How the Blazers build the trade
The Pelicans have a deep roster with plenty of tradeable players. If they are going after a top pick, they will likely hope to use their depth and future draft picks to avoid giving up one of their two stars.
The Trail Blazers can’t let that happen.
There’s a version of the trade in which the Pelicans offer Trey Murphy III, Jose Alvarado and Jonas Valanciunas for a package centered around Jusuf Nurkic and the No. 3 pick, but that’s not enough for Portland. Future picks don’t do them a ton of good right now, although they could be flipped for other veterans.
Even trading for Zion Williamson is risky with his health concerns.
The only player on the Pelicans that the Blazers should trade the No. 3 pick for is Brandon Ingram.
This is a lot for the Pelicans to give up for the No. 3 pick, and if they truly have their eyes set on Scoot, they will first try offering this sort of package to the Hornets to make Henderson a lock. Yet, at the end of the day, if Henderson is the generational prospect they think he is, this is what they have to pay.
Simons is a prolific young scoring guard and would make an excellent partner with Henderson as a long-term backcourt pairing. This kind of deal would likely signal a resetting of the roster into a younger core, so CJ McCollum would likely be moved on to another team. In the end, the Pelicans can’t get to Henderson any other way.
If the Pelicans do talk their way into this trade, do the Trail Blazers pull the trigger?