Hi all,

4 team trade for you today where the Blazers throw in the towel for a 2nd consecutive season and the rest of the West cashes in. Here's an explanation of why each team makes this trade.

Blazers: I can't help but feel that things are on the slide for Portland and truthfully they'd be well served selling on their assets instead of locking into this mediocre team. Dame has played as well as any other season in his career, finishing at the basket at an elite level, coming up clutch in big moments and still firing from deep at an elite level. In spite of Lillard's maintained level, Simmons sustaining his breakout form of last year, Jerami Grant looking like one of the best roleplayers in the league, they find themselves 12th in the West and awfully close to that 6th worst record in the league spot, which would land them a 9% chance at the number 1 pick and 37.2% chance at a top 4 pick. In this scenario they sell on all of their valuable roleplayers, getting much younger and cheaper come next year with a view to either a final push around Dame, or moving Lillard to a contender, setting the Blazers up for an exciting rebuild with a host of young players and an excess of picks. In terms of the real assets brought back, Herb Jones has shown himself to be an already fantastic roleplayer in the league. Jones is an elite defensive player but at the moment he doesn't have the shooting talent to share the court with Zion in a playoff setting. Jones would be a steal for two years on his contract and could enable the Blazers to quickly pivot to winning once more. Hayes has had a rough time of it in NOLA but showed himself in a good light in the Suns series last year. Given his contract situation I could see the Blazers offering him a team friendly extension (around the mid-level) and potentially replacing Nurkic with a younger more athletic 5 man. They'd have to eat the Devonte' Graham contract but he's essentially expiring salary after this year, only having $2.8 million guaranteed on the last year of his contract.

The Lakers would send an expiring Pat Bev, clearing the capsheet for the summer as well as multiple 2nd's for Josh Hart. There's an argument that the Blazers could ask for Max Christie here too. Lastly, Portland take a flyer on Warriors wing Moses Moody in exchange for two of their bench pieces which would bolster the Dubs rotation in the post season. I like Moody, he's a dependable shooter, last year he made good decisions on ball and I sense that in a slighgtly simplified system he could shine as a high level role player, defending credibly at the forward spot and knocking down shots from the perimeter. These moves would leave the Blazers in prime position to tank for the rest of the season while giving young guys reps in the starting lineup. One final role of the lottery dice makes sense for a franchise who seems to be going nowhere fast. If the Blazers were to luck out and bring in Wembanyama then they trade for a third star using their remianing picks and build out the roster around Dame and Wemby, taking advantage of multiple cheap rookie contracts they have on the roster to offset Dame's huge salary. If the balls didn't role their way then I think it'd finally be time to move Dame given that he's got multiple year sleft on his contract and the Blazers dont have a clear path to getting significantly better in the short term. Either option is better than locking in, overpaying Grant to keep him in the offseason and never really having a championship structure.

Pelicans: A consolidation trade for the Pels, I keep seeing fake trades linking them to a new starting center but I think that's too complicated an addition in the midst of the season. They could potentially have to alter their entire defensive scheme and that isn't condusive to a deep playoff run. So, instead they round out the roster by bringing in a win now PF in Jerami Grant. Grant has had a career year putting up 20ppg on 61% TS and 42% from 3 on nearly 6 attempts per game. Grant speeds up the process for NOLA, he's a swiss army knife of a basketball player/ Grant would play big minutes starting over Trey Murphy, providing a more rounded skillset than both Murphy and the outgoing Jones. Imagine a closing 5 of PG: Zion, SG: McCollum, SF: Ingram, PF: Grant, C: Valancuinas with the likes of Murphy, Nance, Alvorado, Marshall and Daniels all to come off the bench. That lineup is super switchable, long, has a tonne of shooting talent and puts 5 guy son the floor who can credibly create their own offense. In a system built around Zion, having roleplayers who can take advantage of the space he'll generate for them with his paint gravity is super important and Grant woudl be just that. This is a chepaer move than going for the likes of Myles Turner or OG Annunoby and providing an extension could be agreed in the summer I see Grant fitting in nicely for the Pels for years to come.

Lakers: Josh Hart returns in this deal, swapping one of the Lakers many small guards for a forward option who'll help them in key areas. Hart is a great competitor who could handle tough assignment son the defenisve end better than Pat Bev due ot his size advantage. Hart is a credible shooter on catch and shoot looks, primarily from the corners and for his position he's an excellent rebounder, regularly putting up 8 boards a game this year. This move upgrades their starting 5, keeps Russ on the roster who could be used in a S&T in the offseaosn to acquire that fated 3rd star and they don't touch their 1st's in this deal. Sure this means that the Lakers aren't significantly upgrading the roster, bolstering their chances to favourites but it see's them with a far better roster around Bron, one that's suceeded around him before and maintains their ability to significantly improve in the offseason. If a Zach Lavine trade isn't on the cards at the deadline I think the Lakers should consider keeping their 1st round powder dry, trying to acquire roleplayers like Hart as opposed to spending 1st's on Bogdanovic or Buddy Hield.

Warriors: Lastly, another sort of half way house trade. This move deepens the Warriors bench for the post season. Adding two high IQ rotation players without giving up a 1st, Wiseman or Kuminga. I like Winslow's fit on the roster. I think if he stayed healthy he could perform a similar role to GP3 last year, perhaps in more limited minutes and Drew Eubanks is credible cover for Looney in the front court. He's a smart DHO big on a great contract that fits straight into the Warriors system. This balances improving the roster with selling the future and selling their flexibility.

Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts down below!