3 Trades to clear the Portland Trail Blazers’ big man logjam

3. Chicago Bulls find their long-term center

The Chicago Bulls are finally moving on from their failed experiment of going all in with Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic. DeRozan is now with the Sacramento Kings, but Chicago's most significant move to signify their rebuild was trading away coveted two-way guard Alex Caruso to the OKC Thunder for Josh Giddey.

Between Giddey, Coby White, Patrick Williams, and recent No. 11 overall draft pick Matas Buzelis (who many expected to be picked in the top five), the Bulls are in the very early stages of building a promising young core. The most glaring position they need to address as they navigate their rebuild is their center, as Nikola Vucevic is 33. Chicago makes sense as a potential trade partner to help solve the Blazers' excess center situation.

Ayton is 26 and still fits in well with the timeline of a rebuilding team, but his hefty contract, owed $34 million next year, makes the finances more complicated to get a deal done with the Bulls unless they moved some of their more expensive pieces like LaVine around. The Blazers owe Robert Williams $12.4 million this upcoming season. He's on a much more reasonable contract to get a deal done with a team like Chicago, where finances are tight.

Meanwhile, the Blazers add an excellent two-way guard in 24-year-old Ayo Dosunmu. He's an elite role piece as a lockdown on-ball defender who shot 40 percent from beyond the arc last season. This trade would help balance both teams' rosters and provide the Blazers with insurance at the guard position should they find a deal for Simons later on.

However, Dosunmu is a solid player with legitimate trade value in the NBA; this type of deal likely wouldn't happen until around the trade deadline, when Williams has hopefully proven he can stay healthy.