Rip City, draft day is nearly upon us. And while there is plenty of great playoff basketball being played right now, the NBA draft is, for all intents and purposes, the playoffs for Portland fans. There’s a lot to be excited about because GM Joe Cronin’s latest draft stewardship saw the Blazers landing Deni Avdija in a draft-night trade on the same evening in which Donovan Clingan was acquired.
Admittedly, a bit of the luster is missing from last year’s fourth-best odds, but there’s still some cause for celebration—the Hawks sniped the top pick last year despite having the tenth-best odds—the same position the Blazers presently find themselves in. While the odds of a tenth-place finish wriggling into the number one pick has only a 3.7% chance of occurring, there’s a 16.9% chance that Portland finds themselves in the top four—that’s nothing to sneeze at.
After witnessing the second half of last season, wherein the Blazers glanced against the play-in, many fans are satisfied enough with their young core to want to chance upon a largely unproven talent. With that being said, what do the Blazers do with a pick landing second, third, or fourth? Here’s a radical idea: trade it.
In the summer of 2024, Cronin packaged the recently acquired 14th pick with Malcolm Brogdon and a couple of odds and ends and came away with Avdija. Draft choices in that range have a long, storied history of draft-night trades, but with picks two, three, or four, there is far less precedent where established players were traded for draft selections.
The most notable instance was back in 2001 when the Bulls traded former number one pick Elton Brand for the second pick, which ended up being Tyson Chandler. In Brand’s two years between draft nights, he averaged 20 and 10, and in his first season with the Clippers, he led the league in several rebounding stats and was in the top 20 in several advanced metrics, most of them dealing with offense.
Let’s take a look at who might be available with the Blazers’ pick should it crack the upper echelon.
Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
It’s no secret that New Orleans has been looking to move off Zion’s contract in recent times. And with him averaging 43 games played per season—including a season missed entirely due to injury—those efforts have been well-placed. Zion’s injury history has been furtively linked to his well-documented conditioning struggles, though reports near the end of the 2025 season indicate that he may be over that proverbial hump.
Although he’s been in the league for six whole years, Zion is shockingly younger than Toumani Camara and has never averaged fewer than 22.5 points in his rookie season.
Yves Missi—a rookie—was tasked with manning the middle in a season largely lost due to injury, and the Pelicans could be inclined to accept an expiring DeAndre Ayton in a deal for the Blazers’ pick, along with a little draft capital.
Lauri Markkanen, Utah Jazz
The Jazz have been rudderless for a handful of years after discharging Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert for scads of picks and a handful of players. One such player was Lauri Markkanen, who was included in the Mitchell trade for salary purposes.
It was in Markkanen's first season with Utah that he gained his first and only All-Star nod, winning Most Improved Player in the process. Since leaning into the tank, his numbers have sagged off a bit, but the man is still just 27 years of age, and he fills a desperate need within the Blazers' ranks—that of knock-down shooting. The Blazers ranked fifth-worst in three-point percentage despite ranking dead-center in three-point attempts—a recipe for mild disaster.
Ayton again works the best to facilitate this trade due to his expiring deal.
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Though this scheme seems less likely than most, Devin Booker has been a name to watch this summer, given the Suns’ absolute bottoming out and Booker’s own comments after Phoenix’s final game.
The Suns’ cupboard is famously bare for the foreseeable future, with new owner Mat Ishbia trying—and failing—to build a championship team with the cards he was dealt.
While the value of Kevin Durant entering his age-37 season has been speculated upon ad nauseam in recent times, he would likely be headed to a “one more piece” contender incapable of offering significant asset replenishment, opting for the “patchwork quilt” approach that landed Anthony Davis in Los Angeles.
Though this deal would require a sizable commitment from the Blazers as well as the Suns, several key events would have to unfold to make this feasible, likely including Portland locking in the number two pick and selecting Dylan Harper. On paper, though, Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III get the deal done.
Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings
There may not be a single player in the NBA who gets more undeserved jeers than Domas Sabonis. The Kings have been a middling basketball club for some time, having made the playoffs just once since 2006 and already staring down the barrel of another painful rebuild. Domas is a three-time All-Star, though one can make the argument that he should have a few more nods in his career.
The Kings also have a lot of money tied up in role players, with Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan rounding out the top three salaries. Throughout it all, owner Vivek Ranadive has left Kings fans with more questions than answers, and much of the blame for this has fallen squarely on the shoulders of Sabonis.
The Kings’ brass may be willing to move him this summer if another team dangles a high draft pick in their face. With Sacramento on the cusp of a rebuild, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them pounce on someone like Ace Bailey, starting off the rebuild with a high-ceiling prospect that needs the kind of seasoning a long rebuild can offer.