According to long-time NBA insider Marc Stein (subscription required), the Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings could potentially look to trade their top-10 picks in exchange for win-now talent.
While we’ve already detailed potential Kings trades already, it’s time to look at deals the Blazers could make in order to help improve their supporting cast around Damian Lillard.
Portland seems reluctant to hit the reset button, meaning their seventh-overall pick could end up in another team’s hands on draft night. They would likely rather have a veteran piece who would help them contend.
But that begs the question – what trades are out there for the Blazers to land a win-now veteran in exchange for the seventh pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
NBA Trades: 3 trades for the Portland Trail Blazers with the 7th pick: Detroit Pistons
Trail Blazers receive: Jerami Grant
Pistons receive: #7 Pick
Out of all the potential trades the Blazers could make, this one seems to be the most obvious. The Detroit Pistons are in the middle of a rebuild, and netting the seventh pick would be huge for them.
It would allow them to put two more lottery-level talents alongside Cade Cunningham and their current core, as they also have the fifth pick in this year’s draft.
For Portland, adding Jerami Grant would give them a defensive-minded secondary star who could take some of the pressure off of Lillard while also playing a very different role.
He’s not the most efficient scorer, but with a point guard as talented as Lillard running the show, Grant’s scoring opportunities would be a lot easier to come by than they were during his time in Detroit.