The Portland Trail Blazers have expressed interest in acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even if the Milwaukee Bucks superstar gets on board with the idea of coming to Portland, some are understandably hesitant about Portland trading for him.
Going all-in for stars has backfired for teams around the league, especially ones under new ownership looking to make an aggressive move. The fit is questionable at best, given his age, contract, Portland's lack of floor spacing, and the fact that the Giannis-Dame pairing already didn't work out in Milwaukee.
However, the Western Conference playoffs have already shown the gap in star power between Portland and the juggernaut teams, specifically the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
Portland has to build its roster to match up with the Western Conference juggernauts
The Blazers are unfortunately on the exact same timeline as these two talented young teams and must take matchups into consideration when constructing their roster going forward -- similar to how the Minnesota Timberwolves did when preparing to battle Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
The league's newest superstar big man is Victor Wembanyama, who was a matchup nightmare in the first-round playoff series, making Donovan Clingan a non-factor due to his limited mobility. To be fair, Wembanyama is a problem for just about every player in the league. We've literally never seen anything like him before as a skilled 7-foot-5 alien.
This is the first of many playoff runs in which Wembanyama knocks down everything in his path. As the postseason has shown, Portland doesn't have a solution to that decade-long problem currently on its roster.
Victor Wembanyama is a decade-long problem with no answer on Portland's roster
They'll have to find an external solution to slow down Wembanyama, and the best option is Giannis, who is called the Greek Freak for a reason.
Antetokounmpo has unique physical tools of his own, listed at 6-foot-11 with a massive 7-foot-3 wingspan. That's still undersized compared to Wembanyama, but it's that combination of length and athleticism that could best contain him relative to the helpless options around the league.
In fact, one Western Conference executive told Sam Amick of The Athletic that Giannis' trade value could rise because he's a "matchup solution" against Wembanyama.
"Yeah, Giannis is a matchup solution for Wemby, so I could definitely see teams factoring that in when they're discussing trading for him," said the executive. "Trust me, it's on everybody's mind. Teams will try to find ways that they can build a roster out to beat the Spurs, just like they are to beat OKC."
Dealing with one potential dynasty in the Thunder was already crushing enough for Portland's chances of contention; now, they have arguably an even scarier roster to deal with in San Antonio.
The silver lining to being stuck in the Western Conference during the same timeline as these teams is that Portland has leverage to land Giannis with the Milwaukee Bucks' picks acquired in the Damian Lillard trade.
There are legitimate reasons to be hesitant about the all-in move. But these unprecedented circumstances dealing with a 7-foot-5 alien require a monster of their own in the Greek Freak. If it were an ordinary situation, we'd say to stay the course and let the rebuild play out. But at this point, landing a top-five player in the world built to contain the Spurs superstar may be the Blazers' only chance to reach the Finals in the coming years. Even if the chances are slim, it's better than running it back and hoping for different results.
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