Atlanta Hawks: 3 trade possibilities for Kent Bazemore

1. Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers feel like the Toronto Raptors of the Western Conference. Even with the loss of LaMarcus Aldridge three seasons ago, the Blazers never took a dip, rebuilding around Damian Lillard and even snagged the 3-seed last season.

At 27-19, good for fourth in the West, it feels like Portland could look to solidify its rotation with one or two moves.

Rip City sits with a solid Big 3 of Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic. After that, the Blazers are full of interesting roster pieces (Zach Collins, Jake Layman, Caleb Swanigan), expiring contracts (Al-Farouq Aminu, Seth Curry) and negative value contracts (Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard). There’s room to improve after the top three, and they have the contracts and pieces to entertain a few deals.

Where does Bazemore fit in all this? He strengthens their rotational depth. He gives them another guard who could move the ball and score off the bench. His 3-point shooting has dipped a bit, but moving to Portland and into a smaller role could assist with him finding his shot once again. Theoretically, he’d join Layman as two guys who can assist Portland’s top three with their array of defense and shooting.

This feels like a bad contract and first round pick back for Bazemore. Atlanta adding another asset to its treasure trove would only assist with the continued rebuilding efforts. Unlike other teams, I wonder if Atlanta would be interested in a 2020 first round pick as opposed to 2019 first because it already has the Dallas Mavericks’ first round pick this year.

If Atlanta does express interest in a player, it might be Caleb Swanigan. With so many talented players ahead of him, it could be a chance for Atlanta to snag a role player out of Portland. Swanigan has clear weaknesses as an undersized big man who doesn’t defend much. However, he has been an effective rebounder in limited minutes and seems like a candidate to work on his shooting.