The Blazers Need to Trade Some Centers This Year — Will They?

The Trailblazers could be interested in trading one of their four centers this upcoming NBA season.

Apr 7, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (2) shoots the ball over Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The Portland Trailblazers are heading into the 2024-25 NBA season with some decisions to make regarding their roster at the center position.

On September 27, 2023, Deandre Ayton, Jrue Holiday, Toumani Camara, and a 2029 first-round draft pick were traded to the Portland Trail Blazers as part of a three-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks and Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkić, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson to the Phoenix Suns. A few days later Robert Williams was acquired by the Trailblazers in a trade centered around recent 2024 NBA Finals champion Jrue Holiday. After a lackluster 2023-24 season, the Trailblazers selected University of Connecticut center Donovan Clingan with the seventh overall selection in the 2024 NBA Draft.

With four talented centers on their roster, the Trailblazers will probably be enticed to trade one of them before the NBA trade deadline in February of 2025. Of the these three centers, the player worth the most value in a trade is easily Deandre Ayton, the former No. 1 overall selection in 2018.

Portland is in one of the most peculiar situations in the NBA this season because there is no real scenario where they end up as legitimate playoff contender. It is more likely that the Trailblazers will end up in the race for the number one overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft as they continue to develop one of the youngest rosters in basketball.

Head coach Chauncey Billups was not offered an extension by the Trail Blazers, which raises a level concern about the future of this team and their leadership. If Portland is headed towards a new regime in 2025, it would be in their best interest to trade Ayton to a potential contender while his value is at it's best. To close out the last two months of the previous season, Ayton went on a tear where he averaged 25 points and 15 rebounds.

Despite the criticism surrounding his motor, Ayton is one of the most-skilled centers in the NBA and with a Trail Blazers team who could be tanking next season, it will probably be in the best interest of Portland to trade the former Arizona Wildcat in order to recoup assets for their future. Aside from Jerami Grant, the only other player on this Trail Blazers team who could command valuable draft compensation is Ayton.

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