Fansided

5 NBA teams that already need to make a trade

By Paul Centopani

Oct 20, 2021; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant (9) drives to the basket as Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine (8) defends during the game at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 20, 2021; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant (9) drives to the basket as Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine (8) defends during the game at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mike Ehrmann/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports
Mike Ehrmann/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports /

4. Shaking things up in Boston and Portland

Back in the summer, I posited the Trail Blazers should blow it up and part ways with their longtime star backcourt in a hypothetical three-way trade.

The thinking behind it was simple: the pair entered their ninth season together, both fall on the long side of 30-years old and only made the conference finals once (where they promptly got swept by the Warriors in 2019). If every team’s ultimate goal is to win the championship, then realistically, the Blazers needed to start down a new path.

Portland diehards saw it and basically told me on Twitter that I was ugly and couldn’t read good. The thinking behind that sentiment was also simple: they forged a real connection with their homegrown stars and that means more to them than anything else. They’d rather ride it out instead of shuffling the deck or collecting a cache of assets that might pan out… someday.

Rooting for Lillard and McCollum is exciting and that tandem is better than what the majority of the league trots out night-to-night. You just hold fast to that puncher’s chance at a title and hope they can catch some breaks along the way.

Lillard’s supermax contract runs through 2023-24 with a player option the following year. However, we’ve seen players — even the most loyal ones — ask out of situations they felt were unconducive to winning it all. Lillard even gave a very ominous answer this August when asked about his future in Portland.

The Trail Blazers sit with a middling record and point differential, with a defensive rating in the league’s bottom third, per NBA.com. Perhaps it’d be worth calling up another team sputtering around league-average and try to bring in a better fit.

The new-look Celtics quieted rumblings of discontent by winning seven of their last 10 games but questions about their long-term fit abound. If they start faltering like they did to begin the season, maybe the Brad Stevens general management panics and makes a deal for a veteran plus draft capital.

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