Blazers Being 'Monitored' By West Powerhouse Open to Trading Multiple Draft Picks

Portland has plenty of veteran pieces. Will they stay on the team through this year's deadline?

Dec 23, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) and guard Anfernee Simons (1) and forward Toumani Camara (33) walk back to the bench during the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers boast plenty of veteran pieces on their current roster. But will those grizzled contributors stay on the team through this year's deadline?

Appearing on ABC/ESPN's Christmas Day programming, plugged-in ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania revealed that the Los Angeles Lakers, for one, are willing to offload all three of their movable first round draft picks in a possible trade. Charania added that the Trail Blazers number among the few squads known to be looking to offload players already this year. The league's trade deadline is February 6.

"My sources in that Lakers front office tell me... they're open to moving that [3 first-round picks] in a potential trade but they want a player or players that they feel can get into this iteration of this team now."

Shams Charania on First Take.pic.twitter.com/xxqJ3u89CU

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 26, 2024

"When you think about [Lakers frontcourt All-Stars] LeBron James, Anthony Davis — how do we round out this team around both of those guys? They're monitoring the sellers around the NBA — Portland, Washington, Toronto, maybe Chicago," Charania said.

At 9-20, the Trail Blazers occupy the Western Conference's No. 13 seed, ahead of only the 7-21 Utah Jazz and 5-25 New Orleans Pelicans. 12 clubs in the West appear to be competing for 10 playoff and play-in spots this season. The 15-15 San Antonio Spurs and 13-17 Sacramento Kings are the two current clubs on the outside of the West play-in bracket looking in. The other three clubs Charania floats as likely trade market "seller" teams are all in the lowly Eastern Conference.

"My sources in that Lakers front office tell me they are open to moving [their three movable first round picks] in a potential trade but they want a player or players that they feel can get into this iteration of this team now, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but can also play for three, four, five [more] years under J.J. Redick as the coach," Charania added.

The No. 6-seeded Lakers are currently a pretty mediocre 17-13 on the year, and clearly need a bit more depth to improve their short-term ceiling in the talented West.

Portland does have some assets that could benefit Los Angeles. One-time All-Defensive Team center Robert Williams III, who's a pretty valuable post presence when he's not hurt, is an obvious fit for the Lakers, whose center depth behind All-NBA superstar Anthony Davis has been decimated by injuries this season. Williams is also drawing a pretty agreeable $12.4 million this season. In 10 healthy games for Portland (one start), Williams is averaging 7.5 points on an impeccable .738/.500/.923 shooting line (although that 50 percent 3-point rate arrives on a tiny 0.2 triple tries a game). He's also grabbing 5.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, 1.2 assists and 0.8 steals in just 17.8 minutes per.

Starting Trail Blazers point guard Anfernee Simons, two-time All-Defensive shooting guard Matisse Thybulle, and 3-and-D forward Jerami Grant all also would make sense for the Lakers' depth, and none of them would likely cost more than a first round draft pick.

More Trail Blazers: Portland Head Coach Chauncey Billups Reveals Biggest Issue Portland Continues to Face