Lillard, Trent Jr. Embracing Caleb Swanigan in His Return to Portland

Caleb Swanigan is officially back with the Portland Trail Blazers after the trade involving him, Trevor Ariza and Wenyen Gabriel was completed Tuesday. Swanigan played in 45 games for the Blazers before a trade sent him to the Sacramento Kings. Set to make his return to Portland, his teammates have glowing things to say about him.

As Jamie Hudson of NBC Sports Northwest writes, Gary Trent Jr. grew close to Swanigan during the big man’s first stint and is happy to have him back:

“My rookie year, I played Biggie basically one-on-one before every game. I’m glad to have him back… For the new teammates, too, I can’t wait to meet them, as well,” Trent Jr. said.

Damian Lillard is hoping Swanigan can step up in a time when the Blazers need capable big men to fill minutes down low:

“I think he’ll come back and it’ll be refreshing for him to be back in a good environment, somewhere where he has been so it’ll be comfortable, and we dealing with all these injuries, so it’s going to be a lot of opportunity here for him.”

You can read more on Swanigan’s return here.