Although the rumors swirled, the Portland Trail Blazers were unable to trade their third overall pick for an impactful veteran player. When they chose to draft Scoot Henderson with that pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, they added a potential game-changer but are left with a surplus of talented guards.
Now, the franchise must determine its future direction: trade Damian Lillard and initiate a rebuild around their young guards or trade one of their young guards, such as Anfernee Simons or Shaedon Sharpe, to build a contending team around Lillard.
In this post, we will explore two free agent options for the Blazers if they aim to contend, and one option if Lillard requests a trade and they decide to rebuild.