Trade Deadline Approaches

[DaVoiceMaster]

As the NBA trade deadline approaches, let's have some fun with completely unrealistic trades. I was on the Trades & Transaction Forum and saw separate deals with Portland, Chicago, and New York so I thought I'd make a big trade with all 3 teams.

Portland Trades:
Nurkic, Simon's, Hart, Winslow, Watford, & Brown III
Portland Receives:
Vucevic, Hartenstein, Toppin, Reddish, Quickly, Green, & White

Chicago Trades:
Vucevic, Green, & White
Chicago Receives:
Nurkic, Hart, & Winslow

New York Trades:
Hartenstein, Toppin, Reddiah, & Quickley
New York Receives:
Simon's & Brown III

It worked on the ESPN NBA Trade Machine. Unfortunately, after the trade, the Blazers were -2 games worse, the Knicks were +1 game better, and the Bulls broke even.

PG Lillard / Payton II / White
Sharp / Quickley / Johnson
Little / Reddish / Green
Grant / Toppin / Walker
Vucevic / Hartenstein / Eubanks

What horrid trade can you come up with?

[wjun15]

please trade nurk. sick of watching that guy. hes never gone to the WCF even once, he's been here way too long

[Norm2953]

Portland seems intent on making a trade deadline move to make a push for a 5/6 spot in the playoffs
and an eventual first round exit by sacrificing their youth.

Oh well, we'll be in position for a top 3 pick in the 2026 draft

[Village Idiot]

Trade 1: Indiana - Orlando - Portland

Portland trades:

Simons

Portland receives:

Turner
Cole Anthony

This assumes Turner is interested in extending with Portland

Indiana trades:

Turner

Indiana receives:

WCJ

It sounds like the Turner extension talks are going nowhere and they are at risk of losing him for nothing. WCJ gives them a great young big on a declining bargain deal

Orlando trades:

WCJ
Anthony

Orlando receives:

Simons

The Magic get much needed shooting and Simons fits their roster well.

Trade 2: Dallas - Portland

Dallas trades:

Davis Bertans

Portland trades:

Jusuf Nurkic

Dallas - They upgrade their center position. Seriously. Get ready for the Balkan Express with the Doncic - Nurkic pick-and-roll to be run 50 times a game

Portland - Cuts a year off Nurkic's deal and hopes Bertans finds his shooting stroke in Portland

[Village Idiot]

Portland seems intent on making a trade deadline move to make a push for a 5/6 spot in the playoffs
and an eventual first round exit by sacrificing their youth.

Oh well, we'll be in position for a top 3 pick in the 2026 draft

Right now we're not even close to the play-in, let alone a 5/6 seed.

Agreed that we'd better not trade Sharpe for a short-term quick fix.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I can't see Portland making a huge trade. Someone like Turner or OG maybe but even those feel richer than we can afford


The big thing is to figure out what we are doing with Grant and Hart this summer. I think it's very likely we resign Grant to a big money deal but less sure about Hart. So it might make sense to explore trades for him and hope GP2, Sharpe, Little and Winslow can fill his minutes.


The role player we need IMO is a stretch big. Our spacing just sucks often and Nurkic taking 3s isn't the answer. Would be nice to consolidate the useless contracts of Keon, Watford and Brown into someone like that.

[Norm2953]

Portland seems intent on making a trade deadline move to make a push for a 5/6 spot in the playoffs
and an eventual first round exit by sacrificing their youth.

Oh well, we'll be in position for a top 3 pick in the 2026 draft

Right now we're not even close to the play-in, let alone a 5/6 seed.

Agreed that we'd better not trade Sharpe for a short-term quick fix.

I'm showing my age but in the 2026 NBA draft, Carlos Boozer's son Cameron is the current favorite to
go #1 in the 2026 draft. At least finally, we might get our PF of the future!

[BlazersBroncos]

I can't see Portland making a huge trade. Someone like Turner or OG maybe but even those feel richer than we can afford

I would for sure see Turner or OG as a 'huge trade' - but at the same time dont think we A) have the ammo and B) neither push us into contention.

Keep thinking it through and dont see a path to competing.

[cucad8]

Right now we're not even close to the play-in, let alone a 5/6 seed.

Agreed that we'd better not trade Sharpe for a short-term quick fix.

Not even close? We're 3.5 games out of the 4th seed. we're 1 game out of the play-in. 1 game is not even close?

[Dzon Dilindzer]

only an idiot thinks trail blazers can become a contender

dame lillard is not good enough to be the best player on a contender, unless the team is stacked

maybe you can improve the team to become a really good playoff team and give the fight to the better teams, but thats it

ive read a lot of idiotic takes from our fans, who dont realize that this team has many issues and that one trade cant fix that

ownership needs to pick a direction in the off-season, either keep being in a purgatory or go into full rebuild

[Goldbum]

Every time I read someone's take that Dame can't be the best player on a championship team I get a little sick. He's absolutely good enough but the team needs to be constructed properly and run a system that suits him.

[JRoy]

Blow it up.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

lillard is like tatum, great player, but cant be the best player on a championship team, unless the team is great, like boston celtics are and i believe they would be contender with lillard as their best player (at least with ime udoka), it remains to be seen what joe mazzulla can do, although i think hes copying ime udoka and it makes sense, why change something that works

lets be real, no-one ever expected dame lillard to win the chip with the trail blazers and no-one will hold it against him if he dont win one in his career, but people expected it from lebron and durant, thats why lebron formed a super team in miami and durant went to the gsw, it would really hurt their legacy if they never won one

there is top tier of players in the league, a handful of what we would call: "best players in the league", lillard is not and has never been apart of that tier, but thats not taking shot at lillard, hes great, just not that great

[Goldbum]

Tatum is an MVP candidate. Lillard would be too if the team was good enough. Before the calf strain when we looked good he was getting a lot of mentions in the(early)MVP race. I would argue that several teams have won titles without a Dame caliber player... (Chauncey's Pistons Dirks title year in Dallas come to mind) Heck Dame's an absolute offensive savant and the type of leader any team would want. His scoring average(the last several years) is comparable to MJ's (I'm not suggesting he's anywhere near MJ as a player just drawing on a point of reference).

Having said all that...

I truly believe we should blow it up this off season, we've wasted too many years of the greatest ever Blazer's career. We just don't have the time to build properly around Dame with the assets we have. A few lotto tickets to go with an Ant/Sharpe back court feels like the way to go for me. Grant has enough years left on his prime that he can be part of the rebuild for a year or 2 and flipped for assets in the future.
I wonder if a 3 team deal like this would put us in better position

POR
Ayton
PHX
Nurkic + John Collins
ATL
Hart+Crowder+2nd
Probably too good for Portland but I would be looking for something along those lines.

[The Sebastian Express]

I would like to see about trading Simons for Wendell Carter Jr and Isaacs.

[Case2012]

Simons for Randle moves Grant and Hart to their natural positions at the 3 and 2 respectively.

I’ve mentioned this idea a few times and it’s been panned every time but Randle is an all star again this year and we probably could have gotten him for Simons straight up during the off-season but i can’t see ny selling him now that they’re firmly in the playoff picture. Hart moving to the 2 gives him more incentive to re-sign as well. Hart-Grant-Randle is pretty nice. Randle and Turner are best friends so if we could grab Turner too, there’s a good chance he extends.

Nurkic and 2 firsts would work. Maybe OKC buys Keon for a first? Not sure who else we could get a first for outside of Sharpe who is obviously untouchable unless Durant or someone of that caliber is coming back. Maybe NY is dumb enough to add a first with Randle for Simons? Naw, I could see them wanting a first or 2 now added to Simons.

If there’s any way to get my dream line up of Dame, Hart, Grant, Randle and Turner I would probably do it but i think that’s a contender if we could strengthen the bench as well.

[DaVoiceMaster]

only an idiot thinks trail blazers can become a contender

dame lillard is not good enough to be the best player on a contender, unless the team is stacked

maybe you can improve the team to become a really good playoff team and give the fight to the better teams, but thats it

ive read a lot of idiotic takes from our fans, who dont realize that this team has many issues and that one trade cant fix that

ownership needs to pick a direction in the off-season, either keep being in a purgatory or go into full rebuild

After watching tonight's game, I'm convince Lillard has a RealGM account. Apparently your comment pi$$ed him off so he went for 60 points tonight. Keep posting cuz I could get used to watching Lillard go off!!!

[BlazersBroncos]

I would like to see about trading Simons for Wendell Carter Jr and Isaacs.

Absolutely would love this move.

Then move Nurkic for a bench scorer. Wonder if DAL would swap him for THJ. Dont see him having more value than that.

G - Damian Lillard / Gary Payton II
G - Josh Hart / Shadeon Sharpe
F - Jerami Grant / Tim Hardaway JR
F - Jonathan Isaac / Nas Little
C - Wendell Carter JR / Drew Eubanks

[Vampirate]

lillard is like tatum, great player, but cant be the best player on a championship team, unless the team is great, like boston celtics are and i believe they would be contender with lillard as their best player (at least with ime udoka), it remains to be seen what joe mazzulla can do, although i think hes copying ime udoka and it makes sense, why change something that works

lets be real, no-one ever expected dame lillard to win the chip with the trail blazers and no-one will hold it against him if he dont win one in his career, but people expected it from lebron and durant, thats why lebron formed a super team in miami and durant went to the gsw, it would really hurt their legacy if they never won one

there is top tier of players in the league, a handful of what we would call: "best players in the league", lillard is not and has never been apart of that tier, but thats not taking shot at lillard, hes great, just not that great

As a fan of a team who's also in no mans land what do you think of this?

Goes to Toronto - Shadeon Sharpe + Salary Filler + Multiple First Round Picks

For

Goes to Portland - Pascal Siakam

This gives Portland a big 3 of Lillard, Siakam and Anfernee Simons

This gives Toronto Sharpe who has potential to pair with Barnes with multiple firsts (I don't think Sharpe will ever be good as Siakam)

Those firsts though are probably in the late 20s after that trade.

But basically it signals a direction for both teams.

[DaVoiceMaster]

It would take Simons salary to get Siakam so there goes the big three, which was more like 2 1/2.