Although the Kevin Durant sweepstakes have not yet started, every team is keeping their eye on his situation with him, Kyrie Irving the Brooklyn Nets. The Portland Trail Blazers are one of those teams. Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic are making it extremely clear that they want Durant.
Nurkic and Lillard shared a photoshopped image of Durant on the Trail Blazers. Lillard posted the image to his Instagram story.
Nurkic posted the Durant-Portland photoshop on Twitter along with the emoji of a puzzle piece, which suggests the Nets star is the missing piece.
Durant going to Portland to team up with Lillard would be a wild turn of events. A player of his talent turns any team he is on into a good one but having Lillard by his side would be a fantastic pairing. Portland can combine the contracts of Eric Bledsoe, Josh Hart and Justise Winslow to match Durant's contract. They don't have their first-round pick next year but do have the rest of them after that, as well as plenty of second-round picks.
If Nurkic re-signs in free agency and Durant is somehow acquired, the Blazers would have a tremendous lineup along with Lillard and the recently acquired Jerami Grant. Really, Durant and Lillard are enough to make the team good. Having other good players around them will allow them to become a true championship contender.
Durant's time with the Nets seems to be up very soon now that the front office is having trouble in contract talks with Irving. If there is a chance that Portland is able to capitalize on that, they should spare no expense to do so.