Grade the trade: Blazers give away core pieces for poo poo platter in absurd proposal

General manager Joe Cronin and head coach Chauncey Billups were adamant going into this season that the Portland Trail Blazers need to have veterans on their roster to stabilize the rotation and help develop a young group of players. Despite an awful record, that's generally gone according to plan.

Some of those vets will be attractive trade pieces to dangle at February's trade deadline. Whether or not the Blazers choose to move them, though, is a significant question.

Is it smarter for Portland to keep someone like Malcolm Brogdon around to take pressure off of Scoot Henderson or to trade him for a protected first-round pick and add to the Blazers' stable of future-building assets? That's a decision Cronin will need to make.

Trail Blazers trade Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle to Detroit Pistons in proposed trade

A recent proposal from The Athletic has Cronin moving a pair of those key vets. Jerami Grant and Matisse Thybulle are good NBA players. Grant has turned himself into one of the league's most versatile scorers, and Thybulle has finally found the three that makes him and true three-and-D wing.

But the underwhelming hypothetical return in this trade would ruin both the Blazers' present and future.