Getty Image / Stacy Revere
- The NBA trade deadline just passed, but Charles Barkley already has another blockbuster trade in mind
- He believes the Portland Trailblazers should start a full rebuild and trade Damian Lillard
- Read more BroBible articles here
The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and brought some major drama with it, but there are still some stars left that fans are speculating could be looking for new homes once the NBA offseason begins.
One of those stars is Damian Lillard. In fact, we may have already seen Damian Lillard in his last game as a Blazer. Lillard hasn’t played since the middle of January because of an abdominal injury that required surgery, and there isn’t much reason for him to return this season. The Blazers are currently 10 games below .500 and aren’t close to being a contender this year.
According to Charles Barkley, the Blazers should go into a full rebuild this offseason and trade Lillard away.
"You've got to start the rebuild now."
The Inside guys discuss how the Blazers should build for the future pic.twitter.com/eBbJD5gWse
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 25, 2022
The Trailblazers already appeared to dive head first into rebuilding their roster at this year’s trade deadline. They gave up Norman Powell and Robert Covington for a questionable haul after giving up a lot to acquire the two in the last couple of years. Then they traded CJ McCollum in order to land a bunch of pieces for the future.
These moves have left Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic with a weak supporting cast around them. It would make a lot of sense for the Blazers to work on trading Lillard in the offseason, especially after he made it clear he isn’t interested in playing for a tanking team this year.
Lillard is already 31 years old and with the Blazers seemingly going into a rebuild, it just doesn’t make sense to keep him around. Dame is still a great player right now, but by the time the roster is rebuilt, he won’t be playing at this same level.
The Blazers should get what they can for him right now and use it to build this team back up. Otherwise, he’s just going to slow the rebuild down by keeping them somewhere around the bottom of the playoffs. They’re better off trying to get future assets for him and letting themselves drop into the absolute bottom of the league for a couple of years.
It might not be what Blazers fans want to hear, but trading Damian Lillard is likely what’s best for their franchise long-term.