Damian Lillard continues to be involved in trade talk swirling around the NBA before free agency officially begins on Friday. One of the teams rumored to be in the market for Lillard is the Brooklyn Nets despite blowing it up last year. The Portland Trailblazers were said to shut down trade talks before the 2023 NBA Draft, but they most likely have opened them back up after meeting with Lillard and his camp. Lillard has said that he wants to stay in Portland but he does not want to be a part of a rebuild, and it is uncertain which direction the Blazers are headed for right now. A rebuild would be likely initiated by a Damian Lillard trade, and one to the Nets is highly possible. In fact, ESPN'S Bobby Marks put together a hypothetical Blazers-Nets blockbuster that is too juicy to not give a grade. Here is the hypothetical blockbuster trade:

Brooklyn Nets get:
Damian Lillard
Jusuf Nurkic

Portland Trail Blazers get:
Spencer Dinwiddie
Nicolas Claxton
Royce O'Neale
Joe Harris
2025 first-round pick (via Phoenix)
2027 first-round pick (via Phoenix)
2029 first-round pick (via Phoenix; top-3 protected)

After this trade both rosters would look dramatically different. Not to mention, the risk that the Nets would have to take on is not something to take for granted.

“The cost to acquire the All-NBA guard is steep, considering Brooklyn is parting ways with starters Spencer Dinwiddie and Nicolas Claxton, reserves Joe Harris and Royce O'Neale and three first-round picks — two unprotected — sent to Brooklyn as part of the Kevin Durant trade.”

This deal presents other risks for the Nets: Lillard turns 33 in July, has not played more than 58 games since 2020-21 and has $163 million left on his contract, including a $56.7 million cap hit in the final season. As part of this trade, Brooklyn is required to take back the $54.4 million owed to Nurkic.”

Besides the risks, Bobby Marks also goes into why the Nets could be salivating at the return in the Damian Lillard trade.

“The reward for Brooklyn is that Lillard joins a starting five consisting of Mikal Bridges, a likely re-signed Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Nurkic. The Nets still have depth with Patty Mills, Cam Thomas, Dariq Whitehead, Noah Clowney and Day'Ron Sharpe.”

Marks goes on to emphasize that Ben Simmons' health would also be a critical factor. So, obviously this is a trade that would make waves; the question remains, is it a trade that is worth a good grade?

Nets Grade: B-

This trade gets a B- for the Brooklyn Nets because in general the risk is just too high. Yes, Damian Lillard is a generational point guard and worth a ton of assets. However, the Nets have already gone down this road of trading a massive haul for star-power and it didn't work out. Not to mention, they brought in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant who had already won NBA Championships; as good as Lillard is, he is without a ring. However, the biggest risk is the money that would have to be invested.

Owing so much to not just Damian Lillard but Jusuf Nurkic as well would put the Nets in a serious bind. It would be the type of money that one would want a guaranteed championship ring in return for; given how competitive the NBA is now, this trade would not make the Nets a championship roster by any means. It would be a decent core for Lillard, but given how much money they would have tied up into Lillard, Nurkic, and the eventual contract extension that Mikal Bridges is going to covet, the Nets would be backing themselves into a corner. This doesn't even take into account all of the draft capital they would be sending the Blazers way; it is clear this trade would not be worth the risk and is a generous B- grade for the Nets.

Blazers Grade: A-

Trading away a player like Damian Lillard will never earn a perfect A+ grade. It would cement that the Blazers officially wasted his prime and were never able to build a championship roster around him that he needed. However, this return would be massive and would initiate the rebuild that is the only other option for the Blazers. Besides a rebuild, adding Nicolas Claxton would be huge alongside Shaedon Sharpe to make one of the more athletic front courts in the NBA. Still, the picks would be the reason this is a better trade for the Blazers.

Three first-round picks, with the 2027 and 2029 easily ending up in the lottery, would be huge for the Blazers. The Phoenix Suns are all in now, so the 2027 and 2029 picks could be after the core of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal have run their course in Phoenix. These picks could become future stars, and the Blazers would have a nice young squad by then; Scoot Henderson has limitless potential, and guys like Claxton, Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert and Nassir Little would be much more developed at that point. It would hurt to get rid of Damian Lillard, but this would be a great return on the Blazers investment in a trade.