The Portland Trail Blazers are acquiring guard Vit Krejci from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for center Duop Reath and two future second round picks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania:
The Atlanta Hawks are trading guard Vit Krejci to the Portland Trail Blazers for Duop Reath and two future second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. Krejci has averaged 9 points and 2.2 3-pointers made per game on 42.3% shooting, which ranks top 20 in the NBA.
Michael Scotto reports specifics on the two second round picks
are heading to the Hawks in this trade:
…[the second-round picks include] Atlanta receiving its own 2027 second-round pick back and a New York Knicks 2030 second-round pick.
This trade comes just a few days after Reath was announced to have had season-ending foot surgery.
The move gives Portland a consistent threat from behind the arc to help their league-worst 33.6% mark from deep. Krejci is averaging 9.0 points in 22.3 minutes per game across his 46 appearances so far for Atlanta. He has also been averaging 2.2 three-pointers made per game this season.
ESPN’s Kevin Pelton gave the Blazers an ‘A-’ for the trade, while giving the Hawks a ‘B’:
Although Portland is hoping to get perimeter players back soon, shooting was also a need at full strength. The Blazers are third in 3-point attempts per game but dead last in accuracy beyond the arc. Krejci, who’s hit 42% beyond the arc this season and throughout his time in Atlanta, should help there while fitting into Portland’s aggressive defense.
Better yet, Krejci is on a team-friendly contract that pays him the minimum through 2027-28 with no guaranteed money beyond this season. That could be particularly important if the Blazers shed some salary before the deadline with an eye toward using cap space to renegotiate Avdija’s contract in conjunction with a long-term extension.
CBS’s Sam Quinn had this to say about the trade:
Not sure why Atlanta would give up Vit when he has two ultra cheap years left on his contract and they already had shooting issues. Win for Portland.
Reath looked like an easy candidate to be released or traded to open up a roster spot for the two-way contracts of Caleb Love and Sidy Cissoko to be fully guaranteed. However, now that Krejci has come back in the trade, it remains to be seen how those two roster spots will be made available.
