The Portland Trail Blazers just made a massive gamble, spending their valuable first-round pick on a boom-or-bust prospect in center Yang Hansen. With that selection, it's clear that they are building around Hansen and Donovan Clingan as their two long-term players to anchor the middle. But with five centers currently on the roster, moves still have to be made to get to that point.
In part due to these shocking recent developments, Robert Williams III is the one who must be traded this offseason.
Blazers’ recent moves should make Robert Williams the odd man out
Prior to the Hansen selection and Jrue Holiday trade, we actually would have said that Deandre Ayton should be the one to go. We still think Ayton's time in Rip City is coming to an end, but Portland should consider just letting him walk in free agency next summer.
The case for trading Ayton is that Clingan proved down the stretch of the 2024-25 season that he's capable of taking on an increased role. Williams' injury-proneness isn't as much of an issue if he's the backup, especially since Portland has a 'break glass in case of emergency' option in Duop Reath.
Time will tell how impactful Hansen is right away, but we are anticipating that he's going to be more of a developmental project that needs time to transition from the CBA to the pace and physicality of the NBA. We love that the Blazers took some sort of gamble in the draft, but their two recent moves -- the trade for 35-year-old Holiday and the swing on Yang -- are contradictory in terms of their timeline.
Why not trade Deandre Ayton instead?
By taking on Holiday's three-year contract, the Blazers made a win-now move, upgrading their backcourt to help return to playoff relevancy. As much as we want Ayton gone after his inconsistent effort these past two years, he's also going to be a piece worth keeping around to help achieve that goal.
If you trade Ayton, a center rotation of Clingan, Williams, Yang, and Reath isn't reliable enough. Clingan still needs to ramp up his conditioning to take on increased minutes for the entirety of an 82-game season, and we can't count on any of the three options behind him at this point.
In other words, having the unreliable Williams as a backup makes much more sense if he's spelling Ayton rather than Clingan. And since carrying five centers isn't a wise use of roster balance, Williams has to be the odd man out.
Fans are understandably eager for the Blazers to clear the path for their youth, especially after Clingan's All-Rookie campaign. They also want to see what Portland loved so much about "Chinese Jokic" and why the front office seemingly put their jobs on the line with this exciting, relatively unknown prospect.
Those answers are coming, but for now, it's in Portland's best interest to exercise patience by utilizing Ayton's expiring contract as a bridge. Trading Williams is the logical move as it balances their playoff aspirations with a clear path for the Clingan-Yang pairing going forward.