The Portland Trail Blazers front office has been exploring ways to get involved in a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo blockbuster trade leading up to the Feb. 5 deadline. While Giannis isn't interested in going to Portland, the Blazers could still play a key role as facilitators.
The Blazers have the Bucks' 2029 first-round pick and first-round pick swaps in 2028 and 2030. Those have suddenly become as valuable as ever as general manager Joe Cronin's bet against Milwaukee continues to pay off.
With that being the case, Portland must be very selective when it comes to finding the player worth surrendering some, if not all, of this draft capital for (sorry, Knicks fans, Mikal Bridges isn't going to cut it).
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic recently proposed a unique trade on X that has the Blazers cashing in all of the Bucks' picks plus Scoot Henderson in exchange for Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe.
Here is the multi-team deal in full:
Mock trade: Blazers turn Bucks picks and Scoot Henderson into future star VJ Edgecombe
Some Blazers fans pushed back on this trade, to which Vecenie responded:
"Think Blazers fans seem to be WAY undervaluing VJ Edgecombe, who is legit a potential future all-star based on what we've seen this year. The whole point of a deal like this would be to take the value volatility out of the MIL picks and just get a guy you know is awesome. Those picks might be great. They might also be Nos. 8, 9, and 11 because Milwaukee will have no reason to tank and be bad."
Ultimately, this creative hypothetical could come down to how the Blazers truly view Scoot. They're paying a premium to swap one former No. 3 overall pick for another, but Edgecombe has much less variance than Henderson when it comes to career trajectories.
To some extent, it's selling low on Scoot, as his best basketball is clearly ahead of him after his momentum carrying over from Year 2 was derailed by an untimely hamstring injury. This trade means betting against his breakout ever coming to fruition.
But at the same time, Edgecombe has already emerged as a proven asset capable of starting on a contender with upside for way more. He's averaging 15.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.5 steals on 43/37/77 as a rookie!
Edgecombe's two-way skillset would be a great fit for Portland's defensive identity. His combination of being an immediate-impact prospect with a higher ceiling than Scoot also fits perfectly with where the Blazers are in their rebuild. Portland isn't tanking but also isn't contending, so they could use a piece like Edgecombe to help make a playoff push in the short term while growing alongside their young core to eventually reach contention status. Not to mention, he's on a cheap contract until the end of the 2028-29 season.
It's a lot to give up, but as Vecenie notes, the Blazers' current assets -- as promising as they are -- still have a lot of question marks surrounding them. Here, they turn that into one young surefire asset with All-Star upside, which is precisely the type of piece they should be seeking in a deal like this.