Trail Blazers News: Joe Cronin Earns Major Leaguewide Respect for Big Transactions

Portland's GM was given his flowers by his fellow execs.

Nov 5, 2023; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin smiles as / Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin earned a pair of NBA Basketball Executive of the Year second-place votes by a panel of his fellow league front office members, according to NBA Communications.

The voting panel for the NBA Basketball Executive of the Year Award consisted of team basketball executives from around the NBA.

Voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/JnrLv7giW7

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 30, 2024

The top three finishers were Minnesota Timberwolves team president Tim Connelly (four first place votes, two second place votes, and three third place votes), Oklahoma City Thunder president Sam Presti (four first place votes, seven second place votes and six third place votes), and the winner, Boston Celtics president Brad Stevens (16 first place votes, six second place votes, and three third place votes).

Stevens, of course, was the beneficiary of Cronin's second major transaction of the 2023 offseason. After Cronin flipped All-Star point guard Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for All-Star combo guard Jrue Holiday as part of a three-team deal with the Phoenix Suns, he traded Holiday to the Boston Celtics, helping create the best team in the Eastern Conference.

But Cronin did what he had to do.

First, he flipped Lillard for Holiday, Milwaukee's unprotected 2029 first round pick, pick swap rights with the Bucks in 2028 and '30, former No. 1 draft pick Deandre Ayton, and intriguing rookie forward Toumani Camara.

In the subsequent Holiday deal, Boston acquired injury-prone veterans Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon from Boston and, more importantly, the Warriors' top-four-protected first round draft pick in 2024 (now lottery-bound) and the Celtics' unprotected first round pick in 2029.

His total haul: three first round selections (two totally unprotected, one lightly protected), two pick swaps, two intriguing young talents, and two soon-to-be-expiring contracts in Williams and especially Brogdon, the latter of whom was the Sixth Man of the Year in 2023 and still should have some value to contending teams next season.

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