Trail Blazers News: Surprising Offseason Addition Needed?

Portland is looking to rebound from a 21-61 run in 2023-24.

Nov 3, 2023; Portland, Oregon, USA; The Portland Trail Blazers logo at center court before the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports / Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The Portland Trail Blazers are hoping to drastically reconfigure their lineup ahead of the 2024-25 season. Portland has four picks (as of this writing) in the 2024 NBA Draft, scheduled for next week. The club also has 14 players already locked into contracts on its 15-man standard roster. Thus, something absolutely has to give.

What would make the most sense for Portland would be if the team opted to offload several of its veteran players, ideally for future draft equity. Vets like 30-year-old power forward Jerami Grant (owed $29.8 million in 2024-25), 25-year-old combo guard Anfernee Simons ($25.9 million), 32-year-old point guard Malcolm Brogdon ($22.5 million), 27-year-old, perpetually-injured center Robert Williams III ($12.4 million), and 27-year-old shooting guard Matisse Thybulle ($11 million) all should be floated as trade possiblities. Grant especially needs to go, as a 3-and-D forward near the end of his prime, with a lengthy contract. Even 26-year-old center Deandre Ayton, slated to earn $34 million next year, could be worth shipping out.

But these players aren't the personnel that Morten Stig Jensen of Yahoo Sports thinks the Trail Blazers most need to add. Jensen notes that no one on the team's roster, which finished an abysmally tank-tastic 21-61 last season, played anywhere close to 2,000 minutes next year. Jensen thus advocates that the Trail Blazers look to rethink their medical personnel first and foremost, in an effort to preserve the bodies of which players the team does wind up trotting out in 2024-25.

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