Atlanta Hawks
Why It Makes Sense for the Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers have a lack of quality at the wing position, especially at the defensive end. Huerter is a young and promising player who could be available given the Hawks berth of young talent at the wing. Logically, Atlanta will be looking to move one of DeAndre Hunter, Cam Reddish, and Huerter. As Huerter is the most polished of the three and ready to contribute immediately, it makes sense that he would be Portland’s ideal target.
He adds an immediate shooting touch either coming off the bench or in the starting lineup. On a healthy six attempts per game, he shot 38 percent from deep, a better percentage than anyone on the Hawks not named Trae Young.
Huerter is not exactly the defensive force that Portland would want at the position but he has potential at that end of the court. His defense has improved during his time in Atlanta and the Portland Trail Blazers would be banking on the 21-year-old to continue to improve on the defensive end.
Last but not least, he is on a cheap deal for the next two seasons which gives the cap deprived Portland Trail Blazers more wiggle room to acquire more assets.
Why It Makes Sense for the Atlanta Hawks:
As stated already, Atlanta has a bit of a traffic jam at the wing, and moving one of their young players for more assets makes the most sense long term.
Anfernee Simons gives the Hawks another intriguing prospect to work with who won’t be competing for minutes with Hunter and Reddish. They had a bottom 10 bench in terms of scoring and Simons can come in and help immediately on that end with the upside to break into the starting lineup if he progresses nicely.
As an added bonus, Atlanta gets two second-round picks which they can either use to go prospect hunting or as pieces in a larger trade to bring in more players around Young.