However, putting Whiteside on the butcher’s block is perhaps not the only option the Portland Trail Blazers have. Another valuable trade asset presents itself in the form of Kent Bazemore.
Centering a deal around Bazemore would allow the Blazers to hold onto Whiteside for the rest of the year and field the NBA’s best frontcourt rotation of Nurkic, Aldridge, Whiteside and Zach Collins.
Truth be told, the Spurs would probably prefer this trade package over the aforementioned one. Skal Labissiere is a promising young player that would fit San Antonio’s system well on a roster full of young guards. Bazemore is also the more easily tradeable contract, and the Spurs would prefer having a player they could flip again at the trade deadline if they choose to commit to a rebuild.
By pulling the trigger on this trade, the Blazers immediately become one of the most exciting teams in basketball. Rodney Hood would be forced to bump up into the starting lineup to assume Bazemore’s former position at small forward.
That starting five would throw caution to the wind by featuring virtually no perimeter defense in a league dominated by 3-point shooting. As the saying goes however, “The best defense is a good offense.”
And boy, would that Blazers offense be something special. Those five players combined for an average of 94.9 points per game last season. To put in perspective just how ridiculous that number is, only one five-man lineup in the entire league scored more than 40 points per game while spending at least 25 games together — last year’s Portland Trail Blazers team (43.8).
Granted, that points per game average would fall dramatically when everyone has to take their turn and share the ball. Still, an upgraded version of the highest scoring five-man lineup from last year would surely be a force to be reckoned with. And even when their shots aren’t falling, they have three of the best offensive rebounders in the entire league to scoop up second chance points.