NBA trade rumors have surfaced that now link the Portland Trail Blazers to Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons. It creates an interesting scenario that could improve the Blazers in a short-term push for the NBA playoffs.
NBA writer Keith Smith noted that “two potentially sneaky suitors” had been presented to him and they are the Trail Blazers and Charlotte Hornets.
Two potentially sneaky suitors for Andre Drummond that were mentioned to me since yesterday? Charlotte and Portland.
Both can match salary fairly easily and deliver the expiring contracts Detroit wants. Charlotte wants to start winning soon. Portland is always in that position.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) January 4, 2020
Hassan Whiteside is certainly starting to hold his own for the Blazers, including posting a stat line of 23 points and 21 rebounds on Friday night. But what if the Blazers had a tandem of Whiteside and Drummond to work with?
How would a Blazers trade for Drummond work? The team could package Kent Bazemore with a few significant assets and suddenly have a huge impact player on defense. What would a Whiteside and Drummond tandem look like on defense? That could be pretty intimidating for other teams.
Drummond has a player option for next year, but it is presumed that he will explore free agency. That’s exactly what Whiteside is expected to do as well. This means the team wouldn’t be taking on any real long-term salaries unless the deal was expanded upon.
Jusuf Nurkic is also working his way back from injury, so he could provide the team with even more depth, but he may not be the player Blazers fans remember. It could take him a while to get back to form and that might not happen till the next NBA season. Until then, the Blazers could really use someone like Drummond.
Is now the time for the Blazers to push in all their chips to make a serious run at the 2020 NBA Playoffs? Can a roster with Andre Drummond added to it really compete with the Los Angeles Lakers?
The Lakers are a team looking to add more pieces as well, so the Blazers might need to keep pace.
18 PTS | 16 RBS | 1.9 STL | 1.8 BLK
Make the big man an All-Star. Start your ballot with @AndreDrummond https://t.co/nzpDqUbLch pic.twitter.com/lZs3wA75EV
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 30, 2019
Time is starting to run out on the window of title opportunities with Damian Lillard as the leader of the Blazers. This is why NBA trade rumors are going to link the Blazers to available players and also a primary reason why the front office should probably pull the trigger on something soon.
Stay tuned folks, because Drummond is available, the Pistons are looking for expiring contracts, and a team that can match salary in that particular fashion has the upper hand in acquiring him for the stretch run.