Butler, Siakam, Adebayo, or Anunoby for the Trail Blazers Trade Target?

The Portland Trail Blazers are theoretically in the market for a huge trade acquisition this summer to pair with All-Star point guard Damian Lillard. The progress of the NBA’s play-in tournament this week left two formerly-contending teams out in the cold (or with enough writing on the wall): the Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat. With fortunes falling in Miami and Toronto, Trail Blazers fans have been lighting up the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag with potential trades for members of those franchises.

I’m going to give you pretty good answers on the four most-mentioned players, but before I offer my opinions, I want to take your temperature on the matter. I’m going to list them below with basic stats, in the presumed order of their cost to acquire. The cost will be in general terms, in relation to each other. It’s impossible to pin down exact prices, but assume that the highest-cost among them will take multiple young players (think Anfernee Simons and/or Shaedon Sharpe, heavy on the “and”, and no discounts) plus picks while the lowest might be one budding star and a couple significant future picks.

Here are the players everyone is after. Which do you think would provide the best benefit at the right cost?

Bam Adebayo—6’9 Center

Age: 25

Stats: 20.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 54.0% FG in 75 games

Contract: $33-37 million per year through 2026

Cost to Acquire: Extreme

Pascal Siakam—6’9 Power Forward/Center

Age: 29

Stats: 24.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 48.0% FG, 32.4% 3PT in 71 games

Contract: $38 million through 2024

Cost to Acquire: Extreme

OG Anunoby—6’7 Small Forward

Age: 25

Stats: 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 steals, 47.6% FG, 38.7% 3PT in 67 games

Contract: $18.6 million through 2024 (player option in 2024-25 that he won’t take)

Cost to Acquire: High

Jimmy Butler—6’7 Small Forward

Age: 33

Stats: 22.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 53.9% FG, 35.0% 3PT in 64 games

Contract: $45-52 million through 2026

Cost to Acquire: Comparatively Moderate (still expensive though)

Note that we’re making no judgment about the actual availability of these players. Wishful thinking is a powerful drug. But assuming their teams were willing to listen to offers for various reasons, which target do you think the Blazers should aim for? Register your comments below.