NBA Trade Rumors: Trail Blazers have interest in DeAndre Jordan

DeAndre Jordan could be on the move at the NBA Trade Deadline and the Portland Trail Blazers are definitely interested.

As the Los Angeles Clippers have watched player after player go down with injuries, center DeAndre Jordan has become one of the hottest potential trade targets in the NBA. The Bucks and Cavaliers have long been linked as a potential destination for Jordan should the Clippers trade him, and the New York Times’ Marc Stein reported Monday afternoon that the Portland Trail Blazers could be among the teams interested in acquiring Jordan as well.

Any deal that brings Jordan to Portland would likely involve shipping Jusuf Nurkic and an asset or two back to L.A. The Blazers would also have to throw in a wing – perhaps Evan Turner, who makes $17.1 million this season – into the deal to make salaries match (Jordan’s contract, which is in its final year, is worth $22.6 million for this season), but there are workable deals to be made.

Jordan would unlock offensive possibilities that simply don’t exist with Nurkic, specifically the ability to vertically space the floor in a way Nurkic can’t. Jordan has been among the league’s best roll men the last few years, which made for a dynamic partnership with Chris Paul. He hasn’t had the same level of playmaking around him this season, and has therefore become somewhat neutralized in that role. But place threats like Lillard and McCollum around him, and the geometry of the floor shifts completely for both parties.

Jordan may be a limited player, but his strengths are ones very few big men in the NBA possess, making him exceedingly valuable to teams with the surrounding talent to unlock his abilities. Portland is one of those teams. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum are among the very best guard duos in the NBA, yet the Blazers’ offense has been pedestrian relative to past seasons. The acquisition of Nurkic gave them a boost down the stretch of last season, but Nurkic has failed to live up to that standard this year. A vertical threat like Jordan would add much-needed space and dynamism into the offense.

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Balancing touches between Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic has been a challenge for Portland. Nurkic is the sort of big man who requires the ball in his hands to be effective. This season, he hasn’t been productive enough to justify soaking up as many possessions as he does, and every play Portland routes through him is one that doesn’t go through one of its guards. Jordan places no such constraints on an offense. He is a finisher, not a creator; every opportunity he gets is created in partnership with a teammate. For now, we can only fantasize about what exciting possibilities a union with Lillard and McCollum would produce.