The NBA trade season is in full swing as the Portland Trail Blazers made their second deal in less than a week, signaling an entire rebuild is on the way.
The trade: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Sham Charania both reported a massive trade deal took place Tuesday morning between the Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans.
- The Trail Blazers get: Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, Didi Louzada, 2022 protected first-round pick, and two second-round picks.
- The Pelicans get: CJ McCollum, Larry Nance, Tony Snell.
New Orleans gets the significant veteran guard it’s wanted: @CJMcCollum pic.twitter.com/WOylANTleo
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2022
Why this matters: The trade will have a significant impact on the West. McCollum has been the scoring partner of Damian Lillard, forming one of the best guard duos in the league.
- With Lillard out for what seems to be the season, the Trail Blazers seemed to move on from their scoring duo, signaling a rebuild is underway.
The bigger picture: Last week, the Los Angeles Clippers announced a trade that sent Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson and future second-round pick to the Trail Blazers, who sent back Norman Powell and Robert Covington to Los Angeles in the deal, as I reported for the Deseret News.
- These two deals are a sign that the Trail Blazers are moving on from what they’ve had and reshaping their team structure amid a losing season.
Something to watch: Are the Trail Blazers done? Or will they package their remaining picks and players for a bigger star? And, if not that, will Lillard remain with the team?
“Portland’s plan is to fully reshape roster around Damian Lillard now,” Wojnarowski said.