Grading the trade for the Trail Blazers
This is a "do the deal and figure the rest out later" move for Portland.
The Trail Blazers already own four picks in this year's draft, including two that will land in the lottery barring some kind of miracle. Adding a quartet of rookies to an already young roster makes no sense, so there's a good chance Portland doesn't make all those picks, let alone a fifth one.
The team doesn't have much use for two trade exceptions either, one of which is massive as far as trade exceptions go. The odds that the Blazers make a trade to bring in a player making $20 million are slim to none.
But.
Another first-round pick is another asset general manager Joe Cronin can use. Maybe packaging some of Portland's extra picks with a player like Anfernee Simons or Jerami Grant would net a larger and more useful return in a trade.
And the team will bypass the luxury tax next year unless it makes a move; in this proposal, the Blazers payroll drops closer to $152 million - well below the tax.
Looney can be bought out before next season for $3 million or rerouted to another team that could use a big man with multiple championships on his resume.
The pros outweigh the cons of this deal. It's not a home run by any means and Cronin would have some work to do after making it. But it's a trade that makes sense for Portland.
Trail Blazers trade grade: B