The Portland Trail Blazers have traded Derrick Jones, Jr. and a lottery-protected first-round pick in a three-team deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls, netting Portland Larry Nance, Jr. The 6’7 forward-center is a talented rebounder and active defender who should help the Blazers in the short term more than Jones, Jr. could. If Portland’s goal was to improve the roster this summer, they just did it.
The move doesn’t qualify as stellar, but it’s more than incremental. The questions at hand now: What’s the payoff for the Blazers, and at what cost?