Portland Trail Blazers: Imagining a trade for Kawhi Leonard
By Ty Delbridge
Trade proposal No. 2
Why the Blazers make this trade
If Paul Allen and the Trail Blazers feel like they cannot win with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, they need to trade one of them. To pry Kawhi Leonard from San Antonio and best other teams’ offers in the event he does become available, they might have to anyway.
In this trade, the Blazers choose McCollum, giving them a Big Three of Lillard, Leonard and Jusuf Nurkic.
Leonard can be used as an offensive weapon and two-way terror. He can get open for 3-point shots, knock down mid-rangers and attack the rim. The Blazers can play a larger guy at shooting guard and have Leonard at the small forward. That would improve their backcourt defense a ton and get bigger guys around the smaller Lillard.
McCollum is one of the best guards in the NBA and a fan favorite in Portland, but if the Blazers have a chance to land Leonard, they should not hesitate — even if it costs one or two additional first round picks as well.
Brandon Paul is a throw-in for the Blazers to make the contracts work for the trade. The Blazers could either waive him or waive one of their G League guys and send Paul down there. He has one more year left on his deal.
Why the Spurs make this trade
The Spurs haven’t had an elite guard since the younger days of Tony Parker. They could use a high scorer and ball-handler to run their offense.
This season, McCollum is averaging 21.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He is shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from deep.
McCollum could run pick-and-rolls with Gasol and Aldridge all day. Head coach Gregg Popovich is fantastic at creating plays to get his guys open. C.J. loves to run around and get off quick shots. He is one of the best mid-range shooters, 3-point shooters and crafty finishers in the league. He is also one of the hardest guys to defend one-on-one.
He could play both guard positions for the Spurs and would become the primary guy on offense. He wouldn’t have to share minutes or the ball with Lillard. San Antonio would find the right pieces to put around McCollum and Aldridge for them to be successful. They could move Rudy Gay or Danny Green to the starting small forward spot.
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The Spurs have had a good season without Leonard. Now add one of the best guards in the NBA to that team, and they would be even better. The Spurs then have McCollum under contract for three more seasons, and if the situation with Kawhi Leonard did become toxic enough to trade him, that scenario is about as good as it gets in terms of incoming talent to replace the Claw.