The Portland Trail Blazers are a team that didn’t make the playoffs this season, and this was their first time missing the playoffs since the 2012-13 season. However, there were good reasons for that: Damian Lillard missed a good portion of the season with an injury, and it’s clear that the Portland Trail Blazers decided to use the year to retool their core and develop some of their young players so they’d be able to help in a playoff run next season.
Due to the way their season went, the Portland Trail Blazers ended up with the No. 7 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. While that could mean they would end up selecting a lottery prospect with their pick, an article by John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic revealed that it is likely that they will move their No. 7 selection to acquire Jerami Grant or other win-now options to put a “competitive team around Damian Lillard”.
The pick that seems even more certain to be on the move is Portland’s at No. 7, with sources saying the Blazers will push to immediately put a competitive team around Damian Lillard rather than start over. Detroit’s Jerami Grant has been the hot name here, but the Blazers could look at other options.
When Damian Lillard is healthy, he is a top-10 caliber player. There is no doubt that it’s worth it to build around him, as he is a fantastic scorer and shooter. The Trail Blazers already have some solid pieces on their roster such as Anfernee Simons, and adding another win-now player to their core could make them a better squad.
It remains to be seen if the Trail Blazers will end up moving their pick for a win-now player, or whether they will draft someone in the hopes that player can contribute immediately. Hopefully, whatever move they elect to do will get them back to being a playoff team next season.
