Blazers' Deandre Ayton Could Land With East Contender in Latest Odds
The Portland Trail Blazers have waved the white flag on the season. They will no longer try to contend to make the playoffs this year.
Quite frankly, they are just too far behind. They are a whopping 8.5 games out of the tenth spot in the Western Conference.
Because of that, contending teams have looked at Portland as one of the teams who they can get a quality player from. Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons are the most intriguing players to other franchises.
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Simons is not likely to go anywhere, but Grant is all but gone. Several teams have already called to see what the price would be to trade for him.
Grant isn't the only one who could be gone, though. Center Deandre Ayton could find his way out of Portland.
Portland likely won't move Ayton until the offseason because of how expensive Ayton's contract is relative to how he has been playing. Ayton hasn't exactly done a good job of raising his trade value.
With that being said, the Trail Blazers look like they are set to move forward with Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III as their centers of the future. Ayton seems like the odd man out.
According to Bovada Sportsbook, the Milwaukee Bucks are one of the favorites to land him. He would solve their long-term issue at the center spot.
Brook Lopez is 36 years old. While he's still fairly effective, the Bucks know they have to get younger at that spot. Ayton would allow them to do that while also giving them more of a rim-runner at the center spot.
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Portland would likely ask for at least a first-round pick and a decent young player in order for them to part with Ayton. They want to extract as much as possible from whichever team decides to try to trade for him.
Of course, how much value they are going to be able to extract is dependent on how Ayton plays for the rest of the season. There have been several games this season in which he has looked completely checked out.
Ayton is averaging 13.5 points, 10 rebounds, and 1.4 assists this season for Portland.
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