NBA Rumors: Blazers Could Trade No. 7 Pick For Win-Now Piece

The Portland Trail Blazers drew the no. 7 pick in the 2022 NBA draft. But according to John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, they could trade that pick for a win-now piece.

The pick that seems even more certain to be on the move is Portland’s at No. 7, with sources saying the Blazers will push to immediately put a competitive team around Damian Lillard rather than start over. Detroit’s Jerami Grant has been the hot name here, but the Blazers could look at other options.

As the article noted, Pistons forward Jerami Grant might be the Blazers' top bet, but they could shop the pick for other established players to help bring a championship to Portland.

The Blazers traded several of their core pieces this past season — including Lillard's backcourt partner CJ McCollum, which made it seem like they were headed towards a tear-down. That also meant them trading away franchise superstar Damian Lillard to speed up the rebuild.

But it seems like Portland still remains adamant to build around Lillard and both sides want to continue their partnership.

Lillard himself represented the Blazers during the 2022 NBA Draft lottery. Portland was slated to get the 6th pick but dropped a spot with the Sacramento Kings moving up on the pecking order.

Dame Time underwent abdominal surgery in January and missed the final 47 games of the regular season. His absence certainly plummeted the Blazers in the standings, which led to the mid-season tear down.

It will be interesting to see how Portland approaches this summer as they look to continue with Lillard as their franchise piece.