Who Will End The Season With The Blazers?

Plenty of talk happens over what players Portland should attempt to acquire, or what players people would like to see gone.

But there are certain realities to a basketball team that make certain trades difficult, or others very easy, that might not otherwise be considered. A move that may seem lateral ends up being a huge steal, or a team gets rid of someone simply to not lose out on their value.

Right now, as Dave has mentioned before, I see no scenario where Portland has Outlaw after the trade deadline. Travis will want more than the MLE, and someone will it to him. He's a 6'10" player with crazy athleticism who's been in the NBA 6 years but is still only 24, knows how to score and can play multiple positions. Obviously his defense is suspect, but someone out there will be willing to open their checkbook to give him minutes.

The problem with that is quite simply that Portland will not, under almost any rotation, be looking to get huge production out of a combo forward, especially of the Travis mold. If we win a ring, it's because Oden and LMA come to play with Roy, and while having a good bench is important, both Rudy and Travis will want touches, minutes and money off the bench, and a team can realistically only keep one.

I am quite certain that KP will look at the situation and decide to cash in on Outlaw while he can and choose to bank on paying Fernandez, with the option to bring Claver and Freeland over later. KP will simply never be able to get any more for Outlaw than he could now.

In addition to being a type of player many teams seek, Outlaw is an expiring contract, meaning if you don't like how he fits, you have no financial obligation to keep him. Mark my words, KP will be fielding bids from several teams who will be chasing after Outlaw at the deadline, and he'll have to luxury of choosing which he likes best.

The downside (or maybe an additional upside depending on your perspective) is that to get the kind of piece KP is interested in getting, Blake will likely leave with Outlaw. Blake and Outlaw together represent a $9.6 million contract that you can trade to the Blazers and not have to pay after June. To put that in perspective, that's about one sixth of the salary cap.

Any team that's interested in trading a championship piece for Outlaw is looking for:

1. Youth
2. Flexibility
3. Cap Savings

This tells me that Blake is nearly the ideal piece to pair with Outlaw in a trade. A team receiving Outlaw and Blake could save nearly $10 million in salaries by cutting both, could sign Outlaw and save $4 million with Blake, or could sign both. Throw in a draft pick if necessary, and in this one trade any team could add some significant talent, consistency and youth to their team, all while saving money.

So who would be interested in such a deal? I'm not nearly as sure about where they'll go as that they'll go. Houston comes to mind as a team that needs offense, youth and flexibility.

But I don't expect to be seeing Outlaw or Blake in Blazer uniforms after the trade deadline. I wouldn't put it past KP to try and sign Blake for a third time after he inevitably gets cut at the end of the season, but for the rest of the year I don't expect to see him.

So, what say you? Who do you think will be gone before the season ends?