A review of BleacherReport’s 3 trade targets for the Portland Trail Blazers

Reviewing BleacherReport’s 3 trade targets for the Portland Trail Blazers

BleacherReport’s Greg Swartz recently put out a piece detailing his picks for every NBA team’s dream, realistic, and sneaky trade targets. Swartz outlined dream as the best possible candidate the team could land in a trade, realistic as a settling point if the dream player doesn’t pan out, and sneaky as an under-the-radar move that would help the team but hasn’t been as highly promoted. For the Portland Trail Blazers, he listed Myles Turner as their dream, Derrick White as realistic, and Mitchell Robinson as the sneaky deal.

Great minds think alike as Rip City Project has already outlined some trades that would bring Turner and Robinson to Portland.

Let’s dive in a little deeper to see if Swartz’s rationale matches up with our own.

Portland Trail Blazers’ dream trade target: Myles Turner

Personally, I’d list Turner as the realistic option rather than the team’s dream candidate. This isn’t a slight to his abilities, nor is it an underestimation of the impact he would have on the team.

Myles Turner is practically a perfect pairing with Damian Lillard; a center who can anchor the paint better than Jusuf Nurkic, while also spacing the floor to create lanes for Dame and the Trail Blazers’ other perimeter attackers.

He would instantly raise Portland’s ceiling on both ends of the court, is still only 25 years old, and could blossom on offense playing out of Domantas Sabonis’s shadow.

His abilities make him an ideal fit on nearly any team. The reason he should be downgraded from a dream target to a realistic one is the fact that Portland certainly has the goods to acquire him. It’s just a matter if they’re willing to match the Indiana Pacers’ price tag.

There’s no doubt that a combination of expiring contracts, one of the Trail Blazers’ budding prospects in Anfernee Simons or Nassir Little, and some future draft compensation would be more than enough to convince Pacers General Manager Chad Buchanan to pull the trigger on a Myles Turner trade, as the reported asking price is two first-round picks.

I would love to see the former Texas Longhorn don the Portland red and black in the future, but would I want to part ways with rising star Anfernee Simons to get it done? No.

While Turner would be a fantastic fit on the Trail Blazers, dubbing him a “dream trade target” is a little underwhelming. I’d slot Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, or Jaylen Brown here instead and slide Turner down to realistic.