Portland Trail Blazers consider trading pick #3 in upcoming draft
The Portland Trail Blazers are accepting trade offers from teams interested in acquiring the No. 3 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets are potential trade partners for the Trail Blazers.
The NBA Draft is set to take place in Chicago on Thursday night, and trade rumors have been surfacing in the weeks leading up to the draft.
Several teams made concessions during the regular season to improve their chances of signing French prodigy Victor Wembanyama. The San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Draft Lottery and the right to select Wembunyama with the No. 1 overall pick. He is one of the best young talents of 25 years.
Scoot Henderson is a top guard prospect in the upcoming draft who spent one season in the NBA G-League. Henderson is currently the betting favorite to be drafted second overall at -250. The Charlotte Hornets have multiple options for the No. 2 pick, including trade talks with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Brandon Miller, the top prospect in the 2023 draft class, played one season at Alabama and was named SEC Player of the Year. Miller is expected to be the No. 3 pick, and his odds of being picked No. 3 are -250.
Shams: Damian Lillard stays in Portland
Before the Portland Trail Blazers make any pre-draft trades, they must make a decision on Damian Lillard's future. The All-Star guard remains in Rip City, although he could have left in free agency or forced a trade. He is that rare modern player who is willing to spend his entire career with the team that selects him.
Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards has been in a similar situation before with the Wizards. That was before the team finally parted ways with the All-Star on Sunday and traded him to the Phoenix Suns. The Miami Heat were one of the finalists to sign Beal in a trade, but after losing to the Suns, the Heat focused on acquiring Lillard.
The Heat are desperate to add a top scorer and additional playmaker to their roster, and Lillard fits the bill perfectly on paper.
The Athletic's Shams Charania appeared on the Pat McAfee Show to share his insight into the Lillard situation.
Damian Lillard left it all to Portland," Charania said."He wants to be there and he wants the team to be better. "
All signs point to the Trail Blazers not intending to trade Lillard, despite the Heat's pursuit. Now that they've retained Lillard, the front office is trying to build a championship contender around him.
DraftKings has placed bets on which team Lillard will play for when the 2023-24 season begins. The Trail Blazers are the odds-on favorite at -215, while the Heat are +140 to put Lillard on the court.
Blazers can trade two first-round picks
Lillard, 32, has struggled with injuries over the past two seasons and has many elite years left in his career before his skills begin to decline.
The Trail Blazers are in "win now" mode and don't have time to develop rookies, which is why they are interested in collecting multiple picks before the NBA draft to acquire top veterans.
The Trail Blazers received the third pick via the draft lottery. They also received the 23rd overall pick when they traded swingman Josh Hart to the New York Knicks in February. The Trail Blazers also have a second-round pick, No. 43.
The Trail Blazers could combine their first-round pick with some young stars on the roster. These include guard Anfernee Simons (averaging 21.1 points, 4.1 assists per game) and forward Shaden Sharp (averaging 9.9 points per game), the latter being the seventh overall pick in last year's draft.
The logical step would be to find a team that wants Alabama's No. 3 Miller so bad that it's willing to give up some of its best veterans in a trade with the Blazers.
Rip City Veterans Wanted
The Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets are all potential trade partners for the Trail Blazers.
Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns has been linked to trade rumors with the Knicks. The Trail Blazers are hoping to get rid of center Jusuf Nurkic's massive contract while also improving their starting center position by trading Towns.
Boston Celtics guards Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart have been the subject of trade rumors this offseason, and there are also rumors that Brown will join the Trail Blazers in a package deal in exchange for the No. 3 pick and Simmons.
Pascal Siakim of the Toronto Raptors is another potential trade target for the Trail Blazers. The Raptors have a new head coach in Darko Rajakovic and are on the verge of rebuilding after Fred VanVleet opted to become a free agent. Trading Simmons and Miller for Siakim is a potential rebuilding route for the Raptors.
With so many top offensive teams in the West, every true contender in the West needs a defensive stopper. The Suns traded forward Mikal Bridges to the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant. Bridges is considered a top defender who can cover guards and forwards. But he also showed off his offensive abilities in the final stretch of the season in Brooklyn. If the Trail Blazers really want to build a championship-caliber team around Lillard, Bridges is an ideal two-way player.
Betting on the Trail Blazers next season
In the 2022-23 season, the Trail Blazers ranked 13th in the Western Conference standings with a record of 33 wins and 49 losses. They missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year and Lillard missed the playoffs for the third time in his career. Lillard was named the 2012-13 NBA Rookie of the Year. But in his first year in the NBA, the Trail Blazers only managed a 33-49 record and missed the playoffs.
After Lillard's rookie season, the Trail Blazers qualified for the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons. However, since drafting Lillard, the Trail Blazers have been eliminated in the first round five times.
In the 2018-19 season, Lillard led the Trail Blazers to 53 wins and was the second seed in the Western Conference. They made it to the Western Conference Finals but had to concede defeat to the Golden State Warriors. This is the furthest the Trail Blazers have ever made the playoffs under Lillard. Since their playoff peak in 2019, the Trail Blazers have won a total of three playoff games in the past four seasons. They finished 13th the past two seasons and didn't even have a chance to qualify for the play-offs.
The Trail Blazers currently have a +12,000 chance to win the 2023-24 NBA championship, according to DraftKings.
The Trail Blazers have a +6500 chance to win the Western Conference, but they find themselves at the bottom of the roster for the future. Only the San Antonio Spurs (+10,000), Utah Jazz (+15,000) and Houston Rockets (+15,000) have a better chance of winning the division.
Lillard's chances of winning the NBA MVP next season are +2200. He ranks No. 12 on DraftKings’ NBA awards rankings. Lillard ranks behind Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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