3 former Portland Trail Blazers we want back on the team

Aug 9, 2020; Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA; Zach Collins #33 of the Portland Trail Blazers is pressured by Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers at Visa Athletic Center at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 09, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Mandatory Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 9, 2020; Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA; Zach Collins #33 of the Portland Trail Blazers is pressured by Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers at Visa Athletic Center at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 09, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Mandatory Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kevin Garnett, Portland Trail Blazers, nba trade deadline, Gary Trent
Minnesota Timberwolves players Joe Smith (L), Gary Trent (2nd L) and Kevin Garnett (R) huddle and listen as teammate Anthony Peeler (2nd R) tries to get something going versus the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, 21 April 2002. The Mavericks defeated the Wolves 101-94 in game one of their Western Conference quarterfinal series. AFP PHOTO/Paul BUCK (Photo by PAUL BUCK / AFP) (Photo credit should read PAUL BUCK/AFP via Getty Images) /

The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to be busy with the NBA trade deadline approaching. Here are three former Blazers we’d love to see return to Portland.

regret (n.) re·gret: a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done

buyer’s remorse (n.) buy·er’s re·morse: a feeling of regret experienced after making a transaction

In life, it is best to keep from paying too much heed to the mistakes of the past or the worries of the future. But in professional sports, looking to the past can help prepare for the future.

Many players have left a team via trade or free agency and come back years later. The most notable recent example would be LeBron James‘ return to Cleveland, which brought the city its first championship since the Browns in 1964.

Kevin Garnett returned to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a season and change at the end of his career, but was a part-time player by then. Steve Blake played for the Blazers in three different stints.

But the ping-pong player of the decade award goes to Enes Kanter Freedom, who has gone back and forth from Portland to Boston four times in the last three years.

Regret and buyer’s remorse can be positive forces; reaching into the past – in the form of Jason Kidd – helped the Dallas Mavericks to the 2011 NBA Championship.

So as the Blazers front office prepares for a busy trade deadline push and off-season fraught with salary cap concerns, let’s look at three former Blazers that we’d love to see back with the team someday soon.