Apparently, we weren’t the only ones shocked about the Portland Trail Blazers’ Mason Plumlee trade Sunday. According to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, Blazers players were hit hard by the news, and not necessarily in a good way.
Blazers players are emotional and shocked by the news of the Mason Plumlee trade.
— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) February 12, 2017
Star point guard Damian Lillard appears to be taking it particularly hard based on a comment he made after the trade.
Damian Lillard said Mason Plumlee was "like a brother" to him and called him one of his favorite teammates at any level.
— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) February 12, 2017
What’s even more shocking than the simple fact that the Trail Blazers traded Plumlee is that they downgraded at the center position in the process. A team that is just one game out of playoff contention for the No. 8 seed in the west, they let go of a rim protector and excellent passer to land a guy who is soft defensively (more on that here).
That said, despite the shock factor of this trade, which has Jusuf Nurkic coming to Portland, the Blazers also landed another first-round pick for the upcoming 2017 NBA Draft while sending a 2018 second-rounder to Denver. This means Portland now has three first-round picks for the draft, which most agree is extremely deep.
So, while emotions are running hot right now and players are perplexed about the reasoning behind the trade, a year from now they could be singing its praises.