The Portland Trail Blazers' only trade deadline acquisition was sharpshooter Vit Krejci. Although we would've liked them to make a more significant roster upgrade at the deadline, Portland is still in a good spot in its rebuild. They have a promising young core that has taken tremendous strides this season, with unexpected players stepping up in increased roles as a result of seemingly endless injuries.
There may be no better example of this than two-way signees Caleb Love and Sidy Cissoko -- hidden gems that Portland quietly added this past offseason. The Blazers can't make any more trades until the summer, but they can upgrade their roster in a significant way by converting both players to standard contracts.
Blazers must lock down their hidden gems
Two-way contracts are limited to playing 50 games a season, a number that both Love (43) and Cissoko (46) are approaching.
NBA insider Marc Stein previously reported that the Blazers intend to convert both players to standard contracts post-deadline. Given how important they've been this season, that's a no-brainer decision for the Blazers front office.
But the more difficult question is, who becomes the odd man out?
Duop Reath was the one obvious candidate. He was on an expiring contract, fell out of Tiago Splitter's rotation, and unfortunately suffered a season-ending injury. But Portland already played that card by sending Reath's matching salary to Atlanta (who recently waived him).
The Blazers don't have many other players who have fallen out of the rotation, as they've had to rely on just about everyone throughout this injury-riddled season. Our best guess would be Rayan Rupert and Matisse Thybulle.
For Rupert, the reasoning is that the Blazers don't have enough room for another project after taking a draft swing on Yang Hansen. They're essentially already down to a 13-man roster, with Hansen not ready to make an impact and Damian Lillard out for the year. And that's when fully healthy, which hasn't been the case with the Blazers being one of the most injured teams in the league this season.
That is also why Thybulle should go. He's a perfect fit for their defensive identity, but unfortunately, injuries have derailed his career. It's one injury after another with him, playing a total of just 19 games over the last two seasons. Thybulle likely would've left in the offseason anyway with his contract set to expire, but this is accelerating that decision.
Portland actually has underrated depth that they haven't been able to display this year, making it a difficult choice. But going forward, the trajectories of Love and Cissoko would provide a major roster upgrade compared to Rupert and Thybulle.