Pedro Oliveira
This time we bring a list of three NBA stars who could ask for a trade during the preseason of the following campaign, for several reasons.
Currently there are many teams that decided to make drastic changes within their franchises, with the intention of starting a reconstruction, also to clear their salary space and get pieces of importance to try to restructure their roster completely for next season. Others are simply a total disaster and would have to start completely from scratch, or at least, that’s how they feel an important part of their players, to be able to compete sometime in the future.
These are the players who could ask for a change of scenery in the offseason.
3.- Zion Williamson – New Orleans Pelicans
Few sagas between star rookies and NBA franchises have come out as disastrously as that of Zion Williamson, the number one prospect in the 2019 draft selected by the New Orleans Pelicans: He missed most of his debut year with a knee injury that would have been caused especially by his overweight. Having a full campaign in 2020 where he was selected to the All-Star Game and averaged 27 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in a 60% effectiveness from the field, which left everyone amazed with the potential of the intern from Duke University.
But today the situation between New Orleans and the 21-year-old couldn’t be more blurred. Many reports indicate that both the player and his family are disgusted with the moves made by the organization and believe that Zion should belong to a more prestigious and better managed team. As if that were not enough, Zion has not been able to solve his overweight problems and suffered a foot injury that has not allowed him to play any game of the current campaign.
To be in his third year in the league and not have taken part in at least 90 official meetings, no one expected that the career of one of the best prospects in recent years would go down this uncertain and disastrous path. In the 2022-2023 season Williamson’s contract would expire for the first time, leaving him as a restricted free agent in 2023, and very few sources believe the Pelicans will retain Zion knowing he is not comfortable within the team.
Possible interested parties: Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers.
2.- Donovan Mitchell – Utah Jazz
It’s no secret that Utah’s dominance during the last regular season hasn’t been transported to the postseason, having set the NBA’s best record of 52 wins and 20 losses, only to be eliminated in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers who were without their biggest star, Kawhi Leonard. And it’s also no secret that the relationship between the jazz’s two stars, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, has increasingly deteriorated, starting with the incident that sparked the first COVID-19 infection in league history, which directly involved both as the first infected.
Utah’s loss to the Clippers was widely criticized around the league for the Jazz’s disastrous defensive performance, especially on the perimeter, the area where Paul George and his teammates did the most damage. Since then the ensemble led by Quin Snyder has not seen drastic improvements in the same area that they had to work on from the beginning. His team remains in a solid fourth place with a record of 36-22 but, there is no sense of improvement in any of the areas of the team compared to last year.
These frustrations in conjunction with the bad relationship Mitchell has with the French star could finally trigger one of the two leaving the franchise, and everything points to Donovan being the chosen one having the more movable contract of the two. Gobert has been very vocal about his criticism of the team, indirectly pointing out his co-star’s defense to the press. Although Mitchell denied everything about a bad relationship with Rudy, it’s a loud secret throughout the NBA.
Possible interested parties: New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers.
1.- Damian Lillard – Portland Trail Blazers
By now we all know how much the Blazers star has tried to have a winning project in the franchise from Oregon, but the inefficiency of the board coupled with the bad luck of injuries or inconsistency of his own players have marked the path of Lillard within the ten years he has spent with the Portland franchise: it is not enough to compete at the highest level.
And while the organization again tried to re-make itself in the short term by sending CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington to other destinations, freeing up space in their salary budget for the next season and getting good prospects like Josh Hart, Keon Johnson and Justise Winslow who have had great beginnings with the collective, it simply will not be enough for the Blazers along with Lillard to achieve their mission. And sooner or later, Dame’s patience will run out.
Add to that that Afernee Simons is one of this season’s breakout players: he’s been leading the Blazers to one of their few winning streaks, he’s younger and he plays the same position as Damian Lillard. Everything is on the table so that if once again the experiment that Portland invents before the start of the next harvest ends badly, the era of Lillard in the organization will be closed.
The best thing for both parties is to separate paths if it is not possible to compete together, it is that simple, and as much as the same 31-year-old veteran wants to prove otherwise, we all recognize how hard he tried, the effort he put every time he went out to the duel to represent the black and red colors of Portland, but it couldn’t be. And there is nothing to reproach him, the handling of the team during his time was definitely not the best. A new stage will give Lillard what he deserves like very few others: a real attempt to win the NBA championship, before it’s too late for his physique.
Possible destinations: New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers.
