The Blazers and Joe Cronin pull off the difficult task of trading Lillard prior to their arbitrary deadline of opening day of training camp without leverage.
Blazers get bigger with Jalen Smith, Myles Turner, and Marcus Morris Sr. and improve their front court. Bones provides PG depth behind Simons and Scoot. Mann provides wing depth and experience on their current timeline. Unfortunately, the Blazers only get two lightly protected first round picks without the leverage they needed to get more in return for Lillard. If the rumors have been true, this is still a much better haul than they had been getting offered.
Hield forced the Pacers to reshuffle their deck. As the Pacers always do, they choose to do their best to win now instead of rebuild. With Nurkic, Harris, Maxey and G league finals MVP Jared Springer, the Pacers are in much better position to win this year. The bad news is they take on $11.7 million in salary, but are still significantly under the luxury tax.
The Clippers need a PG and a PF that fits their personnel. With Harden and PJ they accomplish just that. Harden has thrown a tantrum this summer to get out of town again. He's angry that an extension wasn't reached prior to his deadline to pick up his option. He expected a max extension, but hadn't earned that. That being said he's still a top 15 player in this league. Jabari provides depth as a combo forward and House as a true wing. Harden, PG-13, Kawhi, Tucker and Zubac is a deadly lineup with lots of size and strength.
The Sixers sneak in and pull Lillard out of the mix of teams in discussions for him. Lillard is one of the top 5 players in the NBA. They also add Hield to provide a lethal outside shooting duo. The Sixers add RoCo, Batum, and Nesmith to provide defense, depth, rebounding, and versatility, The Sixers avoid an off-season Maxey contract negotiation showdown with Rich Paul who has it out for Morey over the Ben Simmons drama. The Sixers still maintain over $30 million in salary cap space next offseason with Batum, Hield, RoCo, and Nesmith all on expiring contracts. The Lillard and Embiid combo would be a fun combination to see on the court.