The Portland Trail Blazers' rebuilding efforts are off to a flying start, as the front office has managed to trade Damian Lillard for a package centered on Jrue Holiday and Deandre Ayton, then they flipped Holiday for even more assets, including Malcolm Brogdon. Now, it stands to reason that, given the Blazers' emphasis on youth movement, Brogdon could soon join Lillard and Holiday on the point guard trade carousel.

But the statement made by Blazers general manager Joe Cronin points otherwise. Cronin recently said that the team has no issues when it comes to keeping Brogdon on the roster because the team will be in need of veterans who can help teach the youngsters on the team, such as Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, winning habits.

And to Malcolm Brogdon's credit, he isn't opposed at all to the idea of staying with the Blazers as they enter the 2023-24 season together.

“They want me here, I want to be here. There’s a lot of misleading information out there about ‘They need to trade me' or ‘I want to go'… I’m embracing being here,” Brogdon said, per Blazers beat reporter Casey Holdahl, per ClutchPoints Twitter.

At the very least, the two sides are on the same page, which only bodes well for Malcolm Brogdon's future with the Blazers franchise. Nevertheless, it seems disingenuous to say that the Blazers won't decide to trade Brogdon if an acceptable offer comes up. Brogdon is already 30 years old, and his injury history is very concerning, so cashing in on him as a trade asset has some sort of time pressure baked into it.

Even then, Brogdon may not have that much value at the moment. As one would recall, the Los Angeles Clippers balked at the trade that would have brought Brogdon to LA due to his worrying medical evaluation. At a salary of $22.5 million for the next two years, any team that would be trading for Brogdon will want to have assurance that he's still the player who won the Sixth Man of the Year award last season, not a shell of his former self.