The Portland Trail Blazers questionably traded Nicolas Batum to the Charlotte Hornets in 2015 for Gerald Henderson and Noah Vonleh. Since Batum's departure, Portland has struggled to find a viable replacement.
They repeatedly came up short in the postseason with a Damian Lillard-CJ McCollum-led roster, largely to no fault of their own. The Blazers failed to surround their undersized, offensive-minded backcourt stars with the necessary complementary pieces.
Blazers have had a Nicolas Batum-sized void
That roster flaw got exposed in the more physical and competitive postseason. Despite their regular-season success, Portland only made it as far as getting swept by the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals in 2019.