The Portland Trail Blazers have loaded up on future draft picks in trades with the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics in the Damian Lillard deal.
CBS Sports writer Sam Quinn listed four picks in a ranking of future draft selections, including the best of the bunch.
This version of the Bucks might be able to contend for another two or three years. This year might be it. It might already be over. But whenever it ends for this version of the team, it’s ending. There’s no backdoor short of, say, finding a star in second round of the draft or taking an enormous chance on a premium talent that comes with injury or off-court risks. They’re old. They have no picks. They’re expensive. The only real hope the Bucks have for avoiding a disaster at the end of this decade is loyalty out of Antetokounmpo. Is that possible? Sure. He hasn’t left yet, after all, and by all indications he loves Milwaukee. But he’s told us himself that he doesn’t want to play for a team that can’t win, and the Bucks are going to become that sort of team at some point in the near future. So either he changes his mind, or those Bucks picks are going to become the best outstanding draft assets in the NBA.
The Blazers own the Bucks’ first-round picks in 2028, 2029, and 2030, all of which should be well beyond Antetokounmpo’s prime. If the Bucks cut ties with Antetokounmpo sooner, then it could amplify the value of these picks the Blazers have a few years down the line for them to acquire players to help them win sooner.
It’s a long process but this deal should allow the Blazers the chance to be good when those picks are ready to convey.
