Portland Trail Blazers ready To Trade another Key Player

After trading superstar guard Damian Lillard in a three-way deal with the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks ahead of last season, the Portland Trail Blazers are officially in rebuild mode, with the team hoping that young point guard Scoot Henderson is the real deal, even though his rookie season left something to be desired.

With the Blazers clearly set on rebuilding moving forward, there’s been a lot of speculation lately about the team shipping off some of their veterans in trades in order to build up some draft capital, with forward Jerami Grant being the most mentioned name as a player that could be sent elsewhere by Portland ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season.

Although there’s a decent chance that Grant could be suiting up for another team before the first game of the upcoming season, it appears that veteran center Deandre Ayton could also be a notable name in Portland that might be on the move.

According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Blazers and Ayton are expected to part ways at some point this summer, even though he doesn’t currently have much trade value via NBA Central.

The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to eventually trade Deandre Ayton, per @BrettSiegelNBA

“At some point, the Blazers and Ayton are expected to part ways, sources said, yet the former first overall pick doesn't command a market at this time.” pic.twitter.com/rxA2Kp7VPT

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 4, 2024

Only time will tell what the Blazers roster will look like once the 2024-25 campaign gets underway, but it is safe to say that there’s likely a move or two coming as the start of the NBA preseason approaches.

It isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that Grant and Ayton are still on the team when the season starts and become notable names mentioned as trade candidates ahead of the NBA trade deadline.