Most Affected Trail Blazer #3: Jusuf Nurkic
Jusuf Nurkic finds himself in a similar place to Simons, as up until the draft lottery, it looked likely that Nurkic would remain the starting pivot for the team. After the sudden luck, however, Portland appears to both want to make drastic changes and move on from players of its past.
Nurkic has held down the middle for the Blazers since they acquired him in a trade from Denver, starting all but one game he’s played in for them since 2017. He’s been a reliable scorer and screen-setter, opening up massive holes for Lillard to shine, but on defense he often leaves opponents with the same freedom to score due to his deficiencies on that end.
There have been just as many whispers about Nurkic moving as there have been with Simons, given both are poor defenders who have the right size salary to package with other players and picks to net the team a star.
While he hasn’t garnered the same feverish attention that Simons has, Nurkic is also one of the most affected Blazers in trade talks.
At this point, the writing appears to be on the wall for Nurkic. If the team can find a trade that gives them more of a defensive identity at center, whether it packages the third pick or not, it looks likely that the long time starter for the Trail Blazers will be repping a new city as Portland heads in a new direction.