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B/R NBA Staff: 4 Teams That Should Risk a Damian Lillard Trade – Bleacher Report
It’s now been over a month since Damian Lillard issued his trade request to the Portland Trail Blazers. As you already know, he’s still a Blazer.
And while it feels like the Miami Heat will eventually land the star—thanks in part to his very public telegraphing that that is his desired destination—every day that passes makes it feel slightly less likely.
At some point, some other team may be able to swoop in with an offer that beats Miami’s, like the Toronto Raptors with Kawhi Leonard in 2018 or the Cleveland Cavaliers with Donovan Mitchell last summer.
Both, understandably, believed they could convince the superstars to stick around a while and justified the risk of giving up assets. Of course, Leonard didn’t, but he did deliver a title before he went to the LA Clippers. The results for Cleveland are still to be determined.
So, which team can justify a similar move for Lillard? Are there any who should risk long-term assets and flexibility for the chance to get him on the books and sell him on staying a while?
Bleacher Report’s NBA staff has the answers below.
For the Utah Jazz, I immediately want to amend the headline from “Should Risk a Damian Lillard Trade” to “Kinda, Maybe, Sorta Could Potentially Justify a Damian Lillard Trade.”
Given his age (33 now and 36 after his player option) and contract (that player option pays $63.2 million in 2026-27), moving young players and draft picks for him could end badly.
Depending on the price, though, the resulting team could absolutely be on that “if everything breaks right, they have a chance to win it all” level.
Lauri Markkanen’s breakout could easily change the trajectory of Utah’s rebuild. When it traded Mitchell and Rudy Gobert last summer, few could have imagined the Jazz would immediately have a top-20 to -25 player on the roster for 2022-23, but that’s exactly what Markkanen was. He was one of the most efficient interior finishers and floor spacers. There were shockingly few wasted opportunities from him, and he looks like a legitimate 3, despite his 7-foot frame.
Pairing Lillard with him would instantly give Utah one of the most dynamic offensive duos in basketball. And if Walker Kessler remained to anchor the defense, the Jazz would have the makings of something special.
It’s far from a no-brainer, given the continued toughness of the Western Conference, but Utah has the assets (thanks to the Mitchell and Gobert deals) and upside to sell its fanbase on a Lillard trade.
—Andy Bailey
The Karl-Anthony Towns-Rudy Gobert frontcourt experiment should already be deemed a failure, as the Wolves were statistically better with Kyle Anderson starting over Towns and surrounded by Anthony Edwards, Gobert, Jaden McDaniels and Mike Conley Jr. (plus-7.6 net rating compared to plus-5.8).
Everything Minnesota does moving forward should be about maximizing the roster around Edwards, even if that means trading Towns. With Conley set to turn 36 in October and with just one season remaining on his contract, bringing in Lillard as the long-term answer at point guard to pair with Edwards would create the most lethal backcourt in the NBA. Both are under contract for the next four-to-six seasons as well.
Getting Lillard to Minnesota would likely require a third team, one that would be interested in Towns. At 27 and going into Year 9, the three-time All-Star doesn’t make sense on a rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers franchise.
The Atlanta Hawks would be an ideal fit, both as a team that could use Towns as its starting power forward and one that has the assets Portland requires. The Hawks could assemble a package of players like Onyeka Okongwu, AJ Griffin, Saddiq Bey, De’Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson and rookie Kobe Bufkin, and have multiple first-round picks still eligible to be traded.
Lillard joins Edwards, Gobert, McDaniels, Conley, Anderson and others in Minnesota; Towns creates a Big 3 with Trae Young and Dejounte Murray in Atlanta; and Portland collects a haul of picks and young talent from the Hawks.
—Greg Swartz
In the past two seasons, Joel Embiid has bagged two scoring titles and Philly’s first MVP honor in over two decades. During the upcoming campaign, the super-skilled 7-footer will celebrate his 30th birthday.
His time to compete for an NBA championship is now. The Sixers should be exhausting every resource into giving him that opportunity, because if they keep coming up short in the postseason, some wonder whether he’ll seek out a change of scenery. Even the big fella himself left the door open to a possible exit.
Would a Damian Lillard deal put Philadelphia on the championship track? That’s hard to say without knowing the exact cost, but if the package was primarily built around James Harden (rerouted to a third team, probably the Clippers), Tyrese Maxey and the few draft assets Philly has, then yes, Lillard would move the Sixers closer to contention.
The 1-2 punch of Lillard and Embiid would immediately rival the Kevin Durant-Devin Booker combo as the league’s top scoring tandem. Tobias Harris could handle a promotion to the No. 3 scoring spot, and coach Nick Nurse could surround that trio with defense-first role players like P.J. Tucker and De’Anthony Melton. Health permitting, that looks like a championship-caliber lineup.
Losing Maxey would sting, but upgrading from Harden, who has a horrific track record in major playoff moments, to Lillard, who has delivered a couple of the most clutch postseason buckets in recent memory, would justify the sacrifice.
—Zach Buckley
The Brooklyn Nets may not be Lillard’s top destination (see Miami Heat), but it’s pretty well-known in NBA circles that he has a strong relationship with Mikal Bridges.
The Nets have an interesting team that, on paper, should be a second-tier playoff team in the Eastern Conference. The most significant need is at guard, where Lillard (one of the best in the league) would shine.
Brooklyn also has an assortment of movable contracts, young players and trade exceptions to facilitate a deal. Veterans such as Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale earn enough combined salary to match Lillard’s in trade. Or replace some of the above with youth like Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe, Dariq Whitehead and/or Noah Clowney.
The Nets also have several future first-round picks, notably four unprotected (three from the Phoenix Suns and one from the Dallas Mavericks). Brooklyn can use its two massive trade exceptions ($19.9 million and $18.1 million) to take in other players from Portland, like center Jusuf Nurkić.
A team built around Lillard and Bridges with Cam Johnson, Nicolas Claxton and whoever Brooklyn can keep out of a deal with Portland would make the Nets a more serious contender in the Eastern Conference.
—Eric Pincus