In a flurry of moves Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the Portland Trail Blazers worked deals with five different teams involving more than a half dozen players. Portland moved two players they’d acquired over the last year while adding three players in exchange.
The franchise’s deals didn’t involve Blazers’ stars, like Damian Lillard, nor did they bring in big names from other teams, with perennial All-Star forward Kevin Durant and star point guard Kyrie Irving leaving the Brooklyn Nets for other western destinations: Durant to Phoenix, and Irving to Dallas.
The Blazers also held on to young players the team appears intent on building around, such as Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Josh Hart dribbles the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in Chicago. In a trade made this week, Hart will leave Portland for New York.
Erin Hooley / AP
News of the Blazers’ first trade broke Wednesday night, as a deal between the Blazers and the New York Knicks.
The Blazers traded forward Josh Hart to the Knicks in exchange for a younger, taller forward: Cam Reddish.
Hart, 27, is in his seventh NBA season. The 6-foot-5 starter for Portland was averaging 9.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in 51 games.
Reddish is in his fourth season in the NBA, after being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2019 NBA draft. The 23-year-old, 6-foot-7 forward has averaged 8.4 points in 20 games with the Knicks this season.
The Blazers also received a conditional first-round draft pick and two other players who haven’t played a lot in the NBA: Svi Mykhailiuk and Ryan Arcidiacono.
The Blazers continued to make moves up until the NBA trade deadline, Thursday at noon.
The Blazers included one of the players in the trade with the Knicks — Mykhailiuk — in a deal involving the Charlotte Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers. As first reported by ESPN, Portland acquired 6-foot-5 forward Matisse Thybulle, a defensive standout, from the 76ers, where Thybulle has spent his four seasons in the NBA.
Finally, just before the trade deadline hit, ESPN broke news of another deal involving the Trail Blazers — this time a trade involving the Golden State Warriors and Detroit Pistons. Gary Payton II, a guard who has played infrequently this season due to injury, has apparently been sent back to the Golden State Warriors, where he was part of the 2022 run for an NBA championship.
The Blazers received back five future second-round draft picks, as well as Kevin Knox II, a 6-foot-7 forward who entered the league in 2018 out of the University of Kentucky. Knox spent his first four seasons with the Knicks, before a season in Atlanta, and the early part of this season in Detroit — before the trade to Portland. Knox has averaged 7.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, in roughly 18 minutes of playing time over his career.
The Blazers also announced late Thursday they had waived 21-year-old forward Greg Brown III.
