The writing is seemingly on the wall for the Portland Trail Blazers. For the past couple of years they have had the same core of Damian Lillard, Nicolas Batum, Wes Matthews and LaMarcus Aldridge. They had a stretch where they were the best team in the league. That label was on for a few months and then they became the good but not great team that we knew they were.
But now it is all about to blow into smithereens, Wes Matthews is going into free agency, Nicolas Batum has been traded to Charlotte and according to The Colombian, LaMarcus Aldridge is most likely out of there.
A Western Conference executive with knowledge of the Aldridge pursuit has told The Columbian that the free-agent has already informed the Blazers that he will not return to the Northwest.
Free-agency is set to begin on July 1 but the Blazers have wasted no time in re-tooling their roster for life after Aldridge.
Another league executive told The Columbian on Wednesday that the trade of Batum looked like “a rebuilding move,” and league sources say that the Blazers are “not done” dealing.
This is exactly what I thought. That Batum trade was the nail in the coffin. There’s no way Aldridge would stay in Portland when there are 6+ teams interested in him. That’s way to juicy.
