3 money-saving trades for the Portland Trail Blazers

1. Brooklyn Nets

Why the Blazers make this trade:

The Blazers needed wing help on both ends of the court and did not address that need this offseason in either the draft or free agency. DeMarre Carroll is a good 3-and-D wing and could be a perfect fit on this Blazers team. He is a hard-working player who knows his role and would not come in and cause drama in the locker room.

He is now a veteran player at age 32 and can play both small forward and power forward. Carroll is a good defender and a knockdown 3-point shooter. He is set to make $15.4 million next season before becoming a free agent.

Carroll is 6’8”, 215 pounds and has been in the NBA for 11 seasons. He did not have much of a career until joining the Atlanta Hawks in 2013. Since then, he has established himself as a valuable player.

For his career, Carroll is averaging 8.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 24 minutes per game while shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from the 3-point line. Carroll would have the opportunity to fight for a starting spot if he joined this Portland team.

This deal allows the Blazers to improve their team while they are saving money at the same time. The Portland and Brooklyn front offices have had a good relationship in the past and could work together again for this trade. Trading Turner and his contract is no easy task to ask another franchise to take on. That’s why Portland will have to include a young, talented player like Wade Baldwin IV (or a future first-rounder) to make the deal better for the Nets. Portland has plenty of guards and could afford to lose Baldwin.

Why the Nets make this trade:

Brooklyn has been the salary dump franchise for other teams for a few seasons now. They have plenty of cap space and don’t mind taking on a bad contract as long as they get an asset in return. The Blazers get off of Turner’s contract, but it will cost them a young guard. Baldwin was a former lottery pick and has been making a name and establishing himself as a useful player in this league since joining the Blazers. He is still only 22 and is raw in his all-around game.

He is a long, energetic, scrappy, defensive guard whose offensive game is starting to come around. Baldwin led Portland this summer to the NBA Summer League championship. In 13 games, he averaged 13.4 points, 7.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 25.4 minutes per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from the 3-point line. The Nets could look to use him as a role-playing combo guard off the bench to spell D’Angelo Russell, Shabazz Napier or Allen Crabbe.

Turner would give Brooklyn a playmaking wing, which is something it does not have currently on the roster. He can run the offense in a point-forward type of role and has no issue creating his own shot. Turner also competes on the defensive end and uses his big, strong body to his advantage. He will play hard defense on guys like Stephen Curry, James Harden and Kevin Durant.

The Nets have a young team and have brought in guys like Ed Davis and Jared Dudley to be mentors in the locker room. Turner would perfect in a mentor role as well as a great teammate for everyone else. He still has a lot of gas left in the tank, competitive and would be a nice addition to a Nets team that has no pressure to win a ton of games soon.