Grade the Trade: Portland Trail Blazers sell low on Deandre Ayton

Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey recently proposed ten potential NBA trade ideas. Many of the trades involved stars, including Darius Garland and Trae Young, who could be on the move this offseason. The Portland Trail Blazers were in one of Bailey's trades, but it wasn't as exciting as the others. Here's the breakdown: 

Blazers move on from Deandre Ayton after one season

Portland has been going about its rebuild incorrectly so far. They have the losing games for better lottery odds part down. What General Manager Joe Cronin is missing in Portland's rebuilding formula is having free cap space to take on bad contracts from other teams and receiving draft capital in the process.

In the deal, the Blazers continue their rebuild by acquiring a valuable first-round draft pick and Evan Fournier's expiring contract. From that standpoint, this trade makes some sense. Not only would they get a first-round pick, but the Blazers would be better positioning themselves to have that cap space in the future (after hopefully moving on from Malcolm Brogdon and Jerami Grant).

"The Blazers don't have a single player on their current roster who's guaranteed to become a star, so they should still be aiming to turn Ayton, Malcolm Brogdon and Jerami Grant into as much future draft capital as possible."

- Andy Bailey

Still, Ayton's trade value should be higher than this, given his solid finish to last season. If anything, this proposed trade would make more sense for the Blazers if it were for someone like Matisse Thybulle or Robert Williams III instead, but then the Pistons would likely not be interested.

It's even more unlikely that Monty Williams wants anything to do with a Deandre Ayton reunion in Detroit. Williams pushed the Suns to trade Ayton to the Pacers in exchange for Myles Turner when Indiana offered Ayton a max contract in restricted free agency.

This proposed deal aligns perfectly with the type of trade Cronin should pursue: acquiring draft capital and an expiring deal in exchange for an established player. However, for the Blazers to consider moving on from Ayton, they would need to receive more valuable assets in return.

Trail Blazers trade grade: C-