Blazers Trade Deandre Ayton to East Contender in Blockbuster Proposal

Is it high time for Portland to flip its priciest player?

Nov 4, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (2) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans center Yves Missi (21) during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

It's no secret that the Portland Trail Blazers have a lot of veteran assets who don't necessarily align with the team's burgeoning youth movement, led by 21-year-old shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe and 20-year-olds Donovan Clingan and Scoot Henderson.

Chief among them — though harder to trade than some — is Deandre Ayton, the Trail Blazers' most expensive player. The 6-foot-11 big man, selected with the No. 1 pick in a loaded 2018 NBA Draft that included future All-NBA honorees Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson, plus All-Star power forward Jaren Jackson Jr., is in the third season of a three-year, $132.9 million maximum rookie-scale contract extension he inked while still with the Phoenix Suns. He's making $34 million this year and will earn $35.6 million in 2025-26, at age 27.

Still, The Sporting News' Jonah Kubicek thinks that one struggling Eastern Conference playoff hopeful may want to mix up its frontcourt by importing Ayton's services: the Indiana Pacers, who lost key reserve big men Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman for the year with Achilles tendon tears. 3-and-D center Myles Turner is the club's incumbent starter.

"The Pacers could match his $34 million salary by trading away Turner, Jarace Walker (who has fallen out of favor in the rotation) and Jackson," Kubicek writes. "By sending a young player to the Blazers, Indiana could avoid parting with any draft picks and could add a long-term solution to their frontcourt."

"Portland has plenty of centers that could step up. Clingan, Robert Williams III, Duop Reath and even Toumani Camara could use more minutes, increasing both their value and their production," Kubicek adds.

Portland head coach Chauncey Billups rarely has time to allocate to Duop Reath when all four of his centers are healthy (which, to be fair, is a rare occurrence), so it seems unlikely that 6-foot-8 forward Camara would get much run at the five.

"While adding Ayton wouldn't put the Pacers over the top, it would solve an area of need that has been plaguing them since opening night, when Wiseman was ruled out for the season after playing only six minutes," Kubicek postis.

This season, Ayton is averaging 13.3 points on .519/.385/.625 shooting splits, 10.5 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks a night. The veteran Arizona product's 3-point conversion rate at this point in the season is encouraging, but it seems unlikely to stick. He's a career 26.2 percent shooter from beyond the arc.

The nicest thing about this proposed deal is that, much like the Trail Blazers did with Jrue Holiday, they can promptly move off Turner's contract again. He's a uniquely valuable big man thanks to his floor-spacing and rim-protecting skillsets, and still fairly young at 28.

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