Blazers Predicted to Land $45M Guard From Thunder

The Portland Trail Blazers land a big-money guard from the Oklahoma City Thunder in this trade prediction.

Jan 5, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins (21) is helped from the floor by guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) and forward Darius Bazley (7) against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images | Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers are in the midst of a rebuilding stage.

The tanking Trail Blazers may occupy the bottom tier of the NBA, but that doesn't mean that this season is completely useless.

Portland has a lot of young pieces on their roster, and every game they get minutes in provides more experience and growth as they look forward.

There are also a few outliers on the roster that don't exactly fit with the planned rebuild general manager Joe Cronin has in mind.

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Players like Anfernee Simons, Deni Avdija, and Donovan Clingan are certainly young stars that have potential not just in the league, but preferably in Portland.

Then there are guys like Jerami Grant, Robert Williams III, and Deandre Ayton who still possess talent, but given their contract situations and the direction the team is headed, may not be Trail Blazers come trade deadline.

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Teams across the league in win-now mode may be offering talent, as well as valuable draft picks in return for a more expensive contract to take off of Portland's hands.

Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report recently made a trade prediction that would land the Trail Blazers more youth moving forward and part ways with their biggest contract.

Portland Trail Blazers Receive: G Aaron Wiggins, G Isaiah Joe, F Ousmane Dieng

Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: F Jerami Grant

The Thunder are the No. 1 seed in the west with the NBA's second best record at 32-6. They are contenders in every sense of the word and look to make a deep playoff run.

They take on the rest of Grant's $160 million contract until 2027 as the 27-year-old can now make a title run with the Thunder.

Portland gets a trio of young guys they can develop, including the former No. 11 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft in Dieng.

Dieng is a career 4.2 points per game scorer, but is more importantly 6-foot-10 and only 21-years old. He has tons of untapped potential he can display in Portland as he never played in more than 40 games in a season during his time with OKC.

Wiggins, the oldest of the potential incoming players turned 26 on Jan. 2. A career field-goal percentage of 51 percent leaves a lot of room to pan out as a potential Trail Blazer.

He remains an athletic threat, especially around the rim.

Fastbreak JAM 🍇

Vote Thunder 🗳️ https://t.co/2FFNkzy5oU pic.twitter.com/5TS12YOX97

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 13, 2025

Joe is a 25-year-old guard in his fifth NBA season. His first two seasons as a Philadelphia 76er didn't see many minutes, but he has averaged over 20 minutes per game this year averaging 8.8 contests. Perhaps his third team will prove to be the charm.

Isaiah Joe's big night against the Knicks was not just about shots going in. He read the floor really well and the actions he was put in led to great looks. I explained on the screen: pic.twitter.com/IS20T9xJcw

— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) January 12, 2025

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