Trail Blazers Draft Day Trades Since 2005

The Portland Trail Blazers have been active participants in trades on draft day over the last decade. 2015 has already gotten off to a rousing start with the news that Nicolas Batum has been sent to the Charlotte Hornets. In this article, we have compiled the last decade's worth of Blazers draft day trades in order to illustrate the range of possible transactions tonight.

2013

Trade Partner: Cavs

Acquired: Allen Crabbe

Sent out: 2015 and 2016 second round picks

The second round picks have not yet been finalized so this trade cannot be fully assessed. That being said, Crabbe is entering his third year on the Portland roster and has shown some signs of being a competent rotation player, which is more success than most second round picks have in the NBA.

2011

Trade Partner: 3-team with Mavericks and Nuggets

Acquired: Raymond Felton, 57^th pick (Tanguy Ngombo)

Sent out: Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez, rights to Petteri Koponen, 2013 second round pick (Roy Marble)

Felton became one of the most reviled players in Blazers history and was a clear dropoff in quality from Miller, making this trade an unmitigated disaster. Despite the promise he displayed in his first season, the loss of Fernandez proved to be a non-factor; he was unhappy in Portland and would be out of the league soon after this trade.

2010

Trade Partner: Timberwolves

Acquired: Ryan Gomes, 16^th pick (Luke Babbitt)

Sent out: Martell Webster

In one of the stranger moments in team (league?) history, Kevin Pritchard executed this trade and drafted Babbitt hours after learning from team owner Paul Allen that he had been fired. Here is Ben Golliver's rundown of the happenings that day.

This draft day trade executed by Pritchard was not a good one. Babbitt would never become a rotation player, while Martell Webster has gone on to be a solid, if unspectacular, backup small forward in Minnesota and Washington. This trade also led to acrimony between Portland and Minnesota front offices with the Timberwolves accusing the Blazers of not disclosing a prior injury to Webster's back. Couple that with whiffing on the Armon Johnson pick and it's safe to say this was not Pritchard's finest moment.

2009

Trade #1:

Trade Partner: Mavericks

Acquired: 22^nd pick (Victor Claver)

Sent out: 24^th pick (Byron Mullens), 2009 second round pick (Ahmad Nivins), 2010 second round pick (Magnum Rolle)

This trade was inconsequential.

Trade #2:

Trade Partner:  Kings

Acquired: Jeff Pendegraph

Sent out: Sergio Rodriguez, rights to Jon Brockman, cash considerations

Jeff Ayres (nee Pendegraph) would play briefly for Portland but never managed to crack the rotation. The departure of Rodriguez was notable as it signaled that Portland had given up on the flashy and talented, but ultimately undisciplined and defensively limited, Spanish point guard. Rodriguez has since returned to Europe, but is rumored to be considering a return to the NBA.

2008

Trade #1:

Trade Partner: Hornets

Acquired: 27^th pick (Darrell Arthur)

Sent out: Cash

Trade #2:

Trade Partner: Grizzlies, Rockets

Acquired: 25^th pick (Nicolas Batum)

Sent out: 27^th pick (Darrell Arthur), 33^rd pick (Joey Dorsey)

These two trades made up the second major draft day "theft" of Pritchard's tenure in Portland. San Antonio was drafting 26^th and reportedly had an interest in Batum. To block the Spurs, Pritchard bought the 27^th pick from New Orleans and then sent that pick and the 33^rd pick to Darryl Morey and the Houston Rockets for the 25^th pick so that the Blazers could take Batum one spot ahead of San Antonio's selection. The trade paid immediate dividends when Batum joined the Blazers in the 2008 offseason, despite rumors he would stay in France for at least another year, and surprisingly slid into the starting small forward spot. Getting a multi-year starter for the 33^rd pick and cash, while also foiling the Spurs' plans, was one of the great moves in Blazers draft day history.

Trade #3:

Trade Partner: Clippers

Acquired: 2009 Second Round Pick (Dante Cunningham)

Sent out: rights to Mike Taylor

Dante Cunningham would play two seasons in Portland, serving as a semi-competent backup forward in his second year.

Trade #4:

Trade Partner: Bulls, Nuggets

Acquired: 2009 second round pick (Patty Mills), 2009 second round pick (Jon Brockman), 2010 second round pick (Jerome Jordan)

Sent out: 36^th pick (Omer Asik)

In a rare twist of fate, the Blazers managed to whiff twice in one trade by giving up the Asik pick to the Bulls and then giving up too quickly on Mills.

Trade #5:

Trade partner: Indiana

Acquired: 11^th pick (Jerryd Bayless), Ike Diogu

Sent out: 13^th Pick (Brandon Rush), Jarrett Jack, and Josh McRoberts

At the time, this was considered Pritchard's key move of the 2008 draft. Bayless was touted as a possible PGotF, and acquiring him for Jack plus a 13^th pick was a possible steal. In hindsight, the Blazers probably would have been better off if this trade never happened. Bayless and Jack have proven to be similarly effective backup PGs for several teams (they were even traded for each other again!), so Portland essentially gave up the 13^th pick and Josh McRoberts for nothing. A better move would have been to keep Jack and use the 13^th pick on a different player.

2007

Trade #1:

Trade Partner: Suns

Acquired: 24^th pick (Rudy Fernandez)

Sent out: $3m cash

During the mid-late 2000s several NBA teams sold their late first round picks to avoid taking on mandatory salaries, and to help with their bottom line. Portland took advantage of Paul Allen's deep pockets on a few occasions, including in 2007 by buying the 24^th pick and taking Fernandez. Despite a promising rookie season, Fernandez was ultimately a disappointment in Portland, but this trade can still be considered a success as taking a flyer on a highly touted prospect was worth some cash.

Trade #2:

Trade Partner: Knicks

Acquired: Steve Francis, Channing Frye, 2008 second round pick (Omer Asik)

Sent out: Zach Randolph, Fred Jones, Dan Dickau, rights to Demetris Nichols

Pritchard completed the dismantling of the remaining "Jail Blazers" by trading Randolph to the Knicks in exchange for Steve Francis' massive contract. The buyout of Francis cost Paul Allen several million dollars, but was ultimately worth it as Roy had reportedly asked for Randolph to be traded. A sad sidenote to this trade is that Jones had previously passed on more lucrative opportunities to play for his home town team, but ended up having to leave Portland anyway.

2006

Trade #1:

Trade Partner: Bulls

Acquired: 2^nd pick (LaMarcus Aldridge) 2007 second round pick (Demetris Nichols)

Sent out: 4^th pick (Tyrus Thomas), Viktor Khryapa

Trade #2:

Trade Partner: Celtics

Acquired: Dan Dickau, Raef LaFrentz, 7^th pick (Randy Foye)

Sent out: Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, 2008 conditional second round pick (Trent Plaisted)

Trade #3:

Trade Partner: Timberwolves

Acquired: 6^th pick (Brandon Roy)

Sent out: 7^th pick (Randy Foye)

The series of three trades that the Blazers completed in the early part of the first round of 2006 are certainly the greatest draft day transactions in franchise history, and may be the greatest in league history. Pritchard started off by packaging Khryapa and the 4^th pick to move up to 2^nd overall and select Aldridge. The Bulls would select Tyrus Thomas. Next Pritchard traded Telfair and Ratliff to Boston for the 7^th pick and salary albatross Raef LaFrentz (RLEC for the long time readers). Pritchard would use the 7^th pick to disrupt a Houston/Minnesota trade and steal Roy from the Rockets. DraftExpress.com's Jonathan Givony reported at the time:

The highlight of the night for me personally was seeing Portland single handedly destroy a trade the Timberwolves and Rockets had in place (#6 Brandon Roy, for Luther Head and #8 Randy Foye) by forcing Minnesota's hand and taking Foye a pick early at #7. That ensured that the Timberwolves had to trade arguably the 2nd best player in the draft to the Blazers for Foye and cash considerations, a move that was entirely lost on ESPN at the time but should go down as one of the most ballsy ever.

Coupled with the trade of Randolph the following season, these three trades served to immediately overhaul Portland's roster. Roy and Aldridge would go on to become two of the top 10 players in franchise history.

Trade #4:

Trade Partner: Suns

Acquired: rights to Sergio Rodriguez

Sent out: $3m cash

Another example of Portland buying picks from teams trying to shed salary. Again, Rodriguez would not work out in Portland, but taking a chance on the flashy PG was worth the minimal risk.

2005

Trade Partner: Jazz

Acquired: 6^th pick (Martell Webster) and 27^th pick (Linas Kleiza), 2006 first round pick (Joel Freeland)

Sent out: 3^rd pick (Deron Williams)

In contrast to the 2006 trades, this was one of the worst draft day deals in Blazers' history. Portland lost a shot at Williams or Chris Paul so that they could trade down and take Seattleite Martell Webster. Kleiza would be traded for Jarrett Jack later that day, so Portland did gain three rotation players in this deal, but the value of those players paled in comparison to drafting Williams or Paul instead.