The Portland Trail Blazers haven't quite lived up to the franchise's standards set by Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and others during the last decade. Damian Lillard vaulted himself up to Top 75 NBA Players of All-Time status. Lillard led the Blazers to the Western Conference Finals in 2019 and now Head Coach Chauncey Billups is hoping to lead Portland even further.

The team brought Yusuf Nurkic's former backup back on a one-year deal recently. Lillard reignited trade rumors after an intriguing move on Instagram.

Now a Blazers reporter from The Oregonian has revealed something unexpected: the team's rumored interest level in Karl Anthony-Towns, the talented Minnesota Timberwolves big man who will become a free agent in 2024.

Towns averaged 20.8 points per game, 4.8 assists, and 8.1 rebounds last season for the Timberwolves. The 2015 number one overall pick from Kentucky shot 49.5% from the field, once again cementing his status as one of the top scoring centers in recent basketball history.

The center spot could be in line for an upgrade in the coming years for the Blazers. Nurkic averaged 13.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the team. At age 28, Nurkic still has plenty of time left to grow into his talents. He averaged a career best 17.6 points for the Blazers in 2019-2020 and has improved his three-point shooting from 20 percent that season to over 36 percent last season.

As Billups and the Blazers' offseason continues to evolve, the big question on everyone's mind is whether or not Lillard will be traded. Recent social media tea leaves revealed that a Blazers-Heat deal may be back on. Such a trade could include any combination of players from the Heat including Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic, Duncan Robinson or more potential additions to Billups' team.

The Blazers are said to have little to no interest in Herro as the main trade piece as part of a Lillard deal, however.