Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley named one trade that's still haunting every NBA franchise. For the Portland Trail Blazers, that trade was sending Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for a whole lot of nothing.
Here was the deal in full:
"The Blazers have made a few nightmarish signings in free agency, but their trade work has been generally positive. This Feb. 2022 trade was a clear flop, though. Granted, Portland wasn't expecting much, as it was engineering a roster reset at the time. Still, the Blazers should've gotten more for these players, Powell in particular," Buckley writes.
The Norman Powell trade exposed a flaw in Portland's roster construction
The Miami Heat, like the Clippers before them, acquired Powell for very few assets this summer. As part of a three-team deal involving the Utah Jazz, Miami sent away Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love. That's quietly turning out to be one of the most lopsided trades of the offseason. Powell is currently playing himself into the All-Star conversation, averaging 24.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists while shooting an absurd 45.8% from beyond the arc.
The Blazers already should've regretted this decision to move on from Powell, as his play surprisingly ascended in Los Angeles as he continued to age. However, as Buckley notes, this once unfavorable trade has escalated into a full-blown disaster.
"While folks maybe didn't expect him to age as miraculously as he has—who breaks out at 31 and ups the ante the following season?—he was already a proven shot-maker, a helpful support scorer and an established veteran with championship experience. The fact he looks like a legitimate All-Star candidate three-odd years later only highlights how little Portland received in return."
Considering how desperately Portland needs more shooting and how thin their roster is following several injuries to start the season, they could really use someone of Powell's caliber right about now. The current state of the Blazers' roster and Powell's surprising ascension in the back half of his career should have Joe Cronin second-guessing this decision.
To Cronin's credit, he has hit on several of the Blazers' other trades, including the Damian Lillard blockbuster and the Deni Avdija deal. Additionally, the Powell trade was financially motivated more than anything else. The Blazers wanted to get off his five-year, $90 million contract to get under the luxury tax and have more room to commit to a long-term extension for Anfernee Simons.
But at the same time, the plan was for Portland to retool around Lillard. They failed to assemble the contender-level roster Lillard needed in part because they lacked talent, making it all the more questionable that they moved on from Powell and, to a lesser extent, Covington.
It felt like Portland didn't know exactly which direction to take with this roster, and Powell and RoCo became casualties of that confusion. That's an underrated aspect of Portland finally having an established identity, as it will help them make more sound roster moves going forward.