Victor Wembanyama is undoubtedly the biggest story of the 2023 draft class, but the Portland Trail Blazers moving up to three isn’t too far behind. Unlike most lottery teams, the Blazers have a superstar player on the roster who is ready to compete now, and it makes their upcoming choice this summer much more complex.
Early reports indicate that Portland will be looking to shop the pick in a trade, and one name that has surfaced for the bunch is Bulls star Zach LaVine. If the Bulls decide to rebuild, LaVine is a player who could be available for the right price.
“After the Trail Blazers jumped from the fifth to third pick at Tuesday’s draft lottery, multiple outlets reported that Portland will explore the market for that pick in an attempt to land a big splash for Damian Lillard,” wrote KC Johnson of NBC Sports. “Would the Bulls instead engage in talks for that pick, which unequivocally would necessitate the inclusion of LaVine or, alternatively, DeMar DeRozan? Lillard does have strong relationships with both LaVine and DeRozan, the former of whom he played with at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. So stay tuned.”
LaVine may not be the star Blazers fans have in mind, but he is a guy who could move the needle for Portland as a 2x All-Star and 20+ point per game scorer.
The Blazers would obviously need to do more than that to compete for a title, but it’d be a good start to turning things around, and it might be enough to convince Damian Lillard they are serious about winning.
Damian Lillard Is Putting Full Pressure On The Blazers To Build A Win-Now Team
At 32 years old, Lillard doesn’t have a lot of time to win a ring before his best days on the court are behind him. Sadly, he hasn’t really gotten close to that during his run with Portland, but he seems to be turning up the pressure on GM Joe Cronin to change that.
“I wanna win right now. The Blazers tell me that they wanna win right now, so for right now, I’m going to trust them that we’re all on the same page and that they’re gonna do things to improve this roster, to put this roster in position to be a championship-contending team,” said Chris Haynes on behalf of Dame.
We will see soon enough what kind of player the Blazers can get, but it might be better for them to trade Lillard if they can’t improve the roster in a significant way.
LaVine, for better or worse, is among the best options for Portland right now, even if he comes with so many flaws.
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