Heading into the 2026-27 season, the strengths of the Portland Trail Blazers roster lie in its point guard and center depth. However, that's also come at the expense of their lack of forward options behind Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara.
They do have one final spot remaining on the 15-man roster to add another forward, but this roster is so lopsided to the point where a trade would be beneficial. To a lesser extent, the same could be said of the Dallas Mavericks, who are in need of more guard depth behind Kyrie Irving.
That's why we previously identified Dallas as the ideal trade partner for Portland, with potential forward targets including P.J. Washington and Naji Marshall.
But on Sunday, Dallas added another forward into the mix: Zaccharie Risacher.
Zaccharie Risacher gives Dallas another forward Portland should target
The former No. 1 overall pick was part of a three-team deal between the Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Atlanta Hawks, headlined by Lu Dort landing in Atlanta as OKC successfully ducks the second apron.
Considering how cheap Risacher was to acquire, this was a strategic, low-risk move by the Mavericks' new GM Mike Schmitz, who was previously the Blazers' assistant GM. Joe Cronin needs to leverage that established relationship and connection to Portland's front office to try and come away with one (or more) of these forwards.
Given how cheap Risacher was to acquire, he would fit with Portland's trade approach under new owner Tom Dundon as they look to buy low on assets like Ja Morant.
Marshall is an underrated forward who is only on the books for $9.4 million this upcoming season.
Washington would require the most assets to surrender, potentially a young guard like Scoot Henderson or Shaedon Sharpe included as part of the package. If they did go that route, they'd have Washington under contract for four more seasons, aligning with the timeline of Portland's young core.
Between the three forwards, it's actually Risacher who is statistically the best three-point shooter, hovering around 36 percent from deep in the first two seasons to start his career.
Ultimately, which of these forwards to pursue comes down to Dallas' asking price for each. But it was already apparent that there was potential for a win-win trade scenario to help each other sort out their respective logjams, and that's even more the case now that Dallas managed to come away with Risacher.
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