PORTLAND, Ore. — The Trail Blazers are once again hovering around .500 this NBA season, but they are limited in their ability to make big upgrades to the roster heading toward the Feb. 9 league trade deadline.
The roster is expensive, the young players are still developing, and the older players don’t hold a ton of value on the market, according to Locked On Blazers host Mike Richman and his guest on the Wednesday episode of the show, NBA analyst Nate Duncan.
“This is kind of what they signed up for when they decided to keep Dame around, and it’s eye of the beholder whether it’s ‘worth it’ or not,” Duncan said.
Damian Lillard is playing like an All-Star once again, young guard Anfernee Simons continues to grow, and offseason addition Jerami Grant is having a solid season on both ends. But players like center Jusuf Nurkic or forward Josh Hart are unlikely to be heavily pursued by rival teams the next two weeks.
“I assume that they won’t do anything big at the deadline, because I assume that they’re not going to trade the big three guys (Lillard, Simons and Grant), so it’s really Josh Hart and (Jusuf Nurkic),” said Richman.
Instead, Portland will hope to see growth from Simons and 2022 first-round pick Shaedon Sharpe, as well as young role players Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. The season could still result in a postseason berth, but Portland is likely locked into its current situation at least a little while longer.