Don’t look now, but the Portland Trail Blazers are knocking on the door of the playoffs, and when an outlier team reaches that point, the postseason arms race becomes a bit more crowded. Portland has a number of attractive tradeable assets this year and may be in a position to make a decent postseason push.
Some of the more obvious available pieces are those of Robert Williams and Matisse Thybulle; Williams is a brilliant but oft-injured center, and Thybulle is a wiry wing that is a plus when available but has played just 34 games per season in Portland and just four this year to date.
Without Williams, the center rotation is dangerously thin, and so any trade with Williams departing must include a center or someone capable of playing center. Young players, plus defenders and shooters, are always a plus. Sports Illustrated has concocted a mock trade that includes all three.
Here's the trade in full:
Check, check, and check.
Blazers ship veterans to take a chance on Jonathan Kuminga
This trade is admittedly very lopsided; Golden State sends its starting center to Portland here, presumably opting for a Draymond Green-led center approach. The 2026 pick that appears in this trade is only owed to Portland if it falls between 43 and 60; Memphis owes it to the Clippers otherwise. With that pick's position dependent on team record and Memphis leaning into trading Ja Morant and others, that pick seems unlikely to convey.
Some Blazers fans may find the inclusion of Payton to strike a negative chord after the infamous Toradol-gate incident, but he fills the exact role of Thybulle with the added bonus of an elevated availability. As for Post, he would admirably slot into the backup center minutes left vacant by Williams.
Ironically, the biggest question mark of the trade lies within its headlining asset, that of Kuminga. While his role would be just as perplexing as it was in Golden State, he spent a shocking third of his career minutes at small-ball center, a flexibility the Blazers covet. While Kuminga doesn’t excel at any one thing outside of motor, the investment is low—he has a team option on his deal next year and some time to figure it out at just 23 years of age.
Like Scoot Henderson and Sidy Cissoko, Kuminga played on the G-League Ignite, a now-defunct alternative NBA pathway that had the dubious distinction of producing players who require a little extra seasoning. If Kuminga hasn’t truly realized his ceiling yet, this trade could end up being a steal for the Blazers.
Grade: A-