Grading the Blazers Trade Deadline Performance: Did Portland Move the Needle?

The Portland Trail Blazers front office was active leading into the NBA trade deadline, but ultimately, on February 5, they came away completing one small trade with the Atlanta Hawks: Vít Krejčí for Duop Rea\, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2030 second-round pick.

The real trade was Krejčí for the picks, since Reath had suffered a season-ending injury and wasn't expecting to be back with the franchise next season anyway. To boot, Atlanta has already waived Reath.

So the deadline itself wasn't impactful. There was no Jrue Holiday trade tied to the larger framework of a Giannis Antetokounmpo blockbuster, mainly because the "Greek Freak" wasn't moved by the Milwaukee Bucks at all by 12 noon PT on Thursday. There was also no Jerami Grant trade, something pundits felt was necessary, but clearly, wasn't.

Portland stuck to the status quo. Given their relative success this season hanging onto an NBA Play-In spot, it was a good performance.

The rest of the Western Conference's behavior made it look better.

Warriors, Clippers, and Grizzlies Make Life Easier for Blazers

The two teams ahead of the Blazers in the standings, the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers, essentially made themselves worse. So did the team behind them, the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies were far more forceful than the other two in tearing things down.

The Warriors arguably didn't tear anything down, getting rid of a disgruntled Jonathan Kuminga and an underperforming Buddy Hield, but they certainly didn't move the needle much in gambling on Kristaps Porzingis being healthy enough to play in big moments. Porzingis has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, which more likely could end his career before he can ever meaningfully contribute, based on recent history. Perhaps the Latvian star can prove doubters wrong, but on paper, Golden State is worse.

In every meaningful way, the Clippers got worse by trading James Harden for Darius Garland. LA now has an undersized guard who can be played off the court by a bigger, smothering defender. Pretty much every player who'd play in a playoff game is bigger than Garland, to be clear. Speaking of size, the Clippers also shipped off Ivica Zubac and got nothing in return to help them win now.

Memphis kept Ja Morant while trading Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz, who, of anyone, were the only team that made a threatening move in Portland's point of view. The Grizzlies made themselves more likely to land in the lottery than come close to usurping the Blazers.

All in all, the Blazers get a B+ at the trade deadline, since they weren't aggressive, but didn't have to be given how the chips fell around them.