Blazers have obvious trade target once LeBron James finally decides his future

While all eyes are on LeBron James' next landing spot, the Portland Trail Blazers were never realistically in the running to land the GOAT (trust me, we tried!).

However, the James free agency saga is still something Portland's front office should be monitoring. Teams are on standby before making respective moves, as they want to see how the James decision directly or indirectly affects their situation within the league.

For Portland, a James signing could potentially reopen the door for trade talks to acquire Trey Murphy III from the New Orleans Pelicans.

John Hollinger of The Athletic reported on Monday that many around the league are wondering if Murphy could be the next domino to fall after the James dust settles.

“Chatter about a Trey Murphy trade, while lessened, hasn’t vanished and is one of many potential pieces of league business that could resurface once LeBron James’ next destination becomes clear," Hollinger writes.

Trey Murphy III is the perfect follow-up to Portland's Ja Morant trade

The Blazers reportedly expressed interest in Murphy at February's trade deadline. They haven't necessarily been as linked to the Pelicans rising star this offseason, especially after landing Ja Morant.

Still, if Portland views Morant as their "big splash" this summer, they're going to be disappointed this upcoming season. Just look at how little they had to sacrifice for the polarizing star: a negative asset in Jerami Grant and a borderline draft bust in Kris Murray.

It's good value in a vacuum as Portland flipped one negative asset into another with much higher upside in Morant. But at this point in his career, Morant is far less impactful than his star name suggests.

That's especially the case in Portland, given his poor fit on this Blazers roster, which is in more need of shooting and less need of guards.

The only scenario in which the Morant deal made sense for Portland was if there was a follow-up move for someone like Murphy to round out this roster. The fact that they didn't package any future assets to Memphis suggested they could've been saving that for a bigger piece, whether that's Murphy or someone else entirely.

That doesn't appear to be the case as of now. The Blazers have been quiet since landing Morant and seem content on entering the season with their logjam, telling teams that they're not actively shopping Jrue Holiday. But if there's anything we've learned from the Joe Cronin era in Portland, it's that these types of trades come out of nowhere.

Hopefully, Murphy is the next piece they add to this promising young core. While they've shown gradual progress each year, it's still apparent the Blazers are a piece or two away from a deep playoff run in the West.

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This article was originally published on ripcityproject.com as Blazers have obvious trade target once LeBron James finally decides his future.