The Portland Trail Blazers don't have the assets to trade for another superstar, and creating the cap space needed to sign a top-tier free agent outright—like rumored target Zach LaVine, for instance—would force general manager Joe Cronin to decimate the roster's existing core.

Under immense pressure to justify Damian Lillard's re-commitment to Rip City and immediately level back up in the Western Conference, though, they can't react to that dispiriting reality by focusing firmly on the horizon. Re-building on the fly around any 32-year old max player, let alone a point guard, isn't supposed to be easy. Missing out on an extra lottery pick then falling to seventh in the draft virtually assured Portland would have to sacrifice the future for the present this summer.

Adding O.G. Anunoby wouldn't vault the Blazers toward the top of the West in 2022-23 or even guarantee they'd be back in the postseason after the league's longest active playoff streak came to a close in April. He's probably too mechanical a scorer and playmaker to ever be more than a great team's fourth offensive option. Anunoby is one of the best one-on-one defenders in the league, truly capable of checking all five positions, but isn't especially disruptive away from the ball.

A two-way star isn't coming to Portland, though, and Anunoby checks as many boxes on the wing as any top-tier role player. Making him an even more attractive target for the Blazers? Anunoby is still just 24, fitting timelines of both Lillard's remaining prime and the Blazers' life without him. Anunoby, basically, would be as close to an ideal addition for Portland as seems possible after Lillard's utterly disappointing night at the draft lottery.

According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, the Blazers have been “linked” as a potential destination for Anunoby in the offseason. What's still unclear isn't just whether he has any desire to continue his career elsewhere, but also Masai Ujiri and the Toronto Raptors' interest in moving Anunoby regardless.

Two sources with knowledge of the dynamic told B/R that Anunoby has not directly expressed discontent with his situation with the Raptors. Perhaps the conversation around him has been driven more by external interest in acquiring the fifth-year forward's services…Two landing spots already linked by league personnel have been Utah and Portland.

Anunoby and Jerami Grant, rumored to Portland since before the February trade deadline, have become the Blazers' “primary targets,” per Bleacher Report. Both players would provide sorely needed length, athleticism and scheme versatility for Chauncey Billups' team, also fitting snugly into the $20.9 million trade exception Portland netted in the C.J. McCollum trade.

But the obvious on-court reasons Anunoby would make such an impact for the Blazers are the same ones Toronto and the league at large hold him and players of his archetype in such high regard. Just like the Detroit Pistons with regard to Grant, the Raptors' asking price for Anunoby could be too steep for Portland to meet, according to Bleacher Report.

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However, league personnel believe Toronto would require far more than Hart and the seventh pick to part with Anunoby, considered to be a darling of Raptors lead executive Masai Ujiri. Anunoby's trade value is seen as greater than Detroit's known asking price for Grant: two first-round picks or a first and a promising rookie-scale prospect.

Grant isn't at Anunoby's level as a defender and reportedly wants to remain a borderline primary offensive option if Detroit trades him. Anunoby also has two years remaining on a bargain contract, while Grant will soon become eligible for a four-year, $112 million extension intel suggests he's intent on signing.

Per-game numbers and overall reputation be damned, there's a case to be made Anunoby should be ahead of Grant on Portland's offseason wish list. Does that mean Cronin and his revamped front office should be comfortable pushing all of their chips in for a player who definitely won't put the Blazers over the top?

A trade framework of the seventh overall pick, the Milwaukee Bucks' 2025 first-rounder and Toronto's choice of Keon Johnson, Greg Brown III and Trendon Watford for Anunoby could at least raise Ujiri's eyebrows. Filling that prospect placeholder with Josh Hart or Nassir Little instead might even be enough to get Anunoby to Portland, but again leave Billups' roster absent the quality wing depth necessary to punch above its weight in the playoffs.

All signs continue pointing to the Blazers moving the No. 7 overall pick for an impact player. Who's their most realistic addition, even after confirmed rumors of Portland's eyes for Anunoby, unfortunately remains to be seen.

[Jake Fischer, Bleacher Report]