Coming off a 36-46 record in 2025, Portland planned to build on its late-season success and get off to a strong start in 2026. The strong start happened, and their young core were playing with a tempo and purpose not usually seen in the NBA, but one that is common in March Madness NCAA games where teams do a full-court press and drag out low-scoring contests with a lot of long possessions and ask their second unit to dish out fouls to slow down the other team and make them reconsider driving into the lane.
The Trail Blazers opened the season with a 4-2 record in October, with impressive wins over the Warriors and Lakers, along with close wins over the Jazz and Nuggets. Their intensity was incredible, and it seemed the team was putting the league on notice that they would have to prepare for 48 minutes of hell when facing them.
Depth and health are never a concern when you are living your season one game at a time, just hoping for one more opportunity. But surviving one more game for the chance to play for a title is not the same as playing a game in November and December that may not really matter over the course of an 82-game season.
Less than a month into their new season, the injury bug bit hard.
In November, the team won four games but lost 10, including a four-game losing streak amid a rash of injuries. December is off to a lukewarm start: the team opened the month by losing to Toronto, then beat Cleveland on Wednesday. They are now 9-13 on the season and below their winning percentage from last season.
With the holiday season in full swing, the board of directors at OSN wondered: What kind of wish list should the team put together to help them get back on track?
You could wish for things like prime Clyde Drexler to time warp onto the roster and agree to a $1 contract, but that isn’t happening. Or for Damian Lillard to be fully healthy by January, but that’s not happening either.
Bryant Knox (BK) and Casey Mabbott (CM) offer their thoughts on what the team should be asking for, and we only made one request of them – but we don’t hold very high hopes they will succeed at it. We only asked that they keep a loose grip on reality, but then again, dreams sometimes come true. They both still work here, after all.
- With a once-in-a-generation talent available as Giannis Antetokounmpo is suddenly on the trade block, are there any players or picks you wouldn’t trade to bring him to Portland? You can protect up to three assets.
BK: If the Blazers get in on the Giannis sweepstakes, you have to assume the Milwaukee picks Portland previously acquired are going back to the Bucks. And I think that’s fair. Considering that was once the price to acquire Damian Lillard, you have not just to match but up the ante when it comes to Giannis, a two-time NBA MVP.
With that said, the only two players who come to mind as close to untouchable are Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe. Avdija is a legit All-Star at 24 years old, and he’s on maybe the NBA’s friendliest contract. Sharpe, despite still missing a three-point shot, is a consistent 20-points-per-night player, and at 22, his ceiling still feels as high as his vertical.
In the end, I think Avdija is the one I’d deem untouchable—or, at least, I’d be very hesitant to include him in a deal that also sends out significant draft capital. But then again, if Cronin can someday claim he turned Malcolm Brogdon and two firsts for Giannis, he’ll also be able to claim he was playing 4D chess with the Avdija trade all along.
CM: Not to sound completely insane, but I’m not sure I would go for this deal so choosing players to protect is not something I will dive into here, just don’t do the deal please.
Giannis isn’t going to come here alone. If the Bucks deal him, it would likely be for a package of players and picks while unloading top-heavy contracts as they separate themselves from the overloaded salary cap they put together while chasing a follow-up to their 2021 championship. With a ton of dead money from waiving Lillard over the summer and then signing Myles Turner, they are going to be cash poor for a while. Portland also holds a pair of the Bucks’ draft picks, as Bryant alluded to, and those are probably not staying here.
So the real question is: would I be willing to bring Giannis here along with his two brothers and, likely, a player like Kyle Kuzma or Bobby Portis who is paid more than he is producing? While giving up players and picks to build a patchwork roster? Honestly, that’s a no for me. I don’t know where Kuzma or Portis would fit on this roster. I don’t want to absorb their contracts to watch them sit on the bench if the guys we prefer can stick around, and I don’t want them starting just because we traded away a younger, cheaper, and better player so we can have a shiny new power forward for at least a year.
Portland doesn’t have its own superstar to trade this time to make the deal less one-sided, nor do we have a star to pair with Giannis, so this won’t give the team a real shot at a title either, especially if they have to give up multiple young players to make it work. So, giving up budding stars to make the roster top-heavy and just a little more likely to compete is not ideal, and I would say thank you for calling, but no thank you.
- If you can’t bring Giannis here, is there another team you would want him to go to, preferably one that benefits Portland? And who would you want that team to have to trade away? This can be a multi-team trade with a max of three teams.
CM: Giannis is staying in the Eastern Conference, and I’m sorry to tell him he’s going to the Wizards, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander goes to the Bucks. The Wizards will send a package of players and picks to OKC to make it work, but the only team happy in this scenario is the Trail Blazers, watching it unfold with a bowl of popcorn.
The Bucks get their star of the future to build around, but it will cost them. They will not receive any players or picks in the deal, as OKC will need significant compensation for sending their superstar to another team just a few months after he won them their first title in franchise history.
I don’t know if Giannis will be happy in Washington. Still, with his player option in 2028, he can opt out and go where he chooses after a couple of seasons, or he can go the Kevin Durant route and demand a trade before that and see if the team will be willing to deal him for a king’s ransom.
BK: I’ll start by answering a question you didn’t ask: who do I not want to see Giannis play for? In fact, I’ll go one step further and reveal who I am terrified of seeing Giannis play for. That, of course, is the San Antonio Spurs. For the love of all that is pure in Portland, the Western Conference and the NBA at large, do not let Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama play together for the San Antonio Spurs. It will be a Greek Freak x Alien takeover.
In general, a Giannis trade to an Eastern Conference team helps Portland. By virtue of keeping him away from Los Angeles and Golden State (two teams likely making calls already on the Bucks star), you avoid having to play Giannis 3-4 times during the regular season, and you never have to worry about matching up against him in the Playoffs until the Finals.
One scenario that could genuinely help Portland is a Giannis trade to New York. The Knicks have a versatile 7-footer in Karl-Anthony Towns, who is objectively one of the best shooting bigs of all-time. If Portland can bring salary-matching contracts and those juicy Bucks first-round picks to the table as a facilitator, the Blazers could genuinely take back someone like a KAT by simply helping Giannis get to his desired destination.
- What player or players would you give an immunity card to for the remainder of the season? Max of two players. This keeps them healthy and keeps them from being involved in any trades for this season only.
BK: My first answer comes more from the heart than from analysis, but I’d give it to Scoot. There was so much optimism surrounding the young point guard entering Year 3, yet another bout with injuries has kept him on the sidelines. This immunity card is more about health for Scoot than it is to make him untouchable in trades. But either way, giving this guy a real shot is what the Blazers need.
Then, for the sake of Rip City staying sane, we’ve got to protect Deni Avdija at all costs. I’m tempted to say Donovan Clingan deserves the nod here, simply because keeping a franchise big, healthy, and in the long-term plans is everything Portland has ever wanted. But you know what else is needed? A star to build around. And it finally has one in Deni.
CM: I’m assuming the power of holiday magic can cure what ails Lillard and make him healthy sooner rather than later? In that case, he gets the first immunity card, knowing he won’t be healthy by January, as the laws of magic in the intro stated, but there was nothing in there about February.
Player two is Donovan Clingan. Surprised? Don’t be. Bryant almost did it, and in my opinion, he should have moved ahead with it. Without a gifted center, this team isn’t getting far in the playoffs if they can make it there, and they don’t have anyone capable of playing the five spot in a big game right now if their season depends on it. And with a healthy Lillard going into the all-star break, they will have the star they need to score when it counts, and a bunch of young players with plenty of talent begging for a chance to be the next big deal in the league – and they need the team to put them in the right playoff matchup to show what they can do.
- If you could only wish for one of these, which is most important: winning season, playoff berth, or healthy starters?
CM: I’m going to go with healthy starters. I really want a winning season, and ideally, that goes hand in hand with a spot in the playoffs. But if any or all of those starters are hurt, how far will the team get in a playoff series? I could argue that a brief, lopsided series could be just as detrimental as missing the playoffs entirely. They would have a worse draft pick and nothing to show for it. I usually say make the playoffs above all else, but if it means hurting players, I am not a fan. We’ve seen Portland get swept or close to it in a first-round exit, and I’m not sure what you learn from that other than being pissed off for the summer and hoping things are different next year – but we often found they were pretty much the same. Those years, they got into the second round or better, though? They seemed to have a force field of confidence around them going into the following year, knowing they could play basketball and that they had already proven they belonged in the conversation.
Keep your starters healthy, and as long as this team plays at or above their potential, the playoffs and a good experience in the playoffs are likely on their radar. But at least they will know what they are capable of. A lost year due to injuries puts this team further away from discovering its long-term identity.
BK: As tempted as I am to say healthy starters, the way this year’s team was built, making the playoffs is vital to next season’s growth.
No—I don’t expect the Blazers to advance deep into the postseason. But playing meaningful games is important. And even if the Blazers entered the playoffs dinged up, everyone involved, both on the court and on the sidelines, would benefit.
- Assuming Giannis is not an option for Portland, is there another player in the NBA you would want the front office to trade for? In this case, you can’t protect anyone; every player on the roster is up for grabs if you make this deal, but the payoff is that you can trade for any player in the league.
BK: Utah Jazz big man Lauri Markkanen jumps off the page as a Blazers target. He’s a three-point-shooting, 7-foot forward who would slide right in as the starting four between Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan. He’s been a rumor-mill regular for years now, and finding him a home in Portland would make too much sense not to consider it.
Of the non-star variety, I’m keeping an eye on Memphis Grizzlies point guard, Scotty Pippen Jr. The irony is that he’s been out all of 2025-26 so far with a toe injury, while the Blazers are also dealing with the injury bug in the backcourt. But Pippen has one of the more team-friendly contracts in the NBA, and he can be trusted to responsibly run an offense while also being a genuinely good defender at 6’2”, 170 pounds.
CM: I would be on board with a deal, but it depends heavily on what the team has to give up in return. I’m not interested in the blockbuster deals that land a team one player in exchange for a handful of players and draft picks, and that is often the price for a top-five player in the NBA.
But for a guy who could be a key player on a deep playoff run? I’m all for that, especially someone who is in and out of favor with their current team and may be moved sooner rather than later, but would be a quality teammate on this team.
Trae Young’s name is often thrown around as a marquee player that could be moved for the right price, Zion Williamson has also been in trade talks in recent years, De’Aaron Fox has already been moved once, Jimmy Butler gets his mail at the post office at this point, and Donovan Mitchell was part of one of the more unexpected moves in recent history. I would have no issue with the team packaging Scoot or Shaedon with one of the Bucks’ picks to get a premier player they can pair with Do-it-all Deni and Cling Kong.
A current player we aren’t sold on and a pick I’d rather spend now than wait to see if the Bucks go on another title run isn’t too much to ask, and while I like the current roster, I’m not opposed to bringing in fresh blood to pair with most of them. Butler is the only guy on the short list who really doesn’t make sense, especially with Jrue Holiday already on the team, but if he’s open to it and we don’t have to give up too much, it wouldn’t be bad to have Wes Matthews 2.0 on the roster. Once upon a time, we were going to trade for Jimmy about seven mailing addresses ago, but it’s never too late for the right player. We were almost going to land Butler or Paul Millsap so many times that I honestly forgot they didn’t play here.
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