{"id":136176,"date":"2025-04-25T12:41:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T16:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=136176"},"modified":"2025-04-25T12:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T16:41:21","slug":"blazers-busy-trade-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/25\/blazers-busy-trade-market\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blazers&#8217; Trade Market Could Be Busy In The Offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 offseason will likely have its fair share of transactions, but the Blazers&#8217; trade market should be significant. They want to follow head coach Chauncey Billups&#8217; vision amidst a Portland rebuild, which could involve an <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simonan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anfernee Simons<\/a> trade and more.<\/p>\n<h2>The Blazers&#8217; Trade Market Could Be Busy In The Offseason<\/h2>\n<p>The Portland Trail Blazers are in limbo because they are on the cusp of being a good team. However, they might need to offload some of their players in order to have a direction. Players like Simons, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grantje01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jerami Grant<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/williro04.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Williams III<\/a> are solid but don&#8217;t fit the Portland rebuild.<\/p>\n<p>They might be fantastic pieces for a contending team, but Portland is still developing. That is why Joe Cronin and the front office must explore the Blazers&#8217; trade market. The team could become more flexible and focused on the long-term future. With <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hendesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scoot Henderson<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/21\/blazers-scoot-henderson-star-future\/\" target=\"_self\">gradually improving<\/a>, Billups&#8217; vision might be optimal for the team.<\/p>\n<h3>Portland Already Has A Core They Could Build Around<\/h3>\n<p>Scoot is not alone as one of the promising players on the Blazers&#8217; roster. They also have <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sharpsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaedon Sharpe<\/a>, who has an abundance of potential with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/28\/shaedon-sharpe-athleticism-new-height\/\" target=\"_self\">his athleticism<\/a> and natural knack for scoring. The team also has a solid defensive foundation with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/camarto01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toumani Camara<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/clingdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donovan Clingan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/avdijde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deni Avdija<\/a> is also a fantastic addition to this core. After a promising 2024-25 campaign, Deni showed he has the potential to become a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/22\/deni-avdija-all-star-leap\/\" target=\"_self\">borderline or even a fully-fledged All-Star<\/a>. He is a superb offensive force and not too shabby on the defensive end.<\/p>\n<p>With those five players, the Trail Blazers already have a <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DCDigitalzz\/status\/1909695485759439218\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">competitive core<\/a> for the future. Their growth could rule out veterans, who may exit if the front office follows up on the Blazers&#8217; trade market. This could lead to the departures of Simons, Grant, Williams, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thybuma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matisse Thybulle<\/a>, and even <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deandre Ayton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That is a major overhaul for Portland, but it might be the moves they need to make. Marc Stein already detailed that the <a  href=\"https:\/\/marcstein.substack.com\/p\/a-dream-target-for-the-suns-and-more\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blazers are a team to watch for offseason trades<\/a>. That could open the pathway for the core to play heavy minutes against elite competition.<\/p>\n<h3>The Trades Could Help Continue Following Billups&#8217; Vision<\/h3>\n<p>The Trail Blazers are an easy team to understand on the floor. They want to play hard-nosed defense and get out in transition to score buckets. Henderson, Sharpe, and Avdija all thrive in fast-paced games. To do that, they need to play good defense and have the athleticism to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Camara is their top defender, whom <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/12\/portland-toumani-camara-guarding-sga-and-jokic\/\" target=\"_self\">they could put on anyone<\/a> from <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a>. He is an elite defender who <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/tomhaberstroh\/status\/1915536442815611284\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rightfully got votes for Defensive Player of the Year<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n<p>The team must keep building around this vision because it bodes well for their longevity. Portland has a solid defensive foundation, and their guards&#8217; star-level potential could bode well for the team. Cronin and his staff have trades to make, which could help get defenders and perimeter shooting the team needs.<\/p>\n<p>Portland&#8217;s front office has a good record recently with trading for Avdija and getting Camara as a throw-in from Phoenix. If Cronin can keep working his magic, Portland could have an even brighter future than expected.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 offseason will likely have its fair share of transactions, but the Blazers&#8217; trade market should be significant. They want to follow head coach Chauncey Billups&#8217; vision amidst a Portland rebuild, which could involve an Anfernee Simons trade and more. The Blazers&#8217; Trade Market Could Be Busy In The Offseason The Portland Trail Blazers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5385,"featured_media":136222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,23],"tags":[1559,115,1419,2831,49145,1628,1382,4613,4702,4600,49155],"class_list":["post-136176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-trailblazers","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-chauncey-billups","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-deni-avdija","tag-donovan-clingan","tag-jerami-grant","tag-nba-trade","tag-robert-williams-iii","tag-scoot-henderson","tag-shaedon-sharpe","tag-toumani-camara"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5385"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136176"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136225,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136176\/revisions\/136225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}