Portland Trail Blazers’ realistic trade target: Derrick White
Derrick White, like Myles Turner, would be a plug-and-play weapon in nearly any system. He’s a hard-nosed perimeter defender, can create offense for himself and others, and can serve as a complementary off-ball threat — although his outside shooting numbers have taken a significant dive this season.
Still, adding someone with White’s defensive prowess to any team’s backcourt will never be a bad move.
Nevertheless, the Portland Trail Blazers’ depth chart is already brimming with talent at the guard position. Ben McLemore, Portland’s fifth mouth in that designation, was included in Swartz’s piece as a sneaky target for the Boston Celtics. That should tell you all you need to know about how little the Trail Blazers need another guard.
Unless Portland intends on moving both CJ McCollum and Norman Powell before the trade deadline, there’s really no use in bringing Derrick White to Rip City.
Here’s Swartz’s rationale on the idea of obtaining him from the San Antonio Spurs:
"“White would be a nice backcourt partner next to Lillard if the Blazers move CJ McCollum. He’s a good on-ball defender who can handle point guard duties for stretches and let Lillard spot up from three.”"
While that’s all technically true, it makes almost zero sense to ship off McCollum and Powell only to bring White back to start alongside Dame and relegate Simons back to the bench.
Either Swartz is implying that Ant can be moved for a star frontcourt player or he hasn’t been watching Simons at all lately — who’s averaged 24.3 points and 7.2 assists since the calendar flipped to 2022 according to statmuse.
While I like Derrick White as a piece, I wouldn’t have included him in the Trail Blazers plans at all.