Alas, the Portland Trail Blazers opportunity to pull of a huge trade bringing Anthony Davis to Rip City was not to be. After seeing the haul New Orleans pulled in for the superstar, perhaps that was for the best.
For now, the Blazers must take solace in the fact beloved players like CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic weren’t sacrificed for a rental player in pursuit of one championship ring. While bringing home the city’s first title since 1977 is still the ultimate goal, the core of this current team doesn’t necessarily have to be gutted in the process.