The Portland Trail Blazers should be considered spectators for the 2021 NBA Draft tonight, considering that the team doesn’t own a pick in either round.
An easy way for the Blazers to acquire affordable contributors would be to find a way to insert themselves back in the draft, but I wouldn’t expect General Manager Neil Olshey to scheme up a way to accomplish that.
This isn’t a knock on the GM per say, at least not what he’s capable of in the present moment, but rather a realistic look at Portland’s assets and what they can pull off with their current war chest.
The Portland Trail Blazers don’t have the ammunition to insert themselves back into the first-round of the 2021 NBA Draft
The way I see it, the Blazers have only a few desirable pieces that they’re willing to move: CJ McCollum, Derrick Jones Jr. who just opted in for the 2021-2022 season, and their future first-round picks.
Young players Nassir Little and Anfernee Simons could be used as trade chips in this scenario, but the discrepancy in what Neil Olshey thinks they’re values are and what the rest of the league assesses them as would more than likely prevent any deals from being pulled.
With CJ McCollum, it’s already been reported by Jason Quick of The Athletic that Olshey does not plan on moving the guard for a high-draft pick—even a top-four selection.
Derrick Jones Jr. is a versatile, promising athlete, but his value has certainly plummeted since piling up DNPs over the second-half of the 2020-2021 season. Unless he’s attached with some future first-rounders, I don’t see any teams trading for him and giving the Blazers a 2021 first-rounder in return.
The last option would be to swap picks straight up, requiring Portland to send over at least one of their future firsts to move back into this year’s top-30. Even though the Blazers are far from title contention, their first-rounders for the foreseeable future should be expected to land outside of the lottery. It’ll likely take two or more picks to move into this draft’s late lottery or one pick to move into the lower half.
With the team’s timetable, specifically Damian Lillard‘s pressing desire to play with a contender-level roster, there’s no point in Portland moving back into the first-round outside of the lottery.
Perhaps the team can make a marginal move for a second-rounder, but unless Olshey has a change of heart or some kind of under-the-radar All-Star level player becomes available between now and the draft, there doesn’t seem to be any way the Blazers wind up with a first-round pick tonight. I certainly wouldn’t count on it.