December 19, 2024

NBA Trade Idea Sends Blazers’ Deandre Ayton to Pistons

Evan Fournier | Detroit Pistons | NBA.com

Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton would be one-and-done in Rip City if this trade went through.

The Portland Trail Blazers coveted Deandre Ayton long before the team traded for him back in October in the three-team Damian Lillard deal.

However, Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey is already ending the marriage after just one season in his latest mock trade proposal. In the deal, the Blazers send Ayton to the Pistons for Evan Fournier and a 2030 first-round pick.

For the Portland Trail Blazers, this deal would be about continuing the teardown that they started with last summer’s Damian Lillard trade. The Blazers don’t have a single player on their current roster who’s guaranteed to become a star, so they should still be aiming to turn Ayton, Malcolm Brogdon and Jerami Grant into as much future draft capital as possible.

Most mock deals almost certainly never materialize exactly how they are written, and this one is no exception. Ayton may be one of the safest Blazers in terms of his roster spot. While he hasn’t cemented his status on the next Blazers contender, he has earned himself a spot to continue working towards that next season.

Portland doesn’t have much of an option at the center position other than Ayton. Duop Reath sits behind him on the depth chart, but his ceiling isn’t as high as Ayton’s.

Ayton averaged 16.7 points and 10 rebounds per game in his first year with the Blazers, and he cited how he started the season rough after the trade kept him on an air mattress before he could officially get settled.

A full offseason for Ayton to become more comfortable in Portland should result in even better numbers next season, which is another reason why this trade won’t go through.

A first-round pick in six years and Evan Fournier is nowhere near the kind of value Ayton would even garner, which makes this deal almost impossible.

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