The Portland Trail Blazers are in an interesting, maybe fun, position heading into the Summer of 2026. They’re a team on the rise, at least a little bit. They emerged from the NBA’s lottery laundry cycle last season, reaching the 2026 NBA Playoffs. They lost in the first round to the luckiest lottery team in the universe, the San Antonio Spurs, who disposed of them in five games. But progress is progress. They’re finally looking to grow, not just accumulate assets.
Backing this up, Portland walks
into the offseason with trade chips to put on the table. They control their own draft picks in perpetuity. They will receive first-rounders from the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks in the near future. The Blazers also have a few young, less-expensive players to dangle in trade if they wish. Jrue Holiday would be coveted by multiple teams as a veteran and has the salary to make bigger deals happen. It’s not like Portland is the best-set team on the market, but they at least belong at the table.
These circumstances are giving rise to plenty of rumors involving Portland and big-name players, plus this question to the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag:
Dave,
In your heart do you think it’s realistic for us to trade for a star player? I get excited when I read about players like Giannis and Jaylen Brown but I don’t think it’ll happen actually. When you look at trade possibilities are you starting at that level or are you thinking more modest?
Kev
On paper, the possibilities are realistic. I’d say they’re more situational now than concrete. Most of the hot rumors involve some level of, “If Milwaukee wants their picks back,” and, “If Boston is willing to part with Brown…” They also mention Portland as one of six teams, not as the prime target. This feels like one of those game show things way back in the day where they put a contestant in a glass booth with an air whirlwind inside and cash money all over. The contestant’s job was to grab as much as they could before the timer ran out. These trade possibilities are like dollar bills swirling in the wind: visible and theoretically obtainable, but far from cash in hand.
One of the issues I see is that the players being talked about are at their peak value, or at least peak on the trade market. If they were any more prominent and talented, they wouldn’t be available. That’s why those mitigating circumstances are necessary in the trade description.
That’s not ideal in a few ways. First, it casts doubt on the actual motivation to trade. It’s quite possible that these players don’t move. We’ve seen it before with Giannis Antetokounmpo, multiple times. Second, the competition will be fierce. Third, and maybe most importantly, the price will be sky-high. These factors cause me to react like you do to the trade rumors: interest, but not trust.
The kind of deals that excite me are the ones that predate this stage of trade talk. The Blazers don’t need the current Jaylen Brown deal as much as they need the next one. Who’s the future breakout start in less-than-ideal circumstances right now who might be available for a reasonable (but still high) cost without so much competition for his services?
Deni Avdija is the obvious and superlative example of this phenomenon. He’s young, though, not exactly comparable to peak guys like Giannis and Jaylen. A couple of players who come to mind from my personal wishlist: Tyrese Maxey from the Philadelphia 76ers and Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks.
You’re going to scream right away, “They’re not available! And they’d be super-expensive!” You’re right! Exactly. If they were to hit the trade market on May 26th of 2026, they’d probably cost a ton. It’s a moot point, as it’s unlikely their teams would deal them anyway. They’re at the close-to-untouchable, Giannis-Jaylen level right now. (Towns a little less so, but you get the idea.)
This was not always so, though. A season or two ago, quite recently, the Sixers appeared to be falling apart. Granted, Maxey would have been among the last players they wanted to trade, but if you were going to make an offer for him—and I wanted the Blazers to—that would have been the time. Up until this very playoffs, it was speculated that the Knicks were underachieving and that Towns was the odd man out in their system. At one point, analysts were all but certain that New York would be begging other teams to take him. And here’s Portland, needing three-point shooting, valuing length, and with an available spot for a veteran at power forward perfect for a guy who wants to score but doesn’t need to be the #1 option.
Lamenting over past opportunities is silly. I only bring up Towns and Maxey to illustrate that these things can work out. Star-level players grow, emerge, and prosper all the time. If you can get your hands on one without breaking the bank, it’s often worth it. You’re seeing the evidence in real time this spring.
Timing and resources were both wrong for the Blazers to make the moves for those particular players. The question remains, though: Who’s the next star in unfortunate circumstances the Blazers might buy in on early?
Now that the Blazers have future assets to offer, what happens if we comb the bottom of the league, look for teams on the decline, and start asking whether a star with the right combination of skills to fit might be available? Are New Orleans, Brooklyn, Chicago, Memphis, or Sacramento holding someone you might desire? Or is there a playoffs-level team out there that’s just not working right, the way the Knicks appeared to be eight weeks ago? That’s your starting ground for the Great Blazers Trade Hunt of 2026.
Long story short, this kind of deal isn’t just about resources and talent. Timing matters as well. And fit. Personally, I’d start with the latter two qualities when considering star-level trades then reverse engineer back into the talent level in question and resources required to get that player. At that point the original question has answered itself. These trades will not only be more realistic, but better for the team.
Having said that, we’re open to suggestions of any players who fit those criteria. We’re going to move into trade talk far heavier over the next few weeks. Who are names you’d like us to consider? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you’d like to leave a question for the Mailbag, you can send it to blazersub@gmail.com. We’ll try to answer as many as possible this summer!
