4 Players who could be the ‘needle-movers’ Lillard wants to bring to Blazers

It’s the Trail Blazers “most important offseason” since Damian Lillard has been in Portland, according to the franchise point guard himself.

Dame doesn’t “have much of an appetite for building with guys 2 and 3 years away and not really [going] after it.”

There will be “serious conversations about what’s next for both sides.”

It appears one of two options are available to the Blazers front office: trade some combination of young players and picks to add more win-now pieces to the roster, or trade Dame to a contender where he can chase a title.

Lillard had one more thing to say when speaking about possibly adding those win-now pieces:

Who are the “needle-movers” Damian Lillard claims want to join the Blazers?

This is complete guesswork. Multiple players have been linked to Portland through Lillard, but there have been no reports confirming those rumors.

Still, Dame knows more than the rest of us, and if he believes there are players good enough to help him and the Blazers push for a championship next season, we should take him at his word.

By digging through Lillard’s league-wide relationships, supposed friendships, and some gossip, four players stick out who fit some, or all, of the following criteria:

• Stars or borderline stars
• Previous Dame teammates
• Players who Lillard has praised at one time or another
• Players who make sense as fits around Lillard
• Players who would fix some of the Blazers weaknesses

So who are they?

1. Mikal Bridges

When ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith asked Lillard to name some of his favorite NBA players shortly after the conclusion of Portland’s 2022-23 season, Dame laid part of his answer out in simple terms: “I love Mikal Bridges.”

Lillard and Bridges share the same trainer. When Bridges’ potential was questioned early in his career, Dame came to his defense.

“If I had to say a player right now that I would want to add to our team, I would say somebody like Mikal Bridges or OG Anunoby or Jarred Vanderbilt,” Lillard said on The Dave Pasch Podcast (h/t Heavy.com) before the start of last season.

Dame was spotted on the sidelines during one of the Nets’ playoff games against the Philadelphia 76ers in this year’s Eastern Conference opening round.

Whether that was recruiting or not, there are obviously connections between Dame and the 26-year-old two-way wing who proved himself as a legitimate go-to option during his 27 games in Brooklyn last year.

2. Zach LaVine

Over the course of the last 15 or so years, many relationships between NBA players have started with USA Basketball. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, for example, forged a friendship on the 2008 Olympic Team before linking up with the Miami Heat.

Lillard and LaVine were both key cogs of the team that won the Gold Medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (so was Jerami Grant before the Blazers acquired him). Dame praised the current Bulls star for the selflessness he displayed that summer.

“…Zach was just like, ‘Whatever I gotta do, that’s what I’ll do. If I gotta pick up fullcourt, be a playmaker, be a spot-up shooter, I’m good.’ He literally said that.

“It was fun to see a player of his type of ability embrace that role. Because he was so good at it. You don’t have the responsibility of scoring and doing all these things, so he was flying around defensively, catching lobs, blocking shots, hitting open 3s.”

The Bulls are on track to at least contemplate a rebuild this summer, and if Portland wants to unlock future first-round picks to include in trades, it will have to work with Chicago to remove the protections placed on a lottery selection currently owed to the Bulls anyway.

LaVine has a history of knee injuries, a large contract, and wouldn’t do much to fix the Blazers defensive issues, but he’s averaged more than 24 points per game each of the last four seasons and is a career 38.4 percent 3-point shooter.

3. Draymond Green

Green is another USA Basketball pal of Lillard’s, and although the Warriors star is on the downside of his career at age 33, would instantly upgrade Portland’s abysmal defense.

Despite not racking up stellar statistics or being any kind of scoring threat, Draymond is the glue that held four championship teams together in Golden State. He was the defensive anchor and a significant offensive fulcrum for one of the best teams of the 2000s.

Green’s antics aren’t particularly enjoyed by most of the NBA world – punching teammates and hitting LeBron James where it hurts most during the NBA finals, for example – but there’s no denying his impact on winning.

Lillard was there in support of Draymond after he stomped on Domantas Sabonis during this year’s first-round series against the Sacramento Kings, for which he was suspended.

https://twitter.com/Dame_Lillard/status/1648180722535129089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1648180722535129089%7Ctwgr%5E5019525e1b073777ad4144fc64b2c34c9bcbc119%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fnba%2F2023%2F04%2F18%2Fdamian-lillard-draymond-green-stomp-domantas-sabonis

Draymond was even invited to Lillard’s wedding.

The Blazers could attempt to work out a sign-and-trade for Green if they choose to this offseason.

4. Jaylen Brown

There’s no better player and fit – and, perhaps unfortunately, no player more difficult to acquire – than Brown.

Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, making an All-NBA team this year (which is likely) means Brown could sign an extension to remain with the Boston Celtics for $48,877,500 per season.

In all, that contract could reach five years and about $283.5 million.

It would make no sense for the 26-year-old to pass up that kind of money and security, especially considering any other NBA team would have to wait to sign Brown as a free agent and couldn’t offer him as many years or as much money.

Still, never say never, and Jaylen was linked to Lillard and the Blazers almost as soon as Portland’s season ended. The two-time All-Star was reported to be on Dame’s “proverbial list of those switchy wing-type secondary stars.”

And he should be.

Brown is an ever-improving offensive option and would be a fantastic secondary scorer next to Lillard. He’s also one of the best defensive wings in the NBA with the size, length, athleticism, and versatility to guard nearly every position on the floor.

It would be exceedingly difficult to find a player who would slide in next to Dame better than Brown.

Who knows which players Lillard was referring to when he mentioned needle-movers who wanted to join him with the Blazers, but these four could certainly be at least part of that list, and they would all make a significant impact on his chances of making a serious playoff push next season.

As Dame said, though, the hard part will be finally making a move and getting those players to Portland.