giving Dame up, if they were seriously considering it they wouldn't have signed him to that extension. If you are putting out the hypothetical that it happens though, then I think the best would be a team that doesn't have a lot of their 1st round picks already traded out and has a couple nice young players.

No way the Blazers trade Dame away for win-now pieces, if Dame is gone you let Anfernee run the show and then try to build the best team you can. If the Blazers without Dame can snag a few top 5 picks in the next few years all the better. Keep in mind though that Dame was already under a deal that would keep him around until he was 34 over the next two seasons, we didn't need to push that out until he was 36 to make sure teams weren't worried that Dame might leave if they trade for him.

Now plenty of great guards have been valuable pieces at age 35+ but most start really losing aspects of their game as they hit that age.

[m0ng0]

Sadly I think we missed our window and now we are stuck. I will continue to enjoy everything Dame does and always think what could have been when the other teams are in there playoffs

[GEE]

DAME'S ADJUSTMENT... from Stotts to Chauncey. IMHO, This is the real issue more than Dame's abilities, value or tradability. I feel that Dame in a small way, is being payed to figure it out, make the necessary adjustments, and make it work.

[Jsun947]

Our window to do this was early in the offseason. We could have gone the Jazz route, dumped everyone except Simons, Little & Sharpe, traded the Mil 1st to draft Duren instead of Grant, cleared our cap sheet to take back contracts for picks, signed young guys to short term affordable deals, and tanked like a mofo.

We’re now at the point where if we under perform or have bad luck with injuries we just repeat last year. Tank the last half of the season, keep our roster together where it matters, and pray to jump from like #7-#9 to number one. We likely won’t be able to lose enough games at that point to improve our odds enough to catch the worst teams in the NBA.

[GEE]

..... But if the Dame / Simons pairing can't be figured out after a month or two of regular season play, then THIS topic will really heat up.

Again, It's Dame's fit IMO more than his ability, and after taking a long look at that list(thanks V.Idiot), I see plenty of teams that we may be able to get good to great value for. For instance... KAT! Straight-across, player for player. Just imagine that.

Interesting thought just now... Think of all the other team's fans going through exactly what we are going through, with the player evaluation on their own teams. Hmmm. Point is, Dame will still be a monster trade in any form if were to happen, and I would expect a massive upgrade to the 4/5 rotation would be the return. F*** Picks and F*** Tanking! We are loaded 1-3, but just ok IMO 4-5. Any potential Dame trade would massively change that.

[Case2012]

Dame to NYC would make the most sense.

Dame for Barrett, Obi, and Mitchell plus 4 picks. Trade Payton, Nurkic, Grant for 3 more firsts and salary filler.

Ant
Sharpe/Keon
Barrett/Nas
Obi/Watford/Walker
Mitchell/Eubanks

Nice tanking team. Grab wemby or scooter hopefully.

Would never ever happen though, and that's fine with me but it's interesting to think about. Ant, Sharpe, Barrett, Toppin and Wembyama would be exciting to watch. Problem with teams like this is, there's no way you could keep them all. They'd all eventually want max or near max contracts.

[m0ng0]

Just think what could have been with this last draft class and probably next year's. This kind of reminds me of the Russell Wilson trade with the Seahawks...I think we might have missed our window.

[monopoman]

Just think what could have been with this last draft class and probably next year's. This kind of reminds me of the Russell Wilson trade with the Seahawks...I think we might have missed our window.

I believe Dame's value was at his lowest ever in the last off-season he looked pretty damn bad when he played in the 2021-2022 season. Many of the potential trade partners would value him super low, just because Blazer fans believe he will recover from the injury and surgery well doesn't mean that a team like the Knicks would pay a high price to get him.

Now if we would have traded him after that series against Denver in the 2020-2021 off season we likely would have gotten a lot more. So even if you are all aboard the trade Dame bandwagon I think he likely will fetch more after this season if he comes out and looks good. Crap even a trade at the mid-point of the season could be worked out if Dame is looking pretty damn great.

[Pattycakes]

I don’t think the 3-4 seed really requires much more than this team to have synergy. It honestly is becoming more talented and filled with nice vet & young depth. Nice length and insanely athletic with Keon, Nas, Sharpe and Grant. Idk man, I think we’ll be pretty dam good

[soobias]

call me crazy but i would love to trade dame plus others to get victor...
that kid is something special, and if i could team him up with sharpe,walker,keon,plus other players i would be ecstatic.

[Village Idiot]

I've seen nothing thus far that indicates that this team, as composed and coached, even needs to actively tank.

Miami seems like the best fit to me right now. Dame and Nurk for Bam, Lowry and a 1st.

[Goldbum]

Trading a full powered Dame for a young borderline star and future picks would be a windfall for this team. Let's say it's a 3 team deal with Ben Simmons and 3 future picks... Grant moves to SF BS locks down PF, Ant gets to be Ant and has a fantastic pock in roll partner. Then take Nurkic + Hart and one of those future assets to acquire Ayton.
Ant/GP2/Keon
Sharpe/GP2/Keon
Grant/Sharpe
Simmons/Watford/Walker
Ayton/Sarr/Simmons
Maybe it's closer to Hart+Nurkic for Simmons starting Simmons at Center instead and using Dame to get a John Collins ++ but again it's a 3 team deal but changes everything and puts us in Wimby territory. Brown from the Celtics is another guy I would target if I'm trading Dame. Maybe we get a little less than if we had maxed his trade value but I want to turn the corner and start the Ant/Sharpe Era
Ant
Sharpe
Grant
Collins
Simmons looks nice on paper too. We probably get stuck trading Grant and Winslow (heard we are asking for a Late 1st rounder for Justice)
J-Walk and Sharpe need to be forced minutes if we aren't going to be a top 5 Western Confrence team...
Really Hyperbolic take but sometimes removing a problem requires a scalpel and sometimes you need a chainsaw. Time to break out that oil and can of gas

[_NoMas]

Salaries don’t quite match so there’d need to be some additional moves done by those far smarter then me, but a trade with Boston for Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams would work well for both teams. Boston gets a ball handler and clutch performer down the stretch of games, Portland gets another forward and even more defence.

I like a line up of:

Nurkic
Grant
Brown
Hart
Simmons

With Sharpe, Williams and GP2 coming from the bench, that’s a pretty decent rotation. The lack of size at 3/4 would be my main worry. The clippers, Timberwolves and Pelicans in particular will be big at those positions

[GEE]

What if things don't work out so well for LeBron and the Fakers around mid January... Sticking to the topic:

Davis / Westbrook --- FOR --- Lillard / Nurkic / Hart

Picks could be added or whatever. Works on the checker... Pretty sure I hate it.

[PDXKnight]

Knicks baby!!!!

Talk to James Dolan direct that's our path. We all know If James wants Dame he will be the guy who pulls out what we need in any trade packsge!

[PDXKnight]

What if things don't work out so well for LeBron and the Fakers around mid January... Sticking to the topic:

Davis / Westbrook --- FOR --- Lillard / Nurkic / Hart

Picks could be added or whatever. Works on the checker... Pretty sure I hate it.

No to this package that's garbage