The Portland Trail Blazers are entering a pivotal offseason. Specifically, one that will determine the future of the team. Will the Trail Blazers finally put a supporting team around Damian Lillard that can help them get to the NBA Championship? Or will they transition into a rebuild and let the team belong to Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe?

If you haven’t heard by now, the Blazers have been eliminated from the playoffs for the second-straight season. They’ll also be attending the NBA Draft lottery festivities for the second straight year. Those festivities kick off next month. They have locked in a top 14 pick. This will push the Blazers’ first-round obligation to the Chicago Bulls— created as part of the 2021 trade that yielded Larry Nance Jr. — out until at least 2024.

A season ago, the organization sent Lillard to represent the company at the lottery. They will have to send representation again on May 16, in the hopes that a particular ping pong ball is selected first. They currently have a 10% chance of that happening. The Blazers find themselves in a unique situation, unlike many of the teams who have claimed a lottery pick. The Blazers still have Lillard who can help win now.

Given the timetable that the Trail Blazers have with Lillard about to turn 33, which means the team really doesn’t have time to develop rookies. It lays a tricky situation in the hands of the front office.

“We’re borderline anxious to push all of our chips in. We cannot wait for that moment to happen, it just hasn’t come up yet,” Joe Cronin stated at the Trade Deadline. “It’s my job to be the voice of reason, to be very diligent to not make a big mistake, to not get the wrong guy, to not overpay, to not give up on somebody that could eventually become a really good player. I’ve got to be really smart about this because it’s trying to thread a really thin needle here. We don’t have room for error, we need to get this right. We wanna maximize Damian’s time.”

Where will the Trail Blazers pick?

If the Blazers finish with the league’s fifth-worst record, where they currently sit, the odds dictate that they will most likely pick seventh overall. There would be a 26.7% chance of that happening. The second most likely pick is sixth, which comes in at 19.6 percent, followed by third at 10.6 percent and then picks one, two and four at 10.5 percent.

If the Blazers land the No. 1 overall pick… you can probably expect them to draft Victor Wembanyama. The 7-foot-5 International prospect may be the best prospect of all time. If they don’t, then you can probably expect the Trail Blazers to trade the pick for a superstar of Lillard’s choosing. The reason for that and I’m no college basketball expert, but outside of the top three picks, there’s not really anyone to write home about in the 2023 NBA Draft. Don’t get me wrong, they may be great in the future but they aren’t going to help the Trail Blazers win now.

Conclusion

The Trail Blazers are entering a pivotal offseason where they can start over from scratch or build around Lillard and potentially give one last run at letting Lillard help bring a ring to Portland. The concept of the Blazers having a chance at Wembanyama seemed like a pipe dream before the trade deadline. But things change, and the Blazers will hope for some luck come may.

The Blazers also have to make a decision on Jerami Grant, who is set to become a free agent this offseason. Nonetheless, we should know the direction that the Trail Blazers are headed soon.

“I know it’s hard when I come out, like,‘Oh, well, we’re looking forward to this summer,’ or ‘have faith we can get something done.’ It feels a little empty like it’s false hope or unrealistic promises, but hopefully, our track record has shown that we’re willing to be really aggressive.”

The Blazers find themselves in a better position than the teams in the lottery as well as some teams who will be in the playoffs this season.

“We’re definitely in position with a better asset pool than we started with and for me that’s really important.”

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