The Portland Trail Blazers won't have the luxury of being selective this summer.

If a star-level player wants to continue his career in Portland, expect the front office try to like hell to make it happen. Damian Lillard isn't getting any younger, they already lost one crucial team-building asset when the New Orleans Pelicans made the playoffs and the Blazers desperately need to generate local goodwill after their post-All-Star tanking efforts.

When has a great player actually chosen to be a Blazer anyway? Turning him down wouldn't just be awkward optics, but require a newly-minted general manager to pass on one of the biggest offseason splashes in franchise history.

Fortunately for Joe Cronin and company, they likely won't have the luxury of facing that decision. The most realistic scenario is that rumors surrounding Zach LaVine and the Blazers are nothing more than noise—perhaps leverage put forth by Rich Paul and Klutch Sports to coax the Chicago Bulls into offering their client a five-year max contract.

LaVine has never dipped his toes into unrestricted free agency before. There's nothing wrong with testing the waters even if he ultimately plans on returning to Chicago, a franchise and city LaVine praised during his eyebrow-raising exit interview after the Bulls were ousted from the first round of the playoffs.

It doesn't really matter if LaVine, a Seattle native, is interested in coming to Portland anyway. As bad as they need a major roster upgrade before 2022-23, there are at least some top-tier prospective targets the Blazers should avoid, and LaVine is firmly among them.

The most objective reason why comes down to financial logistics.

LaVine will no doubt get a max-level offer from another team if the Bulls opt against it. Dreams of significant cap space for the Blazers were always just that. Cronin mentioned both Josh Hart and Jusuf Nurkic as key cogs during his season-ending media availability after the regular season, and Portland would have to let both players walk—plus waive Eric Bledsoe—to get far enough below the cap to meet LaVine's $36 million starting max salary.

There isn't an unrestricted free agent in this year's class who'd be worth that sacrifice for the Blazers. LaVine is probably best of an extremely underwhelming bunch, and he's also exactly the type of star Portland needs to avoid.

LaVine took strides defensively over the last two seasons, especially after winning Olympic gold last summer with Team USA. He's a more active, committed team defender now than he's ever been, and not the one-on-one pushover he was early in his career. For the most part, LaVine fights on that side of the ball.

The Blazers need much more than solid effort and dependable execution on defense, though, especially in the bizarro world of Hart and Nurkic playing elsewhere. Why would Lillard, Simons and LaVine be any stouter than the bygone three-guard formation they'd effectively replace?

Only a handful of defenders in basketball could lift that trio to defensive respectability in the regular season. The last few weeks of matchup-hunting and scheme-shifting suggest it might be impossible come playoff time, even if the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo or Draymond Green suddenly strong-armed his way to Portland.

There's even an argument to be made that teaming another high-usage scorer with Lillard and Simons could lead to diminishing returns. Chauncey Billups and the Blazers will have a tough enough task ensuring Simons plays with the same freedom, confidence and aggression next to Lillard going forward that he did while running the show as a primary ball handler after the New Year.

Bringing in LaVine would only further complicate that fragile dynamic. His injury history factors in here, too. The 27-year-old will reportedly have offseason surgery on the balky left knee that's nagged him since mid-January, leaving him at “80, 70 percent” health over the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs.

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What happens if the stars align and LaVine actually does want to return to the pacific northwest, only for his twice surgically-repaired knee to render that new max contract a quick regret? The Blazers wouldn't just have approximately $100 million earmarked for three guards through 2024-25, but a lot of that money could be dead weight.

Tough as it is for Portland to stomach, there's no guarantee Lillard still has All-NBA basketball left in him. Don't forget about his pending extension this summer.

There are definitely stars the Blazers should be trying to poach this summer. One of Billups' biggest strengths is the respect he commands from players across the league. Doubt the recruiting abilities of he and Lillard all you want, but it would be remiss of both to not wield their clout as Portland embarks on what needs to be a transformative offseason.

Not all stars are created equal, though, and basketball isn't played on paper. LaVine is just a bad fit for the Blazers even before considering the roster purge it would take to sign him outright. Chances are the front office knows it.

We'll find out for sure on June 25th, the guarantee date on Hart's contract—the same day Portland will be forced to make an indirect decision on LaVine.