Blazers Rumors: Trade Market For Deandre Ayton Revealed

The trade deadline is coming up in a couple of weeks. There is going to be a lot of movement around the league this year with so many teams trying to contend.

With that being the case, a lot of organizations are going to be looking at the Portland Trail Blazers. They are a team that will be a seller at the deadline since they have one of the worst records in the league.

The Trail Blazers sit 13th in the Western Conference, firmly out of contention for the playoffs. Teams have been making calls to Portland to gauge their interest in moving a number of players.

Read more: Blazers Could Land $33M All-Star in Blockbuster Trade

One player who Portland might not mind parting ways with is starting center Deandre Ayton. Ayton was brought over to Portland a couple of years ago, and it hasn't worked.

Ayton is someone who clearly has talent, but he's not motivated to perform in Portland. That would be the motivation to move on from him.

NBA pundit Bill Simmons talked about Ayton on his most recent podcast. He doesn't seem to know who would trade for Ayton at this point.

"He's been productive, but who's trading for him at $30-plus million? So many teams have fives right now. I don't think there's many teams out there that would want his money, with how inconsistent he is. I don't know the team, not sure. New Orleans made sense a little bit before the season, but not so much now. They're the only team that I really had thought of before the season. At this point, I don't see something there for him."

With that being the case, the Blazers likely will have to hold onto him until at least the offseason. Ayton would also do well for himself if he started to put up some really good numbers.

Doing that would increase his trade value to the point that he could be moved to a team that has a better shot of playing in the playoffs. Perhaps that would motivate him to play better basketball.

Portland likely doesn't have him as part of their future plans if they can help it.

Ayton has been averaging 13.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game this season.

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