NBA Rumors: Blazers Could Trade Hassan Whiteside, Anfernee Simons, And 1st-Round Pick For Blake Griffin
With the team off to a slow start in the 2019-20 NBA season, rumors have started to circulate that the Portland Trail Blazers would be seeking a major roster upgrade before the 2020 February NBA trade deadline. Though Carmelo Anthony is performing well in his first few games with the Trail Blazers, Portland obviously needs more star power in order to have a realistic chance of fully dominating the deep Western Conference and contending for the NBA championship title this season. According to Fadeaway World, one of the potential trade targets for the Trail Blazers is Blake Griffin of the Detroit Pistons.
In the proposed trade deal by Fadeaway World, the Trail Blazers would be sending a trade package including Hassan Whiteside, Anfernee Simons, and a future first-round pick to the Pistons in exchange for Griffin. The deal works on ESPN‘s NBA Trade Machine.
“A potential Blake Griffin trade would be Anfernee Simons, Hassan Whiteside, and a future heavily protected first-round pick in exchange for Blake Griffin. This trade gives the Blazers another offensive threat and a potential 2nd-option on this team. The Blazers recently added Carmelo Anthony and he has been killing it for them so far. Adding Blake would be the aggressive move that can put them back into the playoff race. Adding Blake opens the floor up for everyone else and a starting lineup of Damian Lillard-C.J. McCollum-Carmelo Anthony-Blake Griffin-Jusuf Nurkic (when he becomes healthy) would be one of the best in the league.”
Griffin would be an incredible addition to the Trail Blazers, giving them a very reliable scoring option next to Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and an All-Star caliber big man who could knock down shots from beyond the arc. This season, the 30-year-old power forward is averaging 19.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from beyond the arc. Though he would be needing to make certain adjustments with his game, especially on the offensive end of the floor, Griffin already has an experience forming a “Big Three” when he played with Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan on the Los Angeles Clippers.
Once he manages to make himself fit in Coach Terry Stotts’ system, Griffin would undeniably give the Trail Blazers a better chance of beating Western Conference powerhouse teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers in a best-of-seven series. The Pistons still haven’t shown any strong indication that they are planning to make Griffin available on the trade market but if they fail to end their struggle, the All-Star power forward may be the one who starts finding his way out of Detroit.
The potential deal would also be beneficial for the Pistons, especially if they finally decide to take a different route. Aside from opening up a huge chunk of their salary cap space, the suggested trade would also allow the Pistons to add a young and promising talent in Simons and a future first-round pick that could help them speed up the rebuilding process.
