The Portland Trail Blazers lost their entire starting lineup except for Damian Lillard in the summer.
The Blazers placed everything on hold for the negotiations with franchise player LaMarcus Aldridge. When he decided to leave, the dominoes fell one by one.
These are realities in the NBA and the Blazers management has contingency plans, as they stated in Zach Lowe's Grantland podcast with GM Neil Olshey.
"What we weren't going to do was become a victim of LaMarcus' decision," Olshey declared. "We had made that decision months in advance. The contingency we had in place was not to replace LaMarcus Aldridge, because quite honestly, that player didn't exist. Our contingency was we were going to move away from the veterans that had complemented LaMarcus on the current roster and build around young players on favorable contracts, or with restricted free agent status the road, that were on the same career arc as Damian Lillard. That's the path we chose. We went straight ahead in that direction without looking back."
Those are bold words and for most enlightened fans, that would be what they need to hear. Still, The Blazer's Edge lists some possible candidates. The rationale is that some teams may give up early on their ability to retain their possible free agents due to salary cap complications. Can they pull off a blockbuster trade with these targets?
Al Jefferson of the Charlotte Hornets had a promising first year with the team, propelling them to the playoffs before he got injured. He exercised his player option and stayed with the team, but they went back to the lottery.
He's bound to be a free agent and the Hornets may want to make get some assets if they don't think they can keep him The Blazers have the cap space and could easily make him the offensive centerpiece in a combo with Damian Lillard.
DeMar DeRozan may not have the most efficient game but he's a proven scorer-something the Blazers would need. The Raptors will be strapped for cap space with Lowry and Valanciunas getting big paydays and they also acquired DeMarre Carroll. DeRozan is expected to decline his player option and become a free agent. Toronto may balk at his possible price tag, but the Blazers probably won't.
Eric Gordon is talented so he got a huge contract, being the highest paid player on the Pelicans (before the Anthony Davis contract sinks in), but he's injury prone so the Pels would love to get some relief.
Blazer's Edge reminded: "Again, the Blazers can afford to absorb massive contracts into their cap space, and Gordon's a useful player. (He shot 44.8 percent from 3 last season - ridiculous!) Maybe Portland swings a trade for Gordon, he fits in well, and he decides to stay for a few years at a reasonable cap number." If Gordon gets injured again or fails to click, the Blazers just let him walk after the season.