Jazz Could Enter ‘Bidding War’ for Trail Blazers’ 3rd-Overall Pick

The Jazz could end up leaping ahead of teams in order to take the player they want on draft night.

Damian Lillard could finally be getting some deserving help considering the Portland Trail Blazers’ NBA Draft Lottery jump from 5 to 3. This puts the Blazers in possibly the most intriguing position of the first round. Lillard’s turning 33 years old this July, so Portland needs to come out of this draft much improved in order to maximize his championship window.

With this in mind, the idea of potentially trading this selection is very much on the table. In fact, Blazers’ GM already presented this as an very real opportunity in his interview with Yahoo! Sports:

“We’re a team that’s trying to win and trying to maximize Damian’s timeline. This was an important night for us. Front offices around the league think highly of this draft, so you would think that a lot of teams that were sitting (on stage) tonight will be getting a lot of calls from teams trying to move up and maneuver.”

With this class having a clear top three players, the third pick presents immense value considering any team would inevitably be able to select one of the top guys. The opportunity to select a young rookie with superstar potential is one that a lot of GMs are willing to shell out a lot of capital for.

One team that we could see have the ample capital to move up? The Utah Jazz, who currently hold 14 first-round picks across the next six years have more than enough assets to make a move like this happen. Along with the insane draft pick total, Utah also has a few impactful, rotational players Portland might find interest in as well.

The Jazz also lack a true number one option at the moment. Yes, Lauri Markkanen had a great season, but he’s far from ‘best player on a championship team’ level just yet. Selecting and establishing one of these top guys early into a rebuild might be exactly what Danny Ainge would love to build the roster.

However, while fun to imagine, the Jazz likely aren’t in the best spot to trade up with a team like the Blazers. Logically, if Portland is looking for win-now talent in order to help Dame’s championship push, a trade haul of young assets and picks doesn’t exactly help the cause. Does a package of Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, and a few picks realistically move the needle for the Blazers? I don’t think so...

Instead, we could see teams with a more established star player look to make a move for the selection. Who exactly that team could be is remained to be seen. Maybe the Los Angeles Clippers look to trade one of their vets to hit the reset button, or possibly rather the Chicago Bulls try to make a move to blow it up.

Sure, if Portland were instead looking to trade Lillard instead of the pick, the Jazz’s assets would be a lot more coveted if they were looking to hit the reset button. As we all know though, the Blazers have refused to have any willingness to trade Dame across his entire career, so it’s hard to expect that to change anytime soon.

Regardless, we can expect an aggressive Jazz front office to at least inquire about the opportunity to trade up. With three first round picks in this year’s draft, Utah has immense flexibility in terms of how they want to construct the roster for the 2023-24 season and beyond.

---

Follow Inside The Jazz on Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribe on YouTube for breaking Jazz news videos and live-stream podcasts!