The Portland Trail Blazers, despite all the criticisms that have come their way over the past few seasons, cannot be put at fault for not trying to put a contending team around Damian Lillard. Sure, it hasn't amounted to much more than one Western Conference Finals appearance since 2014, but at the very least, the front office's effort is laudable. They traded for the likes of Jerami Grant and Josh Hart while developing burgeoning guard Anfernee Simons to this end, and yet they have fallen short over and over again.

Nevertheless, even after all the franchise's shortcomings to give Lillard the supporting cast he needs to truly contend for a championship, the 32-year old floor general has remained adamant that he wants to win a championship in Portland. Thus, with Lillard not being a spring chicken, there's certainly a greater sense of urgency in the Blazers front office to swing a deal to bring an All-Star-caliber co-star in town.

With the Blazers having won the third overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, the Blazers certainly have the assets to, at the very least, pique the interest of prospective trade partners. The names of Jaylen Brown, Pascal Siakam, and Mikal Bridges have popped up routinely when it comes to discussion of potential trade targets, but it appears like the Blazers have loftier targets in mind.

According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, the Blazers are interested in players of Bam Adebayo or Paul George's caliber in exchange for the third overall pick. Now, the Los Angeles Clippers have invested a lot in George, so of course the most likely outcome is for the 33-year old forward to stay in LA.

But on the off chance that the Clippers make Paul George available for trade, here's the package the Blazers must offer.

Blazers trade Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little, 3rd and 23rd overall picks of the 2023 NBA Draft, top-three protected 2025 first-round pick to the Clippers for Paul George

At his peak, Paul George certainly would net more in a trade than this package. After all, it was only in July 2019 when the Clippers had to give up a then-unprecedented number of draft picks just to acquire his services from the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Clippers also relinquished Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in that trade, and now, he's one of the, at the very least, 15-best players in the NBA.

But in 2023, George is not the trade asset he once was. The 33-year old small forward, apart from having aged since then, has gone through a litany of serious injuries over the past few years. In 2022, George missed a ton of time due to an elbow injury. In 2023, George saw his season end prematurely due to a sprained knee. And it's not like George's bill of health was clean before then; he had already suffered a gnarly broken leg in 2014 and then he needed surgery on his injured shoulder in 2019.

Even then, trading for Paul George will cost the Blazers a pretty penny. The Clippers have no reason to trade George; if healthy (and that is a big if), the Clippers remain a legitimate title contender, and George will have a huge part to play in getting them that deep in the playoffs. Thus, every trade conversation will begin with the involvement of Anfernee Simons and the third overall pick.

Nabbing Simons would give the Clippers the lead ballhandler they have craved for so long, while the third overall pick would give them the opportunity to draft either Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller, players who could extend their contending timeline by a decade.

Those two alone should be enticing enough trade returns for the Clippers, especially given George's lack of durability in recent years. This would signal the end of the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George era, but in the end, for the betterment of the franchise, there is no room for sentimentality.

However, given the Clippers' lack of urgency when it comes to trading away Leonard's co-star, it might take a few more assets from the Blazers to fully convince them. This explains the inclusion of the 23rd pick of the 2023 NBA Draft as well as a top-three protected 2025 first-round pick, as the Blazers' lack of leverage in this trade scenario could very well work out in the Clippers' favor.

In the end, for this price, acquiring Paul George will be worth it for the Blazers. George fits like a glove in any team with contending aspirations, able to work on and off the ball at the highest of levels while remaining one of the most impactful players in the league on the defensive end.

George alone won't transform Damian Lillard's Blazers into a contending team, so they must have plans in mind after pulling off this hypothetical trade to add more depth, particularly in the frontcourt.